The Developing Person
Through the Life Span 8e
by Kathleen Stassen Berger
Chapter 2 Theories of Development
 What Theories Do
 Grand Theories
 Newer Theories
Developmental Theory
Developmental Theory
 a group of ideas, assumptions, generalizations
that interpret and illuminate the thousands of
observations made about human growth
 provides a framework for understanding how and why
people change as they grow older.
What Theories Do
 Theories produce a hypothesis.
 Theories generate discoveries.
 Theories offer practical guidance.
… Theories are NOT facts.
Grand Theories
Grand Theories of the Early 20th Century:
 Psychoanalytic Theory
 Behavioral Theory
 Cognitive Theory
Newer Theories:
 Sociocultural Theory
 Universal Perspective:
Humanism and Evolutionary Theory
Psychoanalytic Theory
 A theory of human
development that holds that
irrational, unconscious drives
and motives, often originating
in childhood, underlie human
behavior.
 Psychoanalytic theory
originated with Sigmund
Freud (1856– 1939)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development
App. Age
Stage
0-18 months
ORAL STAGE: lips, tongue, gums are focus of
pleasurable sensations
18ms. -3 years
ANAL STAGE: Anus is the focus of pleasurable
sensations, toilet training most important
3-6 years
PHALLIC STAGE: Phallus (penis) most important.
Boys proud/Girls wonder what’s wrong
6-11 years
LATENCY: not really stage. Period during which
sexual needs quiet
Adolescence
GENITAL STAGE: Genitals are the focus, young
person seeks sexual satisfaction
Adulthood
Genital stage last throughout adulthood
Psychoanalytic Theory
Erik Erikson (1902–1994)
 Described eight developmental
stages, each characterized by a
challenging developmental
crisis.
 His first five stages build on
Freud’s theory; but he also
described three adult stages.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
App. Age
Conflict
Infancy
0-1 year
Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
Early Childhood
1-3 years
Autonomy vs. Shame
Preschool
3-6 years
Initiative vs. Guilt
School Age
6-12 years
Industry vs. Inferiority
Adolescence
12-19 years
Identity vs. Confusion
Young Adulthood
20-25 years
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Middle Adulthood
26-64 years
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Maturity
65-death
Integrity vs. Despair
Behaviorism
 A theory of human development that studies
observable behavior.
 Also called “learning theory” as it describes the
laws and processes by which behavior is learned.
 Conditioning - the processes by which responses
become linked to particular stimuli and learning
takes place.
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Social Learning
Behaviorism
Classical conditioning Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
 (also called respondent
conditioning), a process in
which a person or animal
learns to associate a neutral
stimulus with a meaningful
stimulus, gradually reacting
to the neutral stimulus with
the same response as to the
meaningful one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZPXVb0W3Hc
Behaviorism
Operant Conditioning
Behaviorism
Operant conditioning B.F. Skinner (1904–1990)
 (also called instrumental
conditioning) a learning
process in which a
particular action is
followed either by
something desired or by
something unwanted.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-g2OmRXb0g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK32448CgK
E
Behaviorism
Social Learning Theory- Albert Bandura
An extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the
influence that other people have over a person’s
behavior.
Modeling- people learn by
observing other people and then
copying them.
Self-Efficacy- how effective people
think they are when it comes to
changing themselves or altering their
social context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YclZBhn40hU
Cognitive Theory
 Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
 Thoughts and expectations profoundly affect
action.
 Focuses on changes in how people think over time.
 Cognitive development occurs over
four age-related periods
 Constructivist Perspective of Learning
Cognitive Theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRF27F2bn-A
Cognitive Theory
Cognitive Equilibrium
 A state of mental balance, no confusion
 Interpret new ideas through past ideas
 Easy equilibrium not always possible
 If new experience is not understandable,
cognitive disequilibrium can occur
 Assimilation
 Accommodation
Cognitive Theory
Information Processing
 Not a single theory but a framework
 Inspired by how a computer works
 How people think before they respond
 How attention and thought
affects mental function
 Relationship between one
person’s thinking and
another’s
Newer Theories
Sociocultural Theory
 Leo Vygotsky (1896-1934)
 Development results from a person’s interaction
with their social and cultural surroundings
 Culture is integral to development
 Apprenticeship in thinking:
how cognition is “taught” by
the older and more skilled
Sociocultural Theory
Zone of proximal development
 Made up of the skills, knowledge, and concepts that
the learner is close to acquiring
Learner needs help to master
Learning must be individualized
The Universal Perspective
Humanism
 Abraham Maslow (1908-
1970),
Hierarchy of Needs
 Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
 Stresses the potential of
humans for good
 All people have the same
needs
 Emphasize what people have
in common
The Universal Perspective
Evolutionary Theory
 Based on Darwin’s ideas
 Humans are more alike than different
 Human development influenced by drives to
survive and reproduce
 Selective adaptation: process by which people
adapt to their environment
Eclectic Perspective
Eclectic perspective
 The approach taken by
most developmentalists
 Aspects of each of the various theories of
development are applied
rather than adhering
exclusively to one