Chapter 13: The
Developmental Point of View
A History of Psychology
(3rd Edition)
John G. Benjafield
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny
• E.H. Haeckel
• Ontogeny: individual development
• Recapitulation: to restate, review,
summarize
• Phylogeny: evolutionary development of a
species
G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924)
• 1878: awarded first American PhD in
psychology
– Studied with James at Harvard
• 1884: professor of philosophy at Johns
Hopkins
• Founding president of Clark University
• 1887: founded American Journal of
Psychology
• 1892: founded the American Psychological
Association
Hall’s Recapitulationism
• Informed by a deeply religious sensibility
• The historical order in which religions
emerged was indicative of their
developmental status
• People can only appreciate their destiny (to
facilitate further evolutionary progression)
once they understand themselves as the
pinnacle of a long evolutionary process
Questionnaires
• Gathered data on childhood activities
through use of the questionnaire
– Method was taken up by other students of
child development
• Child Study Movement: most popular
educational movement of the 1890s
– Formed bond between psychologists and
teachers
Adolescence
• Adolescence as:
– A period of transformation and reconstruction
– A period of storm and stress
• Storm and stress caused by the transition
from comfortable relationship with nature
to a new, more civilized level of
development
James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934)
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Studied with Wundt
1888: graduated from Princeton
1889: chair at the University of Toronto
1893: returned to Princeton
1903–1912: at Johns Hopkins
Settled in France
Psychology of Mental Development
• Development occurs through a series of
interactions between the child and the
environment
• Assimilation: the tendency to respond to
the environment in familiar ways
• Accommodation: the tendency to respond
to the environment in the novel ways that
changing circumstances may require
• Imitation: the major way in which
accommodation takes place
Heinz Werner (1890–1964)
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1914: PhD from University of Vienna
1917: University of Hamburg
1933: left for the United States
1949: Clark University
The Comparative Psychology of
Mental Development
• Originally published in German
• Approach to psychology was comparative:
examining the relation between
developmental processes in different
cultures as well as in different species
• Development not restricted to the study of
the development of individuals
• Orthogenetic principle: development
proceeds from state of globality to state of
increasing differentiation
Uniformity vs. Multiformity
• Uniformity: behaviour tends to converge from
isolated units towards integrated wholes
• Multiformity: behaviour tends to become
increasingly differentiated
• Process analysis: examines in detail and
over time the way in which a person arrives
at a particular achievement
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
• Central issue in developmental psychology
• Werner: child’s ability to interact with the
world in an increasingly differentiated
(precise) and integrated (well-organized)
way develops smoothly but also shows
emergence
– Emergence: later forms of behaviour have
properties not found in earlier forms
Unilinearity vs. Multilinearity
• Unilinearity: all developmental processes
progress in the same way
• Multilinearity: individuals develop in
idiosyncratic ways
Fixity vs. Mobility
• Later developmental levels not to displace
earlier ones
• As development proceeds, earlier levels
become subordinated to later ones
Microgenesis
• Developmental analysis can be extended
to phenomena that develop over relatively
brief periods of time
– Microgenetic processes
• Werner pioneered the use of an
experimental technique to investigate
microgenetic processes in perception
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) and
Bärbel Inhelder (1913–1997)
• Piaget
– 1907: began publishing on biological topics (age: 11)
– PhD in natural science from University of Neuchâtel
– Director of the Centre for Genetic Epistemology at the
University of Geneva
• Inhelder
– Made substantive contributions to Piaget’s theory
– Helped promote the theory internationally
Genetic Epistemology
• Genetic epistemology: the study of the
development of knowledge
• There are hereditary factors that limit the
kinds of experience of which we are
capable
– Most important inheritance is the function of
intelligence
The Development of Intelligence
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1963: The Origins of Intelligence in Children
Logical thinking = the hallmark of intelligence
Intelligence is rooted in biological processes
Adaptation = an invariant function of the
organism
• Organisms adapt by changing in response to
the environment in ways that are not random
• Assimilation and accommodation
Piaget’s Clinical Method
• Clinical method: an open-ended series of
questions designed to elicit a child’s viewpoint
on the subject of an investigation
• Important features:
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Gaining the child’s confidence
Not appearing to be superior
Asking questions about all aspects of the matter
Avoiding suggestions
• Criticized by some on grounds of objectivity
Stages in the Development of
Intelligence
• Sensorimotor period
– First two years of life
• Preoperational period
– Two to seven years of life
• Concrete operational period
– Seven to 11 years of life
• Formal operational period
– Around age of 12
Contemporary Structuralism
• Structuralism: organized systems underlie
and control all aspects of human
experience
≠ Titchener’s psychology
• Members of the contemporary movement
included:
– Claude Lévi-Strauss
– Roman Jacobson
– Umberto Eco
Piaget as a Structuralist
• Emphasized that structures must be
understood in terms of the way they
develop over time
• Properties of developing structures:
1. Wholeness
2. Systems of transformations
3. Self-regulation
Can development ever end?
• No matter the level of structure obtained, it
is impossible for that level of structure to
understand itself without progressing to a
higher level that includes the first level
• Living structures are in a continuous,
never-ending process of construction
L.S. Vygotsky (1896–1934)
• 1917: graduated from Moscow University
– Originally interested in relation between art
and psychology
– Later focused on psychology of teaching
• Most influential work: Thought and
Language
• Died of tuberculosis
Thought and Language
• The developmental process is inherently
social
• Crucial difference between humans and
animals is the way that tools are used
• Elaborated on Piaget’s concept of
egocentric speech—does not disappear
but becomes inner speech
The Zone of Proximal Development
• One of Vygotsky’s most enduring concepts
= Distance between the actual level of
development and the level of potential
development
– Actual development level determined by
standardized testing
– Potential development level determined by
more sensitive exploration
Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994)
• Undertook psychoanalysis with Anna
Freud
• 1933: graduated from the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Institute
• 1933: first child psychoanalyst in Boston
Lifespan Developmental
Psychology
• Heavily influenced by Freudian theories
• Emphasized importance of early childhood
experiences in shaping adult personality
• Childhood and Society
– Stages of development that occur throughout
the entire life cycle
Epigenesis
• Epigenesis: developmental stages unfold
in a necessary sequence
• Progression through stages modulated by
the society in which the person develops
• Stages may overlap in time
The Eight Stages
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Basic trust vs. mistrust
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
Initiative vs. guilt
Industry vs. inferiority
Identity vs. identity diffusion
Intimacy vs. isolation
Generativity vs. stagnation
Integrity vs. despair
Eleanor J. Gibson (1910–2002)
• 1931: undergraduate degree at Smith
College
– Studied with Koffka; not attracted to Gestalt
psychology
• PhD at Yale
– Studied with Clark Hull
Perceptual Learning
• One of Gibson’s most enduring
contributions
• Matter of differentiation
• Involves becoming increasingly attuned to
the specific events that make up the world
Reading
• Certain strings of letters more
pronounceable than others
– Pronounceability = important property of
words that would-be readers learned to
perceive
• The ability to perceive spelling patterns
may already exist in a limited way in
grade-one pupils
The Visual Cliff
• Apparatus used to investigate depth
perception
• Gibson: ability to see objects in depth is a
highly adaptive skill
Eleanor Gibson on the Future of
Psychology
• 1994: published an overview of the history
of psychology during her last decades as an
active researcher
– Psychology lacking coherence
– Lack of search for encompassing principles
– Urged that a new agenda based on a
developmental approach be adopted in order to
unify psychology’s purpose