Context
Systems Theorist
Uri Bronfenbrenner
Bioecological Theory
Bronfenbrenner’s Systems
Microsystem: Immediate Environment
Family, Neighborhood
Mesosystem: Connections
Family interacting with Neighborhood
Exosystem: Broad Influences
Macrosystems: Very Broad Influences
Chronosystem: Historical Setting
Broad cultural factors affect development.
Therefore…
Developmental Diversity is a given in our study of
lifespan development. Make no assumptions.
We differ in our experience based on…
Ethnicity
Gender
Socioeconomic Status= SES
Religion
Sexual Orientation
Race
Location
We share experience with a Cohort Group. A cohort
group is, according to the text people born in the
same place at around the same time.
A More Useful Definition of Cohort
Group…
a group of persons sharing a particular statistical or
demographic characteristic.
Individualism: emphasizes personal identity, uniqueness,
freedom, and individuality.
Collectivism: emphasizes the well-being of the group over
that of the individual.
We are a Heterogeneous Culture.
Influences
NORMATIVE HISTORY-GRADED INFLUENCES
Example: Women born in the 1950’s and 60’s were
exposed to radiation from nuclear testing.
NORMATIVE AGE-GRADED INFLUENCES
Example: All women typically experience a period of
fertility.
NORMATIVE SOCIOCULTURAL-GRADED INFLUENCES
Example: Generally young Hispanic women living in NYC
in the 1950’s were not particularly encouraged to go to
college.
NONNORMATIVE LIFE EVENTS
Example: Sonia Sotomayor was born in 1954 in the South
Bronx. She won a scholarship to Princeton where she
continued to excel, graduating summa cum laude. She then
went to Yale Law School.
Psychoanalytic—Freud, Jung, Adler, Erikson, Miller,
Gilligan
Behaviourists—Watson, Skinner, Pavlov…
Cognitive—Piaget, Vygotsky, Information Processing
Humanistic—Rogers, Maslow
Evolutionary—Darwin, Lorenz
Neuroscientific—Brain Research
Bioecological Theory--Bronfenbrenner
Social Cognitive Learning Theory—Bandura
Motivation…why we do what we do and be who we are…
Punchline….
Make no assumptions.
Id
Critical and Sensitive Periods
How the Environment Affects Development
CRITICAL PERIOD is a specific time during development
when a particular event has its greatest consequences.
SENSITIVE PERIODS a point in development when
organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of
stimuli in their environments.
Nature…Nurture…
Theories…
Ego
Superego
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Unconscious
Stage Theorists
Erikson: Psychosocial
Piaget: Cognitive
Behaviorist Concepts
…Conditioning
Reward
Punishment
Reinforcement
Behaviorism
Does Not Emphasize
Unconscious Motivation.
Environment
Burrhus Frederic Skinner
B.F. Skinner
.
Behaviorism
External Motivation
Ivan Pavlov
1847-1936