Chapter 2 - Theories
I. Questions/Controversies
A. Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature = genetics
• Nurture = environment
Nature vs. nurture, cont.
• both are important
• most things are interactions
B.
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
Developmental changes are sudden or gradual
• Gradual/continuous = quantitative
• Sudden/discontinuous/discrete = qualitative
C. Universal vs. Culturally Specific
(Deficit vs. Difference)
- Culturalists = context determines
development
D. Active vs. Passive
- tabula rasa ==> recipients
- vs. seek information ==> creators
II. Freud - Psychoanalytic Theory
1. Importance of early experiences
- birth to age 5
2. Intrapsychic focus
- development within the mind
- biological basis
3. Structures
• Id = present at birth
- biological drives/instincts
• Ego = develops in 1st year
- how to satisfy id
- practical & reality-based
• Superego = develops in 3rd/4th year
- incorporate sense of right & wrong from parents
4. Psychosexual stages
- Develop by progressing through stages
- Stages = “sexual” gratification in
different body parts
- Conflict to be resolved at each stage
5.Unconscious conflict
• Between id & world/superego at each stage
• Ego tries to satisfy both
• Resolve conflict = progress through stages
• No resolution = fixation at that stage
=> psychological problems
Freud’s Stages
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•
•
•
•
Age
Pleasure
Infancy
- oral /sucking
Toddlerhood
- anal/toileting
Preschool
- phallic/genitals
Oedipal/Electra complex
Elem. School - latency
Adolescence
- genital
Development
-> Ego
-> Superego
III. Erikson- Psychosocial theory
1.
Importance of social world
2.
Focus is reality-oriented Ego
- Development of ego within the social world
3.
8 developmental stages
- Pass via resolving conflicts
- conflicts are social, not instinctual
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Infant – Trust in caretaker & self
Toddler – Self-control & pride
Preschooler – Initiative
School-age child – Industry
Adolescent – Develop identity
Young adult – Intimate relationship
Mid-aged adult – Contribute to future
Older adult – Integrity in life review
• Erikson = Lifespan theory
IV. Piaget’s CognitiveDevelopmental Theory
1.
2.
Development = thought processes
- stages of more advanced cognition
Biology plus experience
- An interaction: maturation plus
experience
- children actively seek information
3. Cognitive & social development
- social behavior depends upon cognitive
abilities
-> cognitive development underlies all
other development
V. Learning Theory
We learn & thus develop constantly
- from constant input from the environment
- same processes for all development
- learn increasing amounts via those processes
1.
Behaviorism
- study only observable behavior
- all behavior determined by outside
forces
3 major behaviorists
Watson - child = tabula rasa
- environment determines person
Pavlov - Classical Conditioning
- learn to associate 2 things that happen
together in time
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
-> Unconditioned Response (UR)
• Neutral stimulus does not evoke Response
• If neutral stimulus always precedes US,
neutral stimulus begins to evoke Response
• Neutral stimulus becomes Conditioned
Stimulus (CS)
• CS -> CR (Conditioned Response)
Skinner - Operant/Respondent Conditioning
- behavior is governed by rewards &
punishments
2. Bandura - Social Learning
- Learn by observing others, not just own
experience (adds cognition)
- imitate a model
VI. Bronfenbrenner - Ecology
Theory
1.
2.
3.
Context determines development
- development occurs differently
depending upon the environment
Multiple contexts
Contexts interact and change each other
Systems:
1st = Microsystem
- immediate surroundings
- interactions are bidirectional
& reciprocal
2nd = Mesosystem
- interaction among microsystems
3rd = Exosystem
- other elements child is not part of, but is
influenced by it indirectly
4th = Macrosystem
- society as a whole
5th = Chronosystem
- changes in systems over time
- alter existing relationships
VII. Vygotsky - Sociocultural
Theory
• How is culture transmitted
Culture transmitted….
• Via interaction with adults & older children
• Help children master culturally-meaningful
tasks
• Language/communication is critical
-> children internalize dialogues
& later use the language to help guide their
own development
Piaget vs. Vygotsky
A. Piaget: focus on child
- children’s own efforts to understand
world
vs.Vygotsky: development is socially
mediated
- requires others
B.
C.
Piaget: children master same tasks
vs. Vygotsky: cultures select different
tasks
Piaget: discrete stages
vs.
Vygotsky: development is
continuous
Small-group discussion:
How does one’s theoretical view of development
affect the kinds of behaviors one notices? What
behaviors would be observed by Freud, Piaget, an
information-processing theorist, Skinner, Bandura,
an ethological theorist, Bronfenbrenner when
watching 2 children interact on a playground?