Social
Development
Chapter 1
Themes and Theories of
Social Development
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes

Interaction b/w Nature and Nurture

Activity vs. Passivity

Reciprocal and Transactional Relationships
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
Level of
Development
Level of
Development

AGE
AGE
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes

3 Types of Stability (Instability)

Rank-Order Stability

Mean-Level Stability

Personality Coherence
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Rank-Order
Stability
© 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
5
Rank-Order
Instability
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6
Rank-Order
Instability
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7
OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
HIGH
What type of Stability?
A. Mean Level Stability
B. Mean Level Change
LOW
2000
2005
© 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
2010
2015
8
HIGH
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
What type of Stability?
A. Mean Level Stability
B. Mean Level Change
LOW
2000
2005
© 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
2010
2015
9
HIGH
EXTRAVERSION
What type of Stability?
A. Mean Level Stability
B. Mean Level Change
LOW
2000
2005
© 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
2010
2015
10
Overarching Themes - Stability

Personality Coherence



Maintaining rank order relative to others
But changing the way the trait is manifested
Child of Our Time: James vs. Helena
© 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
11
Overarching Themes

Levels of analyses


Dyadic → triadic → long-term → social groups →
social networks → society/culture
Bronfenbrenner
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes

Multifinality


The divergence of developmental
paths in which two individuals start
out similarly but end at very different
points
Equifinality

The convergence of developmental
paths in which children follow very
different paths to reach the same
developmental end point
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes

Multifinality
At age 6, securely
attached boys show
high levels of
extraversion.
At age 2, boys and girls
show secure attachment
to mothers
At age 6, securely
attached girls show low
levels of extraversion.
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Overarching Themes

Equifinality
At age 10,
parents
divorced
At age 10,
parents
married
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
At age 20, low
levels of
delinquency
2 More Themes!

Child vs. Situation (Personality vs. Situation)



Personality = stable across situations and time
Situation = varies across situations and time
Universal vs. Cultural

Universal = culture-free laws of development
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Summary of Themes






Nature v. Nurture
Activity v. Passivity
Reciprocal and Transactional Relationships
Continuity v. Discontinuity (Stage Theories)
3 Types of Stability
2 Developmental Trajectories




Multifinality vs. Equifinality
Levels of Analyses
Personality v. Situation
Universal vs. Cultural
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Outline of Course
Specific Types of Social Development
What influences social development?
Attachment / Relationships
Biology / Genes
Emotions
Family, Peers
Personality / Temperament
Schools, Mentors, Media
The Self
Sex and Gender
Morality
Policy / Your Interventions
Aggression
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
CLASSIC THEORIES OF
DEVELOPMENT
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Classic Theories of Development

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Freud, Erikson

Traditional Learning Theory

Cognitive Social Learning Theory
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Psychodynamic PerspectivesFreud
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of
Development
Toilet training,
gratification from
expelling and
withholding feces
Oral: 0 – 18
months
Mouth
Anal: 1 – 3
years
Anus
Weaning; oral
gratification from
eating, sucking
Period of sexual calm,
interest in school, samesex friends
Phallic: 3 – 6
years
Genitals
Oedipal /
Electra
conflicts;
sexual
curiosity
Latency: 5/6
to puberty
None
Genital: from
puberty onward
Genitals
Revival of
sexual interests;
mature
relationships
Consider Freud’s Theory…

Nature, Nurture, or Both?

Active or Passive?

Continuous or Discontinuous?

Situation, Personality, or Both?

Universal, Cultural, or Both?
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Development

Believed children are active, curious
explorers who adapt to their environment

Eight Life Crises - At each stage of life people
must cope with social realities in order to
successfully adapt

Emphasis on cultural influences
Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Development
Develop industriousness and feel pride
Children express their will and
in accomplishments; discouraged may
Young
independence, exercise some control
develop sense of inferiority
and make choices. If not experience
adulthood:
shame and doubt
3 to 6 yrs:
Initiative vs.
guilt
Adolescence: Intimacy
6 yrs to Identity vs.
vs.
puberty: role confusion
isolation
Industry vs.
inferiority
Review lives, if satisfactio
sense of accomplishment
despair
Contributing to next
generation; self absorbed,
stagnation
Develop intimacy;
isolation
1 to 3 yrs:
Autonomy vs.
Shame
Birth to 1
yr: Trust
vs.
Mistrust
and loneliness
Establish identity,
develop sense of
self; role confusion
Initiate activities, plan and undertake tasks, if
not allowed to initiate and made to feel
incompetent may develop sense of guilt
Depending on regularity of
care, love and affection
provided by caregivers
Late adulthood:
Middle
Ego integrity vs.
adulthood
despair
Generativity vs.
stagnation
Consider Erikson’s Theory…

Nature, Nurture, or Both?

Active or Passive?

Continuous or Discontinuous?

Situation, Personality, or Both?

Universal, Cultural, or Both?
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Evaluation of Psychodynamic Perspectives

Strengths



Emphasis on effects of early experience, family, and social
interaction on behavior
Identification of important contemporary themes—
attachment, gender roles, aggression, morality
Weaknesses


Both difficult to test – not falsifiable
Freud




Freud’s theory not based on work with children
Potentially biased means of collecting information
Focus on sexuality too narrow
Erikson

Mechanisms for transitioning across stages not identified
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Traditional Learning Theory Perspectives

Classical Conditioning - A type of learning in which a new stimulus is
repeatedly repeated with a familiar stimulus until an individual learns
to respond to the new stimulus in the same way as the familiar
stimulus (Pavlov, Watson)

Operant Conditioning - A type of learning that depends on the
consequence of behavior; rewards increase the likelihood that a
behavior will recur, but punishment decreases that likelihood
(Skinner)

Drive Reduction Theory - A version of learning theory suggesting
that the association of stimulus and response in classical and
operant conditioning results in learning only if it is accompanied by
reduction of basic primary drives such as hunger and thirst (Hull)
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Consider Traditional Learning Theories

Nature, Nurture, or Both?

Active or Passive?

Continuous or Discontinuous?

Situation, Personality, or Both?

Universal, Cultural, or Both?
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Evaluation of Traditional Learning
Approaches

Strengths

Useful for explaining some aspects of child
development



Emotion
Behavior modification
Weaknesses


“One-size-fits-all” perspective -- not sensitive to
changes in other areas of development or to
child’s age
Neglects biological/individual differences
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Cognitive Social Learning Theory

Bandura

Importance of observational learning

Steps - attention, retention, reproduction,
motivation
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
4 Factors that Influence Social Learning

Attention to the model’s behavior


Relationship to model may be important
Gender

Retention of the observed behavior

Need to be able to reproduce the behavior

Motivation to reproduce the behavior
Reciprocal Determinism

A person's behavior :

Both influences and is influenced by
personal factors and the social
environment

Through cognitive processes, is
“determined” by the individual

Through external social events is
“determined” by the environment
Reciprocal Determinism
Children’s actions
produce responses
by others
leading to changes in
the social
environment
changes in the child
Consider Cognitive Learning Theory

Nature, Nurture, or Both?

Active or Passive?

Continuous or Discontinuous?

Situation, Personality, or Both?

Universal, Cultural, or Both?
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood
Evaluation of Cognitive Social
Learning Theory

Strengths




Advanced understanding of several areas of social
development especially aggression and self-control
Practical applications –TV effects, modeling therapies to
modify behavior (e.g., fear reduction)
Strong empirical evidence
Weaknesses



Not very developmental in scope
Minimal attention to individual differences
Neglects biological/individual differences
Copyright © 2015 M. Guthrie Yarwood