Theories of Development
Qualities of a good theory
• Internally consistent--parts fit together in a
consistent way
• Should provide meaningful explanations
• Open to scientific evaluation
• Stimulate new thinking and research
• Should provide guidance to parents and
professionals in the day-to-day work
How theories differ on four
developmental issues
• Maturation or
experience?
• Process or stages?
• Active or passive role
of the child?
• Broad or narrow
focus?
Psychodynamic developmental
theories
Freud
• The ID seeks pleasure
and avoids pain. It is
not logical in its
searches.
• The ego is rational.
Conscious, and
problem-solving
• The superego is the
moral and ethical
component.
Freud’s defense mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms are unconscious
distortions of reality used to protect the ego
• Repression forces unacceptable feelings and
impulses from memory
• Projection attributes one’s own feelings
such as aggression or distrust onto another
person
• Fixation is a blockage in development.
Freud's Psychosexual Stages
Psychosexual Stage
Approximate Age
Description
Oral
Birth - 1 year
The mouth is the focus of stimulation and
interaction; feeding and weaning are
central.
Anal
1 - 3 years
The anus is the focus of stimulation and
interaction; elimination and toilet training
are central.
Phallic
3 - 6 years
The genitals (penis, clitoris, and vagina)
are the focus of stimulation; gender role
and moral development are central.
Latency
6 - 12 years
A period of suspended sexual activity;
energies shift to physical and intellectual
activities.
Genital
12 - adulthood
The genitals are the focus of stimulation
with the onset of puberty; mature sexual
relationships develop.
Erik Erikson
• Personality
development is a
psychosocial process
• Personality
development is a
lifelong experience
and is influences by
three interrelated
forces (next slide)
Erikson’s forces:
• The individual’s biological and physical
strengths and weaknesses
• the person’s unique life circumstances and
developmental history, including early
family experiences and degree of success in
resolving earlier development crises; and
• the particular social, cultural, and historical
forces at work during the individual’s
lifetime (racial prejudice, war, poverty)
ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
• Trust vs. Mistrust
Birth – 1 year
• Autonomy vs. Shame and
Doubt
1 - 3 years
• Initiative vs. Guilt
3 - 6 years
• Industry vs. Inferiority
6 - 12 years (Latency Period)
• Identity vs. Role Confusion
12 - 19 years (Adolescence)
• Intimacy v. Isolation
19 – 25 years (Early Adulthood)
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
25 – 50 years (Adulthood)
• Ego Integrity vs. Despair
50 years and older
Ivan Pavlov’s Classical
conditioning
• For involuntary
responses
• Basic, not higher order
learning
• Paired conditioned
response with UCR to
form new behaviors
(see page 44 of text)
Illustration of Classical Conditioning
BEFORE CONDITIONING:
(A) Place a nipple in baby's mouth:
Touch of nipple (US) — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR)
(B) Show baby a bottle with a nipple:
Sight of bottle — — — — — —elicits — — — — — > No sucking (UR)
with nipple (CS)
DURING CONDITIONING:
(C) Show baby the a bottle and place its nipples in baby's mouth.
Repeat a number of times:
Touch of nipple (US) — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR)
(paired with)
Sight of bottle — — — —elicits — — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR)
with nipple (CS)
AFTER CONDITIONING
(D) Show baby the bottle with nipple:
Sight of bottle — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR)
with nipple (CS)
B. F. Skinner’s Operant
conditioning
• Looks at empirically
verifiable behaviors
only. Not an
introspective field of
inquiry.
• Operant conditioning
works with voluntary
muscles only, in
contrast to classical.
The behavior-modifier’s tools
Positive reinforcement, response cost,
timeout, overcorrection, extinction,
ALT-R, negative reinforcement, PAC
Effective positive reinforcement
• Should be something
that the STUDENT
finds rewarding
• In schools, will likely
be tertiary
reinforcement
• Beware of satiation
• Timeliness
• Reinforcers can
change
Using response cost effectively
• Spell out the rules of
the game early
• Allow for buildup of
reserve without telling
students
• Take fining only so far
before mixing it with
other techniques such
as time out
Using time out effectively
• Remove the person
from sources of
stimulation
immediately
• Timeout situation must
be neutral with no
reinforcing properties
of its own
• Short in duration
Overcorrection (restitution)
• Insure the relevance of the corrective
measure to the problem behavior
• Apply the procedure immediately and
consistently
• Keep the performance consistent during
overcorrection. If the student is having to
walk heel-toe, do not allow him to run the
last few yards.
Extinction (systematic nonreinforcement)
• Specify the conditions
for extinction so that
the child knows why
these things are
happening
• Dispense no
reinforcement before
its time
• Watch for spontaneous
recovery
Reinforcement of alternative
behaviors (ALT-R)
• Behavior to be reinforced must be
incompatible with that to be extinguished
• Alternative behavior must already be
established
• Alternative behavior must be one that is
likely to be supported by the natural
environment
Negative reinforcement, also
called escape conditioning
• Do not allow the
noxious stimulus to
become aversive or a
different set of
behaviors will take
over.
• Dispense Rimmediately
• Do not remove the
noxious stimulus
Using PAC effectively
• Communicate the
rules before beginning
an episode where PAC
might be used
• No escape after
announcement that
PAC is about to occur
• Consistent and
immediate application
• Present at strong
intensity
• Combine PAC with
extinction so that the
student will not
attempt the prohibited
behavior again.
Differences between negative
reinforcement and PAC
• Negative
reinforcement uses a
noxious stimulus
• NR has an increase in
behaviors as its goal
• Presentation of
aversive consequences
uses an aversive
stimulus
• PAC has the
elimination of
behaviors as its goal
Shaping
• Shaping is the
behaviorist’s way of
adding new behaviors
• Behaviors that have
even slight
resemblance to the
target behavior are
reinforced.
• The “professor in a
corner”
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive
Learning Theory
• Observational learning
• First in a long line of
studies was at
Stanford, 1961,
Bandura, Ross, &
Ross. Modeling of
aggression.
• Film-mediated had
same results (1962)
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory
• Thinking is
qualitatively different
depending upon the
developmental stage
of the learner
• Processes include
direct learning, social
transmission, and
maturation.
PIAGET’S
COGNITIVE
STAGES
PIAGET’S
BASIC
PRINCIPLES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Sensorimotor
Birth - 2 years
 SCHEME: Organized pattern of
Preoperational

Child develops schemes
primarily through sense and
motor activities
thought
or behavior
2 – 7 years
Child can think symbolically;
ASSIMILATION: Person interpretsholds
newegocentric
ideas or
view of the
world
experiences to fit existing schemes
 ACCOMODATION:
Person
Concrete
Operational
7 – 11 years
changes
Childexisting
becomes able to
manipulate logical relationships
schemes to fit new ideas or experiences
among concepts but only by
generalizing from concrete
 ADAPTATION: Interplay between experiences
assimilation and
Formalaccomodation,
Operational
11resulting
years - adulthood
in development
Child is able to deal with
abstractions, form hypotheses,
 EQUILIBRIUM: Harmonious balance
a person’s
solveof
problems
systematically
schemes and experiences with the environment
Piaget’s Social Transmission
Factors
• Cognitive consonance-what the learner is
experiencing fits with
what he believes and
knows
• Cognitive dissonance-new info doesn’t
agree
• Equilibrium--state of
no dissonance
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE STAGES
Sensorimotor
Birth - 2 years
Child develops schemes
primarily through sense and
motor activities
Preoperational
2 – 7 years
Child can think symbolically;
holds egocentric view of the
world
Concrete Operational
7 – 11 years
Child becomes able to
manipulate logical relationships
among concepts but only by
generalizing from concrete
experiences
Formal Operational
11 years - adulthood
Child is able to deal with
abstractions, form hypotheses,
solve problems systematically
Lev Vygotsky’s proximal
development
• Higher mental
functions grow out of
the social interactions
and dialogues that
children have
• Zone of proximal
development
• (Womack) Theory
explains
developmental strain
Vygotsky’s ideas have given birth to the concept of
scaffolding in promoting student learning. Teachers
build a cognitive “scaffold” in order to “bring
forward” previous learnings and to let students know
in which framework the new instruction is coming.
This has the effect of extending the Zone of Proximal
Development a little further so that the student may
extend the boundaries of his knowledge.
Vygotsky’s ideas fit well with those of an American
psychologist, David Ausubel (not listed in our book).
He pointed out the advantage of advance organizers
(1970s) to prepare students for new knowledge.
Creating advance organizers might be likened to
renting, in advance, several post office boxes for
incoming mail, upon beginning a new business. One
box receives only payments on account; one,
complaints; one, invoices from other businesses; a
fourth, general mail. In this way the business owner
should have a good idea what awaits him when he gets
his mail and should have a head start on his
bookkeeping and correspondence.
Path of a memory (if
remembered)
•
•
•
•
Stimulus occurs
Sensory register
Decision to attend
If attending, shortterm memory
• Rehearsal strategy
• Long-term memory
Factors in Information
Processing
• Control processes, including rehearsal
strategies. Failure to use rehearsal
strategies is the single greatest difference
between retarded and non-retarded learners.
• Metacognition
• Knowledge base. This affects the
meaningfulness aspect.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
Welcome to
The Brain and Learning
The following slide show may be used in a
PowerPoint presentation session or copied
onto overhead transparencies. Each slide is
accompanied with notes for the instructor or
session facilitator.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
“Educators must develop a basic understanding
of the psychobiology of the brain to enable them
to evaluate emerging educational applications.”
Robert Sylwester
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
There are two types of brain cells.
Neurons
10% of your brain cells are neurons.
Glia
90% of your brain cells are glia.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
• The average three-pound brain contains about
100 billion neurons.
• The average three-pound brain contains about
1000 billion glial cells.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
The average three-pound brain has about
one quadrillion connections between
neurons.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
It is the connection between neurons that
makes us “smart”.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
• Heredity provides about 30-60% of our
brain’s wiring.
•40-70% of our wiring comes from
environmental impact.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
“Experience is the chief architect of the
brain.”
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
•Neurons consist of a cell body, an axon
and dendrites.
Brain Basics: How Neurons Communicate
The axon sends
.
information.
Dendrites
The dendrites and cell
body receive information.
Axon
Cell Body
.
The action inside the cell is
electrical.
The action between cells
is chemical.
.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
Reoccurring electrical stimulation between cells
promotes cell growth. This cell growth occurs in the
form of dendrite branching. More dendrite branches
create more connections. Hence, better understanding.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
•We learn on many levels at once. The cellular level is
just one way learning occurs. Learning and behavior are
also strongly affected by the other chemicals in the
brain: the monomines and peptides.
•Some estimate that over 98% of the brain’s
communications occur through peptides and perhaps only
2% occurs through the synapses.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
Take a moment to think on your own…
then turn to your partner and share an
insight, idea or personal response to the
material just covered.
Take 2 to 3 minutes each.
Brain Basics: The Memory Process
Rehearsal
Sight
Elaboration and
Organization
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch
Sensory
Memory
Initial
Processing
Short Term
Memory
Long Term
Memory
Retrieval
Not transferred to short term memory and
so not stored in the memory system
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
Sensory memory influences different
areas of the brain.
Brain Basics: Reaction to Stimuli
This slide represents blood
flow changes that occur
while an individual is seeing
words in print.
Brain Basics: Reaction to Stimuli
This slide represents
blood flow changes that
occur while an individual
is hearing words.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
Memory is a process rather than a skill or
a thing. A given “memory” is not created
or stored in one single place in the brain.
Brain Basics: The Learning Process
Sensory
Memory
Senses
receive
information.
Limbic
System
Brain determines
which information
is emotionally
important enough
to attend to.
Short-term
Memory
Neurons are
stimulated.
Electrochemical
activity
strengthens
the synapse.
Long-term
Memory
Repeated
activation
improves
message
Transmission.
The more these networks of neurons are used,
the stronger they become…the more easily
they are accessed and information recalled.
Brain Basics: M -Space
The capacity of short-term memory appears to develop
with age. The number of spaces increases by one unit
every other year beginning at age three.
Juan Pascual-Leon, 1970
The m-space capacity of
individuals increases at
about this rate but can
vary up or down by up to
two units for each
age group.
3
5
7
9 11
Age
13
15
Brain Basics: Chunking
A chunk is any cohesive group of items of information that we
can remember as if it were a single item.
The difference between novices and experts in a field appears
to be that experts tend -- because of a great deal of experience
in a field -- to organize information into much larger chunks,
while novices work with isolated bits of information.
Benjamin Bloom
Brain Basics: Schemas
Our neural networks make up a map that represents our
general knowledge about the world. This neural map is
often called “schema”. Our schema provides us with the
way for us to understand a subject or the world around us.
“In order to comprehend, we select a schema
that seems appropriate
and fill in the missing information.”
Pat Wolfe
Without the appropriate schema, students have no way
to assimilate new information.
Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning
For more information about the brain and
learning, visit the ArtFul Minds web site.
http://library.advanced.org/50072/
InRev1
APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY
Approach
Characteristics
Biological
Emphasizes activity of the nervous system,
especially of the brain; the action of hormones and other
chemicals; and genetics.
Evolutionary
Emphasizes the ways in which behavior and
mental processes are adaptive for survival.
Psychodynamic
Emphasizes internal conflicts, mostly unconscious, which usually
pit sexual or aggressive instincts against environmental obstacles
to their expression.
Behavioral
Emphasizes learning, especially each person’s experience
with rewards and punishments.
Cognitive
Emphasizes mechanisms through which people
receive, store, retrieve, and otherwise process information.
Humanistic
Emphasizes individual potential or growth and the role of unique
perceptions in guiding behavior and mental processes.
Time for your thoughts:
What would a classroom be like if it
used the best information from all
these theories?