Theories of Development – Hunter
Objectives
1. Explain Freud’s psychosexual theory.
a. Three Distinct Structures:
i. Id: present at birth, operates on basis of pleasure
principle and seeks immediate gratification.
ii. Ego: Job is to mediate conflicting demands between id
and reality
iii. Superego (conscience): attempts to permanently
block al of id’s socially unacceptable drive.
b. Proposes that a person’s personality is formed during
childhood as the result of certain experiences that occur
during 5 stages of development
i. Person’s sexual energy centers on different part of
body during each stage of development; personality
traits result from ways conflicts are resolved at each
stage; failure to resolve a conflict can result in fixation.
ii. Oral Stage: (birth  1 year), mouth of focus of
sensation/stimulation.
1. Conflict: weaning
2. Fixation: dependence, passivity, gullibility, orally
focused habits
iii. Anal Stage: (1  3 years); control of bodily wastes
1. Conflict: toilet training
2. Fixation: stinginess, obsessive behavior, cruelty
iv. Phallic Stage: (3  6 years); sexual energy centered in
genitalia; development of superego
1. Conflict: resolve Oedipal conflict, identification
with same sex parents to navigate successfully.
2. Fixation: sexual exploitation of others.
v. Latency Stage: (6  12 years); energy is diffuse rather
than on specific area in body
1. Goal: develop social skills
vi. Genital Stage: (12 years +); libido again centered on
genitalia; successful outcome when sexual desire is
blended with affection to produce mature sexual
relationships
1. Fixation: poor interpersonal relationships
2. Describe Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development.
a. Each stage characterized by a crisis
b. Trust vs. Mistrust: (Birth  1 year);
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i. Trust based on dependability, consistency, and
sameness of experience provided by caretaker (instills
hopeful attitude);
ii. Mistrust demonstrated via ease of feeding, depth of
sleep, bowel relaxation (seen in depression, thrill
seeking)
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt: (1  3 years)
i. Learning to walk, feed self, talk
ii. Autonomy develops when caretaker displays firmness,
sets limits
iii. Shame occurs when child becomes self-conscious via
negative exposure; self-doubt can occur if overly
shamed (anal retentive if goes poorly)
Initiative vs. Guilt: (3  6 years)
i. Initiative arises in relation to tasks for the sake of activity,
both motor and intellectual; helpful relationships with
family help achieve goals
ii. Guilt arises over goals contemplated, especially those
that violate social norms (aggression, overcome by
superego)
iii. Desire to copy adult word; involvement in oedipal
struggle leads to resolution through social role
identification
Industry vs. Inferiority: (6  11 years)
i. Industry: busy in school learning, creating, and
accomplishing; new found skills (social/academic) lead
to productivity and child takes pride
ii. Inferiority: danger of sense of inadequacy if child
despairs of his skills and status among peers
Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 12  20 years)
i. Struggle: develop ego identity (sense of who one is);
preoccupation with appearance, hero worship,
ideology
ii. Peers are primary influence
iii. Danger of role confusion, doubts about sexual and
vocational identity
Intimacy vs. Isolation: (20  40 years)
i. Tasks: love and work
ii. Intimacy: development of close intimate relationships,
marriage, meaningful work
iii. Isolation: without a friend or significant other or a
partner in marriage a person can become selfcentered/isolative/lonely
Generativity vs. Self-absorption/Stagnation: (40  65 years)
i. Generativity: person having or raising children and
producing things/ideas; guiding oncoming generations;
vital interest outside the home
ii. Stagnation: barren state
iii. Self-absorption: people do not care for others, main
focus is on one’s successes
i. Ego Integrity vs. Despair/Isolation: (Elderly)
i. Conflict between sense of satisfaction reflecting on a
life productivity lived and despair
ii. Despair: sense that life has had little purpose or
meaning; time is too short to make a difference
iii. Coming to terms with mortality
3. Provide examples of the primary developmental tasks/crises in each
of the eight stages of the life cycle according to Erikson.
4. Describe Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
a. Intellectual development is continuous but operations in the
different periods are distinctly different; progress in same
order at very different rates
b. Stages do not end abruptly but trail off, can be in two
different stages in different areas, both environment and
genetics play a role in how each stage is negotiated
c. Four different stages:
i. Sensorimotor stage: (Birth  2 years)
1. Learns about relationship to various objects
2. Includes learning fundamental movements and
perceptual activities
3. Developing meaning for symbols and using
words
4. Later part: think about events which are not
immediately present
5. Object permanence: (8 months), critical
achievement; objects exist even when they
can’t see them.
ii. Preoperational Stage: (Age 2  7)
1. Preoperational phase: use language and
symbols more extensively and try to make sense
of the world
2. Intuitive phase: slowly moves away from drawing
conclusions solely on concrete experiences with
objects; can carry on conversation with child
3. Limitations: egocentrism (cannot take another’s
perspective); magical thinking; animism (human
attributes to inanimate objects); centration
(focus all of one’s attention on one aspect of a
situation, ignoring others); conservation (don’t
understand that changing one dimension of an
object doesn’t change other dimensions)
iii. Concrete Operational Stage: (Age 7  12)
1. Can do more complicated mental operations
with real objects, events, or situations; can take
another person’s perspective
2. Serialize, order, and group things based on
common attributes; understand concept of
reversibility; Logic understood
3. **some adults stay in this phase forever**
iv. Formal Operational Stage (Age 12 +)
1. Abstract thinking, formulate hypothesis mentally
and can test hypothesis mentally; can think
ahead to plan solution path
2. Megacognition: thinking about thinking
3. Limitations: imaginary audience (exaggerated
sense of importance); personal fable (belief that
one is unique and not subject to laws that govern
others, seatbelts and pregnancy)
5. Identify examples of cognitive milestones from each stage of
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
6. Describe the theory of development by Margaret Mahler and
provide examples of child’s behavior in each subphase.
a. Normal Autistic Phase: (Birth  2 months)
i. Half-asleep, half-awake; achieve homeostatic
equilibrium with environment
b. Normal Symbiotic Phase (2  5 months)
i. Aware of caretaker but still functions as if they are in
state of fusion; social smile important
c. Separation-Individualization Phase:
i. Differentiation: (5  10 months)
1. Alertness and sensory awareness that reflect
cognitive and neurological maturation
2. Comparative scanning: looking at entire
environment and seeing what is or isn’t caretaker
3. Characteristic anxiety: stranger anxiety; curiosity
and fear
ii. Practicing (10  18 months)
1. Marked by mobility; elation and new
perspective; mother is home base
2. Characteristic anxiety: separation anxiety
iii. Rapprochement (18  24 months)
1. Toddler; more aware of physical separateness so
mood is dampened; brings objects to mother to
bridge gap between the two
2. Efforts to help child not perceived as helpful =
temper tantrums
3. Characteristic event: rapprochement crisis; wants
to be soothed by mother but unable to accept
her health
a. Resolution: skills improve and child gratified
about doing things on own
iv. Object Constancy (24 months  5 years)
1. Can cope with mother’s absence and knows she
will return; image of mother as reliable and stable
7. Discuss Piaget’s three-stage theory of moral development.
a. Morality: refers to a set of principles or ideals that help a
person distinguish right from wrong and guide one’s actions
when faced with dilemmas and problems
b. Questioned children about dilemmas related to violation of
game rules
c. Premoral Stage ( < 6 years)
i. Little, if any, concern for rules
d. Heteronomous morality (Ages 7  10)
i. Rules are set by authority figures and are unalterable
ii. Right or wrong? See if rule has been violated and what
the consequences of the act are
iii. Greater the negative consequences, the worse the act
e. Autonomous morality (Ages 11 +)
i. Morality of cooperation
ii. Rules are arbitrary and alterable when people agree to
change them
iii. Right or wrong? Focus on intention of the actor
8. Summarize the six stages of moral development according to
Lawrence Kohlberg.
a. Interviewed children by asking them questions about
dilemmas and analyzing reasoning behind their answers;
moral development is universal and invariant.
b. Level 1: Preconventional/Premoral ( <11 years); moral values
reside in external or in bad acts; responsible to rules but views
them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of
actions
i. Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation
1. Fear of authority or avoidance of punishment as
reason for behaving morally; focus is on rules and
consequences for breaking them
ii. Stage 2: Instrumental Hedonism/Self-Interest
1. Right action based on satisfying the self’s needs
and occasionally others; understands there are
different sides to an issue
2. Exchange and reciprocity: you do this for me
and I’ll do that for you.
c. Level II: Conventional/Role Conformity: (Age 11  Late
Adolescence), moral values reside in performing the right
role, maintaining conventional order and expectancies of
others; maintaining social order ensures positive relationships
i. Stage 3: Good boy/Good girl Orientation:
1. Orientation to approval, pleasing and helping
others; conformity to stereotypical images
2. I won’t do it because I want people to like me
ii. Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation:
1. Doing duty and showing respect for authority
and maintaining social order for its own sake;
don’t want to break law
2. Moral judgments based on rules and laws
established by legitimate authorities; concern
based on society as a whole
d. Level III: Postconventional/Self-Accepted Moral Principles:
(Late adolescence/Early adulthood), defined in terms of
conformity to shared standards; internal and action-decisions
are based on inner processes of thought and judgment
concerning right and wrong.
i. Stage 5: Contractual/Legalistic Orientation:
1. Right and wrong are defined in terms of laws with
rational basis
2. Morally right is consistent with democratically
determined laws (which can be changed if
interfere with basic rights)
3. Conflict arises: law prevails because of greater
functional rationality for society
ii. Stage 6: Morality of Universal Ethical Principles:
1. Orientation toward existing social rules and
toward conscience
2. Action controlled through internalized ideals that
exert a pressure to act accordingly regardless of
reactions
3. Act otherwise? Self-condemnation and guilt
result