Theories on Development
Chapter 6
Pages 191-233
Theories on
development
Emotional
Bowlby &
Ainsworth
Attachment
theory
Cognitive
Jean Piaget
Four stage
theory
Psychosocial
Moral
Erik Erikson
Lawrence
Kohlberg
Eight stage
theory
Six stage
theory
EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Emotional Development
Attachment Theory
Looks at the close social and emotional bond that
develops between an infant and the care
givers/parents (attachment)
At around 6-8months babies show a strong
preference for their mother and if they are
separated from them then they show signs
of separation anxiety. (emotional distress
experienced when the infant is separated
from who they have formed a bond with)
Harlow and Rhesus Monkeys.
Why do babies form an attachment to their mothers?
Harlow believed it was because she was the one that feeds
them. He decided to investigate on Rhesus monkeys.
He found that his “feeding hypothesis was not supported”
Monkeys preferred the cloth mother over the wire mother
despite the wire mother providing the food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU9jKlNK1Qc&feature=rel
ated
3min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I&feature=rel
ated
5min
John Bowlby
Attachment theory
John Bowlby provided a new approach. Believed
that attachment had a strong biological basis.
Infants are programmed to display certain
behaviours such as smiling, clinging which
leads to an affectionate protective adult
response. Adults are hardwired to be
attracted to this behaviour. Bowlby came up
with an attachment process that occurs in
infants
John Bowlby
How infants attach to their carers over time. Each behaviour is
shared with an adult response which makes the attachment
stronger.
Age
Infant behaviour
Adult response
0-newborn
Crying
Care and sympathy
4-6 weeks
Social smiling
Joy and pleasure
3-4 months
Anger, surprise, sadness
Reinforces connection with
parents
5-7 months
Fear
Continues to reinforce
connection
6 months
Happy greeting (smiles,
arms to parents)
Consolidates parent
connection
6-8 months
Shame and shyness
Consolidates parents
connection
• Is there anything wrong with
these strong bonds that are
formed???
• As a consequence of these strong bonds when a
parent needs to leave the infant becomes
distressed. This is known as separation anxiety.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6QtuU1L_A8
30sec
• There are different phases of attachment
according to Bowlby.
1
2
3
4
Phase name
Pre-attachment Critical periodattachment in
the making
Clear-cut
attachment
Coal directed
partnership
Age in months
0-2
2-6
6-48
>48
behaviours
•Dont
discriminate
between
different
people
•Dont mind
being left alone
with unfamiliar
people
•Preference for
humans.
•Direct signals
to certain
people
•Recognise
their parents
•Separation
anxiety
•Children
predict and
accept the
comings and
going of
parents.
•Separation
anxiety
decreases.
Bowlby’s Findings
• Infants need to develop a secure dependence
before launching out on their own
explorations.
• To grow up mentally healthy the infant should
experience a warm, intimate and continuous
relationship with his/her mother.
Mary Ainsworth
• Wanted to look at
1. How does attachment occur?
2. Are there different types of attachment?
3. What are the long term effects of
attachment?
1) How does attachment occur?
It occurs gradually over time. As they become
more attached then they show stronger signs
of distress when the carer leaves.
To study an infants reaction to being separated
Ainsworth developed a technique called the
Strange Situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTsewNrHU
HU
3min15
2) Different Types of attachment.
1. Secure attachment: most common type (65%). Care
giver responds to the infant appropriately and consistently
to ensure that the infant believes the mum will be
available and responsive.
2. Resistant attachment: accounts for 10% of
attachments. Babies anxious even when mum is around.
Protest when she leaves and cant be comforted easily
when she returns. Care give not consistent in responding
to the infants needs.
3. Avoidant attachment: accounts for 25% of
attachments. Babies seek little contact from mum and
isn’t distressed when she leaves. Can be with the care
giver of a stranger. Caregiver is usually inconsistent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwAcOw2QZ8
6min
What causes theses differences in attachment?
There are three things that cause these
differences..
1. Care giver factors.
2. Role played by the infant.
3. External factors (family circumstances)
Page 198.
3) Effects of Attachment Deprivation
• Impacts on emotional development, mental
illness, depression and delinquency.
• Can be short or long term.
Impact of healthy Attachments.
• Become more resilient, competent with high self
esteem.
• Experience more positive emotions
• Advanced cognitive development
• Healthier relationships in adulthood.
Cognitive
Development
Cognitive Development:
transitions in patterns of thinking
including reasoning, remembering
and problem solving.
This is why children think differently from adults.
Jean Piaget
• Piaget proposed a stage approach to children’s cognitive
development.
• He believed thought processes go through a series of changes
across four different stages. At each stage thinking matures as
the child comes to understand and utilise new information.
Everyone goes through each stage however the rate may differ
from one person to the next.
STAGES:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sensorimotor
Pre-operational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Assimilation and Accommodation
How infants come to an understanding of the world. Children create
thinking frameworks (mental patterns also called schemas). These are
the building blocks of intelligent behaviour that helps them
understand the world around them. These frameworks (schemas) are
developed via the process of assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation: taking in NEW information and incorporating it into our
existing ideas. The world is fitted in to what the child already knows.
Accommodation: altering your existing ideas (OLD) as a result of new
information.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQur-Y_BJY
1min16
Using these two processes children move through the four stages of
cognitive development.
Piaget’s model
Stage
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Description
Sensorimotor
Pre-operational Concrete
operational
Formal
operational
Typical ages
Birth -2 years
2-7 years
7-11 years
11 through to
adulthood.
Cognitive
changes
Coordination
of sensory
input and
motor
responses
Development
of symbolic
thought
Mental
operations
applied to
concrete
events
Mental
operations
applied to
abstract ideas
Key
developments
*Object
permanence
*Conservation
*Irreversibility
*Centration
*Egocentrism
*Reversibility
*Decentration
*Hierarchical
classificaton
*Logical,
systematic and
abstract
thinking
Sensorimotor stage
Object permanence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKZ9IPRKkkU
Pre-operational stage:
Conservation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o
Centration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXSI-D75r48
Egocentrism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0
Concrete operational stage
Reversibility
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA04ew6Oi9M
Formal operational stage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw36PpYPPZM
Evaluating Piaget’s Work
• There is lots of research to support his theory.
• His theory has inspired many others
• His theory has been applied to educational
settings which has changed the way children
are taught at school. He has provided valuable
information about when to teach certain
concepts and how to teach them.
Criticisms.
• Underestimated children’s development.
• Mixing across the stages.
• The timing for each stage varies so children
don’t always pass through each stage at a set
age.
• His observations were biased.
• Small sample size (his own children)
• Tests may have been culturally biased.
Psychosocial
Development
ERIKSONS 8 STAGE MODEL
Erikson divided life into 8 psychosocial stages.
Psychosocial stage: 8 stages in which the individuals
major goal is to satisfy desires related to social needs.
Each stage characterises a psychosocial crisis.
Psychosocial Crisis: a challenge in each of Erikson’s
stages that a person must deal with in order to develop
positive traits in the future. If you do not handle the
crisis then negative traits will appear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvAwAzlWH
ek&feature=related
4min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59JvdLlBA&feature=related
2min
Evaluating Erikson’s Theory
• His theory shows how social situations stimulate
personality development by dealing with
challenges linked to certain periods of a person’s
life.
• His descriptions don’t explain the enormous
personality differences that exist between
people.
• His concepts like trust and autonomy are hard to
test.
• His work has been very influential.
Moral
Developm
ent
Bob’s wife is dying of cancer and the drug to
help her costs $200,000. Bob cant afford this
and no one will help him. Without the drug
she will die.
He breaks into the pharmacy and steals the
drug.
Should Bob have done this? Why/why not?
Moral Development
Morals: A person's standards of behaviour or
beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable
for them to do
Moral development: the change in moral
behaviour over time.
Morality: the ability to distinguish right from
wrong and to behave accordingly.
Was what Bob did right or wrong??
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stage Theory
• Looks at how people acquire a sense of right
and wrong.
• Kohlberg’s theory is based on the idea that
people progress through three levels of moral
development.
• Each level is divided in 2 stages.
• Everybody needs to go through the 6 stages in
order and no stage can be skipped over.
Kohlberg’s Levels
Level 1:Pre-conventional
Consists of stage 1 and 2. Concerned with the self. Judge
morality by consequences.
Level 2: Conventional
Consists of stage 3 and 4. Moral reasoning determined
by conformity.
Level 3: Post-conventional
Consists of stage 5 and 6. Decide on a personal set of ethics.
Moral thinking is more flexible. Stage 5 reasoning is
determined by careful consideration. Stage 6 reasoning is
determined by principles that are abstract, emphasising
equity and justice.
Level of Moral
Development
Pre-conventional Level
Conventional Level
Post-conventional
Level
Stages
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Life stage
children
children
Many
adolescents and
adults
Many
adolescents
and adults
Some adults
reach this
level
Very few
adults reach
this level.
Orientation
Punishment
and
obedience
Naive rewardrelated to self
Mutual
interpersonal
expectations,
relationships
and conformity
Authority law
and order
Social
contact/
individual
rights
Individual
principles
and
conscience
Key features about
right and wrong
Determined
by what is
punished.
Punishment
provides info
about what is
wrong
Determined
by what is
rewarded
Determined by
close other’s
approval or
disapproval
Determined by
society’s
rules/laws to be
obeyed
Determined
by society’s
rules/laws
which are
viewed as
fallible
rather than
absolutelaws should
be obeyed
Determined
by abstract
ethical
principles
that
emphasise
quality and
justice.
Bobs life example.
Bob should no
steal –he will
go to jail
He should
steal to save
his wife. But
he will go to
jail to pay the
price.
He should steal.
What is
expected of him
from family.
Should not steal
because of the
effect on
society. What if
everybody
decided to do
He should
steal the
drug. Life is
more
important
than money
He should
steal. Life is
important.
His wife’s life
is very
important.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7pQJ0ptjk
0
4min30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL3ADOS6Xs
Y
5min30
Evaluating Kohlberg.
• Supported by research
• As children get older moral reasoning alters in a
predicted direction.
• First four stages have been found in other cultures.
Concerns:
• Most people never reach level6
• Some people may skip stages or go in reverse order.
• Too biased towards males
• Mixing of stages.
homework
• Activities:
6.3 all
6.7 all
6.9 all
6.11 questions 1,2,3,4,6