Chapter 2: CHAPTER OUTLINE
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I.
Developmental theories and the
issues they raise
A. The Importance of Theories
1. Guides the collection of new information
a. what is most important to study
b. what can be hypothesized or predicted
c. how it should be studied
B. Qualities of a Good Theory
1. Internally consistent-- its different parts
are not contradictory
2. Falsifiable-- generates testable hypotheses
3. Supported by data-- describes, predicts, and
explains human development
C. Four Major Theories (psychoanalytic,
learning, cognitive developmental,
contextual/systems)
D. Nature/Nurture
1. Nature-- genetic/biological predisposition
2.
Nurture-- emphasis on experience/environmental impact
E. Goodness/Badness of Human Nature
1.
Hobbes-- children are selfish and bad and society must teach them to
behave in
civilized way
2. Rousseau-- children are innately good and
society must not interfere with
innate goodness
3. Locke-- child born neither good nor bad, but
like a tabula rasa or
“blank slate”
F. Activity and Passivity
1. Activity-- control over one’s development
2. Passive-- product of forces beyond one’s
control (environmental or biological)
G. Continuity/Discontinuity
1. Continuity-- gradual change (small steps)
2. Discontinuity-- abrupt change
3. Qualitative or quantitative change
a. qualitative-- changes in a degree
b. quantitative--
change in kind
c. developmental stages
part of discontinuity approach
H. Universality/Context-Specificity
1. Universality-- developmental change common to
everyone
2. Context-specific-- developmental changes vary
by individual/culture
II.
Freud:
Psychoanalytic theory
A. Sigmund Freud: Viennese Physician and
Founder of Psychoanalytic Theory
1.
Emphasis on motive and emotions of which we are unaware
2. Theory less influential than in the past
B. Instincts and Unconscious Motives
1. Instincts-- inborn biological forces that motivate
behavior
2.
Unconscious motivation-- instinctive and inner force influences beyond
our
awareness/control
3.
Emphasis on nature (biological instincts)
C. Id, Ego, and Superego
1. Id
a. all psychic energy
contained here
b. basic biological
urges
c. impulsive
d. seeks immediate
gratification
2. Ego
a. rational side of
personality
b. ability to
postpone pleasure
3. Superego
a. internalized moral
standards
b. perfection
principle (adhere to moral standards)
4. Id, ego and superego conflict
common/inevitable
5. Problems arise when level of psychic energy
unevenly distributed
D. Psychosexual Development
1. Importance of libido-- sex instinct’s energy
shifts body locations
2. Five stages of psychosexual development
a. oral stage
b. anal stage
c. phallic stage
d. latency period
e. genital stage
3. Conflict of id and social demands leads to
ego’s defense mechanisms
defense mechanisms-- unconscious coping
mechanisms of the ego
i.
fixation-- Development arrested
at early stage
ii.
regression-- Retreat to earlier stage
4.
Phallic stage--
Oedipus and Electra complexes (incestuous desire)
resolve by identifying with same-sex parent and
incorporating parent’s values into the super ego
5. Genital stage-- experienced during
puberty
a. conflict and distance from parents
b. greater capacity to love and have children in adulthood
c. teen pregnancy due to inability to manage sexual urges because
of
childhood experiences
E. Strengths and Weaknesses
1. Difficult to test and ambiguous
2.
Weak support for specific aspects of the theory (e.g., sexual seduction
by
parents)
3. Greater support for broad ideas
a. unconscious
motivation
b. importance of
early experience, especially parenting
III. Erikson: Neo-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory
A. Neo-Freudians-- Important Disciples of
Psychoanalytic Theory
1. Notable neo-Freudians: Jung, Horney, Sullivan, Anna Freud
2. Erikson is most
important life span neo-Freudian theorist
3. Erikson’s
differences with Freud
a. less emphasis on
sexual and more on social influences
b. less emphasis on
id, more on rational ego
c. more positive view
of human nature
d. more emphasis on
developmental changes in adulthood
B.
Psychosocial Development
1. Resolution of eight major psychosocial crises
a. trust versus
mistrust-- key is general responsiveness of caregiver
b. autonomy versus
shame-- terrible twos
c. initiative versus
guilt-- preschool sense of autonomy
d. industry versus
inferiority-- elementary age sense of mastery
e. identity versus
role confusion-- adolescence acquisition of identity
f. intimacy versus
isolation-- young adult commitment
g. generativity versus stagnation-- middle age sense of
having produced
something meaningful
h. integrity versus
despair-- elderly sense of life meaning and success
2. Personality strengths “ego virtues” developed
during stages
3.
Stage development due to biological maturation and environmental demands
4.
Teen pregnancy explained as due to weak ego or super ego (management of
sexual urges rooted in early childhood)
C. Strengths and Weaknesses
1.
Its emphases on rational, adaptive nature and social influences easier to
accept
2.
Captures some central development issues
3. Influenced thinking about adolescence and
beyond
4. Like Freud, vague and difficult to test
5. Provides description, but not adequate
explanation of development
IV. Learning theories
A. Watson: Classical Conditioning
1. Emphasis on behavioral change in response to
environmental stimuli
2.
Behaviorism-- belief that only observed behavior should be studied
3.
Rejected psychoanalytic theory and explained Freud using learning
principles
4. Conducted classical conditioning research
with colleague Rosalie Rayner
Watson and Rayner
condition infant “Albert” to fear rat
a. loud noise was
unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus
b. crying (fear) was
unconditioned (unlearned) response
c. white rat became
conditioned (learned) stimulus producing conditioned
response of
crying after it was paired with loud noise
5.
Classical conditioning involved when children learn to “love” caring
parents
6.
Reject stage conceptualization of development
7.
Learning is learning
B. Skinner:
Operant Conditioning
1.
In operant (instrumental) conditioning learning
thought to become more or less
probable depending on consequences
2.
Reinforcement-- consequences that strengthen a response (increase
probability
of future response)
3. Positive-- something added
a. positive
reinforcement-- something pleasant added in attempt to
strengthen
behavior
b. positive reinforcement best when continuous
4. Negative-- something removed
a. negative
reinforcement-- something unpleasant taken in attempt to
strengthen
behavior
5. Punishment-- consequences that suppress
future response
a. positive
punishment-- something unpleasant added in attempt to
weaken behavior
b. negative
punishment-- something pleasant taken in attempt to
weaken behavior
6. Extinction-- no consequence given and
behavior becomes less frequent
7. Skinner emphasized positive reinforcement in
child rearing
8. Physical punishment best used in specific
circumstances like…
a. administered
immediately following act
b. administered
consistently following offense
c. not overly harsh
d. accompanied by
explanation
e. administered by
otherwise affectionate person
f. combined with
efforts to reinforcement acceptable behaviors
9. Too little emphasis on role of cognitive
processes
C. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory
1. Humans’ cognitive abilities distinguish them from
animals-- can think about behavior and anticipate consequences
2. Observational learning (learning from models)
most important mechanism for
behavior change
3. Classic experiment using “Bobo”
doll showed that children could learn from
model
4. Vicarious reinforcement-- learner changes
behaviors based on consequences
observed being
given to a model
5. Human agency-- ways in which humans
deliberately exercise control over
environments and lives self-efficacy-- sense of one’s ability to control self or environment
6. Reciprocal determinism-- mutual influence of
individuals and social
environments determines behavior
7. Doubt the existence of stages
8.
View cognitive capacities as maturing over time
9.
Learning experiences differentiate development of child of same age
D. Strengths and Weaknesses of Learning Theory
1. Learning theories are precise and testable
2. Principles operate across the life span
3. Practical applications
4. Doesn't show that learning actually causes
observed developmental changes
5. Oversimplifies development by focusing on
experience and downplay biological influences
V.
Cognitive developmental theory
A. Jean Piaget Swiss
Scholar Greatly Influences Study of Intellectual Development in
Children
1. Emphasizes errors in thinking (wrong answers)
2. Argues that cognitive development is
qualitative in nature
B. Piaget's Constructivism
1. Constructivism-- active construction of
knowledge based on experience
2. Stage progression due to interaction of
biological maturation and environment
C.
Stages of Cognitive Development (sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational,
formal operations)
1. Sensorimotor stage
a. birth to age 2
b. deal with world
directly through perceptions and actions
c. unable to use
symbols
2. Preoperational stage
a. ages 2 to 7
b. capacity for
symbolic thought
c. lack tools of logical thought
d. cling to ideas they want to be true
3. Concrete operations stage
a. ages 7 to 11
b. use
trial-and-error strategy
c. perform mental
operations in their heads
d. difficulty with
abstract and hypothetical concepts
4. Formal operations stage
a. ages 11 and later
b. think abstractly
and can formulate hypotheses
c. can devise “grand
theories” about others
D. Strengths and Weaknesses
1. Pioneer with long lasting impact
2. Many of Piaget’s concepts accepted (e.g.,
children active in own development)
3. Influential in education and child rearing
practices
4. Too little emphasis on motivation and emotion
5. Questioning of stage model
6. Underestimated children’s cognitive skills
VI. Contextual/Systems Theories
A. Changes Over Life Span Arise from Ongoing Transactions and Mutual
Influences
Between Organism and Changing World No
single end-point to development
B. Vygotsky: A Sociocultural
Perspective
1. Russian psychologist who took issue with
Piaget
2.
Sociocultural perspective-- development shaped
by organism growing in culture
3.
Tools of a culture impact development
4. Cognitive development is social process
5. Children co-construct knowledge through
social dialogues with others
6. Paid too little attention to biology
C. Gottlieb: An Evolutionary/Epigenetic Systems
View
1. Some contextual/systems theories have arisen
from work by evolutionary
biologists
a. influenced by
b. genes aid in adapting to the environment
2.
Ethology-- study evolved behavior of species
in natural environment
a. birdsongs in the wild
b. species-specific behavior of humans
3.
Evolutionary/epigenetic systems perspective of Gottlieb
a. evolution has endowed us with genes
b. predisposition to develop in certain direction
genes do not dictate, make some outcomes more probable
c. Gottleib’s emphases:
i.
activity of gene
ii.
activity of
neuron
iii. organism’s
behavior
iv. environmental
influences
d. interaction between genes and environmental factors
e. instinctive behaviors may not be expressed if
environmental conditions
do not exist
i.
duckling vocalizations
ii. baby rats seeking
water
f. normal development
is combination of normal genes and normal early
experience
g. experience can
influence genetic activity and change course of
development
i.
mice chewing and impact on genes
ii. lactose tolerance higher in cultures with dairy farming
tradition
h. difficult to predict outcome (multifactor
influence)
i. view people in continual flux and change is inevitable
C. Strengths and Weaknesses
1.
Complex like human development
2.
Cannot predict outcome (wide range of paths)
VII. Theories in Perspective
A. Stage Theorists: Freud, Erikson,
Piaget
1. Development guided in universal direction
2. Influenced by biological/maturational forces
B. Learning Theorists: Watson, Skinner, Bandura
1. Emphasis on influence of environment
2. Deliberate steps taken by parents to shape
development
C. Contextual and Systems Theorists: Vygotsky, Gottleib
1. Focus on dynamic relationship between person
and environment
2. Focus on impact of both biology and
environment
3. Potential exists for qualitative and
quantitative change
4. Developmental pathways depend on interplay of
internal and external
influences
D. Changing World Views
1. Our understanding of human development is
ever changing
2. Contextual/systems theories prevalent today
3. Less extreme, but more complex positions