Psychology Exam 4

Discontinuous theories of development

Says growth occurs in shifts; “discrete”

Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg

Continuous theories of development

Development via accumulation; behaviorists, information processors, socioculturalists

Discontinuous vs continuous & legitimacy

Continuous is considered more legitimate in modern psychology; hard to map human development onto concrete phases & cultural biases can play a part. However, discontinuous is not considered illegitimate as a necessity.. look at Tanner’s stages of puberty

Piaget’s Stages of Development

Sensorimotor stage (~0-2 yr)

Object permanence (if object not in vision, still exists) develops

Preoperational stage (~2-7 yr)

Symbolic thinking (cat related to physical cat & photo of cat) develops

Concrete operational stage (~7-11 yr)

Perspective taking (thinking in other’s shoes) + conservation (understanding of volume and mass) develops

Formal operational stage (~12 yr)

Abstract thinking (democracy, justice, virtue, etc) and ability to deal with hypotheticals develops

Kohlberg’s Moral Development

Stages of moral evolution in a person; consists of pre-conventional, conventional and post conventional

Stages of Kohlberg’s Moral Development

Pre-conventional:

Associated w/ children; avoid punishment and promote self-interest

Conventional:

Associated w/ adults and teens; concerned with social esteem and being a “good citizen”, expectations

Post-conventional:

Associated w/ adults; focus on morals and virtue.. a personal moral compass on what is right as well as flexible thinking, obviously affected by culture

Attachment theory

Developed by Bowlby & Ainsworth (1950s), posits that emotional bonds of infants affect how people relate to others, although it is malleable and can change (ex: 30% changed in 4 yrs)

Secure attachment

High consistency and responsiveness; comfortable with connection and trusts caregiver/partner

Anxious attachment

Low consistency and high responsiveness; desires connection but feels uncertain of care

Avoidant attachment

High consistency and low responsiveness; adapts to lack of emotional availability by becoming distant and avoiding closeness

Disorganized attachment

Low consistency & low responsiveness; usually a result of abuse, want to read more on notes to add on

Parenting Style Theory (who created?)

Consists of permissive, authoritative, uninvolved and authoritarian; argues parenting falls into these four categories. Authoritative recommended by experts but also associated with Western bias

Permissive Parenting “Whatever you want”

High responsiveness & high permissiveness; child leads and parent follows essentially

Authoritative Parenting “Let’s discuss this”

High responsiveness & low permissiveness; high expectations and involvement.. maximum use of positive reinforcement and minimum negative reinforcement. Pushes children to do well while being emotionally involved

Uninvolved Parenting “Idc”

High permissiveness and low responsiveness; child basically does what they want with little involvement, parent isn’t trying to please them however

Authoritarian Parenting “I said so!”

Low responsiveness & low permissiveness; parent has high expectations but isn’t emotionally involved per se, high negative reinforcement and low positive reinforcement

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Essentially says that development consists of having existential conflicts to resolve as you develop; ex: “Can I develop close relationships?” related to virtue of love, which would be “capacity for close connection”