Kohlberg, Piaget, Freud stages of development

Laurence Kohlberg (1927-1987)

a 20th century psychologist known primarily for his research into moral psychology and development. He was a professor at Harvard University.

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget's stage-based theory of development

Kohlberg stages of moral development were influenced by

six distinct stages of moral reasoning

Lawrence Kohlberg formulated a theory asserting that individuals progress through how many stages

pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional

Kohlberg grouped these stages into three broad categories of moral reasoning. What are these categories

Cognitive development

Kohlberg suggested that people move through these stages in a fixed order and that moral understanding is linked to

1. One must progress through stages in order

2. Subjects cannot comprehend moral reasoning at a stage higher than theirs

3. Individuals are cognitively attracted to reasoning one level above their own

4. Movement thorough stages is affected when cognitive disequilibrium is created

5. Movement thorough stages is affected when cognitive disequilibrium is created

6. 25% of persons ever grow to level six, the majority remaining at level four..

Key Points to keep in mind in stages of moral development

Obedience and punishment orientation (Infancy- toddler 1-3 years old)

make decisions based on the consequences of their actions, and they obey rules to avoid punishment. They believe that actions are right or wrong based on whether they are punished.

Preconventional Level

earliest level of moral development; at this level, self-interest and event outcomes determine what is moral

Individualism & exchange (preschooler 4-7 years old)

Children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs.

Conventional level

second level of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory, where moral reasoning is based on society's norms

Establishing Interpersonal Relationship (School Age 7-10 years old)

Focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice" and consideration of how choices influence relationships

Law and social order (School Age 10-12 years old)

People begin to consider society as a whole when making judgements. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following rules, doing one's duty, and respecting authority.

Postconventional level

highest stage of moral development; at this level, decisions about morality depend on abstract principles and the value of all life

Social contract & individual rights (adolescent)

People begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but members of the society should agree upon these standards

Universal ethical principle (adulthood)

Kohlberg's final level of moral reasoning is based upon universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. At this stage, people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.

psychosexual stages of development

stages of child development in which a child's pleasure-seeking urges are focused on specific areas of the body called erogenous zones

erogenous zone

characterized as an area of the body that is particularly sensitive to stimulation.

Psychosexual energy or libido

described as the driving force behind behavior

Libido

a term used in psychoanalytic theory to describe the energy created by survival and sexual instincts. It is part of the id and is the driving force of all behavior. it represented all psychic energy and not just sexual energy

Fixation

a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage. Until this conflict is resolved, the individual will remain "stuck" in this stage

Oral Stage (birth-1 year)

the infant's primary source of interaction occurs through the mouth, so the rooting and sucking reflex is especially important. The mouth is vital for eating, and the infant derives pleasure from oral stimulation through gratifying activities such as tasting and sucking.

weaning process

primary conflict of the oral stage

drinking, eating, smoking, or nail-biting

Oral fixation can result in problems with

Anal Stage (1-3 years)

•Freud believed that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements.

toilet training

Major conflict during the anal stage.

competent, productive, and creative adults

Freud believed that positive experiences during the toilet training stage serve as the basis for people to become

anal-expulsive personality

individual has a messy, wasteful, or destructive personality when parents take an approach that is too lenient

anal-retentive personality

•the individual is stringent, orderly, rigid, and obsessive when parents are too strict or begin toilet training too early

Phallic Stage (3-6 years)

the primary focus of the libido is on the genitals. At this age, children also begin to discover the differences between males and females.​

Oedipus complex

a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Electra complex

Conflict during phallic stage in which girls supposedly love their fathers romantically and want to eliminate their mothers as rivals

castration anxiety

the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers

Penis envy

In psychoanalytic theory, the wish for a penis that is assumed to ensue normally in females as part of the Electra complex.

Latent Period (6 to Puberty)

During this stage, the superego continues to develop while the id's energies are suppressed. Children develop social skills, values, and relationships with peers and adults outside of the family. a time of exploration in which the sexual energy is repressed or dormant. This energy is still present, but it is sublimated into other areas such as intellectual pursuits and social interactions. This stage is important in the development of social and communication skills and self-confidence

id,

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Genital stage (Puberty to Death)

onset of puberty causes the libido to become active once again. During the final stage of psychosexual development, the individual develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. This stage begins during puberty but last throughout the rest of a person's life.

Developmental Stages

marked by distinct thinking patterns, progressing from infancy to adolescence.

Constructivist Approach to Learning

Children actively build understanding by exploring their environment as "little scientists," rather than passively absorbing information.

Schemas

Mental frameworks for organizing information, growing in number and complexity as children develop, enabling deeper world understanding.

Assimilation

Integration of new information into existing schemas

Accommodation

Modifying existing schemas or creating new ones to fit new information.

Equilibration

Process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to progress through cognitive stages, resolving conflicts and shifting to new thought patterns

biological maturation and interaction with the environment

child development is determined by

sensorimotor stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Basic Reflexes (0-1mo)

Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)

Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months)

Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)

Representational thought (18-24 months)

Sub-stages of sensorimotor stage

Basic Reflexes (0-1mo)

automatic responses we were born with such as sucking, grasping, and rooting.

circular

denotes the repeated nature of an action that a baby finds pleasurable or interesting.

Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)

centered on the baby's own body, rather than the external environment. primarily driven by needs connected to reflexes, such as sucking, rooting, and grasping, without the emergence of needs related to future goals.

Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)

infants become more focused on the external world and begin to repeat actions that produce enjoyable or interesting results in their environment. become increasingly interested in manipulating objects and observing the consequences of their actions, demonstrating a growing sense of agency

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months)

Infants begin to combine and coordinate separate actions into more complex sequences, marking the start of intentional and goal-directed behavior. children show the ability to carry out actions with a specific goal in mind

Intentional behavior, Problem-solving, Understanding of relationships

The coordination of secondary circular reaction marks a crucial step towards:

Intentional behavior

The infant's ability to coordinate schemas to achieve a desired goal demonstrates a clear shift towards intentional, goal-directed action.

Problem-solving

The infant's capacity to overcome obstacles and utilize intermediaries showcases their developing problem-solving skills, relying on the flexible combination and adaptation of existing knowledge

Understanding of relationships

The infant's growing ability to understand spatial, causal, and temporal relationships between objects and actions lays the foundation for more complex cognitive representations of the world.

Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)

•Are characterized by the infant's deliberate attempts to discover new properties and effects associated with objects, moving beyond the mere repetition and generalization of known outcomes. •driven by an intrinsic interest in novelty, seeking to understand the "how" and "why" of an object's behavior. •infants engage in experimental interactions with their environment through trial-and-error behaviors.

Experimentation and the Search for Novelty, Gradation and Variation of Actions, Focus on the Object's Properties

Key characteristics of tertiary circular reactions:

Experimentation and the Search for Novelty

The infant intentionally varies their actions to observe the different effects produced on objects, actively seeking to understand the unique properties and causal relationships inherent in the object, such as gravity and trajectory.

Gradation and Variation of Actions

Tertiary circular reactions involve a systematic modulation of actions to observe the corresponding changes in the object's behavior. This reflects a growing awareness of the potential for variation in the causal relationships between actions and effects.

Focus on the Object's Properties

The infant's attention shifts from the action itself to the inherent qualities and potentialities of the object, seeking to uncover its hidden properties and understand its behavior as an independent entity. This signifies a growing objectification of causality, recognizing the object as a source of autonomous activity and causal effects.

Representational (symbolic) Thought (18-24 months)

signifies a child's ability to form mental representations of objects or events that aren't currently present, and object permanence marks a cognitive leap, setting the foundation for later stages of conceptual and abstract thinking.

object permanence

This development enables activities like pretend play and the use of symbols, indicating an understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight, a concept known as .

Preopereational Stage (2-7 years old)

stage of cognitive development in which children learn language and begin to think symbolically. develop memory and imagination, learn to imitate and engage in make-believe or pretend play

symbolic thought

main goal of preoperational stage

Concrete Operational (7-11 years old)

Child begin to develop an understanding of the outside world and other's perception. use logical operations when problem-solving. This includes inductive reasoning, going from specific to the general, and mastering conservation.

conservation

concept that the value or mass of an object doesn't change even if it is altered in some way.

Formal Operational (12 years old+)

Adolescents develop abstract logical and moral reasoning. They start to analyze their environment and move beyond concrete facts. They learn to make hypotheses, understand theories and grasp abstract concept like morality and beauty.

egocentric

have little awareness of others and think everything is connected to themselves. They aren't able to grasp the idea that others can think differently.