Social Development

What are the four main categories of social development theories?

Psychoanalytic, learning, social cognition, and ecological theories.

What are key themes across social development theories?

Nature vs nurture, active child, continuity vs discontinuity, mechanisms of change, sociocultural context, individual differences

What do psychoanalytic theories focus on?

Unconscious processes, internal conflicts, and early experiences shaping personality

Who are the main psychoanalytic theorists?.

Freud and Erikson.

What is Freud’s main idea?

Development occurs through psychosexual stages driven by biological instincts.

What are Freud’s five stages?

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

What is the oral stage?

(0–1) Pleasure from oral activities like sucking and feeding

What is the anal stage?

(1–3) Focus on control (e.g., toilet training)

What is the phallic stage?

(3–6) Awareness of gender differences; identification with same-sex parent.

What is the latency stage?

(6–12) Sexual urges are repressed; focus on social and academic skills

What is the genital stage?

(12+) Sexual maturity and relationships.

What is fixation?

Being stuck in a stage, leading to later problems in adulthood

What is Erikson’s main idea?

Development occurs through psychosocial conflicts across the lifespan.

What is the first Erikson stage?

Trust vs mistrust (infancy).

What happens in trust vs mistrust?

Reliable care → trust; inconsistent care → mistrust.

What is autonomy vs shame and doubt?

(1–3) Independence vs feeling ashamed of failures.

What is initiative vs guilt?

(4–6) Taking initiative vs feeling guilty about actions

What is industry vs inferiority?

(6–puberty) Competence vs feeling inadequate

What is identity vs role confusion?

(Adolescence) Forming identity vs confusion about self

What is behaviourism?

Focus on observable behaviour shaped by environment

Who was John B. Watson?

Founder of behaviourism; emphasized environmental control.

What did the Little Albert experiment show?

Fear can be classically conditioned.

What is stimulus generalization?

Fear spreads to similar stimuli

What is operant conditioning?

Behaviour is shaped by reinforcement and punishment

Who developed operant conditioning?

B.F. Skinner.

What is reinforcement?

Anything that increases a behaviour.

Why is intermittent reinforcement powerful?

It makes behaviours more persistent.

What is behaviour modification?

Using reinforcement to change behaviour.

What is Bandura’s main idea?

Children learn through observation, not just reinforcement

What did the Bobo Doll experiment show?

Children imitate aggressive behaviour they observe.

What is observational learning?

Learning by watching others.

What is reciprocal determinism?

Child and environment influence each other

What is self-socialization?

Children actively shape their own development.

What is Selman’s theory?

Development of role-taking ability (understanding others’ perspectives).

What is Dodge’s theory?

Children interpret social cues; hostile bias → aggression

What is hostile attribution bias?

Assuming others have harmful intentions.

What is a growth mindset?

Belief abilities can improve with effort.

What is a fixed mindset?

Belief abilities are unchangeable.

What is mastery orientation?

Focus on learning and improvement.

What is self-worth orientation?

Focus on appearing competent to others.

What is ethology?

Study of behaviour from an evolutionary perspective.

What is imprinting?

Early attachment during a sensitive period.

What is Bowlby’s theory?

Attachment is biologically based and important for survival.

What is Bronfenbrenner’s theory?

Development occurs within nested environmental systems.

What are the systems in Bronfenbrenner’s model?

Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem.

What is the chronosystem?

Time and changes over the lifespan.

How do psychoanalytic and learning theories differ?

Psychoanalytic = internal/unconscious
Learning = observable behaviour/environment

How do learning and social cognition theories differ?

Learning = passive child
Social cognition = active child

Which theories emphasize the active child?

Social cognition and ecological theories

Which theories emphasize nature?

Psychoanalytic and ethological.

Which emphasize nurture?

Learning theories.

Explain the Little Albert experiment.

The Little Albert experiment was a study conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920, aimed at demonstrating classical conditioning in humans. They conditioned a young boy named Albert to fear a white rat by repeatedly pairing the animal with a loud, frightening noise, leading to widespread fear of not only the rat but other similar stimuli.
A baby was conditioned to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise, showing emotional conditioning.

Explain the Bobo Doll experiment

Children observed aggressive adults and later imitated that behaviour, showing learning through observation.

How does environment influence development in learning theories?

Through reinforcement, punishment, and observation

How does Bronfenbrenner explain development?

Through interactions between multiple environmental systems.

How do early experiences affect development in psychoanalytic theory?

They shape personality and future relationships

Explain the difference between Freud and Erikson.

Freud focused on biological drives; Erikson focused on social conflicts.

Explain why intermittent reinforcement is powerful.

Because unpredictable rewards make behaviours harder to stop.

Explain how children are “active agents.”

They choose environments, interpret experiences, and shape their own development.

Explain why social learning theory was important.

It showed learning occurs without direct reinforcement.

Explain Bronfenbrenner’s contribution.

He showed development is influenced by multiple interacting systems, not just one factor.

Freud stages shortcut:

Oral → Anal → Phallic → Latency → Genital
(O A P L G)

Erikson key idea:

Each stage = crisis that shapes personality

Learning theories:

Watson = fear
Skinner = reward
Bandura = copy

Bronfenbrenner:

Think “circles around the child”