Unit 1: Developmental Theories

Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Pavlov, Skinner, Maslow, and Brenner's theories on human growth and development

What is Freud’s structure of Personality?

Freud’s structure of personality focuses on how our minds is divided into 3 components:

• The ID

• SUPEREGO

• EGO

Conscious

is our present self. It’s our ability to be aware of ourselves and our current situation. By being aware, we are responding to our surroundings.

Pre-Conscious

is related to parts of the mind that are not currently in use. Our memories and emotions are there and can be recalled if needed. 

Unconscious

is related to the part of the mind which is inaccessible. It is often defined as a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness.

The ID (desire)

• consists of our instinctive urges

• these include: bodily needs, sexual desire, and aggressive impulses

• Operates in accordance with the pleasure principle: it wants immediate gratification

SUPEREGO (pre-conscious)

• The superego seeks to control the satisfaction of the id’s impulses, but only permits gratification under certain conditions

• The superego is concerned with morality, it can tell right from wrong

• The superego only permits the gratification of the id’s impulses when it is morally correct.

EGO (Partially conscious)

• The ego’s task is to hold the id in check until conditions exist that are appropriate for satisfying its impulse

• Operates in accordance with the reality principal: it considers the consequences of actions and seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize consequences

Psycho sexual Developmental Theory

Freud believes that personality develops through five childhood stages - oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital - where the libido (pleasure seeking energy) focuses on specific erogenous zones.

Key Components of Psychosexual Developmental Theory

Libido: The natural, instinctual energy that drives behaviour

Fixation: Occurs when a child is overindulged or frustrated, causing the libido to remain “stuck” at a certain stage

Conflict: Each stage presents a conflict between instinctual drives and social expectations

Oral Phase (0 - 1)

Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. 

Focuses on the mouth (sucking, eating)

Conflict: Weaning

Fixation: Smoking, dependency, nail biting

Personality: overly dependant, gullible

Anal Phase (1 - 3)

Too much pressure can result in an excessive need for order or cleanliness later in life, while too little pressure can lead to messy or destructive behavior later in life

Focus is on the bowel/bladder control

Conflict: Toilet training

Fixation: Obsessive tidiness or extreme messiness

Personality: OCD, dirty and messy life

Phallic Phase (3 - 6)

Freud suggested that the primary focus of the id’s energy is on the genitals. Boys develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother, and envies his father. Females are initially attached to her mother. When she discovers that she does not have a penis, she then blames her mother for her own “castration”. She then emulates her mother out of fear of losing her love.

Focus is on genitals

Conflict: Oedipus/Electra complex

Personality: To cope with this complex, children adopt the values and characteristics of the same sex parent.

Latency Phase (6 - puberty)

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. Mostly interact with same sex peers. 

Focuses on sexual impulses being repressed and channelled into school, friendships, and hobbies

Genital Phase (Puberty - death)

Relationships are formed with a love interest. If development has been successful to this point, the individual will continue to develop into a well balanced person. 

Focus is on sexual energy reawakening and directed towards appropriate, mature, opposite - sex relationships.

Oedipus Complex

Freud suggested that the primary focus of the id’s energy is on the genitals. Boys develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother, and envies his father. 

Electra Complex

Females are initially attached to her mother. When she discovers that she does not have a penis, she then blames her mother for her own “castration”. She then emulates her mother out of fear of losing her love.

Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust (0 - 18 months)

• Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability care, and affection

• A lack of this will lead to mistrust

• Important event: feeding

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt (2 - 3 years)

• Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence

• Success leads to feeling of independence failure results in feeling of shame and doubt

• Important event: toilet training

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt (3 - 5 years)

• Children need to assert themselves by initiating activities and play

• They need to test their ability to lead

• Success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose

• Children who are too assertive experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt

• Important event: exploration (leads to being creative and naturally testing ability to lead and initiate

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (6 - 11 years)

• Children need to cope with new social and academic demands

• Success leads to taking pride in one's skills and competencies while failure results in comparing themselves unfavourably to others

• Important Event: School

Stage 5: Identity vs. Role confusion (12 - 18)

• Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity

• To help form this teens may experiment with different activities and behaviors

• Success leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self.

• Important event: Social relationships

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (19 - 40)

• Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people

• Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation

• Important Event: Relationships

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Self-Absorption (40 - 65)

• Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having  children or creating a positive change that benefits other people

• Success leads to feeling of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure results in shallow involvement in the world

• Important Event: Work and Parenthood

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair (65+)

• Older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment

• Success at this stage leads to feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair

• Important Event: Reflection on life

Ego Identity

Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction.

Sensorimotor Stage (0 - 2)

• Infants knowledge of the world is limited to their sensory perceptions and motor activities

• Children utilize skills and abilities they were born with such as looking, touching, sucking, and listening, to learn more about their environment

• They intentionally move their body to interact with their environment

• By 8 months, they acquire object permanence - objects continue to exist even when out of sight

Preoperational Stage (2 - 7)

• This stage begins when children develop language and begin to think in words and start to develop symbolic play (e.g. school, house, princess, superheroes)

• Egocentric- they have difficulty understanding other peoples perspectives

Lack Conservation - the understanding that Physical attributes of an object stay the same even though its appearance has changed

Concrete Operational Stage (7 - 11)

• At the beginning of this stage, most children understand conservation

• They understand reversibility or awareness that actions can be reversed

• They can group in many categories

Formal Operational Stage (12+)

• During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts; ability to hypothesize

• Individuals are able to strategize and plan

• Able to  quickly plan an organized approach to solving a problem

Pavlov’s Dog

• During his research he discovered that the dogs could be conditioned to react

• Started ringing a bell every time the food was placed in front of the dog

• Dog would salivate

• Eventually Pavlov would just ring the bell without food being present and the dog would salivate regardless

• He conditioned the dog to react (salivate) at the sound of the bell because the dog associated the bell with food

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a specific response without any prior learning.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

The unlearned, naturally occurring reflex response to the unconditional stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

An originally neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response to the previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.

Skinner’s operant conditioning

• Classical conditioning does not explain all kinds of behavior

• Reward or positive reinforcement is crucial in bringing about DESIRED BEHAVIOR

• Punishment or negative reinforcement may also DISCOURAGE UNDESIRABLE BEHAVIOR

• Rewards are more effective than punishment

  • Once a threat is removed, undesirable behavior may return and it does not indicate what behavior is desired

Operant Conditioning:

• Neutral oparants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of behaviour being repeated

• Reinforcer’s: responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated. Reinforcer’s can be either positive or negative

• Punishers: response from the environment that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Punishment Weakens Behavior.

Skinner Box

Skinner studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a “Skinner box”. 

Positive Reinforcement:

• Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box

• The box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately, a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever

• The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The consequences of receiving food in they pressed the lever ensured that they would repeat the action again and again  

• Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding

Negative Reinforcement

• Skinner showed how negative reinforcement worked by placing a rat in his skinner box then subjecting it to an unpleasant electric current which caused it some discomfort.

• As the rat moved around the box with the electric current, it would accidentally knock the lever.. This allowed the rat was able to switch off the electric current

• The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in a box.

• The consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would repeat the action and again.

Ecological Perspective

• Looks at behavior in terms of the impact of society, including social policy, technological change, or cultural diversity

  • Example: economic uncertainty in a country impacts unemployment, family conflict, educational choices

• Combines systems theory and developmental theory

• A useful approach to examine the impact of social change and policies on individuals and families

Microsystem (Direct)

• The immediate, direct environment with which the person interacts, such as family, school, peers, and neighbourhood

• This system helps shape a person's development in that a person have direct contact with them at all times

• The nature of this system is that the individual;s will help construct these settings

Mesosystem (Connection)

• The interaction and relationships between different microsystems, such as the connection between a child's parent and their teachers

• An example of this can be seen between family experience and school experiences 

  • Peer groups may distort the performance of individuals in school or even the relationship of an individual with his family

  • A child who experiences parental rejection may have difficulty in school

Exosystem (Indirect)

• External settings that do not directly involve the child but still affect them, such as a parents workplace, community services, or local media.

• In this system the individual has no active role in determining the settings but the settings have direct influence on the individual

• An example is when the government will build schools, parks, and libraries which will create a micro-system environments

Macrosystem (Culture)

• The overarching cultural context, including societal values, laws, economic conditions, and customs.  

• This influences the individual directly but the individual has less in determining their settings

• An example includes ideologies such as democracy, capitalism, and socialism

• Another example of the macrosystem is religion which may be Christianity, Islam, etc

Chronosystem (Added on later)

• This system consists of all the experiences that a person has had during their lifetime, including environmental events, major life transitions, and historical events. 

Physiological Needs (Base)

• Essential survival requirements such as food, water, sleep, clothes, and shelter

Safety Needs

• Security, stability, financial security, health, and protection from harm

Love and Belonging Needs

• Social needs for relationships, intimacy, friendship, and family

Esteem Needs

• The need for self confidence, achievement, respect from others, and status

Self Actualization Needs (Top)

• The desire to reach one’s full potential, including creative pursuits, personal growth, and fulfilling one’s purpose