Understanding Development Themes and Theories

Maturation

hereditary influences on aging prococess

Learning

Relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience

2 factors that drive development

1. Maturation

2. Learning

Goals of Developmentalists

To describe, explain and optimize development

Continuous Theory of Development

Discontinuous theory of development

Nature Vs Nurture

Nature is hereditary information that is received from parents at conception.

Nurture is the physical and social forces that influences biological and psychological development

Active Developemnt

the belief that children actively contribute to their own development

Passive Development

the belief that children are passive recipients of environmental influence

Stability

the persistence of individual differences. Lifelong patterns established by early experiences

Plasticity

Development is open to lifelong change, change occurs based on influential experiences

Lifespan Perspective

Development is a continual, lifelong process with 0-12 crucial years. As well believe that development is holistic encapsulating physical, cognitive, and psychosocial elements

Thomas Hobbes Perspectives on Childhood

Believed that the child’s inherent nature was their original sin, and their role in their development was passive

Jean Jacques Rousseau Perspectives on Childhood development

Believed that the child’s inherent nature was innate purity and a child’s role in their development was passive

John Locke’s Perspectives on Childhood Developemnt

belived that a child’s inherent nature was a blank slate (Tabula Rasa), and a child’s role in development was passive

The baby biographies and diaries

Charles Darwin, Clara and William Stern, and Jean Piaget recorded the development of their own children, however this study was subjective and lacked generizability (small number of children studied)

A good theory must be:

• parsimonious

• falsifiable

• heuristic value

Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

The theory proposes a conflict of individual’s intellectual impulses and societal norms for behavior creating sexual and aggressive drives. As well emphasizes the unconscious repression

Id

• largest portion of the mind

• Unconscious, present at birth

• Source of biological needs and desires

Ego

• Conscious, rational part of personality

• Emerges in early infancy

• Redirects id impulses acceptably

Superego

• Conscience, which develops between 3 and 6 years of age from interaction with caregivers

Freud’s Defense Mechanisms

• Repression

• Denial

• Projection

• Displacement

• Sublimation (channeling aggression into acceptable form)

• Regression

• Reaction Formation

• Rationalization

Freud’s Stages of psycho-sexual Development

Stages propose shifts in focus on parts of body

1. Oral (birth-1 year)

2. Anal (1-3 years)

3. Phallic (3-6 years)

4. Latency (6-11 years)

5. Genital (12 years onward)

6. fixation

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development

Theory proposes that children are more active and adaptive in developmental processes than Freud proposed. The theory has less emphasis on sexual urges and more emphasis on social and cultural influences on development

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

• Basic Trust Vs. Mistrust (birth - 1 year)

• Autonomy vs. shame (1-3 years)

• Initiative vs. guilt (3-6 years)

• Identity vs. role confusion (Adolescence)

• Intimacy vs. isolation (Early adulthood)

• Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood)

• Integrity vs despair (late adulthood)

Joh B. Watson’s Behaviorism

• Proposes that only overt behaviors (observable) should be measured and analyzed.

• Has a strong emphasis on environmental influences (tabula rasca).

• Development is continuous and based on learning

Classical Conditioning

two previously unrelated stimuli are now associated and results in a learned response

Operant conditioning

behavior is modified depending on its consequences

Reinforcer

any event that reliably increases the probability or frequency of responses it follows

positive reinforcement

presentation of pleasant consequence following a behaviour to increase the probability that behavior will reoccur

Negative reinforcement

removal of an unpleasant stimulus after a response to increase the probability that the behavior will reoccur

Punisher

any event that decreases the probability of frequency of responses that it follows

positive punishment

presentation of an unpleasant consequence following a behavior to decrease the probability that the behavior will reoccur

Negative punishment

removal of a pleasant stimulus as a consequence of a behavior to decrease the probability of the behavior reoccurring

Social Learning/ Cognitive Theory

• more emphasis on cognitive processes

• observational learning stressed (learning by observing models)

• children develop a sense of self-efficiency

Normative Development

developmental changes that characterize most it all members of a species; typical patters of development

Ideographic Development

individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development

Assimilation

a method used by children wherein they use an existing scheme to interpret a novel experienceA

Accomidation

a method used by children wherein they modify an existing scheme to incorporate new experiences

schemes

an organized pattern of thought or action a child uses to make sense of experience

Piaget’s stages if cognitive development: Sensorimotor

from birth - 2 years. Exploration using senses, motor coordination improves

Piaget’s stages if cognitive development: Preoperational

2 - 7 years. The usage of symbols

Piaget’s stages if cognitive development: Concrete Operations

from 7 - 11 years. Logical thought

Piaget’s stages if cognitive development: Formal operations

from ages 11 and up. Abstract thought

Information-Processing theories

have detailed amounts of development from rigorous experimental methods as well as investigationf a wide range of cognitive processes. However usually employes ‘artificial ‘ laboratory studies and using a computer model underestimates human cognition

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural perspective

believed that children acquire their culture’s values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through dialogues with knowledgeable members of society. However it heavily emphasizes the role of language in instruction

zone of proximal development

the difference between what a child can do independently and with assistance

Ethology

emphasizes the bio-evolutionary basis of behavior and focuses on inborn behaviors that species share

Jogn Bowlby

identifies preprogrammed behavior in children (ex: crying to get attention of caregivers)

critical periods

a limited time span during which developing organisms are biologically prepared to display adapted patterns of development, provided they receive the appropriate input. Outside this period, the same environmental influences will have no effect.

sensitive periods

a time that is optimal for the emergence of particular competencies or behaviors and in which the individual is particularly sensitive to environmental influences

criticisms for Ethological and Evolutionary Theories

• hard to test

• downgrades importance of cultural learning

• offers a post-hoc explanation of development

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory

models the environment a child develops in as a series of nested strutures:

• The microsystem refers to relationships between the child and the immediate environment

• the mesosystem refers connections amoung children’s immediate setting

• the exosystem refers to social settings that effect but do not contain the child

• the macrosystem refers to the overarching ideology of the culture

Family systems theory

a holistic structure on the family as a system. Development occurs via individuals which impact the family

Criticisms of Ecological systems theory

• hard to generalize

• little to say about biological contributors

• incomplete, requires other complimentary theories