Social and Personality Development: Theories and Perspectives

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering classical and contemporary theories of social and personality development, including psychoanalytic, psychosocial, learning, ethological, ecological, sociocultural, and information-processing frameworks based on Shaffer (2009).

Development

Systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception and death.

Socialization

The process through which a child acquires the beliefs, behaviours, and values deemed significant and appropriate by other members of society.

Three Functions of Socialization

The primary societal functions served by socialization: behavior regulation, the promotion of personal growth of the individual, and maintaining social order.

Eros

In psychoanalytic theory, the life instinct that encompasses libidinal drives ranging from passionate love to gentle affections.

Thanatos

In psychoanalytic theory, the inborn death instinct that encompasses aggressive drives ranging from raw rage to fine irony.

Id

In Freud's structural model, the unconscious mental structure driven by the pleasure principle, primary process thinking, and wish fulfillment.

Ego

In Freud's structural model, the reality-oriented component of personality that operates on the reality principle through secondary process thinking and reality testing.

Superego

In Freud's personality structure, the moral arbiter consisting of conscience and the ego ideal, developed through identification with parental values and moral imperatives.

Oral Stage

Freud's first psychosexual stage (birth to $1$ year) where the sex instinct centers on the mouth through activities such as sucking, chewing, and biting.

Anal Stage

Freud's second psychosexual stage ($1$ to $3$ years) where voluntary defecation and urination become primary methods of gratification, centered around toilet training conflicts.

Phallic Stage

Freud's third psychosexual stage ($3$ to $6$ years) where pleasure centers on genital stimulation and children experience the Oedipus or Electra complex, resulting in identification with the same-sex parent.

Latency Stage

Freud's fourth psychosexual stage ($6$ to $11$ years) where sexual conflicts are repressed and sexual urges are rechanneled into schoolwork and vigorous play.

Genital Stage

Freud's final psychosexual stage (age $12$ onward) where puberty triggers the reawakening of sexual urges, channeled into socially acceptable adult outlets such as marriage and child rearing.

Basic Trust versus Mistrust

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of infancy (birth to $1$ year) where infants learn to trust others to meet their basic needs; the mother or primary caregiver is the key social agent.

Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of toddlerhood ($1$ to $3$ years) where children learn personal independence in activities like feeding, dressing, and hygiene; parents are the key social agents.

Initiative versus Guilt

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of early childhood ($3$ to $6$ years) where children attempt grown-up activities and must balance taking initiative against impinging on the rights and goals of others; the family is the key social agent.

Industry versus Inferiority

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of middle childhood ($6$ to $12$ years) where children master academic and social skills by comparing themselves to peers; significant agents are teachers and peers.

Identity versus Role Confusion

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of adolescence ($12$ to $20$ years) where individuals grapple with "Who am I?" to establish basic social and occupational identities; the society of peers is the key social agent.

Intimacy versus Isolation

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of young adulthood ($20$ to $40$ years) focused on forming close friendships and achieving love and companionship; key agents are lovers, spouses, and close friends.

Generativity versus Stagnation

Erikson's psychosocial crisis of middle adulthood ($40$ to $65$ years) where adults focus on becoming productive in work and guiding the younger generation; key agents are the spouse, children, and cultural norms.

Ego Integrity versus Despair

Erikson's final psychosocial crisis (old age) where older adults reflect on life as either a meaningful, happy experience or a disappointment with unrealized goals.

Classical Conditioning

Pavlov's learning process wherein two stimuli are linked together through association to produce a new learned response.

Operant-Learning Theory

Skinner's behavioral perspective stating that behavior is shaped and maintained through reinforcements and punishments.

Cognitive Social Learning Theory

Bandura's theory proposing that learning results from observation and modeling of others within a social context without requiring direct reinforcement.

Ethology

The evolutionary perspective (pioneered by Lorenz and Tinbergen) asserting that human innate behavioral tendencies are products of natural selection and promote survival.

Ostensive-Communicative Signals

Early-emerging sensitivities in modern evolutionary developmental theory (Csibra, 2010) through which infants become receptive to communicative intentions for cultural knowledge transmission.

Microsystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, the immediate environment directly experienced by the child, such as the family, school, peers, and neighborhood play area.

Mesosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, the interconnections and relationships between two or more immediate microsystems (e.g., family-school connections).

Exosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, social settings that do not directly involve the developing child but nevertheless influence their immediate experiences (e.g., parents' workplaces, school boards, mass media).

Macrosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, the overarching ideology, laws, values, and customs of a culture, subculture, or social class.

Chronosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, the temporal dimension encompassing changes in persons or environmental contexts over time.

Elementary Mental Functions

Inborn basic cognitive capacities (such as perception, memory, attention, and sensation) that Vygotsky argued are transformed by culture into higher mental functions.

Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

Vygotsky's term for methods of thinking and problem-solving strategies that children internalize through interactions with more competent members of society.

Collaborative Learning

In Vygotsky's theory, the process of acquiring new skills that occurs when novices participate in activities under the guidance of a more skillful tutor.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's concept defining the range of tasks that are too complex to be mastered alone but can be accomplished with guidance and encouragement from a more skillful partner.

Scaffolding

The interactive process where an expert responds contingently to a novice's behavior in a learning situation so the novice gradually builds their understanding of a problem.

Private Speech

The subset of a child's verbal utterances that serve a self-communicative function to direct and guide their own activities.

Causal Attributions

In social information-processing theory, explanations generated for one's own and other people's behaviors, categorized as internal (dispositional) or external (situational).