Theories and Methods: A Comprehensive Overview

Theories and Methods

Theoretical Orientations

• Evolutionary Theory (Charles Darwin):

  • Recognizes the importance of learned behaviors.

  • Considers learned behaviors to be products of innate biological tendencies serving human survival.

• Psychodynamic Theory:

  • Focuses on the development of personality, viewed as a product of conscious and unconscious forces.

  • Individuals progress through stages to resolve conflicts.

  • Psychosexual Stage Theory (Sigmund Freud):

    • Goals of survival and reproduction are main catalysts for behavior and development.

    • Children progress through $5$ stages, learning to satisfy survival and reproduction drives in socially and psychologically acceptable ways.

  • Psychosocial Stage Theory (Erik Erikson):

    • Focuses on conflicts individuals encounter in answering "Who am I?".

    • Individuals pass through $8$ stages, each with an identity conflict.

    • Positive resolution allows progression; negative resolution negatively affects personality.

• Behaviorism/Learning Theory (John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner):

  • Views learning as a change in observable behaviors due to environmental influences, emphasizing nurture.

  • Classical Conditioning:

    • A stimulus gains new significance when paired with other personally meaningful stimuli.

    • Applies to many types of everyday learning.

  • Operant Conditioning:

    • Behaviors' forms and frequencies depend on rewards or punishments.

    • Applied to studies of infant learning and memory.

• Constructivism (Jean Piaget):

  • Emphasizes children's active role in learning and development.

  • Children progress through $4$ qualitatively distinct, universal, and invariant stages.

  • At each stage, children possess schemas that organize information and facilitate understanding/acting on environments.

  • Movement through stages involves assimilation, disequilibrium, and accommodation.

• Nativist Theories (Elizabeth Spelke):

  • Propose innate core capacities, essential for human adaptation, evolved as brain-wired modules or structures.

  • Features of evolutionary theory are seen in nativist approaches.

• Social Learning Theory (Albert Bandura):

  • Extends operant conditioning principles to how children learn social behaviors expected by society.

  • Includes observational learning and vicarious reinforcement.

• Information Processing Theory (Robert Kail):

  • Draws an analogy between the human mind and a computer.

  • Emphasizes the mind's "hardware" (brain structures, neural connections) and "software" (rules, strategies).

  • Memory model includes: sensory register, short-term memory, long-term memory.

• Developmental Systems Theory (Linda Smith and Esther Thelen):

  • Views human behavior as a product of a complex, ever-changing system.

  • Developmental changes occur due to many different factors.

  • New behaviors emerge from complex interactions between children's bodies and actions in the environment.

• Bioecological Theories (Urie Bronfenbrenner):

  • Focus on environmental effects (internal and external) on human development.

  • Includes a child's psychological/behavioral characteristics and socio-cultural contexts.

  • Bronfenbrenner's comprehensive theory conceptualizes development nested within $5$ systems and a biological dimension.

• Sociocultural Theories (Lev Vygotsky, Beatrice and John Whiting, Charles Super and Sara Harkness):

  • Focus on social and cultural contexts of child development.

  • Emphasize how social partners influence learning and how culture infuses experiences/interactions.

  • Advance concepts of a cultural learning environment and developmental niche.

Foundational Theories in Detail

• Evolutionary Theory (Charles Darwin)

  • Based on Darwin's On the Origins of Species.

  • Posits that individuals well-suited to their environments have an increased chance of surviving and reproducing (Buss, $2012$).

  • Illustrated by Darwin's finches, showing adaptive radiation with different beaks for leaves, buds/fruit, insects, and seeds (e.g., tool-using finch).

• Psychodynamic Theories

  • Set of theories considering personality as a product of conscious and unconscious forces.

  • Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Theory

    • Emphasizes children’s biological drives, especially the sex drive.

    • Influenced by Darwinism (specifically Lamarck and Haeckel, now disproven).

    • Stages:

      • Oral stage ($0$ to $1$ year): Focus on pleasurable mouth sensations (sucking, biting).

      • Anal stage (second year): Focus on pleasurable anal sensations (elimination).

      • Phallic stage ($3$ to $6$ years): Pleasure and problems centered on the genital area; sexual interest towards opposite-sex parent.

      • Latency stage ($7$ years through puberty): Focus on developing culturally valued skills; sexual urges submerged.

      • Genital stage (adolescence onwards): Seeking to satisfy adult sexual desires.

    • Three Parts of Personality:

      • Id: Primitive biological drives present from birth.

      • Ego: Rational component, helps inhibit inappropriate thoughts/impulses.

      • Superego: Later-developing aspect, acts as a conscience for morally acceptable behavior.

  • Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage Theory

    • People confront specific challenges in their identity search throughout life stages.

    • Also influenced by Darwinism.

    • How earlier conflicts are resolved affects later conflict resolution.

    • Stages:

      • Trust vs. Mistrust ($0$ to $18$ months): Infants learn to trust or mistrust caregivers.

      • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt ($18$ months to $3$ years): Children learn autonomy or feel shame/doubt about abilities.

      • Initiative vs. Guilt ($3$ to $5$ years): Children learn to take initiative or experience guilt from hindered efforts.

      • Industry vs. Inferiority ($5$ to $12$ years): Children learn to be capable in valued activities or feel inferiority.

      • Identity vs. Role Confusion ($12$ to $18$ years): Adolescents establish personal identity or become confused.

      • Intimacy vs. Isolation ($18$ to $40$ years): Young adults form close relationships or risk loneliness/isolation.

      • Generativity vs. Stagnation ($40$ to $65$ years): Adults experience productivity/contribution or stagnation.

      • Integrity vs. Despair ($65+$ years): Older adults reflect on a meaningful life or feel despair over missed opportunities.

• Behaviorism

  • Arose from a critique of psychodynamic theory.

  • John B. Watson ($1913$) advocated for studies based on observable behaviors, viewing behavior as a product of the social environment.

  • Classical Conditioning:

    • Illustrated by Watson's