HSC Chapter 2 Notes

Scientific Theory: a set of logically related concepts or statements that seek to describe and explain development and to predict the behavior that might occur under certain circumstances

Theory: inspires further research and predicts results

Research: indicates whether a theory is accurate in its predictions but CANNOT conclusively prove a theory to be true

Hypothesis: explanations or predictions that can be tested by research

Reactive Development: believes that experiences shape who we become

Mechanistic Model (reactive) - people are like machines reacting to an environment, such as peer pressure, advertisements, and upbringing

Continuous Development (reactive & mechanistic) - gradual and incremental (like an upward hill)

Active Development: suggests that people create their own experiences

Organismic Model (active) - Organisms who set their own development such as food choices, relationships, and career choices

Discontinuous Development (active and organismic) - abrupt or uneven (like stairs)

Five Major Perspectives underlie influential theory and research on human development

1. Psychoanalytic: unconscious emotions and drive

   1. Frauds Psychosexual Theory- behavior is controlled by powerful unconscious urges. (Organismic, Discontinuous, Active)

   2. Eriksons Psychosocial Theory- personality is influenced by society and develops in crisis. (Organismic, Discontinuous, Active)

2. Learning: observable behavior

   1. Behavioralism/Traditional Learning Theory- environment controls behavior. (Reactive, Continuous, Mechanistic)

   2. Social Learning Theory- children learn in a social context by observing and copying. (Active AND Reactive, Continuous)

3. Cognitive: analyses thought processes

   1. Piaget’s cognitive-stage theory- qualitative changes in thought occur with development. (Active, Organismic, Discontinuous)

   2. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory- social interaction is central to cognitive development. (Active, Organismic, and discontinuous)

   3. Information processing theory- human beings are processors of symbols. (Active, Mechanistic, Continuous)

4. Contextual: emphasizes the impact of the historical, social, and cultural context.

   1. Bronfenbrenners Bioecological theory- development occurs through interaction between a developing person and five surrounding, interlocking contextual systems of influences. (Active, Mechanistic, and Continuous)

5. Evolutionary/Sociobiological- considers evolutionary and biological underpinnings of behavior.

   1. Bowlbys attachment theory- humans are the product of adaptive processes, which interact with the current environment to shape behavior. (Active and Reactive, Mechanistic, Continuous)

Psychoanalytic Stages of Development

Psychosexual development is Freuds theory of the sequence of five stages that unconscious childhood conflicts occur in ones life that form their personality.

Freuds Five Psychosexual Developmental Stages

1. Oral (0-18m): source of pleasure involves mouth-oriented activities

2. Anal (18m-3y): source of pleasure involves withholding and expelling feces

3. Phallic (3-6): zone of gratification is genitals. Becomes attached to parent of opposite sex. Identifies with same sex parent.

4. Latency (6-puberty): Time of relevant calm between turbulent stages

5. Genital (puberty-adulthood): reemergence of sexual impulses channeled into mature adult sexuality

Eriksons Five Psychosocial Developmental Stages

1. Trust v Mistrust (0-18m): baby develops sense of whether the world is safe

2. Autonomy v Shame/Doubt (18m-3y): child develops balance of independence over shame and doubt

3. Initiative v Guilt (3-6): child develops initiative when trying new activities and doesn’t feel guilt.

4. Industry v Inferiority (6-puberty): child must learn skills of the culture or face feelings of incompetence.

5. Identity v Identity confusion (puberty to young adulthood): determines own sense of self or experience confusion about roles.

6. Intimacy v Isolation (puberty to young adulthood) Seeks to make commitments to others, suffers from isolation and self-absorption if unsuccessful.

7. Generativity v Stagnation (middle adulthood): concerned with establishing and guiding the next generation or feels personal impoverishment.

8. Integrity v Despair (late adulthood): acceptance of life, acceptance of death, or despairs over end of life

Piagets Four Cognitive Developmental Stages

1. Sensorimotor (0-2): gradually becomes able to organize activities in relation to the environment through sensory and motor activity.

2. Preoperational (2-7): develops a representational system. Uses symbols to represent people, places, and events. Thinking is not logical. Imaginative play is important.

3. Concrete Operations (7-11): solves problems logically but cannot think abstractly

4. Formal Operations (11+): person can think abstractly, deal with hypothetical situations, and think about possibilities.

Learning Perspective

Classical conditioning: a response to a stimulus is elicited after repeated association with stimulus that normally elicits the response.

Operant Conditioning: the individual learns from consequences of operating on the environment.

Banduras Reciprocal Determinism: the person acts on the world as the world acts on them.

Cognitive Perspective

Adaptation occurs through

1. Assimilation: taking new information and incorporating it into existing cognitive structures.

2. Accommodation: adjusting ones cognitive structures to fit the new information.

Equilibration: a constant striving for stable balance

Zone of Proximal Development: the gap between what they are already able to do by themselves and what they can accomplish with assistance.

Contextual Perspective

Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Theory

• Microsystems: everyday environment of home, work, school, or neighborhood. This includes family, friends, and colleagues.

• Mesosystem: Being affected secondhand by microsystem (dad had bad day at work and takes out on kids)

• Exosystem: interactions between microsystem and an outside system or institution. (A child’s experience at schools being affected by new government policies)

• Macrosystem: overarching cultural patterns like dominant beliefs, ideologies, and economic and political systems. (Having different beliefs based off of upbringing/culture/etc.)

• Chronosystem: represents the dimension of time and the natural changes that occur within it. (Birth, death, divorce, etc)

Evolutionary/Sociobiological Pespective

Ethology: the study of the adaptive behaviors of animal species in natural contexts.

Methods of Research

There are five usual steps to the scientific method

1. Identification of the problem to be studied

2. Formation of hypotheses to be tested by research

3. Collection of data

4. Statistical analysis of the data

5. Formation of tentative conclusions

6. Dissemination of findings so other observers can use it.

Four Methods of Data Collection

1. Self Report: people are asked about some aspect of their lives

2. Naturalistic Observation: people are observed in their natural setting with no attempt to manipulate behavior.

3. Lab Observation: participants are observed in a laboratory setting with no attempt to manipulate behavior

4. Behavioral and Performance: people are tested on abilities

Four Basic Research Designs

1. Case study- in depth study of a single individual

2. Ethnographic Study- in depth study of a culture or subculture

3. Correlational Study- attempt to find a positive of negative relationship between variables

4. Experiment- Controlled procedure conducted in a lab where independent variable is manipulated

Three Developmental Research Designs

1. Cross-sectional study: illustrates similarities or differences among people of different ages

2. Longitudinal Study: tracks people over time and focuses on individual change with age

3. Sequential Study: combines the two other approaches to minimize the drawbacks separately