Theories of Development Chapter 2:

IN THIS CHAPTER Psychoanalytic Theories Learning Theories Cognitive TheoriesBiological and Ecological TheoriesComparing Theories

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 2.1 What are the main ideas of Freud’s psychosexual theory? 2.2 What is the conflict associated with each of Erikson’s psychosocial stages? 2.3 What are the strengths and weaknesses of psychoanalytic theory? 2.4 How did Watson condition Little Albert to fear white, furry objects? 2.5 How does operant conditioning occur? 2.6 In what ways does social-cognitive theory differ from other learning theories? 2.7 How do the learning theories explain development?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (con’t) 2.8 How does cognitive development progress, according to Piaget? 2.9 How did Vygotsky use the concepts of scaffolding and the zone of proximal development to explain cognitive development? 2.10 How does information-processing theory explain the findings of developmental psychologists such as Piaget and Vygotsky? 2.11 What are some of the important contributions of the cognitive theories? 2.12 How do behavior geneticists explain individual differences? 2.13 What kinds of behaviors are of interest to ethologists and sociobiologists?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (con’t) 2.14 What is the main idea of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory? 2.15 What assumptions do the three families of theories make about development? 2.16 On what criteria do developmentalists compare the usefulness of theories? 2.17 What is eclecticism?

AN OVERVIEW Major Families of Theoretical Perspectives  Psychoanalytic  Learning  Cognitive Other Theoretical Trends  Biological  Ecological

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES Sigmund Freud Psychosexual theory: internal drives and emotions influence behavior. Patient memories are used as primary source material. Three personality types: id, ego, superego Sexual feelings are part of personality development.

Freud proposed that hidden memories of traumatic childhood events are often hidden or repressed. Memory researchers found that some adults who experienced childhood abuse forget memories related to the abuse—just as Freud predicted. Most people do retain traumatic memories; false memories may be created if repressed memories are explored. Specific training aids therapists to recall concrete evidence for memories.

You Decide Decide which of these two statements you most agree with and think about how you would defend your position: 1.If I thought that I had recovered a repressed memory of childhood abuse, I would prefer to have a skeptical therapist who would educate me about research findings showing that such memories are rarely forgotten. 2.If I thought that I had recovered a repressed memory of childhood abuse, I would prefer to have a supportive therapist who would help me search for evidence of the abuse.

FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY Erik Erikson (Neo-Freudian) Psychosocial theory: development is influenced by common cultural demands and internal drives. Each psychosocial stage requires resolution of a crisis. Healthy development requires a favorable ratio of positive to negative experiences.

PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY Erik Erikson (Neo-Freudian) Stages  The first four stages form the foundation for the adult personality.  Childhood–adulthood transition influential Ages  Adult stages are not strongly tied to age.

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES

LEARNING THEORIES Ivan Pavlov Classical Conditioning: learning process that occurs through associations between environmental stimulus and naturally occurring stimulus Reflex: stimulus–response connection Learned: conditioned stimulus elicits conditioned response.

ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES

Systematic Desensitization School refusal often occurs because children feel anxious in the school setting. Rawlins uses systematic desensitization by teaching relaxation strategies to children with school refusal. Children are then taught to regulate this response in successive steps leading toward school participation. Gradually, the child will learn to associate going to school with the relaxation responses rather than with anxiety.

Reflection 1.How could systematic desensitization be used to help a child who was bitten by a dog overcome her subsequent fear of all dogs? 2.What actions on the part of parents, teachers, or peers might prevent a child with school refusal from benefiting from systematic desensitization?

LEARNING THEORIES B.F. Skinner Operant conditioning: deals with modification of voluntary behavior Behaviors dependent on reinforcement  Positive reinforcement  Negative reinforcement Punishment Extinction

LEARNING THEORIES Hints for Parents and Caregivers Positive and negative reinforcement interact in complex ways in real life. The best chance for behavioral change exists when an appropriate consequence is administered first after the behavior occurs.

LEARNING THEORIES Social Cognitive Theory: Albert Bandura Observational learning or modeling: learning results from seeing a model reinforced or punished for behavior. Dependent on four factors:  Attention  Memory  Physical capabilities  Motivation

LEARNING THEORIES Social Cognitive Theory Perceived self-efficacy: people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce effects Learning  Influenced by perceived similarity to model  Not limited to overt behavior  Comes also from ideas, expectations, internal standards, and self-concepts

LEARNING THEORIES

COGNITIVE THEORIES Piaget Piaget’s cognitive theory: development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses into changes in mental operations.  Scheme  Assimilation  Accommodation  Equilibration

COGNITIVE THEORIES Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Stages The rate of development differs for individual children.

COGNITIVE THEORIES Vygotsky Socio-cultural theory: complex forms of thinking have their origins in social interactions, not private explorations. Children learn new cognitive skills when guided by a more skilled partner.  Zone of proximal development (ZPD)  Scaffolding

COGNITIVE THEORIES Importance of Assisted Discovery Assisted discovery: a child integrates the results of independent discoveries with new knowledge taught in systematic and structured way. What are the educational applications of this kind of learning?

COGNITIVE THEORIES Importance of Assisted Discovery Educational Applications Supports active exploration opportunities Discovery of what knowledge, skills, and understandings have not yet surfaced for the learner, but are on edge of emergence

COGNITIVE THEORIES Information-processing theory: the computer is used a as model to explain how mind manages information. Three-stage theory of memory  Sensory memory  Short-term or working memory  Long-term memory

THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING SYSTEM

COGNITIVE THEORIES Neo-Piagetian Theories Piagetian Information-Processing Hybrid Uses IP to explain Piaget’s stages Expands (rather than contradicts) Piaget’s theory Agrees that children’s thinking reflects developing internal mental structures Draws on linguistic theories about content domain specificity of cognition

COGNITIVE THEORIES

Piaget’s Clever Research Studying conservation: understanding that matter does not change in quantity when its appearance changes Employing follow-up questions: understanding how a child thought, rather than focusing on whether he or she could arrive at the right answer Criticism Questions not standardized Later, better-conceptualized research confirmed many Piagetian findings.

Critical Analysis 1.To what extent were Piaget’s methods influenced by children’s language skills? 2.How might older children’s more highly developed capacity for reflecting on and explaining their thought processes have influenced children’s capacity for logical thinking?

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES Behavioral Genetics Behavioral genetics: examines the genetic underpinnings of behavioral phenotypes Can you think of questions that might be addressed using this theoretical perspective?

Did you list twin studies in your response? Look at these findings from several studies of Dutch twins. What does this tell you about the influence of heredity and age? Figure 2.3 IQs of Fraternal and Identical Twins

OTHER BIOLOGICAL THEORIES Ethology and Sociobiology Ethology: examines genetically determined mechanisms that promote survival through natural selection  Imprinting Sociobiology: application of evolutionary theory to social behavior  “Genetic selfishness”

BIOECOLOGICAL THEORY Urie Bronfenbrenner Bioecological theory: explains development in terms of relationships between people and their environments Contexts  Macrosystem  Exosystem  Microsystem  Mesosystem  Biological context

PLACE YOURSELF IN THE CENTER OF THE MODEL Figure 2.4 Bronfenbrenner’s Contexts of Development Who or what would you place in each ring? What prompted your choices?

HOW HAS IT HELPED? An Example Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory has helped researchers better understand how families moderate the effects of potentially damaging experiences, such as living in a refugee camp (like the Mayukwayukwa Camp feeding center for malnourished children in Zambia), on children’s development.

COMPARING THEORIES Assumptions about Development Questions Active or passive? Nature or nurture? Stability or change?

HOW THEORIES ANSWER THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT

WHY ASKING WHICH THEORY IS RIGHT MAY BE WRONG! Instead of right/wrong, try useful/not useful. Evaluation of usefulness of each theory  Generate predictions that can be tested.  Heuristic value  Practical value  Explanation of basic developmental facts

MULTIPLE THEORETICAL APPROACHES Eclecticism Interdisciplinary; builds on ideas from multiple sources Avoids rigid adherence to single theory Contributes to development of more comprehensive theories