College of Public and Community Service University of Massachusetts at Boston ©2009 William Holmes THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1

TYPES OF THEORIES Psychological Theories Social Cultural Theories Behavioral Theories Biological Theories Multi-Level Theories 2

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES Freudian/Psychoanalytic Erikson/Crisis Developmental Piaget Cognitive Development 3

FREUDIAN THEORY Structures of id, ego, superego Struggle between id, ego, superego Five stages—Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital 4

ERIKSON CRISES DEVELOPMENT Crises Resolution and Development Epigenetic Principle Eight Stages 1. Basic Trust vs. Mistrust 2. Autonomy versus shame/dependence 3. Initiative vs. self-guilt 4. Industry vs. inferiority 5. Identity vs. confusion/identity crisis 6. Intimacy vs. isolation 7. Generativity vs. stagnation 8. Integrity vs. despair 5

PIAGET COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Cognitive Functional Invariants—adaptation and organization Adaptation involves accommodation and assimilation Organization involves complex usage Four stages 1. Sensorimotor—infantile physicality 2. Preoperational—initial symbols and language 3. Concrete operational—reasoning about physical objects 4. Formal operational—abstract thinking 6

SOCIAL CULTURAL THEORIES Vygotsky social cognitive theory Durkheim functional theory Kohlberg Moral Development Symbolic Interaction 7

VYGOTSKY CULTURAL THEORY Elementary/biological processes Psychological/sociocultural process Uses interaction, speech, and internalization Problem solving uses speech and interaction 8

DURKHEIM FUNCTIONAL THEORY Growth of complexity Growth of specialization Differentiation of social status and roles Shift from informal to formal relations 9

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Socially constructed stages Labeling of stages Use of “looking-glass self” Subject to trends, fads, and fashions 10

BEHAVIORAL THEORIES Skinner Operant Conditioning— reinforcers: rewards and punishments Bandura Social Learning—modeling, observation, and imitation 11

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES Genetic Inheritance Genetic Expression Genetic Fitness Genetic Evolution 12

MULTILEVEL THEORIES Bronfenbrenner/Ecological Theory: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem Developmental Systems Theory— interactive levels of development 13