1. Theories of Human Development
CHAPTER 2
Theories of Human Development

2. Theories of Human Development
Theory: Ideas proposed to describe/explain certain phenomena
Organizes facts/observations
Guides collection of new data
Should be internally consistent
Falsifiable: Hypothesis can be tested
Supported by data

4. Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory
Instincts and unconscious motivation
Id, Ego, and Superego formed from psychic energy (Libido)
Id: Instinctual nature of humans
Ego: Rational and objective
Superego: Internalized moral standards
Dynamic system: Regular conflicts within

5. Freud’s Psychosexual Development
Child moves through five stages
Stages result from conflict between Id & Superego
Conflict creates anxiety
Ego defends against anxiety with defense mechanisms
Early experiences have long-term effects on personality

6. Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory
Awareness of unconscious motivation
Emphasized important early experience
Weaknesses
Ambiguous, inconsistent, not testable
Not supported by research

7. Erik Erikson Most influential neo-Freudian Some differences with Freud
Less emphasis on sexual urges
More emphasis on rational ego
More positive, adaptive view of human nature
Development continues through adulthood

8. Erikson’s Stages Integrity vs. Despair: Old Age
Trust vs. Mistrust: Importance of responsive caregiver
Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt: Preschool
Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschool
Industry vs. Inferiority: School-age children
Identity vs. Role Confusion: Adolescence
Intimacy vs. Isolation: Young adult
Generativity vs. Stagnation: Middle age
Integrity vs. Despair: Old Age

11. Strengths and Weaknesses of Erikson
Focus on identity crisis of adolescence still most relevant
Emphasis on rational and adaptive nature
Interaction of biological & social influences
Weaknesses
Sometimes vague and difficult to test
Does not explain how development comes about

12. Learning Theories: Classical Conditioning
Behaviorism: Conclusions should be based on observable behavior only
Tabula Rasa - Environmental view
Association Learning
UCS: Built-in, unlearned stimulus
UCR: Automatic, unlearned response
CS: Stimulus causes learned response
CR: Learned response

13. The three phases of classical conditioning

14. Learning Theories: Operant Conditioning
Probability of behavior based on environmental consequences
Reinforcement
Pleasant consequence
Increases probability
Punishment
Decreases probability
Unpleasant, aversive

15. Possible consequences of whining behavior.
Moosie comes into the TV room and sees his father talking and joking with his sister. Lulu, as the two watch a football game. Soon Moosie begins to whine, louder and louder, that he wants them to turn off the television so he can play Nintendo games. If you were Moosie’s father, how would you react? Here are four possible consequences of Moosie’s behavior. Consider both the type of consequences – whether it is a pleasant or aversive stimulus – and whether it is administered (“added to”) or withdrawn. Notice that reinforcers strengthen whining behavior, or make it more likely in the future, whereas punishers weaken it.

16. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory
Formerly called social learning theory
Humans think, anticipate, believe, etc.
Cognitive Emphasis: Observational learning
BoBo doll studies
Model praised or punished
Child learned to imitate rewarded model
Vicarious reinforcement

17. Learning Theory: Strengths & Weaknesses
Precise and testable theory
Carefully controlled experiments
Practical applications across lifespan
Weaknesses
Inadequate account of lifespan changes
Ignored genetic and maturational processes

18. Piaget: Cognitive Developmental Theory
Intelligence: Ability to adapt to environment
Constructivism: Understanding based on experience
Interactionist
Both biological maturation and experience required for developmental progress
At each new stage, children think in a qualitatively different way

20. Cognitive Developmental Theory
Strengths
Well-accepted by developmentalists
Well-researched, mostly supported
Influenced education and parenting
Weaknesses
Ignores motivation and emotion
Stages not universal especially the last one

21. Contextual/Systems Theories
Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural perspective
Cognitive development is a social process
Problem solving aided by dialogues
Gottlieb: Evolutionary/Epigenetic Systems
Genes, neural activity, behavior, and environment mutually influential
Normal genes and normal early experiences most helpful

22. Gottlieb – Developmental Psychobiology
Interaction: Biological & environmental influences
Individual programmed through evolution
Current behavior results from past adaptation
Ethology: Behavior adaptive to specific environments
E.g., food scarcity creates nomadic behaviors
Species-specific behavior of animals & humans

23. Gottlieb: Epigenesis Instinctual behavior may or may not occur
Depends on early physical and social environments
Genes alone don’t influence behavior
A system of interactions
People develop in changing contexts
Historical
Cultural

24. Strengths and Weaknesses
Stresses the interaction of nature and nurture
Weaknesses
Only partially formulated and tested
No coherent developmental theory