Module 2: Developmental Theories

Darwin (1809-1882)

British biologist famous for his theory of evolution, let others to suggest that development proceeds through evolutionary recapitulation

Theories

Broad, organized explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest are called ________ and provide a framework for understanding the relationships among an unorganized set of facts or principles.

Areas of Disagreement

3 keys issues which developmental theorists often disagree: 1. Passive versus active 2. Continuity verses discontinuity 3. The nature/nurture debate

healthy personality

A strong ego to balance the id and superego according to Freud

Hypothesis

A testable prediction that is arrived at logically from a theory -it bridges the gap between the realm of ideas and the real world

Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which an organism responds in a particular way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not bring about that type of response is called ________. a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone

id

According to Freud, which part of a person's personality represents primitive drives related to sex, hunger, aggression, and irrational impulses?

Neo-Piagetian

An information-processing approach that builds on Piaget's research is known as ________ theory, because it considers cognition as made up of different types of individual skills. believe that experience plays a greater role in furthering cognitive development than traditional Piagetian approaches claim. They also adopted principles from other theories, such as the social-cognitive theory that allowed them to consider how culture & interactions w/ others influenced cognitive development

Piaget

His stage theory of cognitive development revolutionized our view of children's thinking and learning -assigned great importance to experience: In his view, children "construct" their knowledge through processes of "assimilation"

defense mechanisms

In the context of Freud's theory, protective efforts that keep unacceptable thoughts, instincts, and feelings out of conscious awareness and thus serve to defend the ego against anxiety are referred to as

evolutionary

In the history of developmental psychology, which perspective sought to identify behavior as the result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors and suggests that children developed over their lifetime much in the same way that a species evolved throughout time?

Id

PART OF SELF -Includes our instincts and drives, wants immediate gratification, the pleasure principle (something is judged good or bad depending on whether it feels good or bad) e.g. Infant is all id.

Integrity vs. Despair (Wisdom)

People in late adulthood (mid-60s to the end of life) are concerned with reflecting on their lives and feeling either a sense of pride and satisfaction or a sense of regret and failure

assimilation and accommodation

Piaget's two basic principles of growth in children's understanding of the world are ________. -Children use this process to create a schema or mental framework for how they perceive and/or interpret what they are experiencing.

Freud (1856-1939)

Psychoanalytic approach and model of psychosexual development -developed a stage model of development in which sexual energy of the child focuses on different "zones" or areas of the body as the child grows to adulthood.

Denial

Refusing to accept real events because they are unpleasant; not accepting the truth or lying to oneself -e.g. "it won't happen to me" or "you're not leaving" or "I don't have a problem with alcohol"

The Good Life

Rogers described life -when a fully functioning person continually aims to fulfill his or her potential and demonstrate the following traits/tendencies: •Openness to experience •Existential lifestyle: living each moment fully •Trusting one's own judgment •Freedom of choice •High levels of creativity •Reliability and constructiveness •A rich full life: experiencing joy and pain, love and heartbreak, fear and courage more intensely

Lev Vygotsky

The development of the sociocultural theory is attributed to ________. Sociocultural learning include: 1) Human development & learning originate in social, historical, and cultural interactions 2) use of psychological tools, particularly language, mediate development of higher mental functions 3) learning occurs within the Zone of Proximal Development

Oral stage

The first stage of psychosexual development when infants needs are met primarily through immediate oral gratification -fixated oral stage as an adult=> may engage in eating, drinking, smoking, nail-biting, or compulsive talking to fell comfort when afraid or insecure

law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely -Skinner believed that we learn best when our actions are reinforced e.g. a child who cleans his room and is reinforced (rewarded) w/ a big hug and words of praise is more likely to clean it again than a child whose deed goes unnoticed

sociocultural theory

Three themes in Vygotsky's ideas of sociocultural learning: 1.Human development and learning originate in social, historical, and cultural interactions •Guided participation •Scaffolding 2. Use of psychological tools, particularly language, mediate development of higher mental functions 3. Learning occurs within the Zone of Proximal Development

Rousseau (1712-1778)

proposed that development occurs according to innate processes and progresses through 3 stages: infancy, childhood, and adolescence

Locke (1632-1704)

proposed that the mind of the newborn as a tabularosa ("blank state") on which knowledge is written through experience and learning

Electra complex

refers to girl's unconscious attraction for her father, followed by realizing she cannot compete w/ her mother, so she gives up that affection & learns to be more like her mother *Penis envy: Freud believed that the girl feels inferior because she does not have a penis

Superego

starts to emerge around the age of 5, ruled-based, acts as our conscience -the moral compass that tells us how we should behave -strives for perfection, judges our behavior, leading to feeling of pride and guilt

Displacement

taking out frustrations on a safer target e.g. A person who is angry at a boss may take out their frustration at other when driving home or at a spouse upon arrival

Behavioral Perspective

the approach that suggests that the keys to understanding development are observable behavior and outside stimuli in the environment

Egocentrism

the child is not able to take the perspective of others

Zone of Proximal Development

the difference between what a learner can do without help and what they cannot do

chronosystem

the environmental events and transitions that occur throughout a child's life, including any socio-historical events -This system consists of all the experiences that a person has had during his/her lifetime

genital stage

the final stage of psychosexual development when individuals develop sexual interests; begins in adolescence and lasts throughout adulthood -ideally, according to Freud, the ego is strengthened during this stage and the adolescent uses reason to manage urges

4. formal operational stage

the fourth, and last, stage in Piaget's theory and lasts from about age 11 to adulthood. Children in the formal operational stage can deal with abstract ideas and hypothetical situations •Children can use abstract thinking to problem solve, look at alternative solutions, and test these solutions •A renewed egocentrism occurs in adolescence

Reciprocal determinism

the interplay between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they influence us

exosystem

the larger contexts of the community, including the values, history, and economy

psychodynamic perspective

the perspective that behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts that are generally beyond people's awareness and control

Chronosystem

the relevant historical context and timeframe in which all development occurs

Passive verses active

the role of early experiences on later development verses current behavior reflecting present experiences

nature-nurture debate

the role of heredity and the environment in shaping human development

ecological systems theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory stressing the importance of studying a child in the context of multiple environments, organized into five levels of external influence: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem •Renamed the theory the bioecological model to recognize the importance of biological processes in development

contextual

Which psychological perspective considers the relationship between individuals and their physical, cognitive, personality, and social worlds?

3. concrete operational stage

the stage in which children can think logically about real (concrete) events, have a firm grasp on the use of numbers and start to employ memory strategies, lasts from about 7 to 11 years old •Children also master the concept of conservation and understand that even if something changes shape, its mass, volume, and number stay the same •Children understand the principle of reversibility: objects can be changed and then returned back to their original form or condition

Baldwin

conducted quantitative & experimental research on infant development -wrote essay "Mental Development in the Child and the Race: Methods and Processes"

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961)

conducted the first large-scale study of children's behavior that revealed consistent patterns of development focused on biological "maturation" -His research produced norms, such as the order and the normal age range in which a variety of early behaviors such as sitting, crawling, and walking emerge.

macrosystem

cultural elements such as global economic conditions, war, technological trends, values, philosophies, and a society's responses to the global community which impact a community

Ego

develops during the first 3 years of life, the rational part of our personality, the reality principle (helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way) -helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way (find middle ground between id vs. superego)

latency stage

fourth stage of psychosexual development, spanning middle childhood -attention focused on family & friendship, the biological drives are temporarily quieted (latent)

Regression

going back to a time when the world felt like a safer place, perhaps reverting to one's childhood behaviors

Congruity

how closely one's real self matches up with the ideal self in Rogers' humanistic personality theory •High congruence leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life •Incongruence: when there is a great discrepancy between our ideal and actual selves, which leads to maladjustment

microsystem

immediate surrounds including those who have direct, significant contact with the person, such as parents or siblings

Observational learning

individuals can learn novel responses by watching the key behavior of others, referred to as social models Learning process consists of 4 parts: 1. Attention: must pay attention to what they are learning in order to learn 2. Retention: must be able to retain the behavior they are observing in memory 3. Initiation: the learner must be able to able to execute the learned behavior 4. Motivation: needed to engage in observational learning

Rationalization

involves a cognitive distortion of "the facts" to make an event or an impulse less threatening -We provide ourselves w/ excuses e.g. Kim failed his history course because he didn't study, but told his roommates that he failed because the professor didn't like him

mesosystem

larger organizational structures such as school, the family, or religion

2. Preoperational Stage

the stage in which children can use symbols to represent words, images, and ideas, which is why children in this stage engage in pretend play, lasts approximately 2 to 7 years old •have not developed conservation: even if you change the appearance of something, it is still equal in size as long as nothing has been removed or added •Egocentrism: the child is not able to take the perspective of others •Theory-of-mind: understanding that people have thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that are different from one's own, usually develops between 3 to 5 years old

1. Sensorimotor Stage (Piaget)

the stage in which children learn about the world through their senses and motor behavior, lasts from birth to about 2 years old •Object permanence: the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists, develops between 5 and 8 months old •Stranger anxiety: a fear of unfamiliar people

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

the theory that emphasizes the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development Contrast w/ Freud: -proposed that an individual's personality develops throughout the lifespan, departing from Freud's view that personality is fixed in early life -Identified 8 stages

Phallic Stage (3-6 years)

the third stage of psychosexual development, when the young child's libido (desire) centers upon their genitalia as the erogenous zone

conservation

the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists

cognitive perspective

theory developed by Jean Piaget -an approach that focuses on the process that allows people to know, understand, and think about the world •When faced with something new, a child may either fit it into an existing framework (schema) and match it with something known (assimilation) or expand the schema to accommodate the new situation (accommodation) by learning new words and concepts

Sublimation

transforming unacceptable urges into more socially acceptable behaviors e.g. a teenager who experiences strong sexual urges uses exercise to redirect those urges into more socially acceptable behavior

theory of mind

understanding that people have thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that are different from one's own, usually develops between 3 to 5 years old

Identity vs. Role Confusion (Fidelity)

•Adolescents' (ages 12-18) main task is developing a sense of self; they explore various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to discover their adult selves

Watson and Behaviorism

•Established the psychological school of behaviorism •Known for applying classical conditioning principles to human behavior •Believed that most of our fears and other emotional responses are classically conditioned •Believed that parents could be taught to help shape their children's behavior •Tried to demonstrate the power of classical conditioning with his famous experiment with an 18-month-old boy named "Little Albert," who he conditioned to fear a white rat (which the child did not initially fear)

Trust vs. Mistrust (Hope)

•From birth to 12 months of age, infants must learn that adults can be trusted

Intimacy vs. Isolation (Love)

•People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with developing and maintaining successful relationships with others

Generativity vs. Stagnation (Care)

•People in middle adulthood (40s to the mid-60s) are concerned with finding their life's work and contributing to the development of others

Initiative vs. Guilt (Purpose)

•Preschoolers (ages 3-6 years) are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play

social cognitive theory

•Proposes that learning occurs in a social context through a dynamic and reciprocal interaction of the person, their own behavior, and the environment

Carl Rogers Humanism

•Rogers' emphasized the importance of the self-actualizing tendency in shaping personality •Humans are constantly reacting to stimuli with their subjective reality (phenomenal field), which changes continuously •Over time, a person develops a self-concept (i.e., our thoughts and feelings about ourselves) based on feedback from this field of reality •Ideal self: the person that you would like to be •Real self: the person you actually are

Skinner Box

•Skinner conducted scientific experiments on animals (mainly rats and pigeons) to determine how organisms learn through operant conditioning -contains a lever (for rats) or disk (for pigeons) that the animal can press or peck for a food reward via the dispenser

Autonomy vs. Shame (Will)

•Toddlers (ages 1-3 years) explore their world and learn that they can control their actions and act on their environment to get results

neo-Piagetian theory

•View cognition as a made up of different types of individual skills, rather than a single system of increasingly sophisticated general cognitive abilities •Use the same terminology as information processing approaches •Cognitive development proceeds quickly in certain areas and more slowly in others •Experience plays a greater role in furthering cognitive development than traditional Piagetian approaches claim •Adopted principles from other theories, such as social-cognitive theory, that allow them to consider how culture and interactions with others influenced cognitive development

Guided participation

•a learner actively acquires new culturally valuable skills and capabilities through a meaningful, collaborative activity with an assisting, more experienced person

Contextual perspective

•considers the relationships between individuals and the physical, cognitive, personality, social, cultural, and environmental influences on development

developmental cognitive neuroscience

•examines interrelations between brain changes and changes in cognitive ability as children grow up, as well as environmental and biological influences on the developing mind and brain

reaction formation

•outwardly opposing something you inwardly desire, but that you find unacceptable e.g. homosexual person dating opposite sex and suppress their inner desire because they find it unacceptable

Repression

•pushing painful thoughts out of consciousness (in other words, thinking about something else)

evolutionary perspective

•seeks to identify behavior that is the result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors

scaffolding

•teachers model or demonstrate how to solve a problem, and then step back, offering support as needed

cognitive neuroscience

•the scientific field that studies the biological processes that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections and activity in the brain that are involved in mental processes (e.g., problem solving) •Cognitive neuroscientists seek to identify actual locations and functions within the brain that are related to different types of cognitive activities

anal stage

-ego is being developed the stage of development when children are learning to control impulses; coincides w/ toddler-hood and toileting Fixation at this stage: -Anal retentive (fear of letting go): overly controlling, extremely neat/clean, reliable -Anal expulsive: may become messy, irresponsible, & disorganized

Freud's theory of personality

1. Id: the primitive & instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual & aggressive drives & hidden memories 2. Superego: operates as a moral conscience 3. Ego: the realistic part the mediates between the desires of id and the superego

operant conditioning

A form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened by its association with positive or negative consequences is called ________. -a learning process through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.

Hall

Darwin's theories greatly influenced him, who believed that children developed over their lifetime much in the same way that a species evolved throughout time. -His interest focused on childhood development, adolescence, and evolutionary theory. -first president of the American Psychological Association

Industry vs. Inferiority (Competence)

Elementary school children (ages 7-12) either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate because they believe they do not measure up

Watson

Founder of the field of behaviorism (believed that human behavior can be understood in terms of experiences & learning) "Little Albert" study: he conditioned an infant to fear a white rat. explained that children should be treated as a young adult-- w/ respect, but also w/o emotional attachment

ego

Freud believed that the ________ is the part of the personality that is rational and reasonable. If a child develops into a person who integrates into society and maintains a good awareness of safety, Freud may say that person has a well-developed ________.

castration anxiety

Freud believed that the boy fears that if he pursues his mother, his father may castrate him

psychosexual stages

Freud's oral, anal phallic latency, and genital stages

chronosystem

When Etienne was 8 yrs old, his parents divorced and his mom remarried and moved him to a new state when he was 10 yrs old. This experience was part of a major transition for Etienne. According to Bronfenbrenner, this would be considered part of the ________, or the environmental events and transitions that occur during a person's lifetime.

Continuity verses discontinuity

Whether or not development is best viewed as occurring in stages or as a gradual and cumulative process of change

information processing

Which approach grew out of developments in computers, where even complex behaviors such as learning, remembering, categorizing, and thinking can be broken down into a series of individual, specific steps?

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals are motivated to attend to needs higher up •The goal in Maslow's theory is to attain self-actualization

Projection

a person attributes their unacceptable thoughts onto others. e.g. If someone is frightened, they accuse someone else of being afraid

neurosis

a tendency to experience negative emotions -Freud maintained that imbalances in the system of personality can lead to anxiety disorders, or unhealthy behaviors

Theory

a well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena that can be used to make predictions about future observations -Not facts; they are guidelines for investigation & practice, and they gain credibility through research that fails to disprove them -help organize lots of different observable events, make sense of them, make predictions about them, and connect them to some more comprehensive principles

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

self-actualization

according to humanistic theory, the realizing of one's full potential can include creative expression, a quest for spiritual enlightenment, the pursuit of knowledge, or the desire to contribute to society. For Maslow, it is a state of self-fulfillment in which people achieve their highest potential in their own unique way

information-processing approach

an alternative to Piagetian approaches, a model that seeks to identify the ways individual take in, use, and store information •Standard information-processing model includes: •Attention •Working memory •Long-term memory

reinforcer

anything following a behavior that makes it more likely to occur again -Primary reinforcers: intrinsically rewarding such as food or praise secondary reinforcers: can be something that is rewarding because it can be exchanged for what one really wants (such as receiving money & using it to buy a cookie)

scientific study of children

began in the late nineteenth century, and blossomed in the early twentieth century 3 early scholars include: 1. John Locke 2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 3. Charles Darwin