Ch02 Theories of Human Development

Chapter 2 THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC THEORIES Theory – set of concepts and propositions that describe and explain observations Parsimonious: concise Falsifiable: capable of making specific predictions which can be disconfirmed Heuristic: build on existing knowledge by generating testable hypotheses THE PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWPOINT Freud’s Psychosexual Theory Unconscious motives are repressed Development is a conflictual process Sexual and aggressive instincts that must be served, yet society dictates restraint Three Components of Personality Id: satisfy inborn biological instincts, now Ego: conscious, rational, finds a realistic means of satisfying instincts Superego: seat of the conscience, develops between ages 3-6 as morals of parents are internalized Stages of Psychosexual Development Sex instinct, broadly defined, was most important Focus of sex instinct shifts during development Shifts = stages Contributions Unconscious motivation Impact of early experiences Emotional side of development Criticisms Little evidence that oral, anal, and genital conflicts predict adult personality Difficulty falsifying or confirming main propositions THE PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWPOINT Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development Comparing Erickson with Freud Children are active explorers, not passive slaves to biological urges Emphasis on social and cultural influences, less on sexual urges Eight Life Crises (Psychosocial Stages) Emerge at a time dictated by biological maturation and social demands Must be resolved successfully for satisfactory resolution at next stage Extend throughout life Contributions Stresses rational, adaptive nature Emphasizes social conflicts that we can anticipate and observe in others Criticisms Vague about causes of development Descriptive, not explanatory THE PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWPOINT Psychoanalytic Theory Beyond Freud and Erickson Horney – founder of psychology of women Adler – siblings are important contributors to social and personality development Sullivan – close, same-sex friendships during middle childhood set stage for intimate love relationships later in life THE LEARNING VIEWPOINT Bandura’s Cognitive Social Learning Theory People are active information processors Observational learning – observing models Rejects Watson’s environmental determinism – passive recipients Proposed reciprocal determinism – interaction between person, behavior, and the environment (bidirectional links) Bandura’s classic “Bobo Doll” Study Demonstrated importance of observational learning Demonstrated no-trial learning Distinguished learning from performance Contributions of Learning Theories Wealth of information Very precise and testable Clinical insights and practical applications Behavior modification Criticisms of Learning Theories Oversimplified, ignores contribution of biological influences Children must be studied in their natural settings to understand how environments influence development Too little attention on cognitive influences on development COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL VIEWPOINT Piaget’s View of Intelligence Intelligence: a process that helps an organism adapt to its environment Scheme: organized pattern of thought or action used to cope with or explain experience Children actively construct understandings of the world through experience. Assimilation: interpretation of new experiences in terms of existing schemes Disequilibrium: contradictions between understanding and facts Accommodation: alter existing schemes to account for new experiences Four Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor (0-2) Preoperational (2-7) Concrete-operational (7-11/12) Formal operational (11/12 – beyond) Invariant developmental sequence Piaget’s Viewpoint Contributions Legitimized study of children’s thinking Contributed to new area of social cognition Strong impact on education Discovery based learning Criticisms Underestimated young children’s intellectual capacities Training can improve performance on tasks, challenging the assumption that individualized discovery learning is best. Sociocultural Influences: Vygotsky’s viewpoint How is culture transmitted from generation to generation? Cognitive growth is a socially mediated activity. Not all children progress through same stages of cognitive growth, some are culturally specific. The Information-Processing Viewpoint The mind is like a computer; information flows in, is operated on, and is converted to output (answers etc.). Cognitive development Changes in brain and mental processes Due to both maturation and experience Is continuous, NOT stagelike Contributions Insights on growth of cognitive abilities Filled gaps in Piaget’s theory Know how children approach problems Know why they make errors Can suggest strategies to improve performance Criticisms May not reflect thinking in everyday life Computer model may underestimate the richness/diversity of cognition Both are being addressed by researchers THE ETHOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY VIEWPOINTS Ethology: scientific study of evolutionary basis of behavior and the contributions of evolved responses to survival and development Assumptions of Classical Ethology: Born with biologically programmed behaviors (through natural selection) Products of evolution Adaptive to survival Focus on instinctual responses that All members of species share May steer individuals along similar developmental paths Study subjects in natural environment Ethology and Human Development Crying (for example) Ensures infant’s basic needs are met Ensures sufficient contact to form primary emotional attachments Critical periods: limited time span when organisms are biologically prepared to display adaptive patterns of development, given right input Sensitive periods: Optimal time for emergence of behaviors Particularly sensitive to environmental influences Development can occur outside a sensitive period, but is more difficult Modern Evolutionary Theory Adaptive motives and behaviors ensure survival and spread of an individual’s genes Individual can die if family member survives, as they carry his or her genes Contributions Children have adaptive, genetically preprogrammed characteristics that influence development. Value of studying human development in normal, everyday settings Value of comparing human development with that of other species Criticisms Difficult to test Learning tends to modify most biological predispositions Bronfenbrenner – ecological systems theory: a detailed analysis of environmental influences Contexts for Development Natural environments are the major source of influence for development. Environment is a set of nested structures. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of the environment as a series of nested structures. The microsystem refers to relations between the child and the immediate environment, the mesosystem to connections among the child’s immediate settings, the exosystem to social settings that affect but do not contain the child, and the macrosystem to the overarching ideology of the culture Bronfenbrenner’s Contexts for Development Microsystem: activities/interactions in the immediate surroundings Mesosystem: connections between microsystems (homes, schools, etc.) Exosystem: contexts children are not a part of but which may influence development Macrosystem: cultural, subcultural, or social class context in which other systems are imbedded Chronosystem: changes in the child or any of the other systems can affect the direction of development Contributions Rich description of environment Need to study development in natural settings Criticisms Little on specific biological contributors Lack of focus on normative development THEMES IN THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The Nature/Nurture Theme Biological versus environmental forces Both interact to produce change The Active/Passive Theme Children are active, determining how society treats them Children are passive, being molded by society The Continuity/Discontinuity Theme Change occurs gradually and continuously or with abrupt changes or stages (discontinuous) Quantitative or qualitative changes Quantitative: change in degree or amount qualitative: changes in form or kind The Holistic Nature of Development Issue Are the different aspects of development separate, or are they interrelated and influence each other?