Chapter 1 - Theories of Development Flashcards
Theory
An organized set of ideas designed to explain and make predictions about development;
A source of predictions that can be tested through research
The 5 Major Theoretical Perspectives in Child Development
Biological
Psychodynamic
Learning
Cognitive-developmental
Contextual
James Mark Baldwin
First psychologist appointed at University of Toronto
An advocate for staged development theories
Theorized that development begins from simple behavioural movements, to more complex movement, into abstract thought in adulthood
Staged development theories - kids develop in stages, constantly building on earlier skills
Who invented the biological perspective?
G. Stanley Hall
G. Stanley Hall
Biological Perspective
Studied and interviewed 100,000
children
In order to understand what typical development looks like
He based his work on evolutionary biology rather than physical sciences
Where did G. Stanley Hall derive his information?
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Natural selection: organisms whose individual traits are best suited, or adapted, for survival in a particular environment are the organisms most likely to survive
Who invented the maturational theory?
Arnold Gesell (1880 – 1961)
Maturational Theory
Arnold Gesell (1880 – 1961)
Development is a natural, biological, unfolding plan
The environment does not matter
Speech, play, and reasoning would emerge spontaneously
Ethological Theory
Views development from an evolutionary perspective, such that human behaviours can be adaptive and have survival value
Humans are biologically programmed
Can only (or best) develop certain skills at specific times (i.e., critical periods)
* E.g., imprinting by chicks
* Lasts about a day
* Attachment theories developed from this basic understanding
Children’s genes influence almost every aspect of development
Assume people inherit many of these adaptive behaviours, but also believe that experience is important for the development
Critical Period
The time in development when a specific type of learning can take place
Before or after the period, the same learning becomes difficult or impossible
Who invented the psychodynamic perspective?
Sigmund Frued
Psychodynamic Perspective - Psychoanalysis
A psychological theory proposes that development is largely determined by how well people resolve unconscious conflicts that arise during development
Freud’s theories are controversial, criticized for limited initial research and claims about women
His ideas about personality and psychosexual development have been influential in developmental research
Psychodynamic Perspective - Psychosexual Development
A second aspect of psychoanalysis was Freud’s account of psychosexual development
Freud believed that humans, through a force called libido are instinctively motivated from birth to experience physical pleasure
As children grow, libido shifts to different parts of the body called erogenous zones
Psychosexual Development Stages
Birth to 1 year,
Oral,
Erogenous zone: mouth; gratify oral sucking urges
1-3 years,
Anal,
Erogenous zone: anus; release and withhold feces
3 to 6 years,
Phallic,
Erogenous zone: genitalia; learn to suppress attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and identify with the parent of the same sex
6 years to adolescence,
Latency,
Erogenous zone: none; libido is repressed as children go about daily business
Adolescence,
Genital,
Erogenous zone: genitalia; attraction to the opposite sex (not the parent)
Psychodynamic Perspective - Theory of Personality
Id - seeking to satisfy bodily needs/wants
Ego - tries to satisfy the Id’s needs in a socially acceptable way
Super-ego - sense of what is right or wrong
These personality traits are influenced by psychosexual development
The id
A reservoir of primitive instincts and drives
Present at birth
Presses for immediate gratification of bodily needs and wants
Eg. a hungry baby crying
The ego
The practical, rational component of personality
It begins to emerge during the first year of life as infants learn they cannot always have what they want
Tries to resolve conflicts that occur when the instinctive demands of the id encounter the obstacles of the real world
Tries to meet the id’s desires with realistic and socially acceptable objects and actions
Eg. Billy sees a child play with a toy he wants. His ego would encourage him to play with the friend and the toy together
The superego
The moral agent or the conscious
Emerges during the preschool years as children begin to internalize adult standards of right and wrong
Eg. If the toy was left alone, Billy’s id might urge him to grab the toy and run, but his superego might remind him that it is wrong
Who invented the psychosocial theory?
Erik Erikson and Freud’s daughter
Psychosocial Theory
The development consists of a sequence of eight stages, each defined by a unique crisis or social challenge
Earlier stages provide the foundation for later stages
When children overcome early obstacles easily, they are better able to handle later ones
Psychosocial Theory Stages
Birth to 1-year,
basic trust vs mistrust,
To develop a sense that the world is safe, a “good place”
1-3 year,
autonomy vs shame and doubt,
To realize that one is an independent person who can make decisions
3 to 6 years,
initiative vs guilt,
To develop a willingness to try new things and to handle failure
6 years to adolescence,
industry vs inferiority,
To learn basic skills and to work with others
Adolescence,
identity vs identity confusion,
To develop a lasting and integrated sense of self
Young adulthood,
intimacy vs isolation,
To commit to another loving relationship
Middle adulthood,
generativity vs stagnation,
To contribute to younger people through child-rearing, child care or other work
Later life,
integrity vs despair,
To view one’s life as satisfactory and worth living
Learning Perspective - John Watson
Extended Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning
Associative learning
* Learn a response that would not typically be paired with a stimulus
Little Albert
Learning Perspective - B.F Skinner
Operant conditioning
How the consequences of a behaviour influence future occurrences of behaviour
Reinforcements – increase the likelihood of a behaviour
Punishments – decrease the likelihood of a behaviour
Operant Conditioning
Positive Reinforcement - add something pleasant to increase desired behaviour
Positive Punishment - add something negative to decrease behaviour
Negative Reinforcement - take away something unpleasant to increase behaviour
Negative Punishment - take away something to decrease behaviour
Who invented the social cognitive theory?
Albert Bandura (Albertan)
Social Cognitive Theory
Imitation or vicarious learning:
acquiring knowledge by watching others’ behaviours and the outcomes of those
Self-efficacy
We are more likely to imitate people we like and respect
Acting on behaviours that were positively enforced for others
If we are previously unsuccessful, we won’t try in the future
Bobo doll experiment - adult demonstrated how to aggressively treat the doll, the child is more likely to imitate that behaviour than if seeing an adult play with it nicely
Self-efficacy
Beliefs about one’s own level of ability, skills, and talent
Influences when & how children might imitate others
Who invented the cognitive developmental perspective?
Jean Piaget
Cognitive Developmental Perspective
Jean Piaget
How children think and how this changes over time
Naturally motivated to make sense of the world
When the world works as expected, the child’s belief in the theory grows stronger
When events don’t go as expected, the child must revise the theory, just as a scientist would
At a few points in development, children realize that a theory cannot be revised
Then radical change takes place and the theory is discarded, and a new theory develops
Claimed that radical revisions occur three times in development: once at age 2, then at age 7, and a third before adolescence
Theorized that children go through four distinct stages in cognitive development
Each stage represents a fundamental change in how children understand and organize their experiences, and each stage is characterized by more sophisticated types of reasoning
3 things influence the type of learning across stages in the cognitive developmental perspective…
Assimilation - Translate information into a form that fits concepts already known
Accommodation - Adapt current knowledge structures in response to new information
Equilibration - Balancing assimilation and accommodation to create a stable understanding
Example of the 3 things that influence the type of learning across stages…
If the child has a dog, over time the child comes to understand it is a dog because the parent labels it
When it sees a “furry animal with four legs” it will assume it is a dog even a cat
With a parent giving feedback “cat” the category accommodates the new category of dog vs cat
Separating and learning differences with adapting over time
Fitting info into already existing categories
Piaget’s Stages
Sensorimotor,
Birth to 2 years,
Infant’s knowledge of the world is based on senses/motor skills by the end of the period, the infant uses mental representations
Preoperational thought,
2 to 6 years,
Child learns how to use symbols such as words and numbers to represent aspects of the world but relates to the world only through their perspective
Concrete operational thought,
7 to 11 years,
Child understands/applies logical operations to experiences, provided the operational
experiences are focused on the here and now
Formal operational thought,
Adolescence +
Adolescent or adult thinks abstractly, speculates on hypothetical situations, and reasons deductively about what may be possible
Who invented the contextual perspective?
Lev Vygotsky
Urie Brofenbrenner
Contextual Perspective
Views learning and development as being more complex than the child and their immediate environment
Takes into account broader experiences
Who invented the ecological theory?
Brofenbrenner
Ecological Theory
Children are embedded within interactive systems that influence them
Environmental factors come from various levels of closeness to the child
E.g., parents, ,siblings, and family
Teachers, coaches, neighbours, etc.
Five levels - the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, the chronosystem
The Microsystem
The people and objects in an individuals immediate environment
Strongly influence development
Connect to create the mesosystem
The Mesosystem
Represents that what happens in one microsystem can influence other microsystems
eg. stressed at work, grouchy at home. home and work microsystems are connected
The Exosystem
Social settings that a person might not experience first-hand but still influence development
Can be strong on development
eg. moms work life on child
The Macrosystem
Subcultures and cultures within the microsystem, mesosystem and exosystem
Changes over generations
The Chronosystem
Development takes place over time and during certain eras
New Perspective - Information Processing
Draw on computer models for understanding development
Mental hardware: cognitive structures, including memory, and where they are
Mental software: organized sets of cognitive processes that allow children to accomplish specific tasks
Software Influence how cognitive structures (hardware) run
Early experiences influence later experiences
Mental Hardware
Cognitive structures, including memory, and where they are
Mental Software
Organized sets of cognitive processes that allow children to accomplish specific tasks
New Perspective - Evolutionary Theory
Evolution shapes what behaviours and characteristics contribute the most to child development
Borklund and Pellegrini
Organizational theory in biological sciences
Need overlap/consistency between the sciences
New Perspective - Developmental Psychopathology
Broad unified understanding of how atypical development occurs that requires dynamic transformation throughout
Eric Mash & David Wolfe
What is development influenced by?
Heredity and Environment
What role do children have in their own development?
It is a child’s interpretation of experience that has an important impact on shaping development
The 4 Major Themes in Child-Development Research
Continuity - early development is related to later development but not perfectly
Nature and nurture - development is always jointly influences by heredity and environment
Active child - children help determine their own development
Connections - development in different domains is connected
