Chapter 2 Flashcards
What is a parsimonious theory?
One that uses relatively few explanatory principles to explain a broad set of observations
What is falsifiability?
A theory is falsifiable when it is capable of generating predictions that could be disconfirmed
What is a heuristic theory?
One that continues to stimulate new research and discoveries
What are 7 broad theoretical traditions that have had a big impact on human development sciences?
Psycho-analytic theories, learning theories, cognitive-developmental theories, information- processing theories, sociocultural theories, evolutionary theories, and ecological systems theories
All 7 of the major theories address which central themes?
The influence of biology vs society on children’s development (nature vs nurture)
The role of the active individual
Continuity vs discontinuity in the developmental process
The holistic nature of development
What was Freud’s psychosexual theory?
States that maturation of the sex instinct underlies stages of personality development, and that the manner in which parents manage children’s instinctual
impulses determines the traits that kids display
What were Freud’s 3 components of personality in his psychosexual theory?
Id, ego, superego.
Id: the only one present at birth. Sole function is to satisfy biological drives.
Ego: conscious, rational component of personally that reflects the child’s emerging abilities to perceive, learn, remember, and reason. Function is to find a realistic mean of gratifying instincts.
Superego: the seat of the conscience. Develops between ages 3-6 as kids take on the moral values of their parents. An “internal censor”
What are Freud’s 5 stages of psychosexual Development?
Oral: birth - 1 year. Sex instinct centres on mouth bc infants get pleasure from sucking/chewing/biting.
Anal: 1-3 years. Voluntary urination and defecation become he primary methods of gratifying the sex instinct.
Phallic: 3-6 years. Pleasure is derived from genital stimulation. Kids develop incestuous desire for opposite-sex parent.
Latency: 6-11 years. Traumas of phallic stage cause sexual conflicts to be repressed and sexual urges are channeled into school and play.
Genital: 12- onward. Puberty triggers reawakening of sexual urges. Teens most learn how to express these urges in socially acceptable ways.
What was Freuds greatest contribution?
Concept of unconscious motivation as well as influence of early experience on later development
What is Erikson’s psychosocial theory?
Revision of Freuds theory; emphasizes sociocultural determinants of development (rather than sexual) + posits 8 psychosocial conflicts that people must resolve successfully to display healthy psychological adjustments.
Eriksons theory is more descriptive than explorative, true or false?
True
Associate eriksons stages with corresponding Freudian stage
Basic trust vs mistrust —————————- oral
Autonomy vs shame & doubt ——————anal
Initiative vs guilt ————————————phallic
Industry vs inferiority——————————latency
Identity vs role confusion ————————early genital
Intimacy vs isolation ——————————-genital
Generativity vs stagnation ————————genital
Ego integrity vs despair —————————-genital
Associate eriksons stage with corresponding age
Birth-1 year: basic trust vs mistrust
1-3 years: autonomy vs shame + doubt
3-6 years: Initiative vs guilt
6-12 years: industry vs inferiority
12-20 years: identity vs role confusion
20-40 years: intimacy vs isolation
40-65 years: generativity vs stagnation
Old age: ego integrity vs despair
Who was the 1st to suggest that siblings /sibling rivalries are important contributors to social and personality development?
Alfred Adler
Who was the founder of the psychology of women?
Karen horney
Who wrote abut how close same - sex friendships during middle childhood set the stage for intimate love relationships later in life?
Harry stack Sullivan
What is behaviarism?
School of thinking that holds that conclusions about human development should be based on controlled observations of overt behaviour, not speculation about unconscious motives or other unobservable phenomena.
What was skinner’s theory
Operant learning theory: emphasized role of external stimuli in controlling human behaviour.
Animals and humans repeat acts that lead to favourable outcomes and suppress acts that lead to unfavourable outcomes.
What was bandura’S cognitive social learning theory?
He said that people are cognitive beings —active info processors— who are likely to think abut the relationships btwn their behaviour and its consequences. So, are more affected by what they believe will happen than by what they actually experience.
Who emphasizes observational learning as a central developmental process
Bandura.
Stated that observational learning could not occur without cognitive processes: we must attend carefully to a model’s behaviour, encode what we observe, and store the info in memory so we can imitate at a later time
Why does bandura stress observational learning in his cognitive social learning theory?
Because observational learning permits young kids to quickly acquire thousands of new responses in a variety of settings where their “models” are pursuing their own thing and are not trying to teach them anything.
Children are continually learning both desirable and undesirable behaviours by observation. Because of this, child development proceeds very rapidly along many different paths.
Strengths and limitations of the learning approach:
Its emphasis on the immediate causes of over behaviours = clinical insights and practical applications (behaviour modification techniques can eliminate bullying)
Imitations: oversimplified! By downplaying continuing of important biological influences
What do ecological systems theorists argue about the environment?
That it is really a series of social systems ( e.g., families, communities, and cultures) that interact with each other and the individual in complex ways that are impossible to simulate in a lab.
We have to study in natural settings
What is cognitive development?
Age-related changes that occur in mental activities such as attending, perceiving, learning, thinking and remembering.
What did Piaget focus on?
The growth of children’s knowledge and reasoning skills
How did Piaget define intelligence?
A basic life process that helps an organism adapt to its environment
What is a cognitive structure / scheme?
An organized pattern of thought or action that a child constructs to make sense of some aspect of his or her experience
