Chapter 2 - Theories Flashcards
A development theory predicts?
Human behavior
What are the 6 development theories?
Psychoanalytic Ethological Cognitive Ecological Behavioural/Social Cognitive Developmental Health
Freud and Erikson supported which developmental theory?
Psychoanalytic
Pavlov, Skinner, Watson and
Bandura supported which developmental theory?
Behavioural/Social Cognitive
Bronfenbrenner supported which developmental theory?
Ecological
Piaget and Vygotsky supported which developmental theory?
Cognitive
Explain Psychoanalytic Approach
- Children are rarely aware of the motives and reasons behind their behaviour and bulk of their mental life is unconscious.
- Development is influenced largely by emotion.
- Behaviours are superficial-surface characteristic.
- Behaviour symbolizes the inner workings of the mind.
- Early experience is important to development
Who did psychoanalytic theory originate with?
Sigmund Freud
Freud’s ideas?
- Development of the first 6 years occurs in 5 stages (first 3 are important for determining personality) – each characterized by sexual interest and pleasures centered around a particular part of the body
- He thought that at each of these stages, sensual satisfaction from stimulation of these body parts was linked to major developmental needs and challenges
- Each stage had a conflicts between child and parent (weaning, toilet training)
Believed that the early stages provide the foundation for adult behavior
3 Structures of Personality
Id, Ego and Superego
Id
The id is the most basic part of the personality, and wants instant gratification for our wants and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a person becomes tense or anxious.
Ego
The ego deals with reality, trying to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable in the world (using reasoning to make decisions). This may mean delaying gratification, and helping to get rid of the tension the id feels if a desire is not met right away.
What is the executive branch of personality?
Ego
Superego
The superego develops last, and is based on morals and judgments about right and wrong. Even though the superego and the ego may reach the same decision about something, the superego’s reason for that decision is more based on moral values, while the ego’s decision is based more on what others will think or what the consequences of an action could be. Conscience.
Freud’s Five Psychosexual Stages of Development
Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Stage Latency Stage Genital Stage
Freud’s Oral Stage
Infant’s pleasure centers on mouth ‘suckling’
i.e. put objects in mouth
Freud’s Anal Stage
Child’s pleasure focuses on anus and from elimination
Toilet training is the challenge
Freud’s Phallic Stage
Child’s pleasure focuses on Genitals
Oedipus (boys) Electra (girls)
*penis envy
Freud’s Latency Stage
Child represses sexual interest and develops social and Intellectual skills. An interlude.
Freud’s Genital Stage
A time of sexual reawakening;
source of sexual pleasure becomes someone outside of the family
“Critical periods”
resolving conflicts between sources of pleasure and demands of reality
Freud vs Erikson
Freud • Psychosexual • Personality: First 6 years • 5 Stages • Series of stages filled with conflict between biological urges and social demands
Erikson • Psychosocial • Personality:Life-span • 8 Stages • Early experiences and family relationships are very important to development
Erikson’s ideas?
Early experiences and family relationships are very important to development. Personality is best seen as a developmental process throughout the lifespan (and not just first six years as Freud believed). Psychosocial rather than psychosexual.
Erikson recognized adult development, with three stages after adolescence
Erikson’s 8 stages?
Trust vs Mistrust Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt Initiative vs Guilt Industry vs Inferiority Identity vs Identity confusion Intimacy vs Isolation Generativity vs Stagnation Integrity vs Despair
Trust vs Mistrust
Infancy (first year)
Hope
Babies must learn to trust their parents, or they will develop a distrust in the world.
Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt
Infancy (1 to 3)
Will
Child learns to fee themselves and do other things, or they could start feeling ashamed and doubt their abilities.
Initiative vs Guilt
Early Childhood (4 to 5)
Purpose
Using initiative in planning or carrying out plans, or develop a sense of guilt over misbehavior regarding parent limits.
Industry vs Inferiority
Middle and late childhood (6-9)
Competence
Learn to follow the rules imposed by schools or home, or the child can start believing they are inferior to others.
Identity vs Identity confusion
Adolescence (10 to 20)
Fidelity
Acquire a sense of identity, or can become confused about ones role in life.
Intimacy vs Isolation
Early adulthood (20s, 30s)
Love
Develop a relationship and joint identity with a partner, or can become isolated and stay away from meaningful relationships.
Generativity vs Stagnation
Middle adulthood (40s, 50s)
Care
Making use of time and having a concern with helping others and guiding the next generation, or can become self centered.
Integrity vs Despair
Late adulthood (60+)
Wisdom
Understand and accept the meaning of temporary life, or complains about regrets, not having enough time, and not finding a meaning throughout life.
How do you pass each stage in Erikson’s or Freud’s stages?
Developmental task or crisis to resolve
Relationship between Psychoanalytic Theories and Development
Important in describing rationale for behaviours. Explains the motivation for certain acts and the fears that prevent other actions.
Freud believes that the first 6 years defines the child’s personality for life
Erikson believes that personality develops over lifetime but each stage must have a proper resolution in order for an individual to feel wholesome
Behaviourism
Only that which can be directly observed and measured can be studied in a scientific way. Development is learned and shaped by our environment
Ivan Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning experiment
Association - dogs, bells, salivation
Noticed that his experimental dogs drooled not only at the smell of food but also at the sound of the footsteps of the people bringing the food
How did John Watson critique some parents?
Thought parents were too soft - ‘Quit cuddling and smiling at the babies so much’
How did John Watson believe we can shape children?
By examining and changing the environment
What does Skinner’s Operant Conditioning focus on?
Positive and negative reinforcement. Reward and punishment shape behaviour.
What does Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory focus on?
Observation and imitation or
modeling. Focused heavily on Observational Learning (Imitation or Modeling)
Who is Ivan Pavlov? What was his research?
Russian physiologist, first described classical conditioning in 1899 while conducting research into the digestive system of dogs.
Pavlov used an apparatus to measure the amount of saliva produced when a dog ate. The flow of saliva occurred naturally whenever food was
placed in the dog’s mouth, as salivation is an involuntary, reflex response.
Stimulus
any event that elicits a response from an organism.
Response
a reaction by an organism to a stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiment, the stimulus of food initially produced the response of salivation.
2 major divisions of nervous system?
peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS)
Classical Conditioning
a form of learning that occurs through the repeated association of 2 or more different stimuli
Conditioned stimulus
A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, elicits the response produced by the unconditioned stimulus itself.
Unconditioned response
The response that occurs automatically when the UCS is presented. A UCR is a reflexive, involuntary response that is predictably caused by a UCS.
Unconditioned stimulus
any stimulus that consistently produces a particular, naturally occurring, automatic response.
Association
the pairing or linking of one stimulus with another stimulus.
Conditioned response
the learned response that is produced by the CS. The CR occurs after the CS has been associated with the UCS.
Pavlov’s key processes that are involved in classical conditioning?
Acquisition, extinction, stimulus generalisation, stimulus discrimination and spontaneous recovery
Each paired presentation of the CS with UCS is referred to as a?
Trial
Acquisition
the overall process during which the organism learns to associate 2 events.
Extinction
the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a CR that occurs when the UCS is no longer presented.
Generalization example?
Little albert became scared of fluffy things because of classical conditioning, and he applied this fear to all other furry things, not just rats
Operant Conditioning
Rewards and punishments shape behaviour
Schedules of Reinforcements
Fixed Ratio
Variable Ratio
Fixed Interval
Variable Interval
Fixed Ratio
A fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement means that reinforcement should be delivered after a constant or “fixed” number of correct responses.
i.e. a fixed ratio schedule of 2 means reinforcement is delivered after every 2 correct responses
Variable Ratio
When using a variable-ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement the delivery of reinforcement will “vary” but must average out at a specific number.
i.e. a teacher following a “VR2” schedule of reinforcement might give reinforcement after 1 correct response, then after 3 more correct responses, then 2 more, then 1 more and finally after 3 more correct responses.
Overall there were a total of 10 correct responses (1 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 10), reinforcement was delivered 5 times and so reinforcement was delivered for every 2 correct responses on average (10 ÷ 5 = 2)
Fixed Interval
A fixed-interval schedule means that reinforcement becomes available after a specific period of time. Reinforcement only becomes available to be delivered and would only be given if the target behaviour is emitted at some stage after the time interval has ended.
Variable Interval
The variable-interval schedule of reinforcement means the time periods that must pass before reinforcement becomes available will “vary” but must average out at a specific time interval.
i.e. Following a “VI3” schedule of reinforcement, a teacher could make reinforcement available after 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 3 minutes, then 4 minutes and finally 1 minute. In this example, reinforcement became available 5 times over a total interval period of 15 minutes. On average then, three minutes had to pass before reinforcement became available (2 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 1 = 15 ÷ 5 = 3) and so this was a VI3 schedule.
Bandura’s bobo doll experiment
Bandura showed that children will alter their behaviour by simply watching others
Bandura’s modeling/imitation
Child observes someone admired → child imitates behavior that seems rewarded
Cognitive theory
A theory of human development that focuses on the structure and development of thinking, which shapes people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental theory
Children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through 4 stages of cognitive development. Cognitive processes are influenced by biological maturation. Children use assimilation and accommodation to understand their world
Piagets Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years of age)
Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years of age)
Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years of age)
Formal Operational Stage (11–15 years of age through adulthood)
Sensorimotor Stage
The infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage
The child begins to represent the world with words
and images. These words and images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory information and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage
The child can now reason about concrete events and classify objects into different sets.
Formal Operational Stage
The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic and logical ways.
Assimilation
The reinterpretation of new experiences to fit old ideas
i.e. learning that not all 4 legged animals are dogs
Accommodation
The restructuring of new ideas to include/accommodate new experiences
i.e. noticing that something that looks like a horse is not a horse; paying attention to differences between horse and zebra
The process of accommodating is called?
Adaptation
Cognitive Equilibrium
In cognitive theory, the state of mental balance that enables a person to reconcile new experiences with existing understanding. People strive to attain this.
Cognitive Equilibrium chart
Equilibrium ➠ New Idea ➠ Disequilibrium ➠ Assimilation ➠ Adaptation ➠ Accommodation ➠ New Equilibrium
Major Focuses of the 3 Grand Theories
Cognitive Theory ➠ Ideas, beliefs, assumptions
Behaviorism ➠ Actions (what a person does)
Psychoanalytic Theory ➠ Emotions (love, hate, fear, etc.)
Sociocultural Theory
An emergent theory that holds that human development results from the dynamic interactions between each person and the surrounding culture, including all the social forces, near and distant, that affect that person
Emergent theory
an outcome of organization research in which theory is allowed to come to light through a systematic data collection and analysis
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
Social and cultural contexts are primary factors in a child’s development. Knowledge is created through interactions with other people and objects in the culture.
Less skilled persons learn from the more skilled – some tasks are too difficult for children to master alone
Guided participation
in sociocultural theory, the process by which a skilled person helps a novice learn by providing not only instruction but also a direct, shared involvement in the learning process
What does the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) do?
Provides guidance
Creates goals
Instructs in a variety of ways Scaffolds learning
Zone of Proximal Development
A metaphorical area, or “zone”, surrounding a learner that includes all the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the person is close (proximal) to acquiring but cannot yet master without help
The difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help
Epigenetic Systems Theory
An emergent theory of development that emphasizes the interaction of genes and the environment – that is, both the genetic origins of behaviour (within person and species)and the direct, systematic influence that environment forces have, over time, on genes
Epigenetics
All the factors that affect the expression of the genetic instruction (stress, injury, temperature, crowding, food, loving care).
Unlike genetics based on changes to the DNA sequence (the genotype), the changes in gene expression with epigenetics result from other causes.
Epigenetic factors are affected by
The mom, the dad, food, environment, drugs
Selective Adaptation
The idea that humans and other animals gradually adjust to their environment; specifically the process by which particular genetic traits in a population increases and others decrease over generations, depending on whether a given trait contributes to the survival of the species.
i.e. skin pigment near equator is dark
How has Psychoanalytic theory contributed to the study of human development
made us aware of the importance of early childhood experiences and the impact of hidden dramas
How has Behaviorism contributed to the study of human development
has shown us the effect that the immediate environment can have on behaviour
How has Cognitive theory contributed to the study of human development
has brought us to a greater understanding of how intellectual processes and thinking affect actions
How have Epigenetics Systems contributed to the study of human development
emphasizes the inherited forces that affect each person and all humankind – within particular contexts.
Comparisons and Controversies of theories
Continuity versus Discontinuity – is development continuous or discontinuous like suggested by Freud and Erikson with distinct stages
Normal Difference or Harmful Deficit – white, middle-classs, native-born children in wealthy nations have dominated research subjects throughout history. Developing poor countries were seen as having deficits because they deviated from the norm set by the middle-class.
Nature versus Nurture
Norm
An average or typical standard of behavior or accomplishment
*Something can be outside of the norm but not abnormal
behaviorism
A grand theory of human development that studies observable behavior (also known as learning theory, because it describes the learning process)
*Behaviorists believe that development occurs bit by bit rather than in stages
White coat syndrome
occurs when people who have negative past experiences with white coats, so it conditioned anxiety
Operant conditioning
The learning process by which a particular action is followed by something desired (makes animal want to repeat) or something unwanted (makes action less repeated)
Social learning theory
an extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence that other people have over a person’s behavior. People learn through the observation and imitation of other people, which occurs through modeling
Cognitive theory
a grand theory of human development that focuses on changes in how people think over time. Our thoughts shape our attitude, beliefs and behaviors according to this theory
Cognitive disequilibrium
an imbalance that creates confusion
What is more difficult, assimilation or accommodation?
Accommodation
Information-processing theory
a perspective that compare human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories and output
Guided participation
the process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations, this learning is direct and interactive
Apprenticeship in thinking
Vygotsky’s term for how cognition is stimulated and developed in people by more skilled members of the community
Similarity between Freud and Erikson’s theories?
Mother baby relationship is considered to be very important
