Chapter 2: Theories of Development

Question 1

What are the five theories we will be discussing in this chapter? (5)

Answer 1

-biology and evolutionary
-psychoanalytic
-learning
-cognitive
-systems

Question 2

What is the biological or evolutionary theories main ideas?

Answer 2

-genetic and epigenetic factors interact with the environment to shape us

Question 3

What is the epigenome?

Answer 3

-molecular compound that instructs the genome to turn off and on genes

Question 4

What are psychoanalytic theories?

Answer 4

-personaltiy and behaviours are shaped by interacting or dynamic underlying forces (like the unconscious)

Question 5

What are the 3 parts of Freud’s theory on personality?

Answer 5

-Id, ego and superego

Question 6

What is the id?

Answer 6

-contains the libido, largely unconscious and present at birth

Question 7

What is the ego?

Answer 7

-operates according to what is realistic and develops due to learning in the first few years

Question 8

What is the superego?

Answer 8

-moral guide or conscience and develops around age 6

Question 9

What is Erikson’s psychosocial theory?

Answer 9

-lifespan theory with 8 psychosocial stages

Question 10

What does each psychosocial stage in Eriksons theory have?

Answer 10

-a crisis to resolve resulting in pairing opposing possibilities

Question 11

What does the humanistic perspective focus on?

Answer 11

-positive aspects of development, consciousness and free will

Question 12

What are deficiency motives?

Answer 12

-in Maslow’s hierarchy these are drives to maintain physical and emotional balance

Question 13

What are being motives in Maslow’s hierarchy?

Answer 13

-drives for growth and to fulfill your potential

Question 14

What did Rogers (humanistic) believe? Example. (2)

Answer 14

-overcome conditions of worth put on us by the people in our lives
-example: I need to be a straight A student in order for my parents to love me

Question 15

What does learning theories focus on (behaviourism)? What would be an example of this? (2)

Answer 15

-how experiences in the environment shape the child
-through classical or operant conditioning

Question 16

What is an example of positive reinforcement?

Answer 16

You give a child a piece of candy every time they clean their room. (increases behaviour)

Question 17

What is an example of a negative reinforcement?

Answer 17

The seatbelt alarm turns off when you buckle your seatbelt up. (increases behaviour)

Question 18

What is an example of positive punishment?

Answer 18

Spraying your cat with water when they jump on the counter (decreasing behaviour)

Question 19

What is an example of negative punishment?

Answer 19

A teenager stays out past curfew, so their parents take away their car keys for a week. (decreasing behaviour)

Question 20

What are the four theories under the cognitive theories umbrella? (4)

Answer 20

-Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
-information processing theory
-Vygotskys sociocultural theory
-Bandura’s social cognitive theory

Question 21

What does Piaget’s theory focus on?

Answer 21

-how does thinking develop and has 4 stages of development, water in smaller cup

Question 22

What does the information-processing theory focus on?

Answer 22

-they use the computer as a model and this is where memory is broken down into encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 23

What does Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focus on?

Answer 23

-developing cognitive skills are guided by social interactions (scaffolding)

Question 24

What does Bandura’s social cognitive theory focus on?

Answer 24

-observational learning through modelling and reciprocal determinism

Question 25

What does systems theory focus on?

Answer 25

-development exists within a whole bunch of factors, including personal and external (it cannot be understood within isolation) and changes in any tiny aspect of the system will influence our development

Question 26

What are some terms in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory?

Answer 26

-macrosystem, ecosystem, microsystem, mesosystem, individual context