Chapter 2: Theories of Development Flashcards
The principle that developmental changes occur the same in all people across all cultures.
Universality
Well-known father of the psychoanalytic theory. He argued that personality development take place through a series of universal stages beginning with birth & ending in adolescence. He stressed the role of unconcious motivation & drives, such as libido, in creating psychosexual crises durinh thesr dtages. He also posed a structure of the personality which included the id, ego, & superego.
Sigmund Freud
Contemporary approach to development suggesting development occurs throughout the entire life span.Historically, development theories have suggested development is complete at adolescence. This perspective changes the view that childhood experiences shape who we become.
Life-span perspective
The term used by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle & British philosopher John Locke to describe the mind as being blank at birth. This is an extreme nurture view in the nature vs. nurture controversy.
Tabula rasa
Theorist who constructed a stage model of cognitive development & who argued that cognitive development is the result of the child constructing shema based on his or her activity with objects in the enviroment. His theory is a discontinuity theory (stage theory) of development which emphasizes universals in development.
Jean Piaget
A debate regarding the relative influence of heredity versus experience/the enviroment on development.While some developmental theorists underscore one over the other, both influence development.
Nature versus Nurture controversy
Any developmental theory that suggests development takes place through a series of small, incremental improvements gradually occuring over time. Development is considered to involve quantitative rather than qualitative change.
Continuity theory
The psychologist who constructed the psychsocial theory of personality development. He argued personality develops throughout the lifespan (life span perspective) & his model contains eight stages beginning with birth & ending in old age. During each stage of development the person faces a psychsocial crisis which can be resolved in a positive or negative way. He is also well known for his discussion of idenity development in adolescence.
Erik Erikson
The principle that developmental changes are influenced by, & therefore are specific to, the sociocultural context in which the individual lives. Development varies across cultures & contexts.
Context specific
Any developmental theory that suggests development occurs through a series of qualitatively different stages or phases.
Stage theory
The psychologist who created the ecological systems theory of development.
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Name used for cultures that value the common good rather than individual achievement.
Collectivist culture
Name usef for cultures that value individual achievement & drive rather than the common good.
Individualistuc culture
Piaget’s theory based on the notion that cognitive abilities (or one’s ability to think) are developed as individuals mature physiolgically & have opportunities to interact with their enviroment.
Cognitive-developmental theory
Piaget’s term for the process of modifying an existing sheme in order to include a new experience. (Adjusting prior knowledge gained through former experience & interactions.)
Accomodation
Piaget’s term for the process of modifying an experience to make ot fit into a preexisting scheme. (Fitting together the new info. with what has been previously known or understood.)
Assimilation
The term used by theorist like Piaget who argue that the developing child actively constructs idead derived from an active exploration of his or her enviroment.
Constructivism
The psychologist who studied moral reasoning & suggested a stage model of moral development. He presented moral dilemmas to subjects & observed differences in reasoning about these dilemmas across age groups.
Lawrence Kohlberg
This theoretical perspective uses the computer as a metaphor for the human mind & studies how the human mind processes information. Theorists describe changes in information processing capacity & speed that are associated with age. This approach acknowledges that not only are individuals influenced by their enviroments which they then adapt to, but individuals also are active in shaping their own enviroments. This theory is of interest to educators because of its insistence on the idea that intelligent thinking can be taught.
Information processing approach
The term used by Piaget to describe the cognitive experience of imbalance that occurs when a child’s experience does not fit into preexisting schema. The psychological state is the motivation for developmental change. According to Piaget, the child is motivated to return to the state of mental balance.
Disequilibrium
This is the theory of language development derived from the Behaviorist perspective in psychology. Language development is described as being continuous & gradual. Development is believed to be the result of experience. Language is defined as verbal behavior which is conditioned & shaped.
Learning theory
A theoretical perspective in psychology that defines development as changes in overt behavior. This perspective underscores the role of the enviroment in development & describes the developing person as passive in the developmental process. The mind is viewed as being a tabula rasa at birth. This perspective has its roots in the work of Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, & B.F.Skinner.
Behaviorist perspective
This is the term in Pavlov’s classical condirioning theory for the motor response part of a reflex.
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
The behavioral psychologist who created the classical conditioning theory.
Ivan Pavlov
The learning process discovered by Ivan Pavlov by which a reflexive response is elicted by a new stimulus. This conditioning is accomplished by the new stimulus, called the conditioned stimulus, becoming associated w/ the unconditioned stimulus which initially controlles the reflex.
Classical conditioning
This is the stimulus that elicts a reflexive response in Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
The term used in Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory for the stimulus that elicts the conditioned response after it has been repeatedly presented with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
The term used in Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory for the motor part of a reflex which is elicted by a conditioned stimulus after classical conditioning has taken place.
Conditioned Response (CR)
Pavlov’s term for when a conditioned response can be elicted by related conditioned stimuli; e.g., similar tone frequencies.
Generalization
The gradual process of cobditioning a response to only occur to a specific stimulus, e.g., a bell of a certain tone, rather than a collection of tones that are similar in frequency.
Discrimination
Pavlov’s term for the process that reverses conditioning in the classical conditioning paradigm. This is accomplished by successively presenting the condutioned stimulus (CS) w/out the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Eventually the CS no longer elicits the conditioned response (CR).
Extinction
The behavioral psychologist who created the operant conditioning theory within the learning theory approach.
B.F. Skinner
A type of learning, described by B.F. Skinner, in which behavior is shaped through the use of reinforcement & punishment.
Operant conditioning
A term from Skinner’s operant conditioning theory. It is anything a subject experiences after a behavior that reduces the probability the behavior will be repeates under similar conditions.
Punishment
Skinner’s term for the process of learning whereby a new behavior is conditioned. This is accomplished by systemarically reinforcing successive approximations of the goal behavior.
Shaping
This term is formally defined by Skinner as any thing that is given to a subject after a behavior is emitted that increases the probabillity the behavior will be repeated under the same stimulus conditions.
Positive reinforcement
The subjective judgement a person makes that he or she will be successful in the attempt to imitate a model.
Self-efficacy
Psychologist who created the social learning theory. He also conducted the classic study which showed that children who previosly viewed an adult model be aggressive toward a doll imitated the adult model when placed in a room with the doll.
Albert Bandura
A contemporary modification of traditional learning theory. This theory suggests that our cognitions about the behavior of others we observe influence our own behavior.
Social learning theory ( Observational learning )
In Skinner’s theory, this is the term for a reward that involves removing a noxious stimulus or condition after a goal behavior is emitted. This term is formally defined by Skinner as the removal of a noxious stimulus after a behavior is emitted that increases the probability the behavior will be repeated under similar stimulus conditions.
Negative reinforcement
The part of the psyche that Freud suggested contained inate drives & impulses.
Unconscious
The part of the personality structure in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that houses unconscious drives, motives, & repressed thoughts. Has no contact w/reality, always seeks pleasure & avoids pain (pleasure principle), contains the libido.
The Id
The part of the personality structure in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that must manage the impulses of the id. Evolves from the id & deals w/ the demands of reality. Called the executive branch of personality(makes rational decisions). Cannot determine if something is right or wrong.
Ego
Describes how the ego tries to bring individual id demands within the norms of society.
The reality principle
The part of personality structure in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that develops in middle childhood. It is the part of the psyche that contains moral standards of behavior. These moral standards are internalized during the resolution of the Oedipal & Electra complexes of the phallix stage of development. The source of moral anxiety & guilt.
Superego
The term for the control over an individual’s behavior that is a consequence of observing a model being reinforced. (If the model is observed being reinforced, it is more likely a child will imitate that model.)
Vicarious reinforcement
Freud’s term for the process of pushing unwanted thoughts into the unconscious.
Repression
Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.
Rationalization
Pushing unacceptable id impulses out of awareness & back into the unconcious. Sometimes called “motivated forgetting.”
Repression
Behaving exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings.
Reaction Formation
Reversion to immature patterns of behavior.
Regression
Attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, motives, or shortcomings to others.
Projection
Shifting unacceptable feelings from their original source to a safer, substitute target.
Displacement
A useful, socially acceptable course of behavior replaces a socially unacceptable or distasteful impulse.
Sublimation
By dealing with a stressful situation in an intellectual & unemotional manner, a person detaches him- or herself from the stress.
Intellectualization
Denying that a very unpleasant thing has happened.
Denial
This theory describes the influence of social & cultural forces on human development. Lev Vygotsky formulated this approach & argued that an individual’s cognitive development occurs within a context of interation between the individual & other members of the individual’s cultire.
Sociocultural theory
The principle that suggests development is the result of the bidirectional relationship between the person & enviroment.
Reciprocal determinism
The Russian theorist who created the sociocultural theory of development.
Lev Vygotsky
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s theory that child development occurs within multiple sociocultural systems. The child’s experiences & interactions w/ members of these systems contribute to the child’s personality, behavior,& thinking.
Ecological systems theory (also called the Bioecological approach)
A term used by ethologists to describe a narrow window of time in which a trait or behavior must develop.
Critical period
The name Charles Darwin used for the process through which species evolve over time.
Natural selection
