Developmental Psychology Flashcards
What is Developmental Psychology?
The scientific approach which aims to explain how children and adults change over time. Involves three main areas; biological, social, emotion and cognitive processes
Who was Jean Piaget and what did he propose?
Jean Piaget’s (1936) proposed the theory of Cognitive Development which explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. The goal of his theory was to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant then the child develops into an individual who can reason, and think using hypotheses.
What were the Three Components of Piaget’s Theory?
- Schema’s
- Processes of Adaptation
- Stages of Cognitive Development
What is a Schema?
- A schema can be defined as a set of links mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations
- The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply when needed
What are Piaget’s Processes of Adaptation?
Assimilation - Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation
Accommodation - This happens when the existing schema does not work and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation
Equilibrium - This is the force which moves development along . Equilibrium occurs when a child’s schema scan deal with most new information through assimilation
What are Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development?
- Sensorimotor stage (0-2) - main achievement is object permanence, knowing an objects still exists even though it’s hidden
- Pre Operational Stage (2-7) - child cannot think logically, will solve problems using trial and error, is egocentric (unable to see the world through another’s point of view)
- Concrete Operational Stage (7-11) - Child can conserve mass and volume, can think logically and classify items into groups, can work things out in their head children
- Formal Operational Stage (12+) - child can think hypothetically and test hypotheses, can understand scientific reasoning
What were the Strengths and Limitations of Piaget’s Theory?
Strengths ~ Piaget had an enormous impact on the world of developmental psychology and generated a huge amount of research which has increased our knowledge and understanding of cognitive development
Limitations ~ Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of children, his tests were often confusing or difficult to understand, he failed to distinguish between competence and performance, Theorists such as Bruner and Vygotsky preferred to see development as a continuous processes
What did Kohlberg Propose?
- Kohlberg sought describe the development of moral reasoning by posing moral dilemmas such as whether a person should steal medicine to save a loved ones life in which he found stages of moral development were prominent in particular age groups and identified three levels and 6 stages
Explain Kohlberg’s Heinz Dilemma
In Europe a women was near death from a special kinda of cancer, there was one drug the doctors thought might save her. A druggist in the town recently discovered the drug it was expensive to make and the druggist charged 10x what the drug cost him to make which was $200 and sold it for $2000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick women’s husband Heinz went to everyone he knew to borrow money but he could only get $1000. He told the druggist his wife was going to die and asked him to sell it cheaper however he wouldn’t. Heinz got desperate and broke into the store to steal the drug to give to his wife. Should the husband of done that? (Kohlberg 1963)
What were the three levels of Kohlberg’s Theory?
- Pre-Conventional
- Conventional
- Post- Conventional
What were the Stages in the Pre-Conventional level Kohlberg’s Theory?
- Obedience and Punishment - focuses on the desire to obey rules and avoids being punished
- Instrumental and Concrete - whats in it for me? Self Interest, makes a deal to get rewarded
What were the Stages in the Conventional level of Kohlberg’s Theory?
- Mutual Interpersonal Expectations - Gaining approval and acceptance, conforming to act in a manner to avoid disapproval
- Law and Order - Obedience to authority and doing “ones duty’, obeys laws
What were the stages in the Post Conventional stage of Kohlberg’s Theory?
- Social Contract - Respects the law as social contracts, recognition between moral and legal right ‘I have to do it for the common good’
6: Universal Ethical Principles - Equality and justice, individual moral principles of conscience, respect for human rights and others
What were the Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory?
~Gender Bias (Gilligan 1982)
- Claimed Kohlberg’s Theory was sex based as he only interviewed males
- Kohlberg asserted that women seem to be deficient in their moral reasoning abilities when compared to men however Gilligan argued that some are not deficient in their moral reasoning and instead proposed that males and females reason differently
~Culture Bias (Shweder 1991)
What was Erickson’s (1963) Theory of Identity?
- Erickson described the development of identity across the entire lifespan, he described this as a series of continual stages
- There were 8 distinct stages with crises that had to be met by the individual to move onto the next stage
- These crises were of psychosocial nature because they involve the psychological needs of the individual (psycho) and the needs of society (social)
- Successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and acquisition of basic virtues
- Failure to compete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self
- Can be resolved at a later stage
