Human development theories

Question 1

Debates

Answer 1

Nature vs. nurture

Continuity vs. discontinuity (hair growth vs. puberty)

Universal vs. context-specific

Activity vs. passivity

Question 2

Freud’s 3 parts of the personality

Answer 2

• Id: impulsive, irrational and selfish urges
• Ego: desire to satisfy urges in a realistic manner
• Superego: internalised moral standards

Question 3

Freud’s 5 psychosexual stages

Answer 3

Libido (sex instinct) that shifts b/w different parts of the body during maturation
- Nature
- Discontinuous
- Universal
- FLAWS: absolute stages, lack of support

1. Oral stage (0-1 year)
   - Oral gratification (via breastmilk) is critical to development
2. Anal stage (1-3 years)
   - Toilet training etc.
3. Phallic stage (3-6 years)
   - Libido fixated at genitals
   - Incestuous desire for opposite-sex parent
   - Mimicking same-sex parent
4. Latent stage (6-12 years)
   - Libido is quiet
   - Energy invested in schoolwork, playing with same-sex friends
5. Genital stage (≥ 12 years)
   - Establishing mature sexual relationships

Question 4

Erikson’s 8 psychosocial stages

Answer 4

• Nature and nurture
• Discontinuous
• Universal
• FLAWS: completing 1 stage is pre-requisite for next stage, based on social context, NOT APPLICABLE TO ALL CULTURES

1. Trust vs. mistrust (0-1 years)
   - Needs met = child will trust the caregiver
2. Autonomy vs. shame (1-3 years)
   - Need to assert their own will
3. Initiative vs. guilt (3-6 years)
   - Ability to create and action plans without impinging on others
4. Industry vs. inferiority (6-12 years)
   - Mastering social and academic skills
5. Identity vs. role confusion (12-20 years)
   - Establishing a social and vocational identity
6. Intimacy vs. isolation (20-40 years)
   - Sharing an identity with someone
7. Generativity vs. stagnation (40-65 years)
   - Gaining the sense of having created something that will outlive you
8. Integrity vs. despair (≥ 65 years)
   - Finding a sense of meaning of life in the face of passing

Question 5

Epigenetic principle

Answer 5

Development = pre-determined biological stages

BUT

Progression = determined by external society

Question 6

Piaget’s 4 stages

Answer 6

FLAWS:
- Children do not perform consistency in tasks that test the same ability/skills
- No consideration of external influences
- Some develop abilities before/after expected stage

1. Sensorimotor (0-2)
   - Senses and motor skills, mental representation
2. Pre-operational thought (2-6)
   - Symbols (words, numbers) to represent aspects of the world
   - Only relating through own perspective
3. Concrete operational thought (7-early adolescence)
   - Logical operations understood and applied to experiences
4. Formal operational thought (Adolescence onwards)
   - Abstract, hypothetical, speculations

Question 7

Bronfenbrenner’s theory

Answer 7

• Continuous
• Context-specific

Microsystem: people and objects in immediate environment

Mesosytem: created from connections between microsystem

Exosystem: social, environmental, and governmental forces

Macrosystem: subcultures and cultures in which the other three systems are imbedded

Question 8

Paul Baltes Lifespan perspective

Answer 8

1. Selection: choose goals, life domains and life tasks
   - Elective: voluntary
   - Loss-based: circumstantially forced
2. Compensation: alternative method of achieving goal
3. Optimisation: optimising resources for desired goals

4 key features:
1. Multidirectionality
2. Plasticity of skills
3. Historical context
4. Multiple causation