Lecture 1: Theories and Perspectives

Question 1

the psychoanalytic viewpoint (4)

Answer 1

• Sigmund Freud; psychosexual theory
• Erik Erikson; psychosocial theory and psychosocial stages of development
• Problems with this viewpoint:
  
  • No empirical proof, and difficult to research objectively.
  • Other good theories exist, which came after the psychoanalytic period.

Question 2

Freud and psychosexual theory (8)

Answer 2

• psychosexual theory: Proposes that people are driven by urges, sexual in nature, that are viewed as undesirable by society.
• Mind consists of the Id (where the eros and thanatos instincts come in), Ego, and Superego.
  
  • Eros, the life instinct, and thanatos, the death-related instinct.
  • If the superego develops properly, it should be present in both the conscious and unconscious.
  • Your ego should be present in your conscious and preconscious levels.
  • Your id should only be in your subconscious; you should learn how to suppress it properly in the latency stage.
• Parenting shapes children—his theory wasn’t necessarily about parenting, but highly related to parents’ influences on children.
  
  • If people get stuck in one of the five stages of psychosexual development, different problems may arise.

Question 3

Erikson and psychosocial theory (3)

Answer 3

• psychosocial theory: A neo-Freudian perspective suggesting that children are not passive, and have a role in how their identity develops.
  
  • i.e. Social and cultural aspects of development are more important to your identity than sexual urges.
• Rather than the tripartite model, Erikson proposed the eight life crises, or the psychosocial stages of development.

Question 4

the behaviourist viewpoint (8)

Answer 4

• John B. Watson
• B.F. Skinner; radical behaviourism and operant conditioning
• Albert Bandura; social cognitive theory and observational learning
• reciprocal determinism
• These theories are precise and testable, and have had many scientific contributions.
• Problems with these viewpoints:
  
  • Downplay the importance of genetics in development.
  • Have low external validity.
  • Ignores the child’s level of cognitive development.

Question 5

John Watson (8)

Answer 5

• “Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness.”
• Habits formed at a young age as building blocks for skills for the rest of your life.
• Famous for his Little Albert Study (1920).
  
  • But wasn’t able to predict all responses from the stimulus—Albert didn’t respond negatively every time the rabbit was brought out.
  • Data from other children never fully supported all of his claims for phobia conditioning.
• However, ideas had a lasting impact:
  
  • 1930s: Brought behaviourism to center of American experimental psychology.
  • Helped make psychology more scientific.
  • Bridged the gap between basic and applied psychology.

Question 6

Skinner and radical behaviourism and operant conditioning (8)

Answer 6

• radical behaviourism: Posits that behaviours, rather than mental states, are what psychology should study—affective responses aren’t responsible for learning, changes in behaviour are.
• operant conditioning: Behaviour operates on the environment to produce an outcome.
  
  • We repeat actions that produce favorable outcomes.
  • We suppress actions that produce unfavorable outcomes.
• Parenting is important in terms of operant conditioning because they can act as the environmental consequence or reward.
  
  • Their actions determine whether or not children are able to discern between consequences and rewards.
• However, this view may be too radical.
  
  • It also disregards heredity, social cues, and complexity of human behaviour.

Question 7

Bandura and social cognitive theory and observational learning (5)

Answer 7

• social cognitive theory: Proposes that both behavioural and cognitive processes influence behaviour.
• observational learning: Learning occurs as a function of repetitive observations of others’ behaviour.
• Famous for the Bobo doll experiments.
  
  • When models were punished for aggressive acts, children were far less likely to behave aggressively than if the model was rewarded or there was no consequence.
  • Although there were several confounds to the study, these results have been replicated and observational learning has held up.

Question 8

reciprocal determinism (3)

Answer 8

• One’s behaviour influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment.
  
  • Expands off of observational learning and social cognitive theory.
  • Behaviour (e.g. motor responses, verbal responses, social interactions), environment (e.g. physical surroundings, family and friends, and other social influences), and yourself (e.g. cognitive abilities, physical abilities, and beliefs and attitudes) all influence one another.

Question 9

the cognitive-developmental viewpoint (7)

Answer 9

• Piaget; four stages of cognitive development
• Problems with this viewpoint:
  
  • Much of the research was anecdotal or with Piaget’s own children.
  • Some theories have been proven incorrect; e.g. he quite underestimated children’s’ cognitive reasoning abilities.
  • Stages may not occur in an invariant sequence; stages in general are problematic because they may not happen in the way that the researcher proposed.
  • Ignores cultural and social influences on development.
• But his theory has had a large impact on education and field of social cognition, and is a valuable framework for cognitive development.

Question 10

Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development (7)

Answer 10

• The four stages of cognitive development move in invariant sequencing—i.e. stages can’t be reordered or skipped.
• Cognitive schemas that are formed serve as skills we have to navigate the world.
• Relevant to development are self-schemas (e.g. “other people are trustworthy,” “I am lovable,” etc.).
• Intellectual growth as a process of adaptation.
• Assimilation; e.g. gathering lots of images of chairs and putting them together into a schema of a chair.
• Accommodation; e.g. seeing a really weird chair and still fitting it into your schema, i.e. updating it to include this strange chair that doesn’t fit into your previous schema.
• Equilibration (equilibrium-disequilibrium); equilibrium is reached for individuals who are able to assimilate and accommodate (thus, disequilibrium is when this doesn’t happen).

Question 11

evolutionary theory (4)

Answer 11

• ethology: The study of human or animal behaviour from a biological perspective.
• Konrad Lorenz
• John Bowlby
• adaptivity of altruism

Question 12

Lorenz and imprinting in geese (3)

Answer 12

• Had geese either imprint on their mothers or on him.
• Found that geeses were likely to imprint on whatever they saw first and will follow whatever they’ve imprinted on.
• Natural selection—if you’re able to connect with the mother goose, who will protect you with safety and shelter, you’re more likely to survive in the world.

Question 13

Bowlby and adaptive significance of crying (3)

Answer 13

• If an infant constantly needs you, you form a bond, and you’re then able to continue this bond over the years.
• Sensitive period of 3 years; the first 3 years of life are crucial for all kinds of experiences to be happening that will influence their development and adulthood.
• There’s some inconsistency on the specifics of the age range, and also for specific cognitive abilities.

Question 14

Is altruism adaptive? (4)

Answer 14

• Humans are social animals, so altruism should be beneficial.
• Empathy present at birth; mirror neurons.
• Sagi & Hoffman (1976): Presented infants with a recording of other infants crying, cries of other non-humans, or no sound. Found that the first group were significantly more likely to cry for longer.
  
  • Perhaps demonstrates empathy; responding to distress with distress.

Question 15

ecological systems theory (1)

Answer 15