Psychology Theories & Important Figures Flashcards
Sigmund Freud
founder of psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory
A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior
Psychosexual stages of development
stages of child development in which a child’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on specific areas of the body called erogenous zones. impetus for development stems from one energy source, the libido. the different stages leave their mark on the individual’s character and personality, especially if sexual development is arrested in a fixation at one particular stage.
stages:
1. oral
2. anal
3. phallic
4. latency
5. genital
Ivan Pavlov
discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell
Classical conditioning
a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response (ex. food in a dog’s mouth)
Conditioned stimulus
in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (ex. the sound of a bell)
B.F skinner
founded behavioralism and operant conditioning; Skinner box
Behavioralism/Operant Learning
the process in which behavioral change occurs as a function of the consequences of behavior (ex. teaching a dog to do tricks and rewarding behavioral change in a misbehaving child) (think positive/negative reinforcement + punishment)
Albert bandura
founder of social learning theory; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated ‘appropriate’ play with dolls, children mimicked play
Social learning/social cognitive theory
we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Jean piaget
a child’s cognitive development occurs in four major stages
Four stage theory of cognitive development
- sensorimotor
- preoperational
- concrete operational
- formal operational
Erik Erickson
Proposed psychosocial theory (8-stages of Psychosocial Development)
8 stages of psychosocial development
ego identity is gradually achieved by facing goals and challenges during eight stages of development across the lifespan
1) Trust vs. mistrust (infancy). Nurturing stage.
2) Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (early childhood), due to being unable to handle situations one encounters in life.
3) Initiative vs. guilt (preschool years), child developes either a sense of Initiative and self confidence or feelings of guilt depending on how successful they are in exploring their environment and dealing with peers.
4) Industry vs. inferiority (grammar school years), focus shifts away from family to school where the child develops conceptions of being industrious or inferior.
5) Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence), failure to establish a clear and firm sense of one’s self results in identity confusion
6) Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood), one meets or fails to meet the challenge presented by young adulthood of forming stable relationships, outcome: Intimacy or Isolation.
7) Generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood), A persons’ contribution to the well being of others through citizenship, work, and family becomes self generated, and fulfilling primary tasks of adulthood is complete.
8) Integrity vs despair (late adulthood), developmental challenge posed by the knowledge one is dying. Challenge is to find a sense of continuity and meaning, not to despair.
