Theories and Pioneers in Developmental Psychology Flashcards
Anna Freud Contributions
Set the foundation for what we know about children today
Founder of child psychoanalysis
Was the first to apply observational techniques to systematically study children
Believed that parents are not just caretakers but also supply critical psychological needs
Her work influenced laws about adoption/custody
Became a prominent advocate for children’s rights
Sigmund Freud Perspective and Theories
?
Personality Theory
Believed that there are 3 parts to our psyche
1) ID
2) EGO
3) SUPEREGO
ID
Devil,
present at birth, innate
operates on its own until ego emerges at age 1
driven by the Pleasure Principle: part of our mind interested in instant gratification
Selfish, impulsive, primal urges
Ex. babies crying, addiction, substance use
EGO
Balance between devil and angel
Emerges at age 1
Driven by Reality Principle: grounded in what is present in the moment
Most stable/anchor of the psyche
Individuals with strong EGO are more likely to not have mental illnesses
Superego
Angel
Internalization of parental and societal values (regulates morality)
Underdeveloped: narcissism, impulsiveness, psychopathy, lack of guilt
Overdeveloped Superego
anxious, type A, overly apologetic
Instinct Theory
?
Death Instinct
there is an equally strong drive towards destruction and death/prelife that causes more tensions. This is expressed when individuals engage in self-destructive behavior
When you see aggression/violence directed towards someone else, that is your life instinct redirecting the death instinct outward. According to Freud, we destroy others to stop ourselves from destroying ourselves.
Theory of Consciousness
There are 3 levels of awareness
1) Preconscious
2) Conscious
3) Unconscious
Preconscious
thoughts/memories/feelings that are accessible but are not explicitly being thought about in the moment
Conscious
what is happening in the here and now. (there is a lot of fluidity between preconscious and conscious)
Unconscious
It is inaccessible and is a hidden reservoir of thought/memories that are not directly accessible
Freud believed that the unconscious influences our behavior more than the preconscious and conscious
Forms the foundation for the psychoanalysis model
Formed by childhood experiences
Psychosexual stages of development
1) Oral Stage
2) Anal Stage
3) Phallic Stage
4) Latency Stage
5) Genital Stage
Oral Stage
the oral cavity (mouth, lips, tongue, gums) is the primary pleasure center. Its function is to obtain an appropriate amount of sucking, eating, biting, and talking
Fixation of Oral Stage
dependency, oral fixations (smoking), depression, gullibility
Anal Stage
the anus is the pleasure center. The function here is successful toilet training (delayed gratification)
Fixation of Anal Stage
Neglect -> sloppiness; Overly militant (harshly disciplined)-> shame, the root of anxiety
Phallic Stage
the glands of the penis and the clitoris are the pleasure centers in this stage and in the 2 remaining stages. The major function of this stage is the healthy development of sexual interest, which is achieved through masturbation and unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex. Resolution of the conflicts caused by this desire (oedipal in males and Electra conflict in females) is the goal
Girls Develop Penis Envy
Penis Envy
Fixation of Phallic Stage
sibling rivalrys, inability to let go of the mother as the primary love object, lack of independence, difficulty developing relationships, vanity
Latency Stage
during this stage, sexual desire becomes dormant, which is especially true for boys who may refuse to hug or kiss their mothers and treat female age mates with disdain. Because society is more tolerant of a daughter’s attraction to her father, the Electra complex is less resolved and girls’ sexual feelings may be less repressed during this stage
Fixation of Latency Stage
Genital Stage
at this stage, a surge of sexual hormones occurs in both genders, which brings about an unconscious recurrence of the phallic stage. Normally, however, youths have learned that desire for one’s parents is taboo, and so they set about establishing relationships with members of the opposite sex who are their own age. It fixation occurs at any stage, anxiety results, and defense mechanisms will be used to deal with it.
Criticisms to Freud
Freud’s Deficiencies related to female sexuality
Erik Erikson
Was influenced by the Freuds
Although he believed in the idea that the unconscious influences behavior, he thought that Freud placed too much emphasis on biological and sexual processes driving behavior and not enough on the social and cultural influences
Identifies maturation across the entire lifespan
Uses the term “crisis” rather than “conflict”
Psychosocial Stages of Development
1) Infancy: Trust vs. Mistrust
2) Early Childhood: Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt
3) Preschool: Initiative vs. Guilt
4) Middle Childhood: Industry vs. Inferiority
5) Adolescence: Identity vs. Identity Confusion
6) Young Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation
7) Middle Age: Generativity vs. Stagnation
8) Old Age: Integrity vs. Despair
Trust vs. Mistrust
Want the infant to connect with the environment (nourishment and basic care/affection are critical to the development of trust in the mother and the larger world.)
Social Agent: Maternal
Crisis: develops fundamental mistrust, which can lead to a negative view of the world. The infant becomes fearful of the environment and weary of others.
Autonomy vs. Shame/doubt
Want the child to develop the ability to make choices, be taught how to regulate behavior
Social Agent: Parents or adult substitutes
Crisis: self-doubt
Success: feeling of confidence and competency
Initiative vs. Guilt
Add initiative, planning, and division-making. Children now have time away from their primary caretakers and have more engagement with their environment.
The development of language allows children to communicate their feelings and wants
Potential for developing more skills, children are not only imitating but are actually actively engaging and observing others
Encouragement to engage allows for initiative
Social Agent: Parents, family, friends
Crisis: overprotectiveness undermines initiative
Industry vs. Inferiority
Task: Become absorbed in the development and implementation of skills; To master the basics of technology and become productive
Social Agent: School
Crisis: children see that they are developing slower than their peers: which triggers a sense of inferiority or worthlessness
Identity vs. Identity Confusion
Task: Associate one’s skills and social roles with career goals
Social Agent: Peers, Internet, SM
Failure: lead to insecurity and confusion, this carries onto future stages
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Largely depends on the success of the previous stage (Identity vs. Identity Confusion)
Marker for Intimacy: ability to open up, interpersonal boundary
Task: form enduring intimate relationships, commit oneself to another person, and engage in mature sexual love.
Crisis: experience of loneliness, emotional isolation, and difficulty forming close relationships
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Task: Feeling useful (productive member of society), producing something worthy (creative, sense of contribution). Provide guidance to the younger generation.
Social Agent: Family, Society
Integrity vs. Despair
Task: achieve wisdom and dignity in the decline of physical/mental abilities
accepting the time and place of one’s own lifecycle (sense of peace with the life that we have lived)
Crisis: Ego Despair (far more likely to occur if we have regret (ruptures in relationships, having things that were unsaid)
Social Agent: all humans
Overlap between Freud and Erikson’s stages
Influence on Stages due to Social Media
Emerging Adulthood
a period of frequent change and exploration in areas of love, work, and worldviews. This period is especially unpredictable and people have a wide range of roles.
Pro Emerging Adulthood
Acknowledges that cultural/social changes have altered the stages that Erikson had created a long time ago.
Con Emerging Adulthood
Psychologists have already acknowledged that development is continuous and that identity is something that people reckon with throughout their entire lives. Therefore, there isn’t a need for a new stage. Development is also nonlinear and reversible.
Scope and Applicability of Erikson’s theory
1) Parenting
2) Education
3) Psychotherapy
4) Healthcare
Jean Piaget
Proposes that children do not think like adults and have a very distinct way of processing and undersanding the world around them (different logic)
The first psychologist to systematically investigate the cognitive development of children as they mature
Took a very biological approach
For him, biology sets the foundation for cognitive development. As a child matures, the way they navigate through the stages is based on biological capabilities
Piaget’s Biology and Beliefs
Piaget believed that physical maturation which occurs in the child is based on biologically determined changes. Sees this process as being relatively independent of specific experiences
Doesn’t see the interplay between biology and the environment
Ex. A child must reach a certain minimum level of biological development to be able to name an object (cognitive maturation)
Stage Theory of Cognitive Development
1) Sensorimotor
2) Preoperational
3) Concrete Operational
4) Formal Operational
Sensorimotor Stage
Major Features: infants use their bodies to form cognitive structures
Developmental task: coordination of sensory and motor activity
Main achievement: Object permanence
Object Permanence
when the child understands that an object still exists even if its hidden or can’t be seen
Preoperational Stage
An explosion of language: This stage coincides with the rapid transformation that comes with language acquisition, especially near the later parts of this stage. Young children are able to think about things symbolically
Major Features: use of symbols, rapid language growth
Egocentric: children understand and think about things from only their perspective
Concrete Operational
Important turning point in cognitive development of children
Start to see logical/operational thought that develops during this stage: child can start to work things out in their head; imagine scenarios; planning
Conservation
Conservation
children recognize that something status the same in quantity even though it’s appearance might change
Formal Operational
Ability to think abstractly and to logically test hypotheses
Logical tasks that require a person to draw conclusions based on abstract, hypothetical reasoning rather than on direct personal experience are an example of when differences recorded may reflect variationsin culture more so than underlying cognitive capabilities
Schemes
Innate blueprints that enable us to organize and adapt to our world (basic building blocks). They are a systematic pattern of thought, actions, and strategies that help an individual deal with intellectual challenges
Assimilation
This process occurs when an infant uses an existing scheme to interpret and respond to a new experience
Ex. Babies learn to suck on a bottle due to a previous experience with breatfeeding (they are assimilating)
Accommodation
This process occurs when a child changes existing ways of thinking when faced with a new situation. They learnt that an old scheme is not working and change them accordingly
Ex. Language Acquisition
Language Acquisition
A child may have called everything with 4 legs a dog. However, they learn that a cow is actually a cow and not a dog. They accommodate their previous scheme.
Adaptation
The process reflected when schemes are deepened/broadened by assimilation and they are stretched/modified by accommodation
Criticisms of Piaget
Not everyone achieves the final stage of cognitive development
His stage theory doesn’t take into account how a child’s performance on 2 logically similar tasks can be very different
Since his research is so biologically based, he failed to take into account the role of social setting and culture
Sees biology and nurture are separate things for children (the type of environment you’re in can impact your biological development)
Cross-cultural limitations/flaws
Lev Vygotsky
identifies the significant role that environment and culture play in how children develop cognitively
sets the foundation for the sociocultural theory of cognitive development
Viewed cognitive development as a social process where children learn from experienced adults (elders)
Believes that individual development can’t be understood without a social/cultural context.
Learning results from the interaction between biological processes and sociocultural interactions. (more similar to what we know about nature and nurture today/interplay between nature and nurture)
Socializing agents are critically parents and other adults who are in positions to guide and instruct children (teachers, older siblings)
Concerned with the transmission of information and cognitive skills from generation to generation (the role that older adults play in terms of guiding or facilitating the development of children)
Vygotsky comparison to Piaget
Zone of Proximal Development
The range of tasks that a child can carry out with the help of someone who is more skilled. Higher mental abilities can only develop through interaction with more advanced others
