• All scientific knowledge comes from scientific investigation – a four-step process – Identify a problem to be studied – Collect data or research information – Analyze the data – Draw conclusions • Diverse but complimentary theories are used for explaining life-span development: – Psychoanalytic theories – Cognitive theories – Ethological theories – Ecological theories
Psychoanalytic Theories: • Freud’s Psychosexual Theory – Personality has 3 parts
– There are 5 stages of psychosexual development – Oedipus complex allows child to identify with same-sex parent
– Fixation is an unresolved conflict during a stage of development • Today’s focus is more on cultural experiences and less on sexual instincts
Freudian Stages Birth to 1½ yrs
1½ to 3 yrs
3 to 6 years
6 yrs to puberty
Puberty onward
Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency Stage
Genital Stage
Infant’s pleasure centers on mouth
Child’s pleasure focuses on anus
Figure 2.1
Child’s pleasure focuses on genitals
Child A time of represses sexual sexual reawakening; interest source of and develops sexual social and pleasure intellectual becomes skills someone outside of the family
• Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory: – There are 8 stages of psychosocial development – Each has a unique developmental task – Developmental change occurs throughout life span • Key points of psychoanalytic theories: – Early experiences and family relationships are very important to development – Unconscious aspects of the mind are considered – Personality is best seen as a developmental process
Erikson’s Eight Life-Span Stages Erikson’s Stages
Developmental Period
Trust vs Mistrust Infancy (first year) Autonomy vs shame & Infancy (1 to 3 years) doubt Initiative vs guilt Early childhood (3 to 5 years) Industry vs inferiority Middle and late childhood Identity vs identity Adolescence (10 to 20 years) confusion Intimacy vs isolation Early adulthood (20s, 30s) Generativity vs Middle adulthood (40s, 50s) stagnation Integrity vs despair Late adulthood (60s onward) Figure 2.2
Cognitive theories: • Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory – Stresses conscious mental processes – Cognitive processes are influenced by biological maturation – Four stages of cognitive development in children – Assimilation and accommodation underlie how children understand the world, adapt to it, and organize their experiences
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor Stage: The infant constructs an understanding of the world Birth to 2 by coordinating sensory experiences with physical years of age actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage: 2 to 7 years of age
The child begins to represent the world with words and images. These words and images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory information and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage:
7 to 11 years The child can now reason logically about concrete of age events and classify objects into different sets. 11–15 years Formal Operational Stage of age The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic through adulthood and logical ways. Figure 2.3
• Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory – Children actively construct their knowledge – Social interaction and culture guide cognitive development – Learning is based upon inventions of society – Knowledge is created through interactions with other people and objects in the culture – Less skilled persons learn from the more skilled
• Information-processing theory – Compares computers to the human mind – Thinking is information processing
Information-Processing Theory geography
literature science
INPUT
OUTPUT
Information is taken into brain history
math
religion
Information is used as basis of behaviors and interactions Information gets processed, analyzed, and stored until use
Behavioral and social cognitive theories: • Pavlov’s classical conditioning includes conditioned and unconditioned responses • Watson applies association and generalization • Operant conditioning focuses on positive and negative reinforcement • Social cognitive theory focuses on observation and imitation
• Ethological theory includes imprinting and attachment
Classical Conditioning
Generalization
What are the reinforcements to achieve?
Task: Learn to read
Operant Conditioning
What happens when there are no controls or reinforcement?
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model
Behavior
Person (cognitive)
Figure 2.4
Environment
Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation
Child observes someone admired
Child imitates behavior that seems rewarded
• Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory: – Environmental factors influence development – 5 environmental systems affect life-span development
• Eclectic theoretical orientation: – Selects features from other theories – No one theory has all the answers – Each theory can make a contribution to understanding life-span development
Political philosophy
Exosystem
Mesosystems
School system
Family
School & classroom
Chronosystem
Religion & groups
Peer group
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development
Macrosystem
Figure 2.5
Research in Life-Span Development
• Types of research: – Descriptive: observes and records behavior • Laboratory research • Naturalistic observation • Surveys and interviews • Standardized tests • Case studies • Life-history records • Physiological measures
Parents’ Explanations of Science to Sons and Daughters at a Science Museum
30 25
Percentage parent–child 20 interactions in which the parent 15 explained science concepts 10 5 0
Figure 2.8
Boys
Girls
– Correlational research • Measures relationships; not the same as causation
– Experimental research • Independent variable gets manipulated • Dependent variable is the resulting change • Experimental group is manipulated • Control group serves as the “norm” for comparison
Other factors, such as genetic tendencies, poverty, and sociohistorical circumstances
Permissive parenting cause both
and Children’s lack of self-control
Possible Explanations for Correlational Data Figure 2.9
Principles of Experimental Research Participants randomly assigned to experimental and control groups
Experimental Independent group variable (aerobic exercise)
Control group (no aerobic exercise)
Dependent Newborns’ breathing and sleeping patterns variable
Figure 2.10
Group 1
Time playing video games: 2 hours each day
More playful and sociable
Group 2
Time playing video games: 6 hours each day
More aggressive and antisocial
• Time-span research – Focus on the relation of age to some other variable across the life span (e.g., memory) – Cross-sectional approach compares different age groups at one time – Longitudinal approach studies a group over a period of time – Sequential approach combines longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches – Cohort effects: due to time or era of birth but not due to one’s actual age
Facing Up to Research Challenges
• Conducting Ethical Research – Informed consent: participants give informed consent and participation is voluntary – Confidentiality of participants’ information – Participants’ rights will be observed
– Debriefing after the experiment – Deception: researchers ensure any deception will not harm the participants
• Minimize bias: – Gender bias is based on preconceived ideas about the abilities and differences between men and women; research affects how people think about men and women – Cultural and ethnic bias • Life-span research needs to include more diverse groups of people • Avoid ethnic gloss in research
• Being a Wise Consumer of Information – Media only publishes parts of research when of public interest – All information for public consumption may be • Oversimplified, condensed with few details • Distorted or exaggerated – People must consider information carefully • Separate group from individual outcomes • Do not overgeneralize from small sample • Look for additional information on a study • Do not attribute causes when none exist • Evaluate the source of information
