Chapter 2-Theories of Human Development Developmental theory Ideas proposed to describe/explain phenomena Provides means to organize, interpret, explain facts or observations Guides collection of new data Five Key Developmental Issues Goodness-badness of human nature Evidence of biologically-based tendencies for good and bad Nature-nurture issue Biological forces or environmental forces Activity-passivity issue Are humans active agents in their own development or passively shaped by forces beyond their control? Continuity-discontinuity issue Are changes over the lifespan gradual or abrupt (like stair steps)? Are changes quantitative (a matter of degree) or qualitative (changes in kind)? Universality-context-specificity issue Are developmental changes common to all humans or different across cultures, subcultures, contexts, and individuals? Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality Central notion: humans have instincts that motivate behavior Unconscious motivation Humans possess psychic energy that is divided among three components of the personality Id – impulsive, selfish part of personality Ego – rational aspect that seeks to gratify instincts Superego – internalized moral standards Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development As a child biologically matures, libido seeks to gratify different biological needs Libido – psychic energy of the sex instinct Child moves through five stages Oral – infancy Anal – toddlerhood Phallic –3 to 6 years of age Latent – 6 to 12 years of age Genital - adolescence

Concepts in Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Fixation – arrested development; the libido is tied to an earlier stage of development Oedipus complex – a young boy loves his mother and fears his father will retaliate by castrating him Resolves this conflict by identification – taking on or internalizing the attitudes and behaviors of the other person Electra complex – a young girl desires her father, views her mother as a rival Resolves the conflict by identifying with her mother Defense mechanisms – unconscious coping devices that the ego adopts to defend itself against anxiety Repression Regression Projection Reaction formation Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory Weaknesses Theory said to be ambiguous, internally inconsistent, not testable, and therefore not falsifiable Strengths Many insights have held up and been influential Called attention to unconscious processes Emphasized importance of early experience Emphasized importance of emotions and emotional conflicts Erik Erikson Most influential neo-Freudian Some differences with Freud Less emphasis on sexual urges More emphasis on rational ego More positive, adaptive view of human nature Development continues through adulthood Erikson’s Stages: Approximate Ages Trust vs. mistrust: infancy Autonomy vs. shame and doubt: toddlerhood Initiative vs. guilt: preschool Industry vs. inferiority: school-age childhood Identity vs. role confusion: adolescence Intimacy vs. isolation: young adulthood Generativity vs. stagnation: middle age Integrity vs. despair: Late life

Strengths and Weaknesses of Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory Strengths Emphasis on rational and adaptive nature Emphasis on interaction of biological and social influences Influenced research into adolescence and adulthood Weaknesses Sometimes vague and difficult to test Describes human personality development but does not explain how development occurs Learning Theories: Classical Conditioning Behaviorism: conclusions should be based only upon observable behavior Principles of classical conditioning and learning by association UCS: automatic, unlearned stimulus UCR: automatic, unlearned response CS: learned stimulus CR: learned response Learning Theories: Operant Conditioning Learner’s behavior is more/less probable depending upon the consequences it produces People tend to repeat behaviors that have desirable consequences and reduce behaviors that have undesirable consequences We learn new skills and good and bad habits Learning Theories: Operant Conditioning Reinforcement occurs when a consequence strengthens a response or makes it more likely to occur Two forms of reinforcement Positive – something pleasant or desirable is added Negative – something unpleasant or undesirable is removed, escaped, or avoided Learning Theories: Operant Conditioning Punishment decreases the strength of a behavior or weakens it Two forms of punishment Positive – occurs when an unpleasant stimulus is applied or added to the situation following the behavior Negative – occurs when a desirable stimulus is removed following the behavior Learning Theories: Operant Conditioning Spanking: A Form of Punishment Best to use more positive approaches before resorting to spanking, but . . . Spanking can have short-term effect if it Is administered immediately after the act

Is administered consistently Is not overly harsh Is accompanied by explanation Is administered by an otherwise affectionate person Is used sparingly and combined with efforts to reinforce desirable behavior Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory Formerly called social-learning theory Emphasizes the motivating, self-regulating role of cognition in human behavior Includes observational learning – the most important mechanism through which human behavior changes Observational learning Accomplished by observing the behavior of others (models) Learners pay attention, construct and remember mental representations, retrieve the representations from memory, and use them to guide behavior Famous Bobo doll study Includes the processes of latent learning and vicarious reinforcement Additional aspects of social-cognitive theory Human agency – ways in which people deliberately exercise cognitive control Self-efficacy – a high or low sense that one can effectively produce desired outcomes in a particular activity Reciprocal determinism – mutual influences among the person, the person’s behavior, and the environment Learning Theories: Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths Theories are precise and testable Can test via carefully controlled experiments Principles apply across the lifespan Practical applications are possible Weaknesses Inadequate accounts of developmental changes Too little consideration of genetic and maturational processes Concepts in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Intelligence: process that helps a person adapt to the environment Constructivism: children construct new understandings of the world based on their experiences Interaction between biological maturation and experiences is responsible for children’s developmental progress from one stage to the next, qualitatively different, stage

Stages of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor stage Infants deal with the world through their senses and their motor skills Properational stage Preschoolers can use symbolic thought but cannot yet use logical problem-solving Cannot demonstrate conservation Concrete operations stage School-age children are more logical and can use trial-and-error approach to problem-solving Formal operations stage Adolescents are able to think abstractly and hypothetically Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Strengths Well-accepted by developmentalists Well-researched, mostly supported Influenced education and parenting Weaknesses Too little consideration of influences of motivation and emotion upon thought processes Questionable that the stages constitute a coherent, general mode of thinking Perhaps underestimated cognitive abilities of young children Too little emphasis upon parents and caregivers Stages may not be universal Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective View that cognitive development is shaped by its sociocultural context and children’s interactions with members of their culture Information-processing approach Examines fundamental processes of attention, memory, decision-making, etc. Systems Theories Systems theories attribute changes over the lifespan to ongoing, reciprocal transactions between a changing organism and a changing environment ¨The Ecology of Development ¨Urie Bronfenbrenner proposed a bioecological model to explain how biology and environment interact in development ¤Microsystem: direct immediate environment ¤Mesosystem: linkages between microsystems ¤Exosystem: indirect linkages of social systems ¤Macrosystem: larger cultural context ¤Chronosystem: changes occur in a time frame

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of development pictures environment as a series of nested structures. The microsystem refers to relations between the developing person and her immediate environment, the mesosystem to connections among microsystems, the exosystem to settings that affect but do not contain the individual, the macrosystem to the broader cultural context of development, and the chronosystem to the patterning over time of historical and life events. Researchers face many challenges in studying the developing person in context. Gottlieb’s Epigenetic Psychobiological Systems Perspective Development is the product of interacting biological and environmental influences that form a larger system Evolution endowed humans with genetic makeup Genes and environment interact because humans actively change their environments Occurs at the species level Biological and cultural evolution contribute to change over time in the human species Epigenesis: “over and above” genes Nature and nurture, genes and environment, co-act to yield developmental outcomes Epigenetic process Activity of genes Activity of neurons Organism’s behavior Environmental influences Strengths and Weaknesses of Systems Theories of Development Strengths Call attention to ongoing transactions between the individual and the environment Weaknesses Only partially formulated and tested, No coherent developmental theory Categories of Human Development Theories Freud, Erikson, and Piaget Stage theorists Development guided in universal directions by biological-maturational forces Parents are supporters of development Watson, Skinner, and Bandura Learning theorists Emphasize environment more than biology Parents are their children’s trainers Systems and contextual theorists View biology and environment as inseparable components of a larger system Humans are active contributors to development, but environment also is an active participant. Parents view themselves as partners with their children in the development process