Psychology Chapter 2 Foxes Try Control Their Teenage Daughters Behavior

Chapter 2

2

THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading and studying the material in this chapter, the student should be able to

understand the following ideas/concepts.

2.1 DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES AND THE ISSUES THEY RAISE

• Explain why theories are needed in developmental science.

2.2 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

• Summarize the three parts of the personality and the five psychosexual stages in Freud’s

2.3 LEARNING THEORIES

• Explain how the learning theory perspective on development differs from stage theory

perspectives like Freud’s and Erikson’s.

2.4 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY: PIAGET

• Explain the concept of constructivism and the differences in modes of thinking captured

2.5 SYSTEMS THEORIES

• Explain how systems theorists such as Uri Bronfenbrenner have changed the way

developmentalists think about the roles of biological and environmental forces in

2.6 THEORIES IN PERSPECTIVE

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• Compare and contrast the major theories in this chapter in terms of their stands on the

four major issues in human development.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I Developmental Theories and the Issues They Raise

A. Introduction to Main Theories

1. Guides the collection of new information

2. Four main theories

a. Psychoanalytic (Freud, Erikson, and neo-Freudians)

B. Criteria of a Good Theory

1. Internally consistent – its different parts are not contradictory

2. Falsifiable – generates testable hypotheses

C. Nature-Nurture

1. Development as product of nature (Rousseau champion of innate goodness in

children)

e. Individual differences due to genetic differences

2. Development as product of nurture (Locke claim that experience shapes

development)

D. Activity-Passivity

1. Activity – have control over one’s development (Rousseau)

2. Passivity – shaped by forces beyond one’s control (e.g., environmental or

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3. Qualitative or quantitative change

a. Quantitative – change in degree (continuity)

F. Universality-Context Specificity

1. Universality – developmental change common to everyone

a. Stage theorists typically believe that stages are universal

Checking Mastery

1. What are the two meanings of discontinuity in development?

Stage theorists can disagree about a lot, but they are all likely to take certain stands on the

issues of nature–nurture, continuity–discontinuity, and universality–context specificity.

What are these stands?

➢ Answer: Stage theorists are likely to believe that nature is important (nurture may

II Psychoanalytic Theory

A. Freud’s Legacy

1. Psychoanalytic theory – focus on development and dynamics of personality

B. Instincts and Unconscious Motives

1. Instincts – inborn biological forces that motivate behavior

C. Id, Ego, and Superego

1. Id

a. All psychic energy contained here

2. Ego

a. Rational side of personality

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3. Superego

4. Id, ego, and superego conflict common/inevitable

a. Problems arise when level of psychic energy unevenly distributed

i. A person with antisocial personality may have weak superego

D. Psychosexual Development

1. Importance of libido—sex instinct’s energy shifts body locations

a. Five stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)

b. Oral and anal stage’s conflict of id and social demands leads to heightened

psychic conflict and anxiety

i. Fixation – development arrested at early stage

or internalizing attitudes or behaviors

iii. Electra complex – girl desires father (penis envy), views mother as rival,

resolves conflict through identification with mother

c. Latency stage – sexual urges are tamed (age 6 to 12)

d. Genital stage – experienced during puberty

i. Trouble accepting new sexuality

ii. Reexperience conflict and distance self from parents

iii. Greater capacity to love and have children in adulthood

E. Defense Mechanisms – Unconscious Coping Mechanisms of the Ego

a. Repression – removing unacceptable or traumatic thoughts from

consciousness

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1. Difficult to test and ambiguous (not easily falsifiable)

3. Greater support for broad ideas

a. Unconscious processes underlying behavior

1. Notable neo-Freudians: Adler (sibling rivalry), Jung (midlife crisis, expression of

both masculine and feminine sides of personality), Horney (challenged ideas

2. Erik Erikson is most important lifespan neo-Freudian theorist

a. Like Freud, was concerned with inner dynamics of personality and saw

3. Psychosocial stages

a. Erikson saw resolution of eight major psychosocial crises as critical:

i. Trust vs. mistrust – key is general responsiveness of caregiver (healthy

balance of trust with some skepticism is optimal)

ii. Autonomy vs. shame – concerning ability to act independently

iii. Initiative vs. guilt – preschool sense of autonomy

iv. Industry versus inferiority – elementary age sense of mastery

4. Strengths and Weaknesses

a. Strengths

i. Its emphases on rational, adaptive nature, and social influences easier to

accept than Freudian ideas

ii. Captures some central development issues within the eight stages

1. Jaime believes that people have both a moral side and a selfish side that work

against each other. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, what are these

“sides” called and when do they arise in development?

➢ Answer: The moral side of the personality is the superego and arises in the

2. What are three major ways in which Erikson’s ideas differ from Freud’s?

➢ Answer: Compared to Freud, Erikson placed more emphasis on (1) social

3. Wanda, at age 40, is depressed. She seems to doubt her ability to assert herself

and take charge of situations at work, and she always fears other people will let her

down. What Eriksonian stages might have been problematic for her in childhood, and

how might her parents have contributed to her current problems?

➢ Answer: If Wanda’s parents were unreliable and unresponsive to her needs

III Learning Theories

A. Watson: Classical Conditioning

1. Behaviorism – belief that only observed behavior should be studied

4. Classical conditioning – simple form of learning in which a stimulus that initially

has no effects comes to elicit a response through association with something that

already elicits the response

a. First discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov

i. Accidently discovered while studying digestive system of dogs

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5. Classical conditioning study with colleague Rosalie Rayners in which infant

“Albert” was conditioned to fear a rat

i. Loud noise created by banging steel rod with a hammer was

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

b. Fear can be unlearned if fear stimulus is paired with UCS for happy emotions

6. Classical conditioning involved when children learn to “love” caring parents

7. Rejects stage conceptualization of development

8. Learning is a behavioral change that is context-specific and differs enormously

from person to person

B. Skinner: Operant Conditioning

1. Operant conditioning – learning thought to become more or less probable

depending on consequences it produces

2. Reinforcement – consequences that strengthen a response (increase probability of

future response)

3. Positive – something added

a. Positive reinforcement – something pleasant added in attempt to strengthen

4. Negative – something removed

a. Negative reinforcement – something unpleasant taken in attempt to strengthen

behavior

5. Punishment – consequences that decrease a future response (weaken a behavior)

a. Positive punishment – something unpleasant added in attempt to weaken

6. Extinction – no consequence given and behavior becomes less frequent

7. Skinner emphasized positive reinforcement and generally discouraged the use of

8. Skinner believed that physical punishment is best used in specific circumstances

a. Administered immediately following act

9. Carefully designed research indicates that physical punishment can have negative

effects on child development

a. Berlin and colleagues found spanking associated with aggressive behavior and

lower developmental scores

b. Punishment may make children anxious and teach that hitting is an

C. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory

1. Social cognitive theory formerly called “social learning theory”

a. Humans are cognitive beings with active information processing skills

2. Humans’ sophisticated cognitive abilities distinguish them from other animals

3. Agrees that Skinner’s operant conditioning is an important type of learning but:

4. Observational learning (from models) – most important mechanism for behavior

change

5. Classic Bandura experiment using “Bobo” doll showed that children could learn a

behavior neither elicited by a conditioned stimulus (as in classical conditioning)

nor performed and strengthened by a reinforcer (as in operant conditioning)

a. Children shown movie of adult hitting Bobo doll with a mallet and harming it

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6. Observation learning important in our society but more important in traditional

7. Human agency – ways in which humans deliberately exercise control over

environments and lives

8. Self-efficacy – sense of one’s ability to control self or environment

9. Watson and Skinner believed people are passively shaped by environment, but

10. Learning theorists like Bandura doubt the existence of stages

a. View cognitive capacities as maturing over time

11. School refusal explained by learning theorists as learned through classical

conditioning (traumatic fire drill), punishing or reinforcing consequences, or via

1. Learning theory strengths

a. Precise and testable

2. Learning theory weaknesses

a. Doesn’t show that learning actually causes observed developmental changes

(just that it might)

Checking Mastery

1. The Foxes try to control their teenage daughter’s behavior by (a) giving her an

allowance only if she does her weekly chores, (b) setting her weekend curfew earlier

if she stayed out later than she was supposed to the weekend before, and (c) allowing

her to get out of the distasteful task of cleaning the bathroom if she spends time with

her grandmother. What specific consequences, using operant conditioning language,

are illustrated by these three parenting tactics, and in each case, what effect do the

parents hope to have on their daughter’s behavior?

➢ Answer: The consequences applied by these parents are (a) positive

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2. What are two main criticisms Albert Bandura might make of earlier behavioral

learning theories?

➢ Answer: Bandura would charge that behavioral learning theories (a) ignore the

IV Cognitive-Developmental Theory: Piaget

A. Jean Piaget

1. Swiss scholar; began studying children’s intellectual development in the 1920s

2. Greatly influenced study of intellectual development in children

3. First scientific work (study of albino sparrows) at age 11

B. Constructivism

1. Constructivism – active construction of new knowledge based on experience

2. Stage progression due to interaction of biological maturation and environment

C. Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Four major periods (stages) of cognitive development: sensorimotor (birth to age

2), preoperational (ages 2 to 7), concrete operational (ages 7 to 11), formal

3. Preoperational stage

a. Preschoolers

b. Capacity for symbolic thought

c. Egocentric thinkers who have difficulty adopting perspectives of others

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poured from tall glass into short glass, it would overflow

4. Concrete operations stage

a. School-aged children

5. Formal operations stage

a. Adolescents

6. School refusal discussed in terms of thoughts concerning home life and school

and an assessment of current stage of development (e.g., preoperational logic that

D. Strengths and Weaknesses

1. Strengths of Piaget’s approach

a. Pioneer with long-lasting impact on thinking about human development

2. Weaknesses of Piaget’s approach

a. Too little emphasis on motivation and emotion

E. Other Perspectives on Cognitive Development

1. Sociocultural perspective and information-processing approach challenged some

of Piaget’s ideas

2. Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective – development shaped by organism

growing in culture

a. Russian psychologist who took issue with Piaget’s notion of universal stages

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3. Information-processing theory

a. Dominant approach to cognitive development beginning in the 1980s

Checking Mastery

1. Distinguish between concrete operational thinking and formal operational

thinking in terms of what is operated upon mentally, using specific examples if you

can.

➢ Answer: Concrete operations are mental actions on tangible objects (as in

2. What one major criticism would advocates of (a) the sociocultural perspective on

cognitive development and (b) the information-processing approach to cognition

make of Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory?

➢ Answer: Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective claims that Piaget put too little

V Systems Theories

A. Contextual, Systems, and Contextual Theories

1. Some systems theories called contextual theories because they emphasize

interaction between humans and the contexts in which they develop

B. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model

1. Stresses how biology and environment interact to produce development

2. Four environmental systems influence and are influenced by the developing

person:

a. Microsystem – immediate physical and social environment individual

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3. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model illustrates a systems perspective

a. Individuals with biological characteristics interact with four environmental

systems

b. Bronfenbrenner began by focusing on environment and realized the

4. Strengths and Weaknesses

a. Strengths of systems theories

i. Complex view of human development makes sense because human

Checking Mastery

1. Describe how being given a big raise at work might affect a mother’s parenting

and which of Bronfenbrenner’s systems would be involved if it did.

2. Describe the relationship between nature and nurture in Bronfenbrenner’s

bioecological model.

➢ Answer: Bronfenbrenner saw nature (the person’s biological and psychological

VI Theories in Perspective

A. Theoretical Perspectives: Grouped in categories based on broad assumptions

1. Stage Theorists: Freud, Erikson, Piaget

a. Development guided in universal direction

b. Influenced by biological/maturational forces that unfold according to a master

plan (assuming a normal environment), evolving through distinct or

2. Learning Theorists: Watson, Skinner, Bandura

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3. Systems Theorists: Vygotsky, Gottlieb

a. Focus on impact of both biology and environment with individual as an active

4. Changing World Views

a. Our understanding of human development is ever changing

b. Systems theories more prevalent today

i. Moved beyond black-and-white positions on nature and nurture influences

Checking Mastery

1. How have stands on the nature-nurture issue changed during the twentieth century

from (a) Freud to (b) Skinner to (c) Bronfenbrenner?

➢ Answer: Stands on nature–nurture have changed from (a) Freud’s emphasis on

2. Of the theorists discussed in this chapter, who is the only one with something

specific to say about development during adulthood?

SUGGESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSIONS OR PROJECTS: To develop critical thinking skills

and enhance learning with exercises that support the course learning objectives.

1. Generating Hypothesis: Ask students to generate a list of observations concerning some

question of development (e.g., Do males and females behave differently? Do people become

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2. Original Source Materials: Have students find and read excerpts from original writings of

theorists such as Freud (1923), Piaget (1960), and Skinner (1982). Then have them compare

3. Historical Perspectives on Parenting: Obtain some older childrearing manuals (often

available at flea markets, second-hand book stores, libraries, or from older parents) and have

4. Theoretical Perspectives on Parenting: Choose a problem parents may have with their child

(advice columns are a useful source) and discuss it from the different theoretical perspectives.

For example, one mother wrote to an advice column that her 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter was

5. Continuity and Discontinuity and Adoption: The issue of adoption can be used to discuss the

nature-nurture issue as well as the continuity-discontinuity issue. Some questions that adopting

parents might ask are listed below. Divide students into small groups and have each group

discuss these questions and formulate answers before discussing them as an entire class.

• How will early experiences affect the later development of this child?

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6. Developing a Lifespan Theory: Using the critical development issues of, 1) nature and