Theories of Human Development © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.1 Developmental Theories and the Issues They Raise • Learning Objectives – Explain why theories are needed in developmental science – Outline the four issues addressed by theories of human development © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Developmental Theories and the Issues They Raise • Theories – Guide the collection of new facts or observations – Make clear: • What is most important to study • What can be hypothesized or predicted about it • How it should be studied © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Nature–Nurture • Is development due to nature (biological forces) or nurture (environmental forces)? • Nature – Normal children achieve same developmental milestones at similar times due to maturational forces • Nurture – Development can take many paths depending on the individual’s experiences over a lifetime © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Activity–Passivity • Extent to which human beings are active in producing their own development or are passively shaped – Humans are curious, active creatures who orchestrate their own development – Humans as passive beings shaped largely by forces beyond their control (environmental influences or biological forces) © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Continuity–Discontinuity • Focuses on whether the changes people undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt and quantitative or qualitative – Continuity theorists developmental changes are gradual and quantitative – Discontinuity theorists changes are abrupt and qualitative • Developmental stages © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Universality–Context Specificity • Extent to which developmental changes are universal or context specific – Stage theorists believe stages are universal – Other theorists pathways of development vary depending on social context © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Issues in Human Development © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.2 Freud Psychoanalytic Theory • Learning Objectives – Summarize the three parts of the personality and the five psychosexual stages in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory – Evaluate the strengths or contributions and the weaknesses of Freud’s theory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Freud Psychoanalytic Theory • Focused on the development and dynamics of the personality • People are driven by motives and emotional conflicts – Unaware of these motives and conflicts – Shaped by their earliest experiences in the family © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Instincts and Unconscious Motivation • Freud viewed the newborn as inherently selfish, driven by instincts – Inborn biological forces that motivate behavior • Source of the mental energy that fuels human behavior • Believed in unconscious motivation – Power of instincts to influence our behavior without our awareness © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Id, Ego, and Superego • Id – Impulsive, irrational, and selfish part of the personality • Ego – Rational side of the individual that tries to find realistic ways of gratifying the instincts • Superego – Individual’s internalized moral standards © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Psychosexual Stages • Children move through five psychosexual stages – Oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital • Defense mechanisms – Devices the ego adopts unconscious coping to defend itself against anxiety that can arise as conflicts arise • Repression, regression © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Strengths and Weaknesses • Weaknesses of Freud’s theory – Ambiguous, internally inconsistent, difficult to pin down and test, not easily falsifiable • Strengths – Attention to unconscious processes underlying human behavior – Highlighted early experiences – Emphasized importance of emotions © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.3 Erikson Neo-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory • Learning Objectives – Analyze how Erikson’s neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theory differs from and expands on Freud’s theory – Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Erikson’s theory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Erikson Neo-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory • Erikson as compared to Freud – Less emphasis on sexual urges and on the unconscious, irrational, and selfish id – More emphasis on social influences, rational ego, and on development after adolescence © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Psychosocial Stages • Humans experience eight psychosocial stages – Trust versus mistrust – Autonomy vs shame and doubt – Initiative vs guilt – Industry vs inferiority – Identity vs role confusion – Intimacy vs isolation – Generativity vs stagnation – Integrity vs despair © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths – Emphasis on rational, adaptive nature and on an interaction of biological and social influences • Weaknesses – Vague and difficult to test – Does not provide an adequate explanation of how development comes about © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.4 Learning Theories • Learning Objectives – Explain how the learning theory perspective on development differs from stage theory perspectives like Freud’s and Erikson’s – Using examples, differentiate between Watson’s classical conditioning, Skinner’s operant conditioning, and Bandura’s observational learning with regard to what learning involves and what can be learned © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Learning Theories • Learning Objectives – Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of learning theories in general and discuss how Bandura overcame some of the weaknesses of earlier learning theories © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Watson: Classical Conditioning • Watson – Conclusions about human development and functioning should be based on observations of overt behavior – Rejected psychoanalytic theory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Watson: Classical Conditioning • Classical conditioning – Form of learning in which a stimulus comes to elicit a response through its association with a stimulus that already elicits the response • Fears and emotional responses can be learned • Learning theorists – Development is a continuous process of behavior change • Context specific • Can differ from person to person © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Skinner: Operant Conditioning • Learner behaves in some way and associates this action with the positive or negative consequences that follow • People repeat behaviors with desirable consequences and decrease behaviors with undesirable consequences © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Skinner: Operant Conditioning • Reinforcement – When a consequence strengthens a response, or makes it more likely to occur – Positive reinforcement • Event that makes that behavior more probable – Negative reinforcement • Behavior is strengthened because something unpleasant is removed or is avoided after the behavior occurs © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Skinner: Operant Conditioning • Punishment – Decreases the strength of the behavior – Positive punishment • Occurs when an unpleasant stimulus is the consequence of a behavior – Negative punishment • Occurs when a desirable stimulus is removed following the behavior © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Possible Consequences of Whining Behavior © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Skinner: Operant Conditioning • Skinnerian learning theorists – Emphasized the power of positive reinforcement – “Catch them being good” • Physical punishment effects – Increase aggression – Increase mental health problems – Impair children’s intellectual and moral functioning © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory • Social cognitive theory – Humans are cognitive beings whose active processing of information plays a critical role in their learning, behavior, and development – Observational learning • Learning by observing the behavior of other people • Example: The classic Bobo doll experiment © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory • Latent learning – Learning occurs, but is not evident in behavior • Vicarious reinforcement – Learners become more or less likely to perform a behavior based on whether consequences experienced by the model they observe are reinforcing or punishing © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory • Self-efficacy – Belief that you can effectively produce a particular desired outcome • Reciprocal determinism – Human development occurs through a continuous reciprocal interaction among the person, behavior, and environment • Bandura maintains that development is context specific, continuous, and gradual © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths – Learning theories are precise and testable – Learning principles can be used to understand behavior at any age – Learning theories have important applications • Weaknesses – Rarely demonstrate that learning is responsible for observed developmental changes – Too little emphasis on biological influences © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. The Three Major Types of Learning © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.5 Piaget Cognitive Developmental Theory • Learning Objectives – Explain the concept of constructivism and the differences in modes of thinking captured in the four stages in Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory – Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Piaget’s theory, noting how the sociocultural and information-processing approaches attempted to correct for its weaknesses © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Constructivism • Piaget – Intelligence is a process that helps an organism adapt to its environment – Children are not born with innate ideas about reality – Children are not filled with information by adults © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Constructivism • Constructivism – Children construct their own understandings of the world based on experiences – Curious and active explorers – Watch what is going on around them – Experiment on the objects they encounter – Recognize instances where current understandings are inadequate © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development • Four major periods of cognitive development – Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2) – Preoperational stage (ages 2–7) – Concrete operations stage (ages 7–11) – Formal operations stage (ages 11–12 or older) • Invariant sequence – All children progress through the stages in the order they are listed without skipping stages or regressing © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor stage – Deal with the world directly through their perceptions and actions – Unable to use symbols to help solve problems mentally – Acquire tools for solving problems through their sensory and motor experiences © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development • Preoperational stage – Developed the capacity for symbolic thought but not yet capable of logical problem solving – Can use words as symbols to talk about a problem – Can mentally imagine doing something – Egocentric thinkers – Easily fooled by appearances – Fail to demonstrate conservation © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development • Concrete operations – More logical than preschoolers – Use a trial-and-error approach to problem solving – Do well on problems that involve thinking about concrete objects – Can mentally categorize or mentally add and subtract objects – Have difficulty with abstract and hypothetical problems © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Stages of Cognitive Development • Formal operations – Able to think abstractly and hypothetically – Can define justice abstractly – Can formulate hypotheses or predictions in their heads – Plan how to systematically test their ideas experimentally – Imagine the results of their experiments © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Developpment © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths – Most developmentalists accept Piaget’s beliefs – Ideas have been tested and largely supported – Influenced education and child-rearing • Weaknesses – Stages are questionable – Underestimates development of young children – Too little emphasis on social and cultural influences © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Other Perspectives on Cognitive Development • Sociocultural perspective – Vygotsky – Cognitive development shaped by the sociocultural context and grows out of children’s interactions with members of their culture – Children are social beings • Develop their minds through their interactions with more knowledgeable members of their culture © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Other Perspectives on Cognitive Development • Information processing approach – Human mind is like a computer – Examines fundamental mental processes • Attention • Memory • Decision making – Development involves • Changes in the capacity and speed of the brain • Strategies used to process information • Information stored in memory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Other Perspectives on Cognitive Development • Information processing approach – Development involves: • Changes in the capacity and speed of the brain • Strategies used to process information • Information stored in memory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.6 Systems Theories • Learning Objectives – Explain how systems theorists such as Uri Bronfenbrenner have changed the way developmentalists think about the roles of biological and environmental forces in development – Define and give an example of the five environmental systems in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.6 Systems Theories • Learning Objectives – Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Bronfenbrenner’s theory © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Systems Theories • Systems theories – Changes over the life span arise from ongoing transactions in which a changing organism and a changing environment affect one another – Development can take several paths depending on the complex interplay of multiple influences © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model • How the environment is organized and how it affects development • The developing person is embedded in a series of four environmental systems – Microsystem – Mesosystem – Exosystem – Macrosystem © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths – Conceptualizes development as unpredictable product of biological and environmental forces interacting within a complex system • Weaknesses – Systems perspectives may never provide a coherent picture of development (“It depends”) – Human development may be more predictable than bioecological model implies © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2.7 Theories in Perspective • Learning Objective – Compare and contrast the major theories in this chapter in terms of their stands on the four major issues in human development © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Theories in Perspective • Human development is always the product of nature and nurture interacting • Both humans and their environments are active in the developmental process • Development is both continuous and discontinuous and has both universal aspects and contextual aspects © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Theories in Perspective © 2015. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 3:55 1 < Back Week 3 - Chapter 4 Comments Tearning it from a sort of biological and psychological perspective it just makes sense. Over the years, we have learned a lot more from science and research that explains how of mind and bodies work. I work at a Recreation Center with minors ranging in different ages, and you really learn to master the art of patience because you understand what level their minds are working at. Although they may not be intelligent in the level of an adult, they are learning each day to get to that level. It is even more interesting to note that, "some of the most important learning we ever do happens before we're born, while we're still in the womb" (Murphy 15:31). Babies are a lot smarter that people used to believe because they are constantly gaining new knowledge and making new connections to understand the outside world. I remember in one of last week's videos with Allison Gopnile as the speaker, she talked about the study with 15 and 18 month old babies and their way of thinking in regards to the broccoli and crackers. The age difference highlights the two distinct ways in which these infants interpret the other person's reaction to the food. Babies do not born a "blank canvas", they are already born with ideas right out of the womb. Why do newborns automatically gravitate to their mother's nipple for food? Previous Dashboard Calendar Y3 To Do Notifications Next Inbox3:55 1 < Back Week 3 - Chapter 4 Comments I had a couple of questions this week. While reading the textbook I came across this statistic, "as many as one in four couples experience difficulties conceiving despite their strong desire to have a child." (Sigelman, Rider 93) As someone who suffers from a hormone disorder (PCOS) I am unable to ovulate and in turn naturally conceive.. I felt like my body had betrayed me. While children aren't necessarily in the books more me right now I was wondering if such a large percent of the population has issues conceiving whys this not a topic of discussion among young adults? I feel like infertility is such a big part of the process of trying to get pregnant and if everyone was more open about their own infertility struggles then maybe people like me who had a hard time coming to terms with my own infertility wouldn't be so harsh on themselves or their bodies. I also had the question is there a link between the increase in infertility and any new diet, culture, or environmental changes? While watching the videos, Annie Murphy Paul mentioned that at 7 months gestation fetus' learn about taste and smells and are able to taste the food their mother's eat through amniotic fluid and can remember and prefer these tastes. My question was, if the variety of foods a mother eats during pregnancy can be linked to picky eating as the child gets older. 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