psychoanalytic theories
Emotion plays a large role in development, and development is a function of the unconscious minds
- Freud
- Erikson
cognitive theories
Cognitive theories emphasize thinking, reasoning, language, and other cognitive processes
-piaget,
-vygotsky
Freud
five stages of psychoSexual development,
named oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital, determines our adult personality.
Erikson
eight psychoSocial stages of development which unfold throughout the lifespan.
Each stage represents a crisis that must be resolved for healthy development to occur.
� Trust vs. mistrust
� Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
� Initiative vs. guilt
� Industry vs.
How does Erikson differ from Freud?
-Freud believed that early childhood was the most important. He believed that personality developed by about the age of five.
-Erikson believed that personality development happens over the entire course of a person's life. In each of the 8 stages, people
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
In the first year after birth, babies depend completely on adults for basic needs such as food, comfort, and warmth. If the caretakers meet these needs reliably, the babies become attached and develop a sense of security. Otherwise, they may develop a mis
Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Between the ages of one and three, toddlers start to gain independence and learn skills such as toilet training, feeding themselves, and dressing themselves. Depending on how they face these challenges, toddlers can develop a sense of autonomy or a sense
Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt
Between the ages of three and six, children must learn to control their impulses and act in a socially responsible way. If they can do this effectively, children become more self- confident. If not, they may develop a strong sense of guilt.
Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority
Between the ages of six and twelve, children compete with peers in school and prepare to take on adult roles. They end this stage with either a sense of competence or a sense of inferiority.
Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion
During adolescence, which is the period between puberty and adulthood, children try to determine their identity and their direction in life. Depending on their success, they either acquire a sense of identity or remain uncertain about their roles in life.
Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation
In young adulthood, people face the challenge of developing intimate relationships with others. If they do not succeed, they may become isolated and lonely.
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Self-Absorption
As people reach middle adulthood, they work to become productive members of society, either through parenting or through their jobs. If they fail, they become overly self-absorbed.
Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair
In old age, people examine their lives. They may either have a sense of contentment or be disappointed about their lives and fearful of the future.
Piaget's cognitive development theory
four stages of cognitive development, each of which is age-related and represents a qualitatively distinct way of thinking.
� Sensorimotor stage
� Preoperational stage
� Concrete operational stage
� Formal operational stage
Children actively construct the
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
-culture and social interaction guide cognitive development
-Through social interaction, especially with more skilled peers and adults, children learn
to use the tools that will help them adapt and be successful in their culture.
The Information-Processing Theory
� Individuals develop an increasing capacity for processing information that is gradual
rather than in stages.
� Siegler, an expert on children's information processing, emphasizes that an important
aspect of development is learning good strategies for pr
. Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories
Behaviorist theories state that development is observable behavior that can be learned
through experience with the environment.
- Skinner's Operant conditioning
- Bandura's Social Cognitive model
Skinner's Operant Conditioning
Through operant conditioning, the consequences of a behavior produce changes in the
probability of the behavior's occurrence.
� If a behavior is followed by a pleasant consequence, it is more likely to recur, but if it is
followed by an unpleasant consequ
Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory
� Cognition, as well as the environment and behavior, shape development.
� Observational learning occurs through observing what others do.
� Bandura proposes a model of learning and development that involves interaction among
the behavior, the person, and
Ethological Theory
1. Ethologists stress the timing of certain influences and the powerful roles that evolution and
biological foundations play in development.
2. Lorenz's study of imprinting in geese showed that innate learning within a limited critical
period is based on
Ecological Theory
Ecological theories emphasize the impact of environmental contexts on development.
2. Bronfenbrenner's bioEcological theory
five interacting environmental systems ranging from direct interactions with social agents to cultural influences.
� The microsystem is the setting in which the individual lives, including direct interactions
with the person's family, peers, school, and n
The Life-Span Perspective
� Baltes states that the life-span perspective has several basic characteristics.
� Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss�The mastery of life
often involves conflicts and competition among three goals of human development:
growt
Development is lifelong
Individuals continue to develop and change from conception to
death. No one age dominates development.
� Development is multidimensional
Development consists of biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional components.
� Development is multidirectional
�Some components of a dimension increase in growth,
whereas others decrease.
� Development is plastic
Plasticity involves the degree to which characteristics change or
remain stable.
� Developmental science is multidisciplinary
Multiple fields, including psychologists,
sociologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists, and medical researchers, share an interest in
studying human development across the life span.
� Development is contextual
Individuals respond to and act on contexts, including one's
biological makeup; physical environment; cognitive processes; and social, historical, and
cultural contexts.
Biological processes
involve changes in the individual's physical nature.
Cognitive processes
involve changes in the individual's thought, intelligence, and language.
Socioemotional processes
involve changes in the individual's relationships with other
people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality
What are the major periods of development?
1. Prenatal period is the time from conception to birth.
2. Infancy is the developmental period extending from birth to 18 or 24 months.
3. Early childhood (preschool years) extends from the end of infancy to about 5 or 6 years.
4. Middle and late childho
Descriptive Research
� The goal of descriptive research is to observe and record behavior.
� Descriptive research cannot tell us about causation.
Correlational Research
� The goal of correlational research is to describe the strength of the relation between two
or more events or characteristics. It is useful because the stronger the two events are
correlated, the more effectively we can predict one from the other.
� A co
Experimental Research
� An experiment allows researchers to determine the causes of behavior by carefully regulated procedures in which one or more of the factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated, and all other factors are held constant. If the
Cross-Sectional Approach:
Individuals of different ages are compared at one time.
� This time-efficient approach does not require time for individuals to age.
� It provides no information about how individuals change or about the stability of their
characteristics.
� A major disad
Longitudinal Approach:
The same individuals are studied over time.
� This approach provides information regarding stability and change in development and
the importance of early experience for later development.
� This approach is expensive and time consuming, but it has the ad