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Chapter 1c: Theory

Terms in this set (42)

Theory
An orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior.
Lifespan Perspective
This perspective is made up of 4 assumptions that development is:
- 1. lifelong (occurs in three domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional/social)
- 2. multidimensional and multidirectional
- 3. highly plastic
- 4. affected by multiple, interacting forces (biological, historical, social, and cultural) by being prone to 3 general types of influences.
- no single age period is supreme in its impact on the life course
- emphasizes many potential pathways and outcomes (3 trees intertwining)
Multidimensional
Development is affected by an intricate blend of biological, psychological, and social forces.
- an assumption of the Lifespan Perspective
Age-Graded Influences
Events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last
- ex: driving at 16, puberty around 12-14
History-Graded Influences
Influences on lifespan development that are unique to a particular historical era and explain why people born around the same time (called a "cohort") tend to be alike in ways that set them apart from people born at other times
- ex: epidemics, wars, technological advancements (TV, computers, internet), etc...
Nonnormative Influences
Influences on lifespan development that are irregular, in that they happen to just one or a few individuals and do not follow a predictable timetable
- have become more powerful than age-graded influences in contemporary ages since much greater diversity exists today concerning education, marriage, and more.
Theory of Evolution
Theory proposed by Charles Darwin. It was composed of two parts:
- 1. Natural Selection (organisms who are best suited to environment live long enough to reproduce and pass down more beneficial characteristics)
- 2. Survival of the Fittest (organisms die off in an environment because they do not have a genetic ability that allows for their successful adaptation)
G. Stanley Hall
This man was the founder of the child study movement.
- him and his assistant, Gesell devised theories based on Darwin's evolutionary ideas
- they regarded development as a maturational process
Maturational Process
Development is a genetically determined series of events that unfold automatically, much like a flower
- advocated by G. Stanley Hall.
Normative Approach
Measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
- Introduced by Hall and Gesell (after Darwin), for they used this approach on children to "find the norm."
Intelligence Test
A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with these of others, using numerical scores.
- Crafted by Binet and Simon in order to identify children in Paris with learning problems who needed to be put in special classes
- comparisons of the scores of people who vary in gender, ethnicity, birth order, family background, and other characteristics became a major focus of research.
Psychoanalytic Perspective
This perspective stated that people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person's ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety.
- Advocated by Freud and Erikson
- Came after the Normative Period
- con: were so vague that people can't test them empirically
Psychosexual Theory
This theory emphasized that how parents manage their child's sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development.
- proposed by Freud
- 3 parts of personality: id, ego, superego
- The relations established by these three parts during the preschool years determine the individual's basic personality
Id
According to Freud, is the largest portion of the mind
- is the source of basic biological needs and desires
Ego
According to Freud, is the conscious, rational part of personality
- emerges in early infancy to redirect the id's impulses so they can be discharged in acceptable ways
Superego
According to Freud, is the the part of the personality that judges right from wrong (conscience).
- it develops around the ages of 3-6 as parents insist their children to conform to the values of society,
Psychosocial Theory
A theory proposed by Erikson that emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society.
- Took Freud's original stages, and added 3 more for adulthood.
- He also added that normal development must be understood in relation to each culture's life situation
Behaviorism
This perspective believes that the only appropriate focus of study are directly observable events - stimuli and responses.
- behaviors can be measured, trained, and changed, and that all actions are acquired through conditioning processes.
- advocated by Watson (inspired by Pavlov) and Skinner
Classical Conditioning
A learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
John Watson
This man was inspired by Pavlov's findings of Classical Conditioning and sought to find out if CC could be applied to children's behavior.
- He taught Albert, an 11 month old infant, to fear a neutral stimulus (a white rat), by pairing it with a sharp loud sound.
- At first eager to pet the rat, Albert quickly began crying whenever he saw it, even when there was no sound.
- He concluded that parents can mold children's behavior by carefully controlling stimulus - response associations. He viewed development as a continuous process, with increasing quantity and strength of these associations.
Operant Conditioning Theory
This theory stated that the frequency of a behavior can be increased by following it with a wide variety of reinforces (food, praise, a smile) and decreased with punishment (disapproval, withdrawal of privileges)
- proposed by Skinner
Social Learning Theory
The view that learning is mainly due to our social interactions with others.
- the most famous was devised by Albert Bandura, who emphasized modeling (observational learning) as a powerful source of development
Albert Bandura
A man who advocated Social Learning Theory by using modeling and observational learning and powerful influences of development.
- he believed that children increasingly become more selective in what they imitate after forming personal standards and a sense of self-efficacy (the belief that their own abilities and characteristics will help them succeed)
Self-Efficacy
The belief that their own abilities and characteristics will help them succeed
- proposed by Albert Bandura
Cognitive Development Theory
Theory that states that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world
- proposed by Jean Piaget
- central to this theory is the concept of adaptation
- 4 stages (Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational)
Sensorimotor
The first stage in Cognitive Developmental Theory:
- babies learn through senses and actions (by using their "motor" skills)
-birth --> 2 years
-ex: baby's cry will bring help, scratching, or rattle
-seeing is reality (no object permanence)
Preoperational
The second stage in Cognitive Developmental Theory:
- thinking lacks the logic in the next two stages (can't take in more than one perceptual factor at a time, can't understand that physical quantities remain constanst in spite of shape or appearance/conservation)
- 2 --> 7 years
Concrete Operational
The third stage in Cognitive Developmental Theory:
- Children begin to use logical mental operations or rules, but the use of these is limited to concrete operations
- master conservation
- 7 --> 11 years
Formal Operational
The fourth and final stage in Cognitive Developmental Theory
- complex deductions and systematically testing hypothesis
- can analyze "what if" concepts and solve problems empirically rather than hands on.
- 11 years onward
Information Processing
The view that the human mind might also be viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows.
- From the time information is presented to the senses at input, then emerges as a behavior as output, it is actively coded, transformed, and organized
- like Piaget's theory in that learning is active, but it does not divide development into stages
- Strength: its commitment to rigorous research methods
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
An area of investigation that seeks to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person's cognitive processing and behavior patterns
- Brings together experts from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine
- These types of scientists ask questions like: "How does genetic makeup combine with specific experiences at various ages to influence the growth and organization of the young child's brain? "What neurological changes are related to declines in speed of thinking, memory, and other aspects of cognitive processing in old age?"
Ethology
The view that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
- best known behavioral pattern is Imprinting
- Lorenz's experiment with goslings
Imprinting
A form of learning in which certain baby birds, such as geese, stay close to their mother to ensure that the young will be fed and protected.
- if the mother goose is absent during the critical time, but an object resembling her in important features is present, young goslings may imprint on it instead.
- famous experiment involving Konrad Lorenz
Sensitive Period
A time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. However, its boundaries are less well defined than those of a critical period. Development can occur later, but its harder to induce.
- less strict than a critical period, so it applies better to human development
Evolutionary Developmental Psychology
A modern field that compares the development of different organisms in an attempt to understand ancestral relationships between organisms and the developmental mechanisms that bring about evolutionary change
- they ask questions like: "Why do children play in gender-segregated groups? What do they learn from such play that might lead to adult gender-typed behaviors, such as male dominance and female investment in caregiving?"
Sociocultural Theory
An emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development, and how culture is transmitted to the next generation. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live.
- social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture.
- Majorly advocated by Vygotsky.
- where Piaget emphasized children's independent efforts to gain understanding, Vygotsky viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process in which children depend on assistance from adults and more-expert peers to help them in life.
- "In Vygotsky's theory, children undergo certain stage wise stages. For example, when they acquire language, they gain in ability to participate in dialogues with others, and mastery of culturally valued competencies surges forward.
Ecological Systems Theory
Views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment that is ever-changing.
- introduced by Bronfenbrenner
- it is the most differentiated and complete account of contextual influences on development
- He envisioned the environment as a series of nested structures, including but also extending beyond the home, school, neighborhood, and workplace settings in which people spend their everyday lives.
- 4 structures: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem but also the Chronosystem (time)
- "Whenever individuals add or let go of rules in their lives, the breadth of their microsystems changes. These shifts in contexts - or ecological transitions - are often important turning points in development."
- ex: marriage, entering workforce, parenthood, divorce, moving, retiring
Microsystem
The innermost level of the environment that consists of activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate surroundings.
- Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory
- The system in which the adolescent lives. The parts of this system include the adolescent's family, peers, school, and other immediate influences on the individual such as their church, workplace, sports groups, and neighborhood. The adolescent is actively engaged and influenced by this system.
- remember that all relationships are bidirectional: the adult will affect the child's behavior, and the screaming child will impact the adult's behavior.
Mesosystem
The second level of Bronfenbrenner's model that encompasses connections between microsystems.
- Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory
- This system is all the interactions that those in the adolescent's microsystem have with each other and whether or not they actually know one another.
- ex: Among adults, how well a person functions as spouse and parent at home is affected by relationships in the workplace, and vice versa
Exosystem
The third level of Bronfenbrenner's model that consists of social settings/institutions that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experiences in immediate settings.
- These institutions include, but are not limited to government/social policy, the community Parent Teacher Organization, the broader community, mass media, and businesses.
Macrosystem
The 4th and outermost level of Bronfenbrenner's model; it consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources.
Chronosystem
The "other" stage in Bronfenbrenner's model. It includes environmental events, transitions over the life course, and sociohistorical circumstances. Environmental events are natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Transitions are divorces, death of a family member, or other life altering events.
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