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Chapter 2: Theories
CHDV 140
Alma Villanueva, MA
California State University of Los Angeles
Overview
What theories do
Grand Theories
Newer Theories
What theories contribute
Developmental Theory
Provides a framework for explaining patterns & problems of development
Developmental Theory
What do theories do?
Produce hypotheses
Generate discoveries
Offer guidance
Facts & Norms
Norm: An average or usual event
Reflects biological & social pressures
Deviations are not necessarily deficits
Theories are NOT facts
Never true or false
Never good or bad
Grand Theories
Psychoanalytic
Behaviorism
Cognitive
Psychoanalytic Theory
Inner drives
Deep motives
Unconscious
Childhood
Sigmund Freud 1856 – 1939
Austrian physician
Patients with mental illness
Dreams, fantasies, uncensored thoughts
Early childhood is crucial
8
Psychosexual Stages
Children derive erotic pleasure from diff. body parts in each stage
Satisfaction in each stage needed
| BIRTH – 1 | ORAL | TONGUE, LIPS & GUMS | SUCKING & FEEDING |
| 1 – 3 | ANAL | ANUS | TOILET TRAINING & EXPELLING FECES |
| 3 – 6 | PHALLIC | PENIS | GENITAL STIMULATION (BOYS VS. GIRLS) |
| 6 – 11 | LATENCY | LATENT | FOCUS ON SCHOOL &SPORTS |
| ADOLESCENCE | GENITAL | GENITALS | SEXUAL STIMULATION |
Conflicts
Each stage has potential conflicts
How people deal with them, determines personality patterns
Conflicts rooted in childhood show in adulthood
Example:
Oral Smoke Cigarettes, overeat, talkative
Erik Erikson 1902 – 1994
Freud’s follower
Stressed family and culture
–not sexual urges
Psychosocial Stages
People experience a conflict in each
Resolution to crisis depends on person & environment
PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
TRUST VS. MISTRUST
AUTONOMY VS. SHAME & DOUBT
INITIATIVE VS. GUILT
INDUSTRY VS. INFERIORITY
IDENTITY VS. ROLE CONFUSION
INTIMACY VS. ISOLATION
GENERATIVITY VS. STAGNATION
INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR
BEHAVIORISM Conditioning & Social Learning
“Why don’t we make what we can observe the real field of psychology? Let us limit ourselves to things that can be observed, and formulate laws concerned only with those... We can observe behavior – what the organism does or says.”
John B. Watson
John B. Watson 1878 – 1958
Argued if psychology was true science, we should examine only what we see & measure
Not the hidden urges & thoughts
“ Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years. [Behaviourism (1930), p. 43] ”
Behaviorism
Studying observable behavior
Aka Learning Theory
Describes how people learn & develop habits
Learning happens in small increments
Conditioning – Process where responses become linked to a specific stimuli
S – R (stimulus-response) conditioning
Ivan Pavlov 1849 – 1936
Classical conditioning: Learning process when a meaningful stimulus is connected with a neutral stimulus
Bell Sound – Neutral
Food – Meaningful
Infants Smile when they see their parents parents provide food & play
White Coat Syndrome- U.S 80+
B.F. Skinner 1904 – 1990
Operant Conditioning
Learning process when a particular action is followed by rewards or punishments
Rewards (pleasant consequence) = repeated action
Punishment (unpleasant consequence) = does not repeat
Operant Conditioning
Rewards & punishments depends on the child
Asking to leave the classroom may be a reward
Reinforcement – consequences that increase the frequency of a particular action
Each person responds differently to reinforcements & punishments
The difference between classical and operant conditioning Vid
Social Learning Theory
An extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence of other people
People learn through observation & imitation of others, not just reinforcements
Modeling: the central process of learning – observing the actions of others & copying them
Self-Efficacy – Belief in one’s abilities to achieve success
Learned from watching others succeed
Cognitive Theory Piaget & Information Processing
Focusing on changes in people’s thoughts
Our thoughts shape our attitude, beliefs, and behaviors
Jean Piaget 1896 – 1980
First major cognitive theorist
How children think is more important than what they know
Cognitive Theory
Cognitive Equilibrium – a state of mental balance
Humans seek it and intellectually advance
When people experience new things, they may be confused (disequilibrium)
Equilibrium
To seek equilibrium, people cognitively adapt
Assimilation – new experiences are reinterpreted to fit into old ideas
Accommodation – old ideas are restructured to include new experiences (people adjust)
Example
Your friend did something completely unexpected (disequilibrium)
You can assimilate & decide they didn’t mean it – they must be upset or I must have seen the wrong thing
OR you can accommodate & change your view of your friend
Stages of Cognitive Development
| Birth – 2 | Sensorimotor | Senses & Motors; Learning is active |
| 2 – 6 | Preoperational | Magical & poetic thinking; use language; egocentric |
| 6 – 11 | Concrete Operational | Logical, interpret objectively; limited to concrete thought (what they see) |
| 12 – adulthood | Formal Operational | Abstract & hypothetical; reason analytically |
Information Processing Theory
Newer version of cognitive theory
Inspired by computers & its efficiency
Not a single theory but a framework characterized by many research programs
Information Processing
Cognition begins with input picked up by the 5 senses, processed by the brain, stored in memory and finishes off with an output
Focus on relationship b/n one person’s thinking & another’s.
Older theories
European-American Men
Outdated
Limitations in technology & perspective
Newer multicultural & multidisciplinary
Sociocultural Theory Vygotsky & beyond
Humans develop from the dynamic interaction with their surrounding society
Culture is an integral part of everyday dev.
Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934)
Pioneer of sociocultural perspective
Observed how cultures influenced children
Focused on how child learns from the community
Sociocultural Theory
Apprenticeship in thinking – cognition developed w/ skilled members of society
Guided Participation – process of learning from others who guide & teach
ZPD
Zone of Proximal Development
The skills, knowledge, and concepts that the learner is close to acquiring BUT cannot yet master without help
Example: Riding a bicycle
The Universal Perspective: Humanism & Evolution
We are one species, sharing universal impulses & needs
Humanism: stresses that all humans have a potential for GOOD & all have the same basic needs (regardless of culture, gender, etc.)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
1. Physiological – food, water, air, warmth
2. Safety – protected from death/injury
3. Love & belonging – friends, family, community, religion
4. Esteem – respected by community & self
5. Self-actualization – become oneself – fulfilling unique potential while appreciating all of humanity
Evolution Theory
Darwin
2 basic drives = Survival & Reproduction
These needs shape life
Selective Adaptation – genes needed for survival are selected & over time, more prevalent
Eclectic Perspective
Most developmentalist adapted this idea
Apply aspects of various theories of development, not picking one