Chapter 1 Developmental Theories

Theory
• A theory is a way of organizing a set of
observations or facts into a comprehensive
explanation of how something works
– Hypotheses:
• Proposed explanations for a given
phenomenon that can be tested by
research
Kuther, Lifespan Development: Lives in Context. © 2017, SAGE Publications. 1

Copyright © 2017, 2014, 2011, Pearson Education Inc. All Rights Reserved.
)
Perspective Key Ideas About Human
Behavior and
Development
Major Proponents Example
Psychodynamic Behavior throughout life is
motivated by inner, unconscious
forces, stemming from childhood,
over which we have little control.
Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson This view might suggest that a
young adult who is overweight has
a fixation in the oral stage of
development.
Behavioral Development can be understood
through studying observable
behavior and environmental
stimuli.
John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner,
Albert Bandura
In this perspective, a young adult
who is overweight might be seen
as not being rewarded for good
nutritional and exercise habits.
Cognitive Emphasis on how changes or
growth in the ways people know,
understand, and think about the
world affect behavior.
Jean Piaget This view might suggest that a
young adult who is overweight
hasn’t learned effective ways to
stay at a healthy weight and
doesn’t value good nutrition.
Humanistic Behavior is chosen through free
will and motivated by our natural
capacity to strive to reach our full
potential.
Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow In this view, a young adult who is
overweight may eventually choose
to seek an optimal weight as part
of an overall pattern of individual
growth.

Copyright © 2017, 2014, 2011, Pearson Education Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Perspective Key Ideas About Human
Behavior and
Development
Major Proponents Example
Contextual Development should be viewed in
terms of the interrelationship of a
person’s physical, cognitive,
personality, and social worlds.
Urie Bronfenbrenner, Lev
Vygotsky
In this perspective, being
overweight is caused by a number
of interrelated factors in that
person’s physical, cognitive,
personality, and social worlds.
Evolutionary Behavior is the result of genetic
inheritance from our ancestors;
traits and behavior that are
adaptive for promoting the
survival of our species have been
inherited through natural
selection.
Influenced by early work of
Charles Darwin, Konrad
Lorenz
This view might suggest that a
young adult might have a genetic
tendency toward obesity because
extra fat helped his or her
ancestors to survive in times of
famine.

Psychoanalytic Theories
• Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
– Behavior is driven by unconscious impulses
that are outside of our awareness
• Psychosexual stages
• Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
– The social world, society, and culture shape
development
• Eight stages of psychosocial development

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Contributions and Criticisms
of Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
• Contributions:
– Focus on the unconscious
– Early experiences in the family are important
– Emotions are important to development
• Criticisms:
– Freud did not study children
– Too much emphasis on infant sexuality
– The unconscious cannot be directly tested

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Contributions and Criticisms
of Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
• Contributions:
– Lifespan perspective
– Positive view of development
– Includes the role of society and culture
• Criticisms:
– Difficult to test

Behaviorism
• The study of behavior that can be
observed
• All behavior is influenced by the physical
and social environment
• Also known as learning theory and
includes:
– Classical conditioning
– Operant conditioning

Classical Conditioning
• Learning in which the person or animal
comes to associate environmental stimuli
with physiological responses
• Discovered by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Physiological and emotional responses

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning has been
observed in newborns, who
naturally make sucking
movements (unconditioned
response) in response to sugar
water (unconditioned stimulus).
When stroking the forehead
(neutral stimulus) is paired with
sugar water, infants come to
make sucking movements
(conditioned response) in
response to forehead strokes
(conditioned stimulus).
SOURCE: Lampl et al. (1992).

Operant Conditioning
• The consequences of our behavior
influence our future behavior
• Discovered by B. F. Skinner (1905-1990)
• Voluntary, nonphysiological responses
– Behavior that is rewarded will be more likely
to recur (reinforcement)
– Behavior that is punished will be less likely to
recur (punishment)

Contributions of Social Learning Theory
• Observational learning
– People learn by watching others
• Reciprocal determinism
– Individuals and the environment interact and
influence each other
• In contrast with behaviorist theorists,
Bandura viewed individuals as active in
their development rather than passively
molded by their physical and social
surroundings

Illustration of Social Learning Theory
• Development is a result of interaction between
the individual’s characteristics, his or her behavior,
and the physical and social environment

Cognitive Theories:
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
• In order to understand children, we must
understand how they think; thinking
influences all of behavior
• Main tenet:
– Children and adults are active explorers of
their world, learning by interacting with the
world around them, and organizing what
they learn into cognitive schemas

Piaget’s Stages
of Cognitive Development

Contributions and Criticisms of Piaget’s
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Contributions:
– First to consider how infants and children think
– Views people as active contributors to their development
– Stages hold implications for education
• Criticisms:
– Focused too heavily on cognition and ignored emotional
and social factors in development
– Neglected the influence of contextual factors
– Some say that cognitive development is not a
discontinuous, stage-like process

Cognitive Theories:
Information Processing Theory
• A perspective that views thinking as
information processing and posits that the
mind works in ways similar to a computer
– Information enters, is manipulated, stored,
recalled, and used to solve problems
– We are born with the ability to process
information
– Maturation of the brain and nervous system
contributes to changes in our information
processing abilities

Contributions and Criticisms of
Information Processing Theory
• Contributions:
– Offers a complex and detailed view of how we think
– Permits scientists to make specific predictions about
behavior and performance that can be tested in research
studies
• Criticisms:
– A computer model cannot capture the complexity of the
human mind and people’s unique cognitive abilities
– Findings from laboratory research may not extend to the
everyday contexts of people’s lives

Sociocultural Systems Theory
• Emphasizes the role of sociocultural
context in development
• People of all ages are immersed in their
social contexts; they are inseparable from
the cultural beliefs and societal,
neighborhood, and familial contexts in
which they live
• Two viewpoints:
– Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
– Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
• Emphasized the importance of culture in
development
• Examined how culture is transmitted from one
generation to the next through social
interaction
– More skilled individuals guide children to acquire
knowledge; cognitive development is a social
process that relies on interaction with adults,
more mature peers, and other members of
society
– Children are active in their development by
engaging with the world around them

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
• Contributions:
– Emphasizes the role of the cultural context in
influencing people’s development throughout life
• Criticisms:
– Overemphasizes the role of context
– Minimizes the role of individuals in their own
development
– Neglects the influence of genetic and biological factors

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological
Systems Theory
• Development is a result of the ongoing
interactions among biological, cognitive,
and psychological changes within the
person and his or her changing context
– Individuals are all embedded in, or
surrounded by, a series of contexts:
• Home
• School
• Neighborhood
• Culture
• Society

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory
• Contributions:
– The bioecological model is complex – only when we
consider the multiple interacting influences within the
individual and context will we gain insight into the
processes and outcomes of developmental change
• Criticisms:
– The bioecological model is so complex that we can
never measure and account for all of the potential
influences on development at once

VIDEO CASE
Sociohistorical Influences on Development: Desegregation
Development is influenced by sociohistorical context. In this clip, the Washington
family discusses their experiences with discrimination and attending newly
desegregated schools in the 1950s.

Ethological Theory
• A precursor to evolutionary developmental theory
• The scientific study of the evolutionary basis of
behavior and its survival value
• Konrad Lorenz
– Patterns of animal behavior appeared to be inborn,
emerged early in life, and ensured their survival
• John Bowlby
– Humans also display biologically preprogrammed
behaviors that have survival value and promote
development

Evolutionary Developmental Theory
• A theory that applies principles of
evolution and scientific knowledge about
the interactive influence of genetic and
environmental mechanisms to understand
the changes people undergo throughout
their lifetime

Chapter 1 Developmental Theories

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