Theoretical Perspectives

Erickson, Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg.

Theoretical Perspectives
Theories are explanations and predictions
that provide a framework for understanding
relationships

We will consider 5 major theoretical

perspectives used in lifespan
development:
psychodynamic behavioral
cognitive humanistic
evolutionary
Psychodynamic Perspective
(Freud, Erikson)

Based on the view that behavior is

motivated by unconscious/inner forces,
memories, and conflicts (over which a
person has little control or awareness)
Most closely associated with Freud
Freud’s (1856-1839) Psychoanalytic Theory
suggests that unconscious forces act to
determine personality and behavior
(Psychodynamic Perspective
continued)
 According to Freud
 Unconscious is the part of the personality
about which a person is unaware; it is
responsible for much of our everyday
behavior
 A person’s personality has 3 components:
 The ID, the EGO, and the
SUPEREGO
(Psychoanalytic theory continued)
1) ID
• raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality present at
birth
• represents primitive drives related to hunger, sex,
aggression, irrational impulses
2) EGO
• rational and reasonable part of the personality
• acts as a buffer between the world and the primitive id
• operates on the reality principal
(instinctual energy is restrained to maintain individual
safety and integration into society
(Psychoanalytic theory continued)

Superego
The aspect of personality that represents a
person’s conscience
Evaluates right from wrong
Develops about age 5 or 6
Learned from parents, teachers, other
significant figures
Freud also explored ways in which personality developed
during childhood…
Psychosexual development theory
--series of stages that children pass through
--pleasure or gratification is focused particular biological function or
body part on a
5 main stages
1) oral (birth to 12-18 months)
2) anal (12-18 months to 3 years)
3) Phallic (3 to 5-6 years)
4) Latency (5-6 years to adolescence)
5) Genital (adolescence to adulthood)
 Erik Erikson (1902-1994): Psychoanalytic
Theory
Eight psychosocial stages in the lifespan
Trust v. mistrust
Autonomy v. shame/doubt
Initiative v. guilt
Industry v. inferiority
Identity v. confusion
Intimacy v. isolation
Generativity v. stagnation
Integrity v. despair
Erikson’s Theory
Psychosocial
Stage Age Psychosexual Virtue Danger
Crisis
Trust vs.
Infancy to age 2 Oral/ Sensory Hope Withdrawal
Mistrust
Autonomy vs.
Early 2-3 Muscular/ Anal Will Compulsion/
Shame
Initiative vs.
Play Age 3-5 Locomotor/ Purpose Inhibition
Guilt
Industry vs.
School Age 6-12 Latency Competence Inertia
Inferiority
Identity vs.
Adolescence 12-18 Puberty Identity Fidelity Role Repudiation
Confusion
Intimacy vs.
Young 19-35 Love Exclusivity
Isolation
Generativity
Adulthood 35-65 vs.Stagnati Care Rejectivity
on
Integrity vs.
Old Age after 65 Wisdom Disdain
Despair
In Erikson’s Psychosocial theory…
Each stage emerges as a fixed pattern
that is similar for all people
Each stage presents a crisis or conflict
that each individual must address
sufficiently at a particular stage
No crisis is ever fully resolved, making
life complicated
UNLIKE FREUD, Erickson believed that
development continued throughout the
lifespan
Assessing the psychodynamic
perspective
Pros
Contemporary psychology
research supports the idea that
unconscious memories have an
influence on our behavior
Erickson’s view that development
continues throughout the lifespan
is highly important and supported
by research
Assessing the psychodynamic
perspective, continued
Cons
Idea that people pass through stages in
childhood that determine their adult
personality has little research support
Freud’s research based on small sample
of upper middle class Austrians
Freud’s theory male focused/sexist
Both too vague to test, problems with
operational definitions
Behavioral Theories
Ivan Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
Pair a neutral stimulus (CS)with a stimulus (UCS)
that automatically produces a response (UCR).
John B. Watson: Emotional responses can be
classically conditioned (Little Albert).

B. F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning

Behavior followed by a reward is more likely to
occur again; punished behavior is less likely to
occur again.
Behavioral Perspective
(Skinner, Watson, Bandura)

Based on the idea that the keys to

understanding development are observable
behavior and outside environmental stimuli
Behaviorists reject the idea that people
universally pass through a series of stages
They view development as occurring
because of continuous exposure to specific
factors in the environment
 The behavioral perspective believes that 2
main types of learning contribute to
development

1) Classical Conditioning (Watson)

(stimulus substitution; organism responds
to a previously neutral stimulus in an
atypical way)
Pavlov (dog/bell), Watson/rabbit
(2 main types of learning, behavioral
perspective continued)_
2) Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
(instrumental conditioning; a voluntary
response is strengthened or weakened
based on its association with positive or
negative consequences; used in
behavior modification)
birds/pecking; reinforcement,
punishment
Social-cognitive Theories
(Behavioral Perspectives Continued)

Albert Bandura: Most social behaviors are

learned by observing others, including
anger, cruelty, and kindness.

Reciprocal determinism: behavior, the

environment, and the person (and their
cognitions) mutually influence each other.
Social-Cognitive Learning Theory (Bandura)
(Behavioral Perspectives Continued)
Emphasizes learning by observation of
another person (a model)
bobo doll, fearless peer
*Social-cognitive theory DIFERS from classical
and operant conditioning by taking mental
activity into consideration (thoughts,
motivations, expectations)
Assessing the behavioral
perspective…
Classical & operant conditioning consider
people and organisms as “black boxes” in
which nothing is understood, cared about
(pessimistic!)
Social-cognitive theory argues that people
are different from rats and pigeons (mental
activity occurs—more optimistic for people
and favored view now)
Cognitive Theories (1960s)
Emphasize thinking, reasoning, language
Jean Piaget: Swiss (1896-1980)
Children actively construct understanding
Four stages
Lev Vygotsky: Russian
Knowledge is constructed through interaction
with other people
Information Processing
Analogy between human brain & computer
Cognitive Perspective
(Piaget, Vygotsky, information-processing approaches)

Focuses on the processes that allow

people to know, understand, and think
about the world
--Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
* people pass in a fixed sequence
through a series of universal stages of
cognitive development
*in each stage, the quantity of
information increases; the quality of
Piaget

Preoperational Stage • Emergence of symbolic thought

(2–7 years) • Egocentrism
• Lack of the concept of conservation
• Animism

Concrete Operational • Increasingly logical thought

(7–12 years) • Classification and categorization
• Less egocentric
• Conservation
• No abstract or hypothetical reason

Formal Operational Stage • Hypothetico-deductive reasoning

(age 12 – adulthood) • Emerges gradually
• Continues to develop into adulthood
(Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
continued)
Human thinking is arranged into
schemas
(organized mental patterns representing
behavior and action)
The growth of children’s understanding
of the world can be explained by two
principals:
Assimilation (new experience incorporated
into current way of thinking)
Accommodation (existing ways of thinking
change as a result of new stimuli)
Assessing Piaget’s Theory…
Thousands of studies provide support
Some cognitive skills emerge earlier than
Piaget suggested
Some cognitive skills emerge according to
a different timetable in non Western
countries
Some adults never reach his highest level
of thought (formal, logical)
Critique of Piaget’s
Theory
Underestimates children’s abilities
Overestimates age differences in thinking
Vagueness about the process of change
Underestimates the role of the social
environment
Lack of evidence for qualitatively different
stages
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 Emphasizes how development proceeds as a result
of social interactions between members of a culture
 (culture: a society’s beliefs, values, customs and interests
shapes development)
• Vygotsky argued that children's understanding of the
world is acquired through their problem-solving
interactions with adults and other children.
• He also argued that to understand the course of
development we must consider what is meaningful to
members of a given culture.
Vygotsky’s
Sociocultural Perspective
Emphasized the child’s interaction with the
social world (other people) as a cause of
development
Vygotsky believed language to be the
foundation for social interaction and thought
Piaget believed language was a byproduct of
thought
Identity Development
Identity vs. role confusion is the
psychosocial stage during adolescence
Developing a sense of who one is and
where one is going in life
Successful resolution leads to positive
identity
Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity
confusion or a negative identity
Information Processing Approach
a. the model that seeks to identify the ways individuals
take in, use, and store information
b. The theory grew out the computer age.
c. They assume that even complex behaviors such as
learning, remembering, categorizing, and thinking
can be broken down into a series of individual steps.
d. They suggest that as people age, they are better able
to control their mental processing and change the
strategies they choose to process information.
Information-Processing
Perspective
Focuses on the mind as a system, analogous
to a computer, for analyzing information from
the environment
Developmental improvements reflect
increased capacity of working memory
faster speed of processing
new algorithms (methods)
more stored knowledge
Kohlberg’s Theory of
Moral Development
Assessed moral reasoning by
posing hypothetical moral
dilemmas and examining the
reasoning behind people’s
answers
Proposed six stages, each taking
into account a broader portion of
the social world
 Levels of Moral Reasoning
Preconventional—moral reasoning is based on
external rewards and punishments
Conventional—laws and rules are upheld
simply because they are laws and rules
Postconventional—reasoning based on
personal moral standards
Moral Development
Baumrind’s
Parenting Styles
Authoritarian—value obedience and
use a high degree of power assertion
Authoritative—less concerned with obedience,
greater use of induction
Permissive—most tolerant, least likely
to use discipline
Neglectful—completely uninvolved
The Humanistic Perspective
--contends that people have a natural capacity to make
decisions about their lives and control their
behavior.
Assessing the Humanistic Perspective
-The humanistic perspective has not had a major impact
on the field of lifespan development.
-It has not identified any sort of broad developmental
change that is the result of age or experience.
-Some criticize the theory's assumption that people are
basically "good", which is unverifiable.
-Self-actualization is also difficult to measure objectively.
Other Theories
Ethological Theory
Ecological Theory
Ethological Theory
Based on study of animal behavior
Considers the influence of biology/evolution
Considers critical or sensitive periods
Konrad Lorenz: imprinting-rapid, innate
learning
John Bowlby: attachment
Ecological Theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Emphasizes environmental concepts

Microsystem: daily life

Mesosystem: relates microsystems
Exosystem: influences from other social
systems
Macrosystem: culture
Chronosystem: (time) personal/social
history
EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
-seeks to identify behavior in today's humans
that is the result of our genetic inheritance
from our ancestors.
* grew out of the work of Charles Darwin
who argued in The Origin of the Species
that a process of natural selection creates
traits in a species that are adaptive to their
environment
* argues that our genetic inheritance
determines not only such physical traits as
skin and eye color, but certain personality
traits and social behaviors
 Evolutionary Perspective
The evolutionary perspective draws on
the field of ethnology (Konrad
Lorenz 1903 - 1989), which
examines the ways in which our
biological makeup influences our
behavior.
The evolutionary perspective
encompasses one of the fastest
growing areas within the field of
lifespan development: behavioral
genetics, which studies the effects
of heredity on behavior.
Criticisms of the evolutionary
perspective…
Some developmentalists criticize the
evolutionary perspective for paying
insufficient attention to the
environment and social factors.
Others argue that there is no good way
to support experimentally theories
derived from evolution.
Which Approach is Right?
-Each emphasizes different aspects of development.
-Psychodynamic approach emphasizes emotions,
motivational conflicts, and unconscious
determinants of behavior.
-Behavioral approaches emphasize overt behavior.
-Cognitive and humanist approaches look more at
what people think than what they do.
-The evolutionary perspective focuses on how
inherited biological factors underlie development.