Theories and methods of life-span development

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Lecture 2

• Theories and methods of life-span development

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Researchers formulate problems and hypotheses
within theories.
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Definition of Theory

• Theory of theory A theory is an interrelated,
  coherent set of statements that help to explain
  and to make predictions.Often formalized in the
  natural sciences.
• Practice of theory A theory is a scientific
  worldview.

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Requirements for a theory

• Popper Falsifiability. A scientific theory
  should be able to generate predictions that could
  be disconfirmed.

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Definition of Hypothesis

• A hypothesis is a specific assumption or
  prediction that can be tested to determine its
  accuracy.

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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Medical doctor specializing in neurology -gt
  Dynamic approach
• Developed ideas about psychoanalytic theory from
  work with mental patients
• Considered problems to be the result of
  experiences early in life

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Psychoanalytic Theories

• Mental life is primarily unconscious beyond
  awareness.
• Mental life is heavily colored by emotion.
• Early experiences with parents extensively shape
  behavior.

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Freuds Structures of Personality

• Id
• Ego
• Superego

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Psychosexual Development

• Five stages
• Each stage focuses on a part of the body for
  experiencing pleasure.
• How conflicts between sources of pleasure are
  resolved determines adult personality.

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The Five Stages of Psychosexual Development

• The Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months)
• The Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years)
• The Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)
• The Latent Stage (6 years to puberty)
• The Genital Stage (Puberty on)

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The Oral Stage

• Pleasure centers around the mouth.
• Chewing, sucking, biting are sources of pleasure.

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The Anal Stage

• Pleasure centers around the anus.
• Eliminative functions are sources of pleasure.

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The Phallic Stage

• Pleasure focuses on the genitals.
• Self-manipulation is a source of pleasure.
• Oedipus Complex appears.

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Definition of the Oedipus Complex

• The Oedipus Complex is Freuds term for the young
  childs development of an intense desire to
  replace the same-sex parent and enjoy the
  affections of the opposite-sex parent.

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Resolution of the Oedipus Complex

• Children recognize that their same-sex parent
  might punish them for their incestuous wishes.
• To reduce this conflict, the child identifies
  with the same-sex parent, striving to be like him
  or her.

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The Latent Stage

• The child represses all interest in sexuality.
• The child develops social and intellectual
  skills.
• Energy is channeled into emotionally safe areas.
• The child forgets the highly stressful conflicts
  of the phallic stage.

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The Genital Stage

• This is a time of sexual reawakening.
• The source of sexual pleasure comes from someone
  outside the family.

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When conflict is not resolved

• Individuals may develop a fixation

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Definition of Fixation

• A fixation occurs when the individual remains
  locked in an earlier developmental stage because
  needs are under- or over-gratified.

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Examples of Fixations

• Oral - Due to a parent weaning too early, as an
  adult the individual seeks out oral gratification
  through smoking, drinking, gum chewing.
• Anal - Due to a parent being too strict with
  potty training, as an adult the individual is
  excessively neat and orderly (known as Anal
  Retentive).
• Phallic - Due to a parent punishing the child for
  masturbating, as an adult the individual seeks
  out pornography.
• Genital - Due to a parent smothering a child with
  too much attention, as an adult the individual
  has difficulty in romantic relationships due to
  being extremely needy.

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Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

• Recognized Freuds contributions
• Believed Freud misjudged some important
  dimensions of human development
• Developed the Psychosocial Theory of Development

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The Psychosocial Theory of Development

• The primary motivation for human behavior is
  social and reflects a desire to affiliate with
  other people.
• Eight stages of development unfold throughout the
  entire life span.
• Each stage consists of a unique developmental
  task that confronts individuals with a crisis
  that must be faced.

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The Psychosocial Theory of Development (contd)

• Crises are not catastrophes but rather turning
  points of increased vulnerability and enhanced
  potential.
• The more an individual resolves the crises
  successfully, the healthier development will be.

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Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• Initiative vs. Guilt
• Industry vs. Inferiority
• Identity vs. Identity Confusion
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Integrity vs. Despair

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Example Identity vs. Identity Confusion
(Adolescence)

• Individuals are faced with finding out who they
  are, what they are all about, and where they are
  going in life.
• Adolescents are confronted with many new roles
  and adult statuses.
• If the adolescent explores roles in a healthy
  manner and arrives at a positive path in life,
  then positive identity will be achieved.
• If an identity is pushed on the adolescent by
  parents, if the adolescent does not adequately
  explore many roles, then identity confusion
  reigns.

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Example Intimacy vs. Isolation (Early Adulthood)

• Individuals face the developmental task of
  forming intimate relationships with others.
• Intimacy is defined as finding oneself yet losing
  oneself in another.
• Intimacy is achieved through the formation of
  healthy friendships and an intimate relationship
  with another individual.
• Isolation results from failure to achieve the
  above.

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Example Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood)

• This involves reflecting on the past and either
  piecing together a positive review or concluding
  that ones life has not been well spent.
• Integrity is achieved through reflecting on a
  past deemed worthwhile.
• If the older adult resolved many of the earlier
  stages negatively, looking back will lead to
  doubt or gloom (despair).

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Contributions of Psychoanalytic Theories

• Early experiences play an important part in
  development.
• Family relationships are a central aspect of
  development.
• Personality can be better understood if it is
  examined developmentally.
• The mind is not all conscious unconscious
  aspects of the mind need to be considered.
• Changes take place in the adulthood as well as
  the childhood years (Erikson).

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Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Theories

• The main concepts have been difficult to test.
• Much of the data used to support these theories
  come from individuals reconstruction of the
  past, often the distant past.
• The sexual underpinnings of development are given
  too much importance by Freud.
• Psychoanalytic theories are culture- and
  gender-biased.

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Cognitive Theories

• Piagets cognitive development theory
• Vygotskys sociocultural cognitive theory
• The information-processing approach

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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

• Swiss psychologist
• Observed his own children to develop theory of
  cognitive development
• Changed how we think about the development of
  childrens minds

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Piagets Cognitive Development Theory

• Children actively construct their understanding
  of the world.
• Children progress through four stages of
  cognitive development.

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Piagets Four Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 yrs.)
• Preoperational Stage (2-7 yrs.)
• Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 yrs.)
• Formal Operational Stage (11 and up)

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The Sensorimotor Stage

• Infants construct an understanding of the world
  by coordinating sensory experiences with
  physical, motor actions.

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The Preoperational Stage

• Children begin to represent the world with words,
  images, and drawings.

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Definition of Operations

• Internalized mental actions that allow children
  to do mentally what they previously did physically

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The Concrete Operational Stage

• Children can perform mental operations.
• Logical reasoning replaces intuitive thought, as
  long as reasoning can be applied to concrete
  examples.

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The Formal Operational Stage

• Individuals move beyond concrete experiences and
  think in abstract, more logical terms.
• Problem solving is more systematic and involves
  hypotheses.

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Mechanisms of Development

• Organization
• Adaptation
• Equilibration

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Organization

• Tendency for parts of a system to form and to be
  integrated into a whole.

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Adaptation

• Assimilation Incorporating new information into
  ones existing knowledge
• Accommodation Adapting ones existing knowledge
  to new information

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Equilibration

• Every organism tends towards equilibrium with the
  environment and equilibrium within itself.

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Vygotskys Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

• Shares Piagets view that children actively
  construct their knowledge.
• Emphasizes developmental analysis, the role of
  language, and social relations.
• Like Piaget, Vygotskys ideas were not introduced
  in America until the 1960s.

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Vygotskys 3 Basic Claims about Childrens
Development

• Cognitive skills have their origins in social
  relations and are embedded in a sociocultural
  backdrop.
• The childs cognitive skills can be understood
  only when they are developmentally analyzed and
  interpreted.
• Cognitive skills are mediated by words, language,
  and forms of discourse.

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The Information-Processing Approach

• Emphasizes that individuals manipulate, monitor,
  and strategize about information.
• Central are the processes of memory and thinking.
• Individuals develop a gradually increasing
  capacity for processing information.
• This enables the acquisition of increasingly
  complex knowledge and skills.

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Contributions of the Cognitive Theories

• They present a positive view of development,
  emphasizing individuals conscious thinking.
• They emphasize the individuals active
  construction of understanding.
• Piagets and Vygotskys theories underscore the
  importance of examining developmental changes in
  childrens thinking.
• The information-processing approach offers
  detailed descriptions of cognitive processes.

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Discussion

• What happened to our early childhood memories?

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Criticisms of the Cognitive Theories

• There is skepticism about the pureness of
  Piagets stages.
• They do not give adequate attention to individual
  variations in cognitive development.
• Information processing doesnt provide adequate
  description of developmental changes in
  cognition.
• Psychoanalytic theorists argue that the cognitive
  theories do not give enough credit to unconscious
  thought.

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Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

• These theories believe that scientifically we can
  only study what can be directly observed and
  measured.
• They also believe that development is observable
  behavior that can be learned through experience
  with the environment.

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Classical Conditioning

• In the early 1900s, Russian physiologist Ivan
  Pavlov discovered the phenomenon in which a
  neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce
  a behavioral response originally produced by
  another stimulus.

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Operant Conditioning

• B.F. Skinner demonstrated that the consequences
  of a behavior produce changes in the probability
  of the behavior occurring again.
• Consequences can be either rewards (increasing
  the likelihood of behavior recurrence), or
  punishment (decreasing this chance).

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Social Cognitive Theory

• Learning occurs through observing what others do,
  as individuals cognitively represent what they
  see and adopt the behavior themselves.
• Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel believe that
  cognitive processes are important mediators of
  environment-behavior connections.

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Contributions of Behavioral and Social Cognitive
Theories

• They emphasize the importance of scientific
  research.
• They focus on the environmental determinants of
  behavior.
• They underscore the importance of observational
  learning (Bandura).

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Criticisms of Behavioral and Social Cognitive
Theories

• Pavlov and Skinner neglect cognition.
• They put too much emphasis on environmental
  determinants.
• They are too mechanical and give inadequate
  consideration to the spontaneity and creativity
  of humans.

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Ethological Theory

• Behavior is strongly influenced by biology.
• Behavior is tied to evolution.
• Behavior is characterized by critical periods.
• Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989)
  identified imprinting.
• John Bowlby theorizes about attachment.

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Definition of Critical Period

• A fixed time period very early in development
  during which certain behaviors optimally emerge

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Definition of Imprinting

• The rapid, innate learning within a limited
  critical period of time that involves attachment
  to the first moving object seen

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Attachment

• A concept based on principles of ethological
  theory.
• Attachment to a caregiver over the first year of
  life has important consequences
• Positive and secure attachment results in
  positive development.
• Negative and insecure attachment
  results in problematic development.

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Contributions of Ethological Theory

• It has an increased focus on the biological and
  evolutionary basis of development.
• It uses careful observations in naturalistic
  settings.
• It emphasizes critical periods of development.

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Criticisms of Ethological Theory

• The critical period concept may be too rigid.
• It places too strong an emphasis on biological
  foundations.
• It gives inadequate attention to cognition.
• It has been better at generating research with
  animals than with humans.

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Ecological Theory

• Developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner.
• Consists of 5 environmental systems
• The Microsystem
• The Mesosystem
• The Exosystem
• The Macrosystem
• The Chronosystem

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Contributions of Ecological Theory

• It provides a systematic examination of macro and
  micro dimensions of environmental systems.
• It gives consideration to sociohistorical
  influences on development.

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Criticisms of Ecological Theory

• Even with the added discussion of biological
  influences in recent years, there is still too
  little attention to biological foundations of
  development.
• It gives inadequate attention to cognitive
  processes.

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An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

• Does not follow any one theoretical approach
• Selects and uses whatever is considered best from
  each theory

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Methods

• Developmental designs
• Correlational versus experimental research

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Developmental Designs

• The Cross-Sectional Approach
• The Longitudinal Approach
• The Sequential Approach

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The Cross-Sectional Approach Individuals of
different ages are compared at one time.

• Pros
• Study can be accomplished in a short period of
  time.
• Researchers dont have to wait for subjects to
  age.

• Cons
• Provides no information about how individuals
  change.
• Provides no information about the stability of
  characteristics.

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The Longitudinal Approach The same individuals
are studied over a period of time.

• Cons
• Expensive and time consuming.
• Subjects more likely to drop out due to moving,
  losing interest, or illness.

• Pros
• Provide a wealth of information about stability
  and change in development.
• Provide insight into the importance of early
  experience for later development.

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The Sequential Approach

• A combination of the cross-sectional and
  longitudinal approach.
• Begins with a cross-sectional study of
  individuals of different ages.
• Months or years later, the same individuals are
  tested again along with a new group of subjects
  for each age level.

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The Sequential Approach (contd)

• Complex, expensive, and time consuming.
• Provides information not obtainable through using
  either the cross-sectional or longitudinal
  designs alone.
• Especially helpful in examining cohort effects in
  life-span development.

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Cohort Effects

• Cohort effects are due to
  a persons time of birth or generation, but
  not to actual age.

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Correlational Research

• The goal is to describe the strength of the
  relation between two or more events or
  characteristics.
• It needs to be used with caution as correlation
  does not equal causation.

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Experimental Research

• This allows researchers to determine the causes
  of behavior.
• It uses experimentation carefully regulated
  procedures in which one or more significant
  factors is manipulated, and all others held
  constant.
• Experimental research involves independent and
  dependent variables, experimental groups, control
  groups, and random assignment.