Theories of Psychological development

1. Theories of Psychological development

2. How have you changed and developed since birth? • In what ways will you continue to change? • The answers to these questions can be found in many of the different developmental theories that have been constructed by psychologists

3. What is a theory? • A theory is a set of ideas which are proposed to organise, describe and explain a set of observations and the relationships between them. A psychological theory explains how and why certain things occur, usually on the basis of scientific evidence.

4. Stages of theory development

5. Why so many theories? • No single theory of development is comprehensive enough to explain all areas of development across the entire lifespan • Most theories focus on 1 specific aspect or area of development • Often there is more than one theory to explain a particular area of development

6. How to choose? • This year we will cover the following areas of development: • Perceptual – Gibson • Emotional – Bowlby, Ainsworth, Harlow • Cognitive - Piaget • Moral -Kohlberg • Psychosocial – Erikson

7. Gibson’s theory of perceptual development • Human perceptual systems include sight, sound, touch, taste and smell • These are all functioning from birth and are important to survival • Perceptual development continues throughout the lifespan, however the greatest changes occur in the early years of life

8. Cont. • Eleanor Gibson conducted many experiments on different aspects of perception, particularly on visual perception in infants • Gibson developed her theories based on her research findings

9. Gibson’s theory • Emphasised key processes involved in perceptual development. These include: • Role of the infant as an active explorer • The affordance (perceived qualities) of objects or events that are experienced • The way perceptual exploration becomes more and more specific and differentiated (selective) with age

10. According to Gibson (1983), the infant is an active explorer in the constantly changing environment. • When awake, it monitors what is happening in its environment and actively searches for and obtains information about it. • It then uses this information to guide its actions. • Gibson proposed that these activities are essentially what perception is.

11. Perceptual development • The process of continuous modification and refinement of perceptual abilities through experience with incoming sensory information. • Generally self initiated by the infant- as the infants abilities develop it explores the environment more and learns more about people, events and objects

12. Perceptual development cont. • Exploration and the search for affordances are important features of perceptual development • Affordances are the perceived and actual properties of something in the environment that suggest how it should be used.

13. Example • If a surface of land is perceived by the animal as nearly horizontal (instead of slanted), nearly flat (instead of convex or concave), having sufficient length and width (in relation to the size of the animal), and is rigid (can hold the weight of the animal), then the surface affords support. Since it is perceived as a surface of support, it can be considered ‘stand-on-able’, and therefore ‘walk-on-able’ and ‘run-overable’. It is not ‘sink-into-able’ like a surface of water or a swamp would be for a heavy land-dwelling animal. For a different animal, such as a water bug, the affordance of support would be different if the surface is water.

14. Affordance • Varies from one animal or person to another as it is a two way relationship between something in the environment and a person or animal (a persons relationship to something can differ from an animals relationship to something)

15. Affordances are discovered through ongoing interaction with the environment • When this happens differentiation occurs. • Differentiation is the ability to selectively perceive differences between things in the environment

16. Example • A two-year-old child may initially confuse rabbits and cats because they are both furry animals about the same size. However, the child will eventually discover that rabbits have long ears — a distinctive feature that differentiates them from cats, guinea pigs, possums and other small, furry animals.

17. Differentiation • We become more efficient at differentiation through experience and ongoing interaction with things in the environment. • So with greater experiences (as we become older) we become more efficient or better at differentiation

18. Research investigation – testing perceptual development in children • This investigation involves comparing perceptual abilities of two children of different ages. It is based on the research study conducted by Eleanor Gibson and her colleagues (1962). • One child participant should be aged four or five, and the other child participant aged seven or eight; that is, both are in the same lifespan stage. This will enable you to study whether an older and more experienced child has more finely tuned perceptual abilities than a younger, less perceptually experienced child. Alternatively, you could compare the perceptual abilities of males and females in the same age group. • You should construct a hypothesis for the research prior to conducting the study. It is also essential that you obtain informed consent from the parents of the child participants prior to conducting the study and that you follow all other ethical standards and practices described in chapter 2.

19. You will need to prepare the materials required for the investigation. These are the same as those shown in figure 5.7. Make a copy of each character on separate sheets of white paper or cardboard. Note that you can print copies from your eBook. Card 1 is the standard against which participants compare any variations or transformations in the other six cards. Note that card 7 is intentionally the same as card 1. • Test each participant separately. Show the ‘standard’ character by placing card 1 in a position where the participant can continue to look at it. Then, place all of the test cards in front of the participant. Ask the participant to ‘select any card that is identical to the standard card’. You should record whether the participant correctly ( ) or incorrectly ( ) identifies the characters on each ‘test’ card (cards 2–7), as either the ‘same’ or ‘different’ from the character on the standard card. To be certain a participant correctly perceives the features of the characters on the card, you may ask them to explain why they think a particular card is ‘similar’ or ‘different’ to the standard card. • Individual data should be combined with data from other members of your class.

21. Preparing an ERA • What is the population for this study? • What is/will be the sample? • What is the IV? • What is the DV? • What ethical considerations apply to the research? (refer to pages 82-84)

22. How to write an ERA • Read over Guidelines for writing a formal report on research and your summary of these steps (completed in orientation week last year) • If you have not completed this you need to do so

23. Statement of aim • (what is the purpose of the experiment?)

24. Research hypothesis • (a testable prediction of the relationship between two or more events or characteristics)

25. What does the research say on the topic?

26. Method • (how is the experiment conducted?)