Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology Theories

Theories of Development • Psychoanalytic Theory • Freud • Erickson • Learning Theory (Behaviorism) • Skinner • Watson • Bandura • Humanistic Theory • Maslow • Rogers • Cognitive Theory • Piaget

Do we need to know names? • And theories? • And Faces? And that’s it! Freud Watson Bandura Maslow Erickson Skinner Piaget Rogers

The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Freud’s theory proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality and adult lives

The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Psychoanalysis • Two Modern Definitions for the term • Freud’s theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts • techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Unconscious • according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories • Outside of our conscious awareness • contemporary viewpoint- information processing of which we are unaware

Personality Structure • Id • contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy • strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives • operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Personality Structure • Superego • the part of personality that presents internalized ideals • provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Ego Conscious mind Unconscious mind Superego Id Personality Structure • Freud’s idea of the mind’s structure

Personality Development • Psychosexual Stages • the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones • Oedipus Complex • a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Stage Focus Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth– (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings Latency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty) Genital Maturation of sexual interests (puberty on) Personality Development

Defense Mechanisms • Defense Mechanisms • the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality • Repression • the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Defense Mechanisms • Regression • defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Defense Mechanisms • Reaction Formation • defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites • people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings

Defense Mechanisms • Projection • defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others • Rationalization • defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions • Check handout on website for more examples

Approximate age Stage Description of Task Infancy Trust vs. mistrust If needs are dependably met, infants (1st year) develop a sense of basic trust. Toddler Autonomy vs. shame Toddlers learn to exercise will and (2nd year) and doubt do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities. Preschooler Initiative vs. guilt Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks (3-5 years) and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent. Elementary Competence vs. Children learn the pleasure of applying (6 years- inferiority themselves to tasks, or they feel puberty) inferior. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximate age Stage Description of Task Adolescence Identity vs. role Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by (teens into confusion testing roles and then integrating them to 20’s) form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are. Young Adult Intimacy vs. Young adults struggle to form close relation- (20’s to early isolation ships and to gain the capacity for intimate 40’s) love, or they feel socially isolated. Middle Adult Generativity vs. The middle-aged discover a sense of contri- (40’s to 60’s) stagnation buting to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose. Late Adult Integrity vs. When reflecting on his or her life, the older (late 60’s and despair adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or up) failure. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Learning Theories: Behaviorism • John B. Watson • viewed psychology as objective science • recommended study of behavior without reference to unobservable mental processes • “Give me a dozen healthy infants….

Behaviorism and Watson • 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. • Do you know who Baby Albert was? • Video Link to Baby Albert

Operant Conditioning • B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) • elaborated Thorndike’s Law of Effect • developed behavioral technology • Skinner Video

Observational Learning • Alfred Bandura’s Experiments • Bobo doll • we look and we learn • Bobo Doll Video

Observational Learning • This 14-month-old boy is imitating behavior he has seen on TV

Humanistic Perspective • Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) • studied self-actualization processes of productive and healthy people (e.g., Lincoln)

Humanistic Perspective • Self-Actualization • The ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved • the motivation to fulfill one’s potential

Humanistic Perspective • Client-Centered Therapy • humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers • therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth • his techniques are incorporated into almost all forms of therapy today

Humanistic Perspective • Unconditional Positive Regard • an attitude of total acceptance toward another person • Self-Concept • all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?” • Acceptance • Empathy

Piaget’sStages of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget 1896-1980 “only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual”

Typical Age Range Description of Stage Developmental Phenomena Birth to nearly 2 years Sensorimotor Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, touching, mouthing) • Object permanence • Stranger anxiety About 2 to 6 years Preoperational Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning • Pretend play • Egocentrism • Language development About 7 to 11 years Concrete operational Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations • Conservation • Mathematical transformations About 12 through adulthood Formal operational Abstract reasoning • Abstract logic • Potential for moral reasoning Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development • Conservation • the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects • Piaget’s Video

Infancy and Childhood: Cognitive Development

Developmental Psychology