Activity 1: Developmental Psychology

Theories of Development

I. Psychoanalytic Theories
- This theory describe development is unconscious—and is heavily influenced by emotions.
Behavior is a surface characteristic; absolute understanding of development requires
analysis of symbolic meaning of behavior.
- Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed emotions
and memories in or to lead the client to catharsis, or healing (McLeod, 2014). In order to
integrate previously unconscious components of the self, psychoanalysis helps people
become aware of unconscious, maladaptive, and frequently recurring patterns of emotion
and behavior.
Goal: The goal of psychoanalysis is to uplift what exists at the unconscious or
subconscious level unto the consciousness.
Key Figures: Sigmund Freud and Erik Erickson

Psychologists & their theories

1. Sigmund Freud – Psychosexual Stages of Development
- Freud believed that as children develop in age, their innate pleasure and sexual impulses
shifts from the mouth—anus—genitals. Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory is his
emphasis on early childhood experiences in the development of personality and as an
influence on later behaviors.

- Many of Freud’s theory was revised and criticized by different psychologist as they claim
that it is more sexually-inclined rather than social and cultural. Unconsciousness, as Freud
gave emphasis on the concept, continues to play an important part in many theories.
 2. Erik Erickson – Psychosocial Development
- Erickson gave importance to Freud’s theories, although for Erickson, he mostly magnified
that our evolution is not through our psychosexual dimension, but on our Psychosocial
Development.

Freud: the primary motivation for human behavior is sexual in nature; our basic personality
is shaped in the first five years of life; Viewed early experience as far more important than
later experiences,
Erickson: social and reflects a desire to affiliate with other people; developmental change
occurs throughout the life span; Emphasized the importance of both early and later
experiences.

II. Cognitive Theories

- Cognitive theories place less emphasis on the unconscious than psychoanalytic theories
do. Our knowledge of children's intellectual development has improved thanks to the
notion of cognitive development.
 Goal: Attempts to understand your thought processes in order to describe human
behavior.
Key Figures: Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and (leading authority) Robert Siegler

Psychologists & their theories

1. Jean Piaget – Cognitive Development
- Children constantly gain new knowledge, expand upon current knowledge, and modify
long-held beliefs to account for new information as they interact with the world around
them. Two processes underlie this cognitive construction of the world: organization and
adaptation. To make sense of our world, we organize our experiences (Carpendale,
Muller, & Bibok, 2008). For example, we separate important ideas from less important
ideas, and we connect one idea to another.

2. Lev Vygotsky – Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

- Similar to Piaget’s perspective on Children, Vygotsky believed that children construct their
own knowledge at an early age. On the contrary, Vygotsky introduced the main importance
of social and cultural roles to the child’s development. For Vygotsky, culture and social
interaction are guides to a child’s cognitive development.
3. Robert Siegler - The Information-Processing Theory
- Theory emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize
about it; it focuses on how information is encoded into our memory.
- Leading authority on children's information, Siegler believed that thinking is information
processing. In other words, people are thinking when they perceive, encode, portray, store,
and retrieve information. For instance, improving reading skills can entail learning to keep
an eye on the main points of the readings.
 III. Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories
- Behaviorism essentially holds that we can study scientifically only what can be directly
observed and measured.
- According to the social cognitive theory, learning happens as a result of interactions
between environmental, behavioral, and personal factors. According to behaviorism,
learning only happens as a result of environmental (conditioning) variables.
Goal: Reinforce desirable behaviors and eliminate unwanted ones (Behavioral). Provides
opportunities for social support through instilling expectations, self-efficacy, and using
observational learning and other reinforcements to achieve behavior change (Social
Cognitive).
Key Figure: B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura

Psychologists & their theories

1. B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning
- Operant conditioning, also known as instrumental conditioning, is a type of learning that
uses rewards and punishments to shape behavior. Through operant conditioning, a
connection is established between a behavior and a response (whether favorable or
unfavorable). For Skinner the key aspect of development is behavior, not thoughts and
feelings.
- For example, when an adult smiles at a child after the child has done something, the child
is more likely to engage in that behavior again than if the adult gives the child a
disapproving look.

2. Albert Bandura – Social Cognitive Theory

- Bandura: Leading architect of social cognitive theory.
- According to social cognitive theory, the main determinants of development are cognition,
environment, and behavior. Observational learning; Imitation/Modeling.
 - People pick up a variety of attitudes, feelings, and actions through observing how others
behave and how these insights play a significant role in life-span development
- For example, a young boy might observe his father yelling in anger and treating other
people with hostility; with his peers, the young boy later acts very aggressively, showing
the same characteristics as his father’s behavior.
- Cognitive view of Bandura: people cognitively represent the behavior of others and then
sometimes adopt this behavior themselves.

IV. Ethological Theory

- Ethological theory claims that biology and evolution both have a significant impact on
behavior, and it also has essential or sensitive periods that define it. These are specific
dates and times. It also asserts that our biological makeup influences our behavior.
Goal: Focuses on behavior and how behavior can change to achieve survival.
Key Figure: Konrad Lorenz (Zoologist) and John Bowlby

Psychologist & their theories

1. Konrad Lorenz (Zoologist) – Greylag Goose Research
- In 1935, Konrad published one of his most famous studies. In it, he showed that young
ducks and geese could be Imprinting on virtually anything — from people to colored balls
— during their first days of life (this only applies soon after hatching: Critical Period).
- Lorenz used to groups of goslings: One to be hatched by the mother, one with incubator.
The first group followed the mother, while the second group followed Konrad instead as
they were looking for a caregiver.

2. John Bowlby – Attachment Theory

- illustrated an important application of ethological theory to human development.
 - There are significant long-term effects of the first year of life. According to Bowlby, if this
bond is healthy and stable, the person will probably grow up to be a good person. Life-
span development is unlikely to be at its best if the attachment is unfavorable and
unreliable.

V. Ecological Theory
- While ethological theory stresses biological factors, ecological theory emphasizes
environmental factors. According to ecological theory, the relative benefits of different
types of tissue deployment are significantly restricted by the availability of resources (such
as light, water, and nutrients).
Goal: Visual perception assumes that senses represent evolved adaptations to an
organism's environment. These adaptations develop in relation to environmental factors
contributing to an organism's survival.
Key Figure: Urie Bronfenbrenner

Psychologist & their Theories

1. Urie Bronfenbrenner - Ecological Theory
- Development reflects the influence of several environmental systems; he added biological
factors to his theory which he called bioecology. Nonetheless, it still revolve around
environmental factors.
References:
Santrock, John W. Life-span Development. 13th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.html
Cherry, K. (2022, May 2). What is Piaget's theory of cognitive development? Verywell Mind. Retrieved
August 28, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/piagets-stages-of-cognitive-development-2795457
Mcleod, S. (2022, May 05). Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development. Simply Psychology.
www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Rural Health Information Hub. (2018). Social Cognitive Theory Model - Rural Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention Toolkit. Retrieved August 29, 2022, from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-
promotion/2/theories-and-models/social-cognitive
Cherry, K. (2022, August 14). What is operant conditioning and how does it work? Verywell Mind. Retrieved
August 29, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/operant-conditioning-a2-2794863