Major theories for understanding human development

evolutionary, pyschosexual, cognitive developmental, theories of learning, cultural theory, social role theory, and systems theory

a logical system of concepts that help explain observations and contributes to the development of a body of knowledge

which phenomena is the theory trying to explain? what assumptions does the theory make? what does the theory predict?

what is the direction of change over the lifespan? what are the mechanisms that account for growth from conception through old age? do these mechanisms vary across the life span? how relevant are early experiences for later development? how do physical, cognitive, emotional, and social functions interact? how do the environmental and social contexts affect individual development? what factors are likely to place the person at risk at specific periods of the life span?

bronfenbrenner says that individual develops within multilayers systems of relationships including: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem

systems are characterized by the relationships among component parts, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts, including open system and adaptive self regulation

emphasizes the ongoing interaction across many levels of the human organism (genetic to behavioral) within a nested structure over time, the focus is on the person in the setting and the capacity for change, or plasticity both in the person, and the context

the family system is maintained by patterns of communication, including positive and negative feedback loops, interdependence, interventions at any level of the environment can affect development

change in one family members accompanied by changes in others

both suggest that development requires an analysis of the person within context, systems theory predicts that change is not patterned and occurs through adaptive, self regulation and self organization whereas psychosical theory suggests that change is patterned

darwin emphasizes the adaptive value of behavior and physical characteristics to specific environments: natural selection, fitness (reproductive success), and inclusive fitnesss

studies the survival value of unique adaptive behavior and its evolutionary history

studies long term historical origins of behavior

healthy growth and development leading up to the reproductive period, success in mating and the conception of offspring, parenting offspring so they can survive and bear their own offspring

psychosocial evolution-the process through which human beings influence their own adaptation, individual level adaptation occurs through psychosocial crises and coping

children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations, healthy personality development is determined by how parents manage their child's early sexual and aggressive drives, focus is on how individuals resolve conflicts between drives

freud believed that all behavior is motivated, area of the mind, called the unconscious, stored powerful primitive motives, drives or libido, are the sexual and aggressive forces that desire to be satisfied

id, ego, and superego, the relationship between the three determine an individual's basic personality

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

tension between interpersonal and intrapsychic demands help shape personality, sexual impulses play an important role during childhood and in shaping adult behavior

both theories are stage theories addressing qualitative changes in the self, freud and erikson differ in their focus on middle childhood, psychosocial theory expands on psychosexual theory to include stages in adulthood

the process of organizing and making meaning of experience

piaget's cognitive developmental theory and vygotsky's sociocultural theory

occurs in stages as children actively manipulate and explore the environment, adaptation leads to a balance between internal structures and information children encounter in their everyday worlds, scheme is an organized way of making sense of experience that changes with age, assimilation, accomodation

sensorimotor stage (0-18 month) preoperational stage (18 months-6 years) concrete operational stage (7-11 years), and formal operational stage (11 years+)

knowledge is created through active engagement, novelty promotes cognition development, concrete operational thought enables scientific reasoning and metacognition, learning about principles for objects in the physical world can enhance learning about social principles

vygotsky is referred to as an interactionist with views that: human development can only be understood within a social historical framework, cognitive development is a socially mediated process

a rang eof tasks that the child cannot yet handle alone but can accomplish with the help of adults and more skilled peers

piaget viewed cognitive development as a universal process, vygotsky argues that parents and peers influence learning experiences, and thus, the structure of thinking

piaget and psychosoical theory focus on development asa result of discrepancies where each stage of development grows from the achievements of earlier stages, vygotsky's theory, like psychosocial theory emphasizes the importance of culture in guiding the development and in the ongoing interaction between person and cultural context

social learning theory, cognitive behaviorism

bandura promoted social learning theory: emphasizes learning in a social context and the role of modeling, learning via vicarious reinforcement, emphasizes social cognition rather than a social learning approach, efficacy is the culmination of this learning process

principles of social learning are thought to operate the same way throughout life, social learning theory highlights the influence of models' behavior in guiding the behavior of others

criticism: operant and classical conditioning do not describe and explain what happens in a learner's mind, edward tolman said that the learner develops a cognitive map or an internal mental representation of the learning environment

through the full range of learning processes (classical and operant conditioning, observational learning), the learner acquires cognitive structures that influence subsequent learning and performance

although psychosoical theory does assume growth and change occur throughout the life span, learning theories provide explanations for the ways in which growth and change occur

emphasizes the meaning and behavior shared by a group of people, transmitted from one generation to the next, an individual's psychosociological experiences are shaped through: cultural pathways, cultural determinism, enculturation, individualism vs.

collectivism

fosters independence, values individual achievement, promotes self expression, values individual thinking, associated with egalitarian relationships, associated with private property and individual ownership

fosters interdependence, values group success, promotes adherence to norms, values group consensus,associated with hierarchical roles and respect for elders, associated with shared property and group ownership

culture and biological development interact to determine how each period of life is experienced

cultural theory suggests that the structure, ideas, and goals of developmental pathways differ across cultures, which is in line with the views of psychosocial theory