Exploring Developmental Theories in Psychology

1. Psyc311 – Development Psychology Chapter 01 Introduction to Developmental Science Theory & Research Methods

2. i<clickers! • Are you HERE this morning? • A) Yes, absolutely! • B) No, definitely not. • C) Hard to say – I could be having a nightmare. • D) Uh…what do you mean by “HERE”? • E) All of the above. • Have you registered for MyDevelopmentLab? • A) Yes • B) No

3. characteristics of development Surrounding physical and social environment • Lifelong • Multidimensional • Biological • Cognitive • Socio-emotional developing physical body and brain

4. characteristics of development • Plastic • Gene/environment interaction • Multidirectional • Expansion (growth) • Contraction (decline) • Contextual • Age-graded influence • History-graded influence • Non-normative (individual experiences)

5. explaining development • Developmental science involves three distinct levels: Theory Question/Hypothesis But why do we investigate developmental processes in this manner? Research

6. science as a way of knowing • Our individual and collective goal is to build a body of knowledge. • Facts – knowing thatp. • Skills – knowing howto p. • What is it to know thatp? • Knowledge= belief true justified

7. science as a way of knowing • There are three common ways of knowing AUTHORITY REASON EXPERIENCE LIMITATIONS: opportunities for bias, motivated by power, desire to maintain status quo, lack of sufficient information…. ***** SCIENCE ***** Requires: clear standards for authority, open dissemination of methods and data, shared assumptions, relicatable studies, data-driven conclusions, objectivity (removal of personal bias), theories that can be disproven…

8. science as a way of knowing • What are the limitations of science? Objectivity = a view from NOWHERE • You cannot disentangle subject and object. • You cannot draw meaningful generalizations. • Only WEIRD people are allowed to contribute. ?? Response ?? *** Inter-subjectivity = a view from EVERYWHERE ***

9. Developmental Theories

10. evolution of theory • The evolutionof (developmental) theory • starts with • The theory of evolution! • Plasticity • natural selection • survival of the fittest • Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology • Inter-speciesbehaviors/competencies • Intra-species behaviors/competencies

11. evolution of theory • The Age of Measurement • Normative period • Identification of “norms” of development Mental Retardation Normal Intelligence Gifted Intelligence NormalMorality Moral Exemplar Sociopathy

12. psychoanalytic • What causes development to go wrong? • Psychoanalytic – development involves confrontations between biological drives and social expectations. • Freud: psychosexual conflicts • Focus on sexual and aggressive drives • Erickson: psychosocial conflicts • Focus on socio-emotional development

13. behavioral learning • Behaviorism • Focus on direct stimulus-response mechanisms that drive behavior. • Development is a product of past and present positive and negativereinforcement and punishment patterns. • Sophisticated reward-punishment system in brain. Ask Yourself! How would Erickson and Skinner differ in explaining a child’s fear of the dark?

14. behavioral learning • Social learning theory • Indirect learning • Imitation • Observation

15. Bobo Doll example

16. cognitive learning • Piaget – cognitive-developmental theory • Child as scientist. • Child discovers knowledge that is out there. • Vygotsky – social-cultural theory • Child as apprentice. • Child creates knowledge with others.

17. cognitive learning • Information processing • The underlying architecture of cognitive development is computational. • Child as symbol-manipulation system. • Development involves • Maturation of hardware. • Upgrades in software.

18. contexts for development