Module 2 Lifespan Psychology Notes: Theories of Development

Psychoanalytic Theories

a) Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

 Psychoanalytic theories: theories proposing that developmental change happens because

of the influence of internal drives and emotions on behavior.

 Libido: what Freud called an unconscious internal drive for physical pleasure.

 Id: in Freud’s theory, the part of the personality that comprises a person’s basic sexual

and aggressive impulses; it contains the libido and motivates a person to seek pleasure

and avoid pain.

 Ego: according to Freud, the thinking element of personality.

 Superego: Freud’s term for the part of personality that is the moral judge.

 Ego is responsible for keeping the Id and Superego in balance.

 The Repressed Memory Controversy:

 Freud claimed that hidden memories of traumatic events suffered in childhood, such as

sexual abuse, often lie hidden away, or repressed, in a person’s unconscious and cause

emotional distress that can lead to mental illness. Consequently, Freud thought that the

goal of psychotherapy was to uncover such events and help individuals learn to cope with

them. Memory researchers have found that some people who were abused as children

forget the events for long periods of time, just as Freud predicted. However, most people

retain vivid memories of traumatic childhood events (Baddeley, 1998; Lindsay & Read,

1994). Moreover, perpetrators of abuse are more likely to forget the incidents than are

their victims (Taylor & Kopelman, 1984).

  Memory experts also point out that therapists who suggest the possibility of repressed

memories risk creating false memories in their clients’ minds (Ceci & Bruck, 1993).

However, repression does sometimes occur, and discovery of a repressed memory does

sometimes improve a person’s mental health. Thus, mental health professionals face a

dilemma: Should they ignore the possibility of a repressed memory or risk creating a

false one?

 Therapists address the dilemma by obtaining training in techniques that can bring out

repressed memories but don’t directly suggest that such memories exist. For example,

when clients believe they have recalled a repressed event, therapists help them look for

concrete evidence. In the end, however, both therapist and client should recognize that

they must often rely on flawed human judgment to decide whether a “recovered” memory

was really repressed or was invented in the client’s mind.

 Psychosexual stages: Freud’s five stages of personality development through which

children move in a fixed sequence determined by maturation; the libido is centered in a

different body part in each stage.

b) Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

 Erik Erikson was a Neo-Freudian, meaning that he proposed ideas that built on the

strengths of Freud’s theory but tried to avoid its weaknesses.

 His theory refers to Psychosocial stages: Erikson’s eight stages, or crises, of personality

development in which inner instincts interact with outer cultural and social demands to

shape personality.

 Erikson thought that development occurred through the entire lifespan.

 He believed that in order to achieve a healthy personality, an individual must successfully

resolve a crisis at each stage, and that healthy development requires a favorable ratio of

positive to negative experiences.

 The first four stages form the foundation for adult personality.
 Adult stages are not strongly tied to age.
 Evaluation of Psychoanalytic Theories

 It is extremely difficult to test these theories because there is not a precise definition of

their concepts (such as id, ego, superego, etc).

Learning Theories

b) Introduction

 Psychologist John Watson believed that through the manipulation of the environment,

children could be trained to do anything.

 Behaviorism: the view that defines development in terms of behavior changes caused by

environmental influences.

 That is an example of Learning theories: theories asserting that development results

from an accumulation of experiences.

 Classical conditioning: learning that results from the association of stimuli.

 Each incidence of learning begins with a biologically programmed stimulus–response

connection, or reflex. For example, salivation happens naturally when you put food in

your mouth. In classical conditioning terms, the food is the unconditioned (unlearned,

natural) stimulus; salivating is an unconditioned (unlearned, natural) response.

 Little Albert:
 Watson’s hapless subject, 11-month-old “Little Albert,” was exposed to loud noises

while he played with a white rat, a stimulus that had fascinated him when it was first

introduced. As a result of the pairing of the rat with the noises, however, Albert learned

to fear the rat so thoroughly that he cried hysterically at the mere sight of the rodent.

Moreover, he generalized his fear of the rat to other white, fuzzy objects such as a rabbit,

a fur coat, and a Santa Claus mask.

 The Little Albert experiment demonstrated that classical conditioning may indeed be the

source of developmental changes that involve emotional responses. For this reason,

classical conditioning continues to have a place in the study of human development.

 Systematic Desensitization:

 School refusal often occurs because children feel anxious in the school setting.

 Rawlins uses systematic desensitization by teaching relaxation strategies to children with

school refusal. Children are then taught to regulate this response in successive steps

leading toward school participation.

 Gradually, the child will learn to associate going to school with the relaxation responses

rather than with anxiety.

 She begins by teaching the child how to control his respiration rate and muscular con-

tractions in order to achieve a state of physical relaxation. Afterward, Dr. Rawlins helps

him learn to “switch on” his relaxation response in connection with each step in the

sequence of events that are involved in getting to and staying in school. For example, he

will first learn to intentionally relax while getting ready for school. Next, he will practice

intentionally relaxing while waiting for the bus and then while he is on the bus. Once at
 school, the therapist will encourage him to initiate his relaxation response in front of the

school entrance. The final step will be to learn to intentionally relax in the classroom and

to initiate the relaxation response whenever he experiences feelings of anxiety during the

school day. As a result, the child will learn to associate going to school with the

relaxation responses rather than with anxiety.

c) Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

 B.F. Skinner coined the term operant conditioning: learning to repeat or stop behaviors

because of their consequences.

 Reinforcement: anything that follows a behavior and causes it to be repeated.

 Punishment: anything that follows a behavior and causes it to stop.

 Extinction: the gradual elimination of a behavior through repeated nonreinforcement

 Ex: If a teacher succeeds in eliminating a student’s undesirable behavior by ignoring it,

the behavior is said to have been extinguished.

 partial reinforcement: reinforcement of a behavior on some occasions but not others.

b) Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory

 Observational learning, or  modeling: learning that results from seeing a model

reinforced or punished for a behavior.

 Developed by Albert Bandura. Depends on what someone observes and what they

remember. Attention, Memory, Physical capabilities, Motivation

 Self-efficacy: expectancies about what we can and cannot do.

d) Evaluation of Learning Theories

 They can explain both consistency and change in behavior.


Cognitive Theories

a) Introduction

 Cognitive theories: theories that emphasize mental processes in development, such as

logic and memory

b) Piaget’s Cognitive-Development Theory

 Jean Piaget spent 6 decades studying the development of logical thinking in children.

 Piaget’s cognitive theory: development involves processes based upon actions and later

progresses into changes in mental operations.

 Scheme: in Piaget’s theory, an internal cognitive structure that provides an individual

with a procedure to use in a specific circumstance.

 Assimilation: the process of using a scheme to make sense of an event or experience

 Accommodation: changing a scheme as a result of some new information.

 Equilibration: the process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to create

schemes that fit the environment.

 

c) Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

 Sociocultural theory: Vygotsky’s view that complex forms of thinking have their

origins in social interactions rather than in an individual’s private explorations.

 According to Vygotsky, children’s learning of new cognitive skills is guided by an adult

(or a more skilled child, such as an older sibling), who structures the child’s learning

experience—a process Vygotsky called scaffolding. To create an appropriate scaffold, the

adult must gain and keep the child’s attention, model the best strategy, and adapt the

whole process to the child’s developmental level, or zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky used this term to signify tasks that are too hard for the child to do alone but that

he can manage with guidance.

  Assisted discovery: a child integrates the results of independent discoveries with new

knowledge taught in systematic and structured way.

 Educational Applications: Supports active exploration opportunities and Discovery of

what knowledge, skills, and understandings have not yet surfaced for the learner, but are

on edge of emergence.

d) Information-Processing Theory

 Information-processing theory: a theoretical perspective that uses the computer as a

model to explain how the mind manages information.

 Neo-Piagetian theory: an approach that uses information-processing principles to

explain the developmental stages identified by Piaget.

 

Biological and Ecological Theories

a) Behavior Genetics

 Behavior genetics: the study of the role of heredity in individual differences.

b) Ethology and Sociobiology

 Ethology: a perspective on development that emphasizes genetically determined survival

behaviors presumed to have evolved through natural selection.

  Sociobiology: the study of society using the methods and concepts of biology; when used

by developmentalists, an approach that emphasizes genes that aid group survival.

c) Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory

 Bioecological theory: Bronfenbrenner’s theory that explains development in terms of

relationships between individuals and their environments, or interconnected contexts

 It provides a way of thinking about development that captures the complexity of

contextual and individual variables.

 Eclecticism: the use of multiple theoretical perspectives to explain and study human

development.

Discussion: At what point would you recommend genetic counseling to a parent to be?  Why

would you recommend the genetic counseling?  Compare and contrast genetic counseling from

the United States to practices in Scotland and China.  Is there a protocol or policy that

encourages or is a barrier?  Cite your sources.

I would recommend genetic counseling to a parent to be not based off a specific point of time,
but dependent on two main factors. If the mother is over age 35, there is an increased risk of fetal
defects. The same goes for if there is a family history of a known or suspected condition
(NSGC). Because of the known increased risks of something being wrong with the baby, it
would be beneficial to the parent(s) to go through genetic counseling. In addition, due to modern
technology it is now possible to cure/correct some issues in the fetus before it is born. Also,
some of the negative emotional effects of prenatal diagnosis can be mitigated by providing
counseling and information about treatment at the time of diagnosis instead of after birth (Bee et
al., 93). In the United States, genetic counseling varies along with abortion law from state to
state. Very few states have many genetic counselors. Scotland provides standardized prenatal
care and allows abortion “for serious fetal anomaly without limit.” In China, the implementation
of the two-child policy in 2016 encouraged women over the age of 35, which could increase the
rate of birth detects. As a result, China significantly promoted prenatal testing (ISPD).

“Chapter 3: Development from Conception to Birth.” Lifespan Development, by Denise Roberts

Boyd and Helen L. Bee, Pearson, 2015, pp. 73–73.

[Link]
tic_Counseling.aspx?hkey=8cf799c4-b01c-4fe6-b1fb-c02426f8980c

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