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Answer: Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development.
More questions keenly waiting for answers:
Is development due more to genetics or environment?
Does development occur slowly and smoothly, or do changes happen in stages?
Do early childhood experiences have the greatest impact on development, or are later events equally important?
Psychoanalytic theories are those influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, who believed in the importance of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences.
Freud's contribution to developmental theory was his proposal that development occurs through a series of psychosexual stages
According to Freud, our personality develops through various Psycho-sexual Stages. His revolutionary claim was that sexual desires begin in earliest childhood.
The concept of the LIBIDO is "a fundamental pleasure-seeking drive which unconsciously motivates us from the moment of our birth".
3) Cognitive Theories
Dr. János Kollár
associate professor
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Criticisms of Piaget:
Stages of Cognitive Development
Problems With Research Methods
Sensori-motor
(Birth-2 yrs)
Differentiates self from objects
Recognizes self as agent of action and begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a noise
Achieves object permanence: realizes that things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense
A major source of inspiration for the theory was Piaget's observations of his own three children. In addition to this, the other children in Piaget's small research sample were all from well-educated professionals of high socioeconomic status. Because of this unrepresentative sample, it is difficult to generalize his findings to a larger population.
Pre-operational
(2-7 years)
Problems With Formal Operations
Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words
Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others
Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour
Research has disputed Piaget's argument that all children will automatically move to the next stage of development as they mature. Some data suggests that environmental factors may play a role in the development of formal operations.
Underestimates Children's Abilities
Concrete operational
(7-11 years)
Can think logically about objects and events
Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)
Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size.
Most researchers agree that children possess many of the abilities at an earlier age than Piaget suspected. Recent theory of mind research has found that 4- and 5-year-old children have a rather sophisticated understanding of their own mental processes as well as those of other people. For example, children of this age have some ability to take the perspective of another person, meaning they are far less egocentric than Piaget believed.
Formal operational
(11 years and up)
Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically
Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems
Piaget’s Legacy:
His work generated interest in child development and had an enormous impact on the future of education and developmental psychology.
2) Learning theories
Learning theories focus on how the environment impacts behavior. Important learning processes include classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning. In each case, behavior is shaped by the interaction between the individual and the environment.
Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994)
Birth to 1 year
Erikson is a Freudian ego-psychologist.
Freud: Oral Stage
A child's primary source of pleasure is through the mouth, via sucking, eating and tasting.
Erikson: Trust vs Mistrust
Children learn to either trust or mistrust their caregivers.
This means that he accepts Freud's ideas as basically correct, including the more debatable ideas such as the Oedipal complex, and accepts as well the ideas about the ego. However, Erikson is much more society and culture-oriented than most Freudians.
1-3 years
Freud: Anal Stage
Children gain a sense of mastery and competence by controlling bladder and bowel movements.
Erikson: Autonomy vs. Doubt
Children develop self-sufficiency by controlling activities such as eating, toilet training and talking.
Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.
3-6 years
Freud: Latent Period
The libido's energy is suppressed and children are focused on other activities such as school, friends and hobbies.
Erikson: Industry vs Inferiority
Children develop a sense of competence by mastering new skills.
1) Psychoanalytic theories
Adolescence
Freud: Genital Stage
Children begin to explore romantic relationships.
Erikson: Identity vs Role Confusion
Children develop a personal identify and sense of self.
Adulthood
Freud: the genital stage lasts throughout adulthood. He believed the goal is to develop a balance between all areas of life.
Erikson: Intimacy vs Isolation
Young adults seek out romantic love and companionship.
Generativity vs Stagnation
Middle-aged adults nurture others and contribute to society.
Integrity vs Despair
Older adults reflect on their lives, looking back with a sense of fulfillment or bitterness.
Psycho-sexual Stages
1)ORAL - during the first year of life the libido is gratified through stimulation of the mucous membrane of the mouth (breast feeding, sucking behaviour).
2)ANAL - (2nd/3rd years) pleasure gained from anus by excretion and retention of faeces.
3)PHALLIC (3rd/4th years) erotic pleasure from the genitals.
4)LATENCY / FORGETFUL (5 years to puberty) the period when psychosexual desires are inactive or forgotten until puberty.
5)GENITAL - development of normal heterosexual behaviour
OEDIPUS COMPLEX OF THE MALE CHILD
A boy has an unconscious desire (within the ID) to kill his father and sleep with his mother. But fears that his powerful father will act against him = CASTRATION ANXIETY.
This dilemma has a double effect:
a. the boy represses his erotic feelings toward his mother; and
b. he identifies with his father as a powerful figure in order to gain his mother's affection.
ELECTRA COMPLEX OF THE FEMALE CHILD
For females, Freud crudely reversed the process for girls. That is, she desires to kill her mother and sleep with her father. Her anxiety is that she believes she has already been castrated. Thus girls have PENIS ENVY. She therefore identifies with her mother in order to gain male affection.
Evaluating Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Theory
The theory is focused almost entirely on male development with little mention of female psychosexual development.
His theories are difficult to test scientifically. Concepts such as the libido are impossible to measure, and therefore cannot be tested. The research that has been conducted tends to discredit Freud's theory.
Future predictions are too vague. How can we know that a current behavior was caused specifically by a childhood experience? The length of time between the cause and the effect is too long to assume that there is a relationship between the two variables.
Freud's theory is based upon case studies and not empirical research. Also, Freud based his theory on the recollections of his adult patients, not on actual observation and study of children.
Question: What Is Development?
(small brainstorming for big brains)