Lesson 2: Theory and Research

• Theory


  A coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data; theoretical concepts are well-tested and help us make sense of, and see connections between, isolated pieces of data
• Hypothesis


  Possible explanations or predictions stemming from a theory and stated in a way that allows it to be tested by further research
• Two basic issues theorists explain development depend on

  • Whether people are active or reactive in their own development
  • Whether development is continuous or occurs in stages (discontinuous)
• Mechanistic Model


  Stemmed from the ideas of Locke; in this model, people are like machines that react to environmental input; views human development as a series of predictable responses to stimuli
• Organismic Model


  Stemmed from the ideas of Rousseau; in this model, people are active growing organisms that set their own development in motion; views human development as internal occurring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages
• Quantitative Change


  Changes in number or amount (height, weight, vocabulary, or frequency of communication); primary characteristic is that you are measuring fundamentally the same things over time, even if there might be more or less of it
• Qualitative Change


  Discontinuous changes in kind, structure, or organization; marked by the emergence of new phenomena that could not easily be predicted on the basis of past functioning
• Mechanist theorists see development as continuous, as occurring in small incremental stages
• Organismic theorists are proponents of stage theories in which development occurs in a series of distinct stages, like stair steps
• Psychoanalytic perspective


  Focuses on unconscious emotions and drives
• Id


  The pleasure principle (immediate satisfaction of needs and desires)
• Ego


  Represents reason, operates under the reality principle (mediates between the impulses of id and demands of superego)
• Superego


  Includes the conscience and incorporates socially approved "shoulds" and "should nots"; highly demanding, and if standards are not met, individual may feel guilty and anxious; operates under the moral principle
• Sigmund Freud’s Psychosexual Development Theory

  An unvarying sequence of stages of childhood personality development in which gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus and then to the genitals
• Psychosexual Development Stages


  • Oral Stage (birth to 12-18 months)
  • Anal Stage (12-18 months to 3 years)
  • Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)
  • Latency Stage (6 to puberty)
  • Genital Stage (puberty to adulthood)
• Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory


  Personality is influenced by society and develops through a series of crises; Interaction of innate and experiential factors; Active
• Erikson's Psychosocial Development Stages

  • Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 12-18 months)
  • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (12-18 months to 3 years)
  • Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 6 years)
  • Industry vs. Inferiority (6 to puberty)
  • Identity vs. Role Confusion (puberty to young adulthood)
  • Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood)
  • Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood)
  • Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood)
• There needs to be a balance between the positive and negative tendencies (positive must dominate but some degree of the negative quality is need for optimal development)
• Behaviorism


  A mechanistic theory that describes observed behaviors as predictable response to experience
• Classical Conditioning


  Learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit the response
• Steps in Classical Conditioning

  Unconditioned stimulus + neutral stimulus x multiple times = conditioned stimulus and conditioned response
• Operant Conditioning


  Learning based on association of behavior with its consequences
• Reinforcement


  The process by which a behavior is strengthened, increasing the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
• Punishment


  The process by which a behavior is weakened, decreasing the likelihood of repetition
• Social Learning (Cognitive) Theory


  Theory that behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models
• Reciprocal Determinism


  Bandura's term for bidirectional forces that affect development
• Observational Learning (Modeling)


  Learning through watching the behavior of others
• Cognitive-Stage Theory


  Qualitative changes in thought occur with development. Children are active initiators of development; Interaction of innate and experiential factors; Active
• Organization


  Tendency to create categories by observing the characteristics that individuals members of a category
• Schema


  An assumption that an individual has of the self, other, or the world; building blocks of knowledge
• Assimilation


  The process by which we incorporate new information into existing schemas
• Accommodation


  The new information or experiences cause an individual to modify existing schema
• Equilibration


  The process of balancing assimilation and accommodation to create schemas that fit the environment
• Stages of Cognitive Development

  • Sensorimotor (age 0 to 2)
  • Preoperational Stage (age 2 to 5)
  • Concrete Operational Stage (age 6 to 11)
  • Formal Operational Stage (age 12 and above)
• Object permanence


  Ability to know that an object exists even when it is not being sensed
• Egocentric


  Inability to see and understand other people's viewpoints
• Conservation


  Understanding that changes in the form of an object do not necessarily mean changes in the quantity of the object
• Reversibility


  Understanding that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state
• Preoperational Stage (age 2 to 5)


  • Learning to talk and play "pretend"
  • Egocentric – inability to see and understand other people's viewpoints
  • Not yet capable of conservation (mental manipulation of object)
  • Child develops a representational system and uses symbols to represent people, places, and events. Language and imaginative play are important manifestations of this stage. Thinking is still not logical
• Concrete Operational Stage (age 6 to 11)


  • More frequent and more accurate use of logical transformations and operations, but cannot think abstractly
  • The child can think more logically about physical reality
  • Develops the ability of conservation, which is defined as the understanding that changes in the form of an object do not necessarily mean changes in the quantity of the object
  • Develops the ability of reversibility, which is defined as the understanding that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state