Theories of DEVELOPMENT

What is a theory?

 A logical statement which describes, explain or

predict what kind of behaviours may occur under
certain conditions.
Psychoanalytic perspective

 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the first theorist to

examine the psychoanalytic perspective.
 Hedeveloped psychoanalyses- a therapeutic approach
aimed at giving patients insight into their unconscious
emotional conflict.
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

 Freud believed that we are born with biological drives that must be
redirected in order for us to function well in society.
 He suggest that personality is developed as the child passes through
various stages of development and as they work through
unconscious conflicts.
 Thus, the theory of psychosexual development suggest sexual
pleasure shifts from one zone of the body to another- mouth –anus-
genitals.
Stages of psychosexual development
Erikson’s psychosocial theory

 Erik Erikson (1902- 1994) a German born psychoanalyst was a

member of Freud’s circle but modified and extended Freud’s theory
by examining the influence of society on personality development.
 Erikson was a pioneer of the life span study since his theory
examines each developmental stage of the life span.
 The psychosocial development covers eight stages. Each stage
involves what Erikson calls a crisis. The crisis of each stage must
be resolved for a healthy ego to develop.
Stages of psychosocial development
Behaviourist perspective

 This perspective describes observed behaviour as a

response to the environment or experiences.
Behaviourism is a component of the learning theory.
 Two important theories of learning are classical
conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning

 Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) developed an

experiment whereby dogs learned to salivate at the sound of a bell.
This experiment was the first to describe the theory of classical
conditioning.
 The dogs were conditioned through repeated pairing of a stimulus
(bell) with another stimulus (food) which resulted in the
conditioned response of salivation.
 John B. Watson (1878-1958) applied the classical conditioning
theory to humans.
Classical conditioning among human subjects.

 One of the first and most famous demonstration of classical

conditioning in humans was the work done with 11 month old baby
Albert.
 In the experiment Albert was exposed to a loud noise just as he was
about to touch a furry white rat. After pairing the noise with the rat
repeatedly. the baby became fearful whenever he saw the rat.
Picture showing classical conditioning.
Operant conditioning

 American Psychologist B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) formulated the

principles of operant conditioning. Skiiner’s experiment was done
using rats and pigeons but he insisted that the same principles
applies to humans.
 Operant conditioning involves learning based on reinforcement and
punishment.
 Reinforcement is a stimulus that increases the likelihood of
repetition of a desired behaviour.
 Punishment is a stimulus that discourages the repetition of a
behaviour.
Pictures showing operant conditioning
Social Learning (social cognitive) theory.

 American psychologist Albert Bandura developed several

principles that explains social learning.
 Classic social learning theorist suggest behaviour is learned
through observation and modelling.
 Bandura’s modern explanation of social learning is more cognitive
as an approach since he proposed that cognitive response to
perception is critical to learning and behaviour. Thus the theory
became known as the social cognitive theory.
 Bandura explained that even as we observe people cognitive
processes are at work. We take parts of behaviour, process them
and put them together with other behaviours to develop a behaviour
pattern.
Cognitive stage theory

 Swiss theoretician Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is one of the most

known theorist on the cognitive development of children.
 Piaget viewed cognitive development as the product of children's
effort to understand their world.
 His study involved a combination of observation and flexible
questioning. To find out how children think he followed up their
answers with another question.
 Using this method he recognized that a 4 year old believed that
pennies were more numerous when placed in a row.
Reference

 Papaila, D., Wendkos Olds, S. & Feldman, R. D. (2004). Human Development

9th edition. McGraw-Hill Inc. New- York, United States of America.