Lecture 2 - Theories of Human Development

Lecture 2: Theories of PSYC12010 – Introduction
to Human Development
Dr Cassy Dittman
human development c.dittman@cqu.edu.au
• How do we study life span development?
• Designing a research study
• Important considerations in
developmental research
• Issues in theories of development
• Key theories in life span development
Overview
How do we study life span development?
1. Choose your population of participants
2. Decide how you will recruit or access a sample from that
population
• Random vs. convenience sampling
Designing a • Consider representativeness and generalisability
research 3. Select your research design
• Case study – Experiment – Correlational study
study* • If your research question relates to how individuals change
or remain the same over time:
• Cross‐sectional
• Longitudinal
• Sequential
4. Select your data collection method
• Report – from the individual or another informant
• Behavioural observation (naturalistic vs. structured)
*Pay attention – helpful for
• Physiological measurement
your research proposal! 5. Consider ethical obligations and cultural sensitivity
• In‐depth examination of an individual or small
Selecting a number of individuals
research • Variety of sources of information
design: Case • E.g. observation, testing, interviews
study • Advantage of the case study method
• Rich information about complex or rare
aspects of development
• Limitations of the case study method
• Conclusions cannot be generalised
• A variable is manipulated in order to see what effect this
has on the measured variable
Selecting a • Independent variable (manipulated) – predictor, cause
research • Dependent variable (measured) – outcome, effect
design: • Three critical features of true experiments:
Experiment • Random assignment of participants to condition (vs.
quasi experimental)
• Manipulation of independent variable
• Experimental control
• Gold standard of evaluation evidence: randomised
controlled trial
Selecting a research design: Experiment
Advantages of the Limitations of the
experimental method experimental method
• Can establish cause and • Findings of laboratory
effect (manipulating the IV experiments don’t always
produces changes in the DV) hold true in the real world
• Explain and sometimes • Ethical issues
optimise human
development
Quasi‐experiment: No random assignment to condition, involves comparison

between naturally‐occurring groups
Selecting a • Determining whether two or more variables are
research related in a systematic way
design: • Attempt to determine relationships
Correlational • Strength of the relationship is expressed by the
study calculation of a correlation coefficient
• An index of the extent to which one variable
is systematically related to another variable
• Can range from +1.0 to ‐1.0
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Selecting a research design: Correlational study
Advantages of the Limitations of the
correlational method correlational method
• Can be used when it is • Cannot establish a causal
unethical to manipulate relationship
• Allows an examination of • Directionality problem
multiple factors and • Third variable problem
pathways
Statistical control procedures can be used to rule out known third variables –
does a relationship remain after controlling for a particular variable?
Experimental design Correlational design
Direct manipulation of an IV to observe the Study of the relationship between one variable
effect on a DV and another (no investigator manipulation)
Random assignment to conditions No random assignment
Experimental control of extraneous (third)
Lack of control over extraneous variables
variables
Can establish a cause‐effect relationship Can suggest but not firmly establish causality
between IV and DV (issues of directionality and third variable)
Potential ethical issues of random assignment Can be used to study issues that cannot be
and manipulation of IV assessed experimentally for ethical reasons
May be artificial findings – limits to Can measure multiple influences operating on
generalisability an outcome – potential better generalisability
Experimental vs. Correlational research

Cross‐sectional design Longitudinal design
Performance/outcomes of different age groups
Assess one group (cohort) repeatedly over time
(cohorts) are compared at one point in time
Infer age changes from age comparisons or Comparisons across repeated measurements
differences in performance lead to conclusions about changes with age
Can reveal how people change with age (e.g.,
Does not necessarily reveal how people change
stability vs change, factors early in life the
with age (OK when age groups are close)
predict outcomes (or trajectories) later in life)
Generally efficient and straightforward to Costly, time‐consuming, issue of attrition and
conduct, informative in short‐term repeated testing
Age and time of measurement effects are
Age and cohort effects are confounded
confounded
Selecting a research design to assess change over time:

Cross‐sectional vs. Longitudinal research
Selecting a • Combines the cross‐sectional and longitudinal approaches
research • Involves observing different cohorts on multiple occasions
design to • Helps disentangle the effects of age, cohort and time‐of‐
measurement
assess change • Indicates whether developmental changes
over time: experienced by one cohort are similar to those
Sequential experienced by other cohorts and are truly
developmental (age effects)
research • Indicates which age trends differ across cohorts,
suggesting these trends are affected by unique
growing up experiences in a cohort (cohort effects)
• Indicates which age trends are due to events during a
specific period in history similarly affect all cohorts
alive at the time
• But, expensive, complex and time‐consuming
7KH$XVWUDOLDQ
7HP SHUDP HQW3URMHFW
$VWXG\RIHP RWLRQDOGHYHORSP HQWIURP
LQIDQF\WRDGXOWKRRGDQGLQWRWKHQH[W
JHQHUDWLRQ
Christchurch Health and

Development Study
Systematic reviews and
Meta‐analyses
• Involves synthesising the results of multiple studies
addressing the same question to produce overall
conclusions
• Allows us to determine whether a relationship between
an IV and a DV is reliable and consistent across studies
conducted under different conditions (e.g., using
different data collection methods, informants, in
different populations)
• Gives us confidence in a hypothesis/theory (or not), and
helps us determine if we can call a theory well‐
established or substantiated (never, ever PROVED)
• Systematic review – collecting and summarising all
empirical evidence that fits eligibility criteria
• Meta‐analysis – the use of statistical methods to
summarise the results of these studies
population
• Longitudinal
• Sequential
Data collection methods Multi‐method, multi‐
informant research
Reporting Naturalistic Structured Physiological

• Interviews observation observation measurements
• Questionnaires • Observation in • Create situations • Physiological
• Ability/ natural, that elicit the changes as
achievement everyday behaviour of indicators of
tests environment interest variables of
• Self or other interest
Subjective Objective, high control
What challenges are faced by researchers in
developmental science?
population
• Longitudinal
• Sequential
Protecting the rights of research participants
Research ethics are standards of conduct that protect research participants
from psychological or physical harm
Informed consent Debriefing
Confidentiality/
Protection from harm
anonymity
• Don’t make assumptions
Conducting • Keep ethnocentrism from influencing one’s
culturally research
sensitive • Be prepared to check reliability of findings
research across samples from different cultural and
subcultural groups and across a variety of
ecological settings, differing SES
• Be prepared to consult, negotiate, liaise and co‐
design research with participants and key
representatives (e.g. elders)
Theories of human
development
Theories of development
• A theory is a set of ideas proposed
to describe and explain certain
phenomena (human development)
Internally
Falsifiable
consistent
• Guides the collection and
interpretation of facts or
observations
• The basis of formulating hypotheses Supported by

or predictions to be tested (replicated) data
Issues in theories of human development
• Is development • How much do we • Do we change • How is
the product of actively shape gradually and in development
genes, biology our own quantitative similar from
and maturation? environments? ways? person to person
• Or of experience, • Or are we passive • Or do we and culture to
learning and and shaped by progress through culture?
social influences? forces beyond qualitatively • How do pathways
our control? different stages? of development
vary depending
on the context?
Universality
Nature and Activity and Continuity and
and context
nurture passivity discontinuity
specificity
Case study: Xavier and
school
• Xavier started school (prep in Qld) at
4.5 years old
• This coincided with the arrival of his
new baby brother and me being on
maternity leave
• From the start, he refused to go to
school – defiant about getting ready,
yelling and shouting that he didn’t
want to go, hiding when it was time
to leave, refusing to get out of the
car
• How might each developmental
theory explain Xavier’s school
refusal behaviour?
Major theories of human development
PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

THEORIES THEORIES THEORIES THEORIES THEORIES
“Few of the findings of psychoanalysis
have met with such universal
contradiction or have aroused such
• Humans have instincts (inborn biological an outburst of indignation as the
urges or forces) that unconsciously assertion that the sexual function
motivate behavior starts at the beginning of life and
reveals its presence by important
• These instincts are the source of psychic signs even in childhood. And yet, no
energy that fuels and motivates behavior other finding of psychoanalysis can be
throughout development demonstrated so easily and so
completely”
‐‐ Sigmund Freud (1973)
Psychoanalytic theories –
Freud
Psychoanalytic theories – Freud
Components of
personality
Id: ‘pleasure principle’

Ego: ‘reality Superego:
– impulsive,
principle’ – rational, internalised moral
irrational, wants
seeks to gratify standards (from 3
instant gratification
instincts (during to 6 years old –
(from birth –
infancy ‐ conscious) preconscious)
unconscious)
Psychoanalytic theories – Freud
• Child develops through psychosexual stages
• The sex instinct – the libido – shifts from one part of the body to another, seeking
to gratify different biological needs
• Oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital
• Psychic conflicts cause anxiety, long‐term effects on personality
• Defence mechanisms
• Unconscious coping devices used by the ego to defend itself against anxiety
created by conflict between the id and social demands
• The aim is to maintain one’s sense of self
• Several of these are used as children progress through psychosexual stages of
development e.g., fixation, identification, regression
Psychoanalytic theories – Erikson
• Most influential neo‐Freudian
• Also focused on the inner dynamics of personality
• Proposed eight psychosocial stages or conflicts
• Individuals pushed into next stage by maturation and social demands – but
unsuccessful resolution has long‐term implications
• Balance is key
• Differences with Freud:
• Greater emphasis on social influence and recognition of cultural and
historical context, and less on sexual urges
• More emphasis on ego and less on the unconscious, irrational and selfish id
• More positive, adaptive view of human nature
• Development continues after adolescence
Psychoanalytic
theories:
Freud vs.
Erikson
Contributions
• Emphasised unconscious processes

• Emphasised importance of early
Psychoanalytic experience and emotions
theories: • Erikson: took a lifespan approach and
emphasised interaction of biological and
Contributions social influences – looked beyond the
family environment
and
Weaknesses
weaknesses
• Not testable, and not falsifiable
• Describes development but does not
explain how it occurs
school
• Freud
• Phallic stage – experiencing an
Oedipal conflict
• Aggression and defiance
attempts to identify with his dad
• Erikson
• Initiative vs. guilt stage – guilty
about pursuing own goals and
anxiety about meeting parental
expectations
• Or thrust too early into Industry
vs. inferiority – feeling inferior to
the other children

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well
• Behaviourism: conclusions should be based on formed, and my own specified world to
observable behaviour bring them up in, and I’ll guarantee to
take any one at random and train him to
• Emphasis on nurture (environment) become any type of specialist I might
• Human nature explained as learned select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant,
chief, and yes, even beggar‐man and thief,
associations between stimuli and responses regardless of his talents, penchants,
• Continuous process of behaviour change that tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race
is context specific and can differ from person of his ancestors.”
to person ‐‐ John B. Watson (1925)
• Basis of behaviour modification and cognitive

behaviour therapy
Learning theories
Learning theories – Classical
conditioning
• Pavlov
• UCS: unconditioned stimulus (food)
• UCR: unconditioned response (salivation)
• CS: conditioned stimulus (bell)
• CR: conditioned response (salivation)
• Watson
• Demonstrated that fear can be learned
• Dubious ethical standards!
Learning theories – Operant
conditioning • A behaviour becomes
more or less probable
depending upon
contingent consequences
Positive stimulus Negative stimulus (reinforcement vs.
punishment)
Give Positive reinforcement Positive punishment
(strengthens the (weakens the • Extinction – results from
behaviour) behaviour) withdrawal of
consequences
• Generalisation – transfer
Take Negative punishment Negative reinforcement for learning to a new
away (weakens the (strengthens the situation
behaviour) behaviour)
• Emphasises the role of
cognitive processing of social
experiences for motivating
and self‐regulating behaviour
• Beliefs about likely
consequences impact
behaviour
• Consequences can be external
and internal
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY‐SA
• Observational learning –
learning by observing the
Learning theories – Social behaviour of others
(modelling)
(cognitive) learning theory
• Emphasises the role of
cognitive processing of social
experiences for motivating
and self‐regulating behaviour
• Beliefs about likely
consequences impact
behaviour
• Consequences can be external
and internal
• Observational learning –
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY‐SA
learning by observing the
behaviour of others
(modelling)
Learning theories – Social • Vicarious reinforcement –

observation of consequences
(cognitive) learning theory given to others predicts own
behaviour
Learning theories – Social learning theory
• Reciprocal determinism – people
choose, build and shape their
environments, they are not just Person
shaped by them
• Self‐regulation – ability to reflect
on, evaluate and manage own
behaviour
• Personal agency – one’s capacity to
control or change the environment
to produce an outcome
• Self‐efficacy – belief in one’s Behaviour Environment
competence or ability to produce a
desired outcome
Learning theories:
Contributions and weaknesses
Contributions
• Theories are precise and testable – experimental psychology

• Principles apply across the life span
• Practical applications are possible
Weaknesses
• Inadequate accounts of developmental changes

• Little consideration of genetics and maturation
school
• Watson – classical conditioning
• Traumatic experience  school building
becomes a CS for anxious response
• Skinner – operant conditioning
• Consequences for staying home (i.e.
removal of anxiety negatively reinforces
school refusal, my attention could be
positively reinforcing) are stronger than
those for going to school
• Bandura – social learning
• Observational learning of anxious
behaviour
• Beliefs about punishing consequences
of going to school
• Self‐efficacy in school environment

• Emphasises the innate goodness of people
• Cognition and behaviour is motivated by
“To oversimplify the matter, it
personal growth, autonomy and self‐ is as if Freud supplied to us the
determination sick half of psychology and we
• Our development is focused on self‐ must now fill it out with the
actualisation, an innate desire to reach our full healthy half.”
potential ‐‐ Abraham Maslow (1968)
• Rogers – primary motivator is self‐
actualization
• Maslow – hierarchy of needs as motivators for
development
Humanistic theories – Rogers

and Maslow
Humanistic theories – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self‐
Need to fully achieve one’s talents, capabilities and potential
actualisation
Need for self‐respect through sense of competence

Esteem and personal achievement; and respect from others
through appreciation, status or fame
Need for close relationships and being a part of

Belonging and love a group (community, family, peers)
Safety Need for secure and stable environment
Biological requirements for

Physiological needs survival (food, water, oxygen,
shelter, sex)
Humanistic theories:
Contributions
• Focused on psychological wellness as more than simply absence of disease

• Focus on positive dimensions of development laid the foundation for
positive psychology
Weaknesses
• Initial theories and concepts too broad and hard to measure (has improved)
• Universality of hierarchy questioned
• Important components missing from hierarchy and sequence does not
always apply
school
• Unmet needs (deficiencies)
results in unpleasant states that
he is trying to avoid by not going
to school
• Unmet safety needs – bullying, in
trouble with teacher
• Unmet belonging and love needs
– peer friendships, parents
• Unmet esteem needs –
difficulties with school tasks,
losing confidence

• Interaction between biological maturation
(developing brain) and experience is responsible
for developmental progress
“What we see changes what we
• Children acquire ever more complex cognitive
structures, or organised patterns of thought or know. What we know changes
action, that aid them in adapting to their what we see.”
environments ‐‐ Jean Piaget (1950)
• Constructivism ‐ children actively construct new
understandings of the world based on their
experiences
• Interaction between maturation and experience
drive progression across qualitatively different
stages of development
Cognitive developmental
theories – Piaget
Cognitive developmental theories – Piaget
• Qualitative different ways of
thinking in each stage
• Occur in an invariant
sequence
• Age ranges are guidelines,
children can progress at
different rates
Cognitive developmental theories – Vygotsky and
Information processing approaches
• Vygotsky
• Disagreed with universal stages
• Cognitive development is shaped by and varies across sociocultural contexts
• Social constructivism – humans actively create their own understandings of the
world from their social interactions and exposure to cultural tools such as language,
art and media
• Information processing approach

• Likens the developing mind to a computer
• Development proceeds due to changes in the capacity and speed (not structure) of
the nervous system produced by maturation and experience
• Examines fundamental processes of attention, memory, decision‐making, etc.
• Post‐formal thought –
complex adult cognition
beyond formal operations
• Shaie & Willis proposed
that adult cognition
responds to the different
demands of adult life
• How is knowledge
acquired during childhood
used and applied across
adulthood?
Adult cognitive developmental
theories – Schaie‐Willis
Cognitive developmental theories:
Contributions
• Well researched, mostly supported

• Influenced education and parenting
• Vygotsky highlighted importance of social interaction and culture
Weaknesses
• Too little consideration of motivation/emotion

• Piaget underestimated some abilities of children and placed little
emphasis upon parents and caregivers
• Vygotsky’s ideas too broad, vague, difficult to test

• Developmental changes over the life span
“A child needs the enduring,
arise from the ongoing interrelationships
irrational involvement of one or
between a changing organism and a
changing environment
more adults in care of and in
joint activity with that child. In
• The individual and their physical and social short, somebody has to be
contexts are a part of a larger dynamic crazy about that kid.”
system
‐‐ Urie Bronfrenbrenner (1970)
• Development can take a variety of paths
depending on the complex interplay of
multiple influences
Systems theories –
Bronfrenbrenner and Gottlieb
Systems theories – Gottlieb’s epigenetic
psychobiological systems perspective
• Development takes place in the context of our evolutionary
history as a species
• Products of evolution such as genes and hormones interact with
environmental factors to guide the individual’s development
• Development is the product of ongoing interactions between
biological and environmental influences
• Interplay of nature and nurture can occur:
• At the species level – species heredity and cultural evolution
• At the individual level – epigenesis, ‘over and above’ genes
Epigenetic process involves 4
mutual influences over time
making certain
developmental outcomes
more or less likely:
1. Activity of the genes
2. Activity of neurons
3. Organism’s behaviour
4. Environmental influences
Each system is important and
their influence is bi‐
directional
Systems theories – Gottlieb’s Genes are not deterministic –
epigenetic psychobiological they are turned on with the
help of environmental input
systems perspective
Systems theories:
Contributions
• Hugely influential
• Best captures the complexity of development across multiple domains
• Calls attention to transactions between individual and environment
Weaknesses
• Only partially formulated and tested

• Do not provide (or not intended to provide) a coherent
developmental theory
Theories of human development: a snapshot
• More nature: • Passive: Freud, • Continuous: • Universal: Freud,
Freud, Piaget, Watson, Skinner Watson, Skinner, Erikson, Piaget,
• More nurture: • Active: Bandura, Bandura, Maslow, • Context specific:
Watson, Skinner, Maslow, Piaget, Vygotsky, info Watson, Skinner,
Bandura, Vygotsky, processing Bandura, Maslow,
Vygotsky, information • Discontinuous: Vygotsky, info
• Both: Erikson, processing, Freud, Erikson, processing,
Maslow, info Gottlieb Piaget Gottlieb
processing,
• Both: Gottlieb
Gottlieb
Universality
Nature and Activity and Continuity and
and context
nurture passivity discontinuity
specificity
See you next week!
Lecture 3: Genes, Environment and the
Beginnings of Life
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY‐NC‐ND

Lecture 2 - Theories of Human Development

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 2 - Theories of Human Development

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 2: Theories of PSYC12010 – Introduction

Quasi‐experiment: No random assignment to condition, involves comparison

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Experimental vs. Correlational research

Selecting a research design to assess change over time:

Christchurch Health and

Reporting Naturalistic Structured Physiological

Informed consent Debriefing

• The basis of formulating hypotheses Supported by

PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

Id: ‘pleasure principle’

• Emphasised unconscious processes

PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

• Basis of behaviour modification and cognitive

Learning theories – Social • Vicarious reinforcement –

• Theories are precise and testable – experimental psychology

• Inadequate accounts of developmental changes

PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

Humanistic theories – Rogers

Need for self‐respect through sense of competence

Need for close relationships and being a part of

Safety Need for secure and stable environment

Biological requirements for

• Focused on psychological wellness as more than simply absence of disease

PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

• Information processing approach

• Well researched, mostly supported

• Too little consideration of motivation/emotion

PSYCHOANALYTIC LEARNING HUMANISTIC COGNITIVE SYSTEMS

• Only partially formulated and tested

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY‐NC‐ND

You might also like