THEORIES OF HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT

College of Public and Community Service

University of Massachusetts at Boston
©2009 William Holmes

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 TYPES OF THEORIES

 Psychological Theories
 Social Cultural Theories
 Behavioral Theories
 Biological Theories
 Multi-Level Theories

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 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES

 Freudian/Psychoanalytic
 Erikson/Crisis Developmental
 Piaget Cognitive Development

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 FREUDIAN THEORY

 Structures of id, ego, superego

 Struggle between id, ego, superego
 Five stages—Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital

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 ERIKSON CRISES DEVELOPMENT
 Crises Resolution and Development
 Epigenetic Principle
 Eight Stages
1. Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
2. Autonomy versus shame/dependence
3. Initiative vs. self-guilt
4. Industry vs. inferiority
5. Identity vs. confusion/identity crisis
6. Intimacy vs. isolation
7. Generativity vs. stagnation
8. Integrity vs. despair
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 PIAGET COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

 Cognitive Functional Invariants—adaptation and organization

 Adaptation involves accommodation and assimilation
 Organization involves complex usage
 Four stages
1. Sensorimotor—infantile physicality
2. Preoperational—initial symbols and language
3. Concrete operational—reasoning about physical objects
4. Formal operational—abstract thinking

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 SOCIAL CULTURAL THEORIES

 Vygotsky social cognitive theory

 Durkheim functional theory
 Kohlberg Moral Development
 Symbolic Interaction

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 VYGOTSKY CULTURAL THEORY

 Elementary/biological processes
 Psychological/sociocultural process
 Uses interaction, speech, and internalization
 Problem solving uses speech and interaction

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 DURKHEIM FUNCTIONAL THEORY

 Growth of complexity
 Growth of specialization
 Differentiation of social status and roles
 Shift from informal to formal relations

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 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

 Socially constructed stages

 Labeling of stages
 Use of “looking-glass self ”
 Subject to trends, fads, and fashions

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 BEHAVIORAL THEORIES

 Skinner Operant Conditioning—

reinforcers: rewards and punishments
 Bandura Social Learning—modeling,
observation, and imitation

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 BIOLOGICAL THEORIES

 Genetic Inheritance
 Genetic Expression
 Genetic Fitness
 Genetic Evolution

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 MULTILEVEL THEORIES

 Bronfenbrenner/Ecological Theory:
microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem,
macrosystem
 Developmental Systems Theory—
interactive levels of development

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