Human Developmental Psychology: Concepts and Theories

Posted on Dec 6, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

ITEM 7: Introduction to the Psychology of Development

Preliminary Concepts

  • Growth: Quantitative physiological changes.
  • Maturation: Differentiation and development of biological structures and functional capabilities resulting from the interaction between genetics and experience.
  • Development: Functional relationship between behavior change and chronological age. Individual change is multidimensional and multidirectional.
  • Learning: Changes caused by external influences.

7.1. The Psychology of Development: Concept and Purpose of Study

Concept

Psychological discipline that seeks to describe, explain, predict, and optimize behavior change across the human lifespan, from birth to death.

7.1.3. Types of Change

  • Quantitative: Changes that occur in quantity (e.g., Physical Development).
  • Qualitative: Changes in the nature of the psyche (e.g., Cognitive Development). These are far more complex.

7.1.4. Time

Development occurs over the life cycle. Age is not an explanatory variable, but rather a variable rate.

7.1.5. Place

  • Development occurs in a social, environmental, ecological, and cultural context.
  • The context changes with time.
  • Developmental psychology considers possible patterns of evolution in relation to different types of interactions and diverse contexts.

7.1.6. Purpose of the Psychology of Development

  • Find Etiological Laws and Principles: To explain change and development.
    • Descriptive: To observe and verify intra-individual variation and inter-individual differences across developmental stages.
    • Explanatory: To analyze the genesis of variations and how they are modified.
    • Optimization: To improve human lives by correcting problem behaviors, preventing issues, and enhancing development.

7.2. Developmental Determinants: Heredity-Environment

Nativists argue that psychological development is prefigured in genes. Environmentalists argue that development is determined by the environment, rejecting genetic determinism. Today, development is understood as the result of the interaction between inheritance (open and closed contents) and environment.

According to Jacob:

  • Closed Content: Species-specific traits found in all normal subjects (e.g., language acquisition: brain, phonatory organs – maturational calendar).
  • Open Content: Opportunities for acquisition and development, dependent on social interaction with the environment.

Empirical evidence from cross-cultural studies led McCall (1981) to introduce the Concept of Channeling: Identification of maturational processes on the closed side of the genetic code. Early development is strongly channeled, while less canalized development is more sensitive to environmental stimulation.

In Summary: Heredity-Environment Relations:

  • They are complementary.
  • They have a differential weight depending on the aspect in question and evolutionary time.

NOTE: Inheritance refers to the genetic endowment transmitted by parents. Environment refers to the social and physical surroundings of the person.

7.3. Explanatory Theories of Development

Behavioral Approach

Changes are caused by external influences rather than internal processes (Skinner, Bandura).

Organic Approach

Grows out of Naturalism, Organicism, and Constructivism. Humans are active agents whose internal structures change, leading to qualitative changes in the perception of reality (Freud and Piaget).

7.3.1 Psychoanalytic Theories

Freud: Psychosexual Theory

Childhood experiences and instinctual drives (sex and aggression) influence behavior. The first years of life are decisive in shaping personality. Conflicts occur in unchangeable stages:

  • Oral Stage (birth to 12-18 months): Pleasure centers on the mouth.
  • Anal Stage (12-18 months to 3 years): Pleasure focuses on retention and expulsion of feces.
  • Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years): Discovery of anatomical differences; Oedipus/Electra complex.
  • Latency Stage (6 years to puberty): Adoption of gender roles; development of the superego.
  • Genital Stage (adolescence and adulthood): Libido fuels sexuality; heterosexual relationships.
Erikson: Psychosocial Theory

Modifies and extends Freud’s theory, emphasizing the self. Development is stimulated by psychosocial motivations and covers the entire life cycle, divided into eight stages of crisis resolution.

  • Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 12-18 months): Develops a sense of trust in the world (Virtue: Hope).
  • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (12-18 months to 3 years): Develops a balance between autonomy and shame (Virtue: Will).
  • Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 6 years): Develops initiative without being intimidated by failure (Virtue: Purpose).
  • Diligence vs. Inferiority (6 years to puberty): Learns skills of their culture (Virtue: Skill).
  • Identity vs. Role Confusion (puberty to early adulthood): Develops a sense of self (Virtue: Faithfulness).
  • Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood): Seeks engagement with others (Virtue: Love).
  • Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood): Concerned with guiding the next generation (Virtue: Care).
  • Integrity vs. Despair (old age): Achieves acceptance of one’s life (Virtue: Wisdom).

7.3.2 Learning Theories

  • Watson: Development occurs through conditioning; experience and environment shape behavior.
  • Skinner: Emphasizes consequences of behavior (reinforcement and punishment).
  • Bandura: Adds imitation and internal processes; learning by observation.

7.3.3 Cognitive Theories

Piaget
  • Genetic Epistemology: Origin and genesis of knowledge throughout life.
  • Intelligence: Extension of the biological capacity to adapt.
  • Knowledge is constructed through action upon the world.
  • Development involves passage from lower to higher equilibrium, structured in stages.
  • Key concepts: Scheme, Assimilation, Accommodation, Equilibration.
  • Stages: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operations, Formal Operations.

7.3.4 Ethological Theories

Studies human behavior determined by:

  • Immediate Causes: Related to how conduct is useful to the individual.
  • Evolutionary Causes: Related to how behavior is valuable for the species.

Focuses on innate processes influencing development (Lorenz, Tinbergen, Bowlby).

  • Bowlby: Attachment Theory: Babies bond with caregivers, ensuring survival. Favored by infants’ preference for human stimuli and adults’ attraction to babies.

7.3.5 Ecological Theories

Bronfenbrenner (1987), Morris (1998)

Developmental Context: System of social and physical environments influencing the developing subject, who is an active participant.

  • Microsystem: Immediate environments.
  • Mesosystem: Relationships between microsystems.
  • Exosystem: Institutions and actions affecting microsystems.
  • Macrosystem: Values, customs, beliefs.

7.3.6 Other Theories

Vygotsky

Development results from interaction with a social environment, enabling mastery of cultural tools (especially language). Higher psychological processes originate socially and become individual. Educational interactions can shift processes from social to individual through the Zone of Proximal Development.