❖ BASIC CONCEPTS IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. Developmental psychology examines our physical, cognitive, and social development across our lifespan.
2. Goals of developmental psychology: To describe development it is necessary to focus both on typical patterns of
change (normative development) and individual variations in patterns of change.
3. History of Developmental Psychology: existed until after the Industrial Revolution when the need for an
educated workforce led to the social construction of childhood as a distinct stage in a person's life.
4. 1877 - Charles Darwin: First systematic study of developmental psychology and published a short paper detailing
the development of innate forms of communication based on scientific observations of his infant son, Doddy.
5. 1882 - Developmental psychology: specific discipline when Wilhelm Preyer (German physiologist) published the
book, The Mind of the Child, where he described his daughter's development from birth to two and a half years.
Preyer used rigorous scientific procedures throughout studying the many abilities of his daughter.
6. 1888 - Preyer's publication was translated into English. By that time, developmental psychology as a discipline
was fully established with a further 47 empirical studies from Europe, North America, and Britain also published
to disseminate knowledge in the field.
7. 1900s - Three key figures have dominated the field with their extensive theories of human development, namely
Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), and John Bowlby (1907-1990).

THREE MAJOR ISSUES:

A. Nature and nurture: How do our genetic inheritance (our nature) interact with our experiences (our nurture)
to influence our development?
B. Continuity and stages: Development parts are gradual and continuous, like riding an escalator. Parts change
abruptly in separate stages, like climbing rungs on a ladder.
C. Stability and change: Which of our traits persist through life? How do we change as we age?
1. Normative Development: typically viewed as a continual and cumulative process. Children become more skillful
in thinking, talking, or acting much the same way as they get taller.

THREE DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES

A. Biological developmental process: physical development of an individual, such as perceptual and motor
capacities and changes in the body’s size.
B. Cognitive developmental process: focuses on cognitive development [memory, creativity, language, and
knowledge].
C. Socio-emotional developmental process: focuses on the changes in the individual's psychosocial development.
changes involving self-sufficiency and self-understanding, along with their morality and emotional
communication.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPMENT: Early adulthood is not the endpoint of development; rather, no age
period dominates development.
● Multidimensional - Whatever your age, your body, your mind, your emotions, and your relationships are
changing and affecting each other. Development consists of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional
dimensions.
● Multidirectional - Some dimensions or components of a dimension expand and others shrink.
● Plastic - Plasticity means the capacity for change.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 1
 ● Contextual - All development occurs within a context or setting. Contexts include families, schools, peer groups,
churches, cities, neighborhoods, university laboratories, countries, and so on. Historical, economic, social, and
cultural factors influence each of these settings.

PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT
I. The Prenatal Period:
- From conception to birth
- From a single cell to an organism complete with a brain and behavioral capabilities
- Approximately 9 months.
II. Infancy
- birth to 18 or 24 months
- Many psychological activities are just beginning
- A time of extreme dependency on adults
III. Early Childhood
- The developmental period extends from the end of infancy to about 5 or 6 years.
- Often called the “preschool years” Children learn to become more self-sufficient Children now develop
school-readiness skills Children spend many hours playing with peers.
IV. Middle and Late Childhood
- The developmental period extends from about 6 to 11 years of age
- Approximately corresponds to the elementary school years
- Fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are mastered
- The child is formally exposed to the larger world and its culture
V. Adolescence
- The developmental period of transition from childhood to early adulthood—entered at 10-12 years, ending at
18-22 years
- Begins with rapid physical changes.
- The pursuit of independence and identity are prominent Thought is now more logical, abstract, and idealistic
VI. Early Adulthood:
- The developmental period begins in the late teens or early twenties and lasts through the thirties
- A time of establishing personal and economic independence and
- Also a time of career development
- Early adults select a mate, start a family, and rear children
VII. Middle Adulthood
- The developmental period begins around 40 years of age and extends to about 60
- It is a time of expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility
- Also, a time to assist the next generation in becoming competent
- Middle adults reach and maintain satisfaction in a career
VIII. Late Adulthood
- The developmental period begins in the sixties or seventies and lasts until death
- A time of adjustment to decreasing strength and health
- Also a time of life review, retirement, and new social roles

CONCEPTIONS OF AGE
1. Chronological Age - The number of years that have elapsed since a person’s birth, A person’s age does not cause
development. Time is a crude index of many events and experiences and it does not cause anything.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2
 2. Biological Age - A person’s age in terms of biological health, The younger the person’s biological age, the longer
the person is expected to live, regardless of chronological age.
3. Psychological Age - An individual’s adaptive capacities compared to those of other individuals of the same
chronological age. Older adults who continue to learn, are flexible, are motivated, control their emotions, and
think are engaging in more adaptive behaviors than their chronological age mates who do not continue to learn,
are rigid, are unmotivated, do not control their emotions, and do not think clearly.
4. Social Age - Refers to social roles and expectations related to a person’s age

Early Theories of Development

Preformationism Medieval Period (5th – 15th Century)
Children were treated as adults, Wore adults’ clothes, Went to places for adults and Worked alongside adults (Philippe
Aries).

Locke’s Environmentalism (17th Century)

People are largely shaped by their social environment, especially by their education. Environment exerts its effects
through association, repetition, imitation, rewards, and punishment.

Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s Romantic Naturalism (18th Century)

Education aims to learn how to live righteously, and this should be accomplished by following a guardian who can guide
his pupil through various contrived learning experiences. He minimized the importance of book learning and placed a
special emphasis on learning by experience, and he recommended that a child's emotions should be educated before his
reason. "innate goodness view their child as intellectually indistinguishable from themselves.

❖ BRONFENBRENNER'S ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY

1. Urie Bronfenbrenner - Co-founder of the popular Head Start program for disadvantaged preschool children.
2. Ecological Systems Theory - a person's development is affected by everything in their surrounding environment.
Bronfenbrenner delineated four types of nested systems. He called these the microsystem, the mesosystem, the
exosystem, and the macrosystem. He later added a fifth system, called the Chronosystem. Each system contains
roles, norms, and rules that can powerfully shape development.

Four Types Of Nested Systems

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 3
 1. Microsystem
- the direct environment we have in our lives. Your family, friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors, and other
people who have direct contact with you are included in your microsystem.
- In other words, your reactions to the people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return.
- This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory.
2. Mesosystem
- involves the relationships between the microsystems in one's life.
- This means that your family experience may be related to your school experience.
- For example, if a child is neglected by his parents, he may have a low chance of developing a positive attitude
towards his teachers.
- Also, this child may feel awkward in the presence of peers and may resort to withdrawal from a group of
classmates.
3. The exosystem
- the third level. It refers to a setting that does not involve the person as an active participant but still affects
him/her.
- This includes decisions that have a bearing on the person, but in which they have no participation in the
decision-making process. an
- an example would be if a child’s mother holds a managerial position in a company and her work often takes her
away from the family, the child might sometimes not see her mother for weeks at a time.
- This situation can impact the child who becomes anxious when her mother leaves. This anxiety affects her
development in other areas, even though she has no interaction with her mother's work or say in the
decision-making process.
4. Macrosystem.
- encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems that affect them.
- Examples could include the economy, cultural values, and political systems.
- example, being born into a poor family makes a person work harder every day
5. Chronosystem
- was added by Bronfenbrenner later as a fifth system. It includes the transitions and shifts in one's lifespan.
- This may also involve the socio-historical contexts that may influence a person.
- One classic example of this is how divorce, as a major life transition, may affect not only the couple's relationship
but also their children's behavior.
- According to a majority of research, children are negatively affected in the first year after the divorce.

Bronfenbrenner's groundbreaking work in "human ecology," these environments, from the family to economic and
political structures, have come to be viewed as part of the life course from childhood through adulthood.

His "bioecological" approach to human development broke down barriers among the social sciences and built bridges
between the disciplines that have allowed findings to emerge in larger social structures, and across societies, which are
vital for optimal human development.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 4
 ❖ JOHN BOWLBY'S ATTACHMENT THEORY

1. John Bowlby (1907-1990)

- He focused his clinical studies on the effects of mother-child separation.
- argued that mother-child attachment promotes the child's survival by increasing mother-child proximity.
- He expanded his theory of attachment in his Attachment and Loss trilogy (volume 1: Attachment, volume 2:
Separation, and volume 3:Loss).
- collaborated with Mary Ainsworth
2. Attachment theory: a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to
personal development.
3. Attachment
- ‘lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.'
- This connection does not have to be reciprocal. One person may have an attachment to an individual while the
other may not.
4. Attachment in children: usually manifested by seeking proximity with the attachment figure when upset or
threatened.
5. In adults, attachment
- towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child’s needs.
- Bowlby and Ainsworth see these behaviors as universal across cultures.

STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
1. Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964)
- longitudinal study on the development of attachment in 60 babies from their birth until 18 months. The children
were all studied in their own homes.
- interactions of the babies with the person giving them care – such as the mother, the nanny or anybody regularly
taking care of the baby -were observed.

THREE MEASURES RECORDED

1. Stranger Anxiety - response to the arrival of a stranger.
2. Separation Anxiety - distress level when separated from the person giving care, degree of comfort needed on
return.
3. Social Referencing - a degree; in which a child looks at the person giving care to check how they should respond
to something new (secure base).

BABY'S ATTACHMENTS DEVELOP IN THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE:

1. Asocial (0 - 6 weeks)
- Very young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli, both social and non-social, produce a favorable
reaction, such as a smile.
2. Indiscriminate Attachments (6 weeks to 7 months)
- Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company and most babies respond equally to any person giving care.
- They get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them.
- From 3 months infants smile more at familiar faces and can be easily comforted by a regular person giving care.
3. Specific Attachment (7 - 9 months)
- Special preference for a single attachment figure.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 5
 - The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort, and protection.
- It shows fear of strangers (stranger fear) and unhappiness when separated from a special person (separation
anxiety).
- This has usually developed by one year of age.
4. Multiple Attachment (10 months and onwards)
- The baby becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments.
- By 18 months the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments.
- Sensitive responsiveness: attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the
baby's signals, not the person they spent more time with.

TYPES OF ATTACHMENT (AINSWORTH)

Mary Ainsworth (1970): built on and expanded Bowlby's ideas, coming up with a more nuanced view of multiple types
of attachment.

1. Secure Attachment
- A child who is securely attached to its caregiver will explore freely while the caregiver is present, will engage with
strangers, will be visibly upset when the caregiver departs, and happy to see the caregiver return.
- According to Bowlby (1980) an individual who has experienced a secure attachment 'is likely to possess a
representational model of attachment figures(s) as being available, responsive, and helpful'
2. Insecure-Avoidant Attachment
- An insecure avoidant child is very independent of the attachment figure both physically and emotionally.
- The child does not seek the attachment figure when distressed.
- The caregiver is likely insensitive and rejects the child’s needs and is often unavailable during times of emotional
distress.
3. Insecure-Ambivalent Resistant Attachment
- primary caregiver’s inconsistent level of response to the child’s needs.
- Here children adopt an ambivalent behavioral style towards the attachment figure.
- The child will commonly exhibit clingy and dependent behavior but will be rejecting the attachment figure when
they engage in interaction.
- The child fails to develop any feelings of security from the attachment figure.
- When distressed they are difficult to soothe and are not comforted by interaction with the attachment figure.
4. Criticisms of Attachment Theory
- There are cultures where intimate attachment between child and parent is not nurtured but the members of
society turn out to be well-adjusted.
- Examples are Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
- This seems to indicate that, at least in these societies, some other mechanism is acting in the place of the
attachments that are so necessary for Western children.

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 ❖ JEROME BRUNER'S THEORY OF LEARNING

Jerome Bruner
- contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology.
- published his study in 1947 titled, Value and Need as Organizing Factors in Perception, in which poor and rich
children were asked to estimate the size of coins or wooden disks the size of American pennies, nickels, dimes,
quarters, and half-dollars.
- coined the term "scaffolding" to describe the way children often build on the information they have already
mastered

Cognitive Development Theory

- the outcome of cognitive development is thinking
- Cognitive growth: interaction between human capabilities and “culturally invented technologies that serve as
amplifiers of these capabilities.”
- The aim of education should be to create autonomous learners

THREE MODES OF REPRESENTATION:

1. Enactive representation (action-based)
- It involves encoding action-based information and storing it in our memory.
- For example, in the form of movement as a muscle memory, a baby might remember the action of shaking a
rattle.
- Bruner believed that “Learning begins with an action, feeling, and manipulating” (Brashier, 2009)
2. Iconic representation (image-based)
- This is where information is stored visually in the form of images (a mental picture in the mind’s eye).
- we are learning a new subject
- often helpful to have diagrams or illustrations to accompany verbal information.
3. Symbolic representation (language-based)
- information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such as language.
- most adaptable form of representation, for actions & images have a fixed relation to that which they represent.
- A dog is a symbolic representation of a single class.
- The words and symbols are abstractions, they do not necessarily have a direct connection to the information.

Scaffolding Theory
- Bruner, was similar to the psychologist Lev Vygotsky, in a way that he emphasized the social nature of learning,
citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process of scaffolding.
- The concept of scaffolding is very similar to Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development, and it's not
uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably.
- Scaffolding involves helpful, structured interaction between an adult and a child to help the child achieve a
specific goal.

Spiral Curriculum
- information being structured so that complex ideas can be taught at a simplified level first, and then re-visited at
more complex levels later on.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 7
 - Instead of focusing on relatively long periods on specific narrow topics, a spiral curriculum tries to expose
students to a wide variety of ideas over and over.
- Teaching his way should lead to children being able to solve problems by themselves.

Discovery Learning
- students construct their knowledge for themselves (also known as a constructivist approach).
- The role of the teacher should not be to teach information by rote learning, but instead to facilitate the learning
process.
- To do this a teacher must give students the information they need, but without organizing for them.
- The use of the spiral curriculum can aid the process of discovery learning.

❖ SIGMUND FREUD'S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

1. Sigmund Freud (1856—1939)

- Physician - Neurologist
- Based theory on personal experiences
- Died of cancer of the jaw & mouth lifelong cigar chain-smoker
2. Fundamental Assumptions
- Unconscious factors motivate our behavior, and Unconscious motives, and conflicts are central.
- Experiences or events of the first 6 years of life are determinants of the later development of personality and
- Later personality problems will have their roots in early repressed childhood conflicts.

STRUCTURAL THEORY
1. Conscious
- part of the mind that holds what you’re aware of.
- Can verbalize your conscious experience and you can think about it logically.
2. Preconscious
- This is an ordinary memory.
- Things that are stored here aren’t in the conscious, they can be readily brought into the consciousness.
3. Unconscious
- not directly accessible to awareness.
- dump box for urges, feelings, and ideas that are tied to anxiety, conflict, and pain.
- feelings and thoughts have not disappeared and according to Freud, they are there, exerting influence on our
actions and our conscious awareness.

FUNCTIONAL THEORY
1. Id (Biological): A primitive part of the personality that pursues only pleasure and instant gratification.
2. Ego (Psychological): The part of the personality that is aware of reality and is in contact with the outside world.
3. The superego (Social): social conscience and through the experience of guilt and anxiety when we do something
wrong, it guides us towards socially acceptable behavior.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 8
 ➢ ICEBERG METAPHOR FOR THE MIND’S LAYOUT:
- 10% of an iceberg is visible (conscious)
- 90% is beneath the water (preconscious and unconscious)
- Preconscious is allotted approximately 10% -15%
- The unconscious is allotted an overwhelming 75%-80%.
- ego dwells in the conscious mind
- id and superego are in the area of our unconscious
- Freud argued that our personality should be in a state of dynamic equilibrium (balance)
- if there is too much id, superego or a weak ego then an individual will become unbalanced and possibly suffer
from psychological difficulties (This is the basis of the psychoanalytic explanation of mental illness)

Defense Mechanisms
- Invented by the Ego in an attempt to resolve a conflict between the Id and Superego
- operates on an unconscious level and it tends to deny and/or distort reality.
- it may reduce stress or it may lead to an individual who tries to avoid reality

TYPES OF DEFENSE MECHANISMS

1. Projection
- individual blames his failure upon others.
- Example: A student comes late to the class and excuses by saying that the bus or train was late or traffic jam
2. Sublimation
- redirecting negative feelings or impulses into positive ones.
- For example, someone with anger issues may channel their aggressive urges into sports instead of lashing out at
others physically or verbally.
3. Repression
- Pushes threatening thoughts back into the unconscious
- Example: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 9
 4. Rationalization
- An individual tries to justify his failure by giving some excuses
- Example: A student makes use of rationalization when he tries to blame teachers for hard tests or exam question
5. Compensation
- attempt to cover one deficiency in one field by exhibiting his strength in another field
- Example: If a student is not good in his studies, may show his ability in sports
6. Identification
- internalising and adopting behaviours shown by a role model, because they have a quality the individual would
like to possess
- the individual takes as his or her own the characteristics, postures, achievements, or other identifying traits of
other persons or groups.
- Example: Hero worshipping
7. Displacement
- person redirects an emotional reaction from the rightful recipient onto another person or object.
- Example: If a wife gets angry with her Husband and cannot say anything to him, she beats her child.
8. Withdrawal
- completely separates oneself from the negative aspects of their life.
- Some persons withdraw themselves from the circumstances that cause tension, frustration, or pain
- Example: If a person is being humiliated or laughed at, he may shut himself in a room and may not need anyone.
9. Day-dreaming
- It is a defense mechanism that sometimes helps in adjusting.
- people retreat into their daydreams and fantasies to escape reality
- use schizoid fantasy as a defense mechanism prefer to daydream and imagine solutions to their problems instead
of taking action in real life.
- Example: A young man who has been unsuccessful in love, dreams of becoming a bride or groom and feels
satisfaction in the imaginary world.

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
- Freud believed that life was built around tension and pleasure.
- all tension was due to the buildup of libido (sexual energy) and all pleasure came from its discharge.
- each stage represents the fixation of libido (roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of
the body.

1. Oral Stage (0-1 year)

- libido is centered in a baby's mouth.
- satisfaction from putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido, and thus its id demands.
- Example: Sucking, Biting, Breastfeeding.

2. Anal Stage (1-3 years)

- libido becomes focused on the anus
- child derives great pleasure from defecating.
- One learns independence, accepts personal power, and knows to express negative feelings of rage and
aggression.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 10
 -

3. Phallic Stage (3 to 5 or 6 years)

- Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals
- masturbation (in both sexes) becomes a new source of pleasure.
- The child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets in motion the conflict between erotic
attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy, and fear
- Oedipus complex: boy desiring mother as love object
- Electra Complex: girl desiring father and his love and approval

4. Latency Stage (5 or 6 to puberty)

- No further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden).
- libido is dormant.
- most sexual impulses are repressed during the latent stage and
- sexual energy can be sublimated (re: defense mechanisms) towards school work, hobbies, and friendships.

5. Genital Stage (puberty to adult)

- adolescent sexual experimentation,
- the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving one-to-one relationship with another person in her
20s. F
- proper outlet of the sexual instinct in adults was through heterosexual intercourse.
- Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual perversions may develop.

❖ ERIK ERIKSON'S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

1. Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994)

- theory on the psychosocial development of human beings.
- His ideas were greatly influenced by Freud
- This goes along with Freud’s (1923) theory regarding the structure and topography of personality.
- Freud was an id psychologist while Erikson was an ego psychologist.
- emphasized the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself.
- Freud emphasized the conflict between the id and the superego.
2. Psychosocial Development
- eight distinct stages, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into
adulthood.
- a crisis occurs at each stage of development psychosocial nature because it involves the psychological needs of
the individual (i.e. psyche) conflicting with the needs of society (i.e. social).
- emphasis on the adolescent period, feeling it was a crucial stage for developing a person’s identity.

PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (infancy, 0–2 years)
- Babies must learn to trust their parent's care and affection.
- If not done the babies could develop a distrust and view the world as inconsistent and unpredictable.
- Example: Hope vs Fear

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 11
 - Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (early childhood, 2–4 years)

- Child learns to feed themselves and do things on their own
- they could start feeling ashamed and doubt their abilities.
- Confidence vs If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not allowed to assert themselves, they begin to feel
a sense of shame or doubt in their abilities.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (preschool, 4–5 years)

- Using initiative in planning or carrying out plans
- Or develop a sense of guilt over misbehavior regarding parents' limits
- If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more
confident and secure in their ability
- Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity.
- Some guilt is, of course, necessary; otherwise, the child would not know how to exercise self-control or have a
conscience.
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of purpose.

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (school age, 5–12 years)

- Learn to follow the rules imposed by schools or home Or the child can start believing they are inferior to others.
- The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that are valued by society
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of competence.
- If the child cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding (e.g. being athletic) then they may
develop a sense of inferiority.

5. identity vs. Role confusion (adolescence, 13–19 years)

- Acquire a sense of identity
- and become confused about one's role in life.
- adolescents may feel uncomfortable about their bodies for a while until they can adapt and “grow into” the
changes.
- confusion or identity crisis an adolescent may begin to experiment with different lifestyles (e.g. work, education,
or political activities)
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood, 20-39 years)

- Developing a relationship and joint identity with a partner
- can become isolated and stay away from meaningful relationships
- Successful completion of this stage can lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and
care within a relationship.
- Avoiding intimacy, and fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes
depression.
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of love.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 12
 7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (adulthood, 40–64 years)
- having a concern for helping others and guiding the next generation
- can become self-centered, and stagnant.
- We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in
community activities and organizations.
- By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive.
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of care.

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (maturity, 65 – death)

- Understand and accept the meaning of temporary life.
- Or complains about regrets, not having enough time, and not finding a meaning throughout life.
- if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we
become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.
- Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom.
- Wisdom enables a person to look back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept
death without fear.

❖ JEAN PIAGET'S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

1. Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

- clinical psychologist known for his pioneering work in child development.
- At age 11, he wrote a paper on an albino sparrow, which was published and was the start of his famous career.
- became interested in psychoanalysis when he graduated from senior high.
2. Cognitive Development Theory
- mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can reason
and think using hypotheses.
- progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental
experience.

THREE BASIC COMPONENTS

1. Schemas
- basic building blocks of such cognitive models and enable us to form a mental representation of the world.
- cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and
governed by a core meaning.
2. Adaptation processes:
a. Assimilation - Using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
b. Accommodation - existing schema (knowledge) does not work and needs to be changed to deal with a
new object or situation.
c. Equilibration - a force that moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did
not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.
3. Stages of Development:
a. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 years)

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 13
 - child begins to develop its reflexes, habits, and hand-eye coordination.
- Piaget referred to the children in this stage as “little scientists.”

b. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)

- child begins to develop their ability to represent objects with images and words.
- develop language skills and develop a broad imagination.
c. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
- child begins to learn the fundamentals of logic and develop the ability to sort objects
- understanding of conservation (physical quantities do not change based on the arrangement
and/or appearance of the object)
d. Formal Operational Stage (11 years and over)
- child begins to learn the ability to hypothesize, test, and reevaluate hypotheses.
- children begin thinking in a formal systematic way.

❖ LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927 – 1987)

- His book on moral development is used by teachers around the world to promote moral reasoning.
- He used Piaget’s storytelling technique to tell people stories involving moral dilemmas.
2. Heinz Dilemma
- Heinz’s wife was dying from a particular type of cancer.
- but the chemist was charging ten times the money it cost to make the drug and this was much more than Heinz
could afford.
- He explained to the chemist that his wife was dying and asked if he could have the drug cheaper or pay the rest
of the money later.
- so later that night he broke into the chemist’s and stole the drug.

Kohlberg asked a series of questions such as:

● Should Heinz have stolen the drug?
● Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?
● What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?
● Should the police arrest the chemist for murder if the woman died?

Kohlberg
- identified three distinct levels of moral reasoning each with two sub-stages.
- people can only pass through these levels in the order listed and each new stage replaces the reasoning typical
of the earlier stage,
- noted that not everyone achieves all the stages

STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Level 1 Pre-conventional morality: Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is based on the physical
consequences of actions.
a. Stage 1 - Obedience and Punishment Morality
- external. To a child obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment. T

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 14
 - If a person is punished, they must have done wrong.

b. Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange

- Children recognize that there is not just one right view that is handed down by the authorities.
- Different individuals have different viewpoints.
- In the Heinz dilemma, children argued that the best course of action was the choice that best
served Heinz’s needs.

2. Level 2 - Conventional morality Authority: internalized but not questioned and reasoning is based on the norms of the
group to which the person belongs.
a. Stage 3- Good Interpersonal Relationships
- Children who are by now usually entering their teens and see morality as more than simple deals.
- The morality of the children is based upon the approval of other people.
b. Stage 4 - Maintaining the Social Order
- concerned with obeying the rules to uphold the law and avoid guilt.
- child or individual recognizes Law and order as the primary source of morality and should maintain Law and
Order or face the consequences of breaking the law.

3. Level 3 - Post-conventional morality: Individual judgment is based on self-chosen principles, and moral reasoning is
based on individual rights and justice
a. Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual Rights
- people begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people.
- In Heinz’s dilemma, the protection of life is more important than breaking the law against stealing.
b. Stage 6 - Universal Principles
- People have developed their own set of moral guidelines that may or may not fit the law.
- The principles apply to everyone.
- Human rights, justice, and equality.
- The person will be prepared to act to defend these principles even if it means going against the rest of society in
the process and having to pay the consequences of disapproval and or imprisonment.

❖ ALBERT BANDURA'S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

1. Albert Bandura
- Was a Canadian – American Psychologist
- Best known for his Social Learning Theory and the leading proponent for this theory
- He was known as the“Bobo Doll Guy”
2. Social Learning Theory
- Also called observational learning theory
- Emphasizes learning through observation of others.
- We learn not only to perform behavior but also what will happen to us in a specific situation if we do it.
3. Mediational Processes
- Thinking before imitation
4. Self-Efficacy
- individuals’ beliefs about their ability to succeed at a task.
5. Resilience

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 15
 - the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.

FIVE SOURCES OF EFFICACY BELIEFS

1. Mastery Experiences
- experience in overcoming obstacles through effort and perseverance.
2. Vicarious Experiences
- Seeing people (role models) similar to ourselves succeed by their sustained effort raises our beliefs that we too
possess the capabilities to master the activities needed for success in that area.
3. Verbal Persuasion
- Being persuaded that we possess the capabilities to master certain activities means that we are more likely to
put in the effort and sustain it when problems arise.
4. Emotional & Physiological States
- state you’re in will influence how you judge your self-efficacy
- Depression, for example, can dampen confidence in our capabilities.
5. Imaginal Experiences
- James Maddux: art of visualizing yourself behaving effectively or successfully in a given situation.

TYPES OF OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING EFFECTS

1. Inhibition
- To learn not to do something that we already know how to do because a model being observed refrains from
behaving in that way or does something different from what is intended to be done.
- Not making the response
2. Disinhibition
- a lack of restraint or disregard of social conventions.
- If a person is disinhibited, they may act without forethought and without regard to risk.
- To learn exhibit a behavior that is usually disapproved of most of people because a model does the same thing
without being punishes.
3. FACILITATION
- To be prompted to do something that is not ordinarily done because of insufficient motivation.
- Ex. working at an office with coworkers instead of in a solitary environment; Clapping mwehe

4. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
- To learn a new behavior pattern by watching and imitating the performance of someone else.

ELEMENTS OF OBSERVATION LEARNING

1. Attention
- Mental focus on something
- Willingnes of the child to observe and mimic the behavior of a model.
2. Retention
- To encode the behavior in the memory
- Ability to store information
3. Production
- To actually perform the behavior observed.
4. Motivation
- Force that drives one to act.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 16
 -

THREE FORMS OF REINFORCEMENT

1. Direct Reinforcement
- Individual watches the model perform, imitates that behavior
- Reinforced or punished by some individual.
- Ex. Child being taught how to write by his mother.
2. Vicarious Reinforcement
- Observer anticipates being reward for behaving in a given way because someone else has been so rewarded.
3. Self-Reinforcement
- Individual strives to meet personal standards
- Does not depend on or care about the reaction of others.

BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT

- After watching an adult aggressively pummel a Bobo doll, children copied the same aggressive behavior by
kicking, hitting, and throwing the doll;
- children who watched a nonaggressive adult did not adopt the same degree of violent behavior toward the doll.
These findings led to the development of social cognitive theory.

❖ LEV VYGOTSKY'S SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY

1. LEV VYGOTSKY
- Best known for his sociocultural theory and Zone of Proximal Development.
- Proposed a theory of the development of higher cognitive functions in children that saw reasoning as emerging
through practical activity in a social environment.
2. SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
- Roles of factors such ethnicity and gender in behavior and mental processes.
- Children’s cognitive development is influenced by the cultures in which they are reared and the people who
teach them.
- Transmission of information and cognitive skills from generation to generation.
- Outer speech becomes inner speech.
- What was the teacher’s becomes the child’s.
3. Learning
- For Vygotsky, learning is not a mechanical process that can be described in terms of conditioning.
- He focused on how child interaction with adults, largely in home, organized a chld’s learning experiences.
4. Child’s functioning
- Adaptive; child adapts to his or her social and cultural interactions.
5. Cognitive development
- Adults are an important source.
- Emphasis on social interaction and culture.
- Thought and language are initially separates systems from the beginning pf life, merging around three years of
age, producing verbal thought (inner speech)

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 17
 KEY CONCEPTS IN VYGOTSKY’S THEORY
1. Zone of Proximal Development
- Proximal means “nearby” or “close”, as in the words approximate and proximity.
- Range of tasks that the child can carry out with the help of someone who is more skilled
- “Zone” relationship between the child’s ability and what she can do with the help of others
- Area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given- allowing the child to develop skills and
their mental functions.
- Suggest teachers use cooprate learning exercises.
2. Cognitive Scaffolding
- Scaffold: temporary skeletal structure that enables workers to fabricate a building, bridge, or other more
permanent structure.
- Temporary support provided by a parent or teacher to a child who is learning to perform a task.
- The amount of guidance decreases as the child becomes more skilled and self-suffiencient.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEV AND PIAGET THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

- Lev: teachers and parents provide problem solving methods that serves as a cognitive scaffolding while the child
gains ability to function independently.
- Piaget: largely maturational. Maturation of the brain allowed the child to experience new levels of insights and
then suddenly develop new kinds of problem solving.
- Lev: teacher-learner relationship.

● Original Sin: Children are basically bad, and are born as evil beings.
● Traditional approach to development emphasizes: extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no
change in adulthood, then decline in late old age.
● normative age-graded influence: people retire from their careers in their fifties or sixties; Onset of puberty
● normative history-graded influence: Like many others her age, Velma does not know how to use a computer,
but her six-year-old grandson has no problem navigating the Internet and using a word processing program; AIDS
epidemic in the United States
● nonnormative life event: Ben was thirteen when his father was killed in a car accident
● life-span developmentalism: recognizes that extreme positions on these issues are unwise.
● B.F. Skinner's point of view, behavior is explained through: external consequences of that behavior.
● Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory, the three factors that reciprocally influence development involve:
behavior, the person, and the environment.
● Bandura and Mischel's social cognitive theory: BEST to consider if you wanted to understand how and why
children copy the behaviors they see in TV cartoons
● ethological theory: theory believes there are sensitive periods of development
● microsystem refers to the: contexts in which the individual lives and plays an active role.
● Eclectic: approach consisting of several different theoretical perspectives
● important part of an observational measure is that it be conducted: in a way that is systematic and planned
carefully in advance.
● case study: method of gathering information that gives an in-depth look at one individual
● standardized test: allows a researcher to compare one person's score with the scores of a large group of similar
people
● life-history record: method of collecting information about life-span development is most likely to include a life
calendar.

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