Developmental Theories

Dr. Sumaya Sayej RN MSN Ph. D.

 Introduction
developmental theories

• Provide a framework for examining, describing, and appreciating human

development

• Important in helping nurses assess and treat a person's response to an illness

• Understanding the specific task or need of each developmental stage guides

caregivers in planning appropriate individualized care for patients.

• The developmental theories apply to the individual from birth and through
adulthood to elderly stages of life. Also to apply those theories to the
consideration of life problems that is of concern to all of us
 Definition of theory

• A theory is a set of integrated hunches (concepts) about a topic not

yet fully understood. It is important that concepts and ideas of the
theory be appropriate to the phenomena that are under study.

• A theory provides a useful tool for organizing ideas and

information in trying to consider a topic as vast as the totality of
the psychological development during the human life cycle.

• There is a number of psychological, social role, moral and

cognitive theories which will be of use in explaining aspects of
development at various life stages
 1. Cognitive theory

• All learning theories refer cognitive theory to an internal mental

representation, which directs behavior and permits new learning to
take place
• Jean Piaget (1970) a Swiss Psychologist developed the theory of
cognitive development. This theory was based primarily on Piaget’s
careful observation and slight manipulation of his own children’s
behavior.
• This theory focuses on the quality of thinking and assumes that
there are qualitative differences in intelligence at each age life stage.
This difference is indicated as follows:
1. The sensorimotor intelligence stage: this stage
• Begins at birth and lasts approximately at 18-24 months of age
• An increased complex sensory and motor patterns on Schema
(shape, plan) which allow the infant to organize and more
adequately control his environment

2. The preoperational thought: this stage

• Begins at the toddler stage (18-36 months)
• Is based on children’s description of dreams, their answers to
questions about causality, and explanation of their daily
phenomenon
3. The transitional stage: this stage
• Begins when the child learn a language and ends at about 5-6 years
• Children develop the tool for representing the internal; schema through language
limitation, imagination, symbolic play and symbolic drawing and their knowledge
is still very much tied to their own perceptions

4. The concrete operational thinking: this stage

• Begins at about 5 or 6 and ends at early adolescence (about 11-12 years)
• Children begin to appreciate the logical necessity of certain causal relationship
• Children can manipulate categories, classification systems, and hierarchies of
groups
• They are successful at solving problems which have a clear tie to physical reality
5. The formal operational thought: this stage
• Begins in adolescence and persist through adulthood
• This level of thinking allows the person to conceptualize about many
variables interacting simultaneously
• Allows the creation of a system of laws and rules for solving problems
• It is the quality of intelligence upon which science and philosophy are
built
Note;
• Usually the child depends totally on his senses and motor skills to know
the world
• By adolescence, the person is capable of explaining phenomena
To conclude;

Children pass through specific stages as they develop their

Cognitive Development skills:
• Sensorimotor – birth - 2 years – infants develop their intellect

• Preoperational – 2-7 years – children begin to think symbolically

and imaginatively

• Concrete operational – 7-12 years – children learn to think logically

• Formal operational – 12 years – adulthood – adults develop critical

thinking skills
 2. The psychoanalytic (psychosexual) theory

Psychoanalytic Theories:
• Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
-- Suggested three assumptions for the individual behavior
– Suggested Personality has 3 components/parts
– There are 5 stages of psychosexual development
– Oedipus complex allows child to identify with same-sex parent
– Fixation is an unresolved conflict during a stage of
development
 2. The psychoanalytic (psychosexual) theory

Sigmund Freud (1953) suggested three assumptions for the individual behavior:

1. Is that all behaviors are motivated, has a meaning and does not occur randomly or
without purpose (except when behavior result from fatigue)
2. Is that one single behavior expresses many motives. There is an area of the brain
called the conscious (the psychic) where it is considered the seat of strong primitive
motives. The unconscious as well as the conscious motives may simultaneously
motivate behavior

3. Freud hypothesized two basic psychological motives. Sexuality and aggression;

and every behavior as part of its meaning is a sexual or aggressive massage
 Components of personality

Freud described three components of personality: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego
1. The Id is seen as the source of instincts and impulses, which exist from birth and
operates without concerns for reality constraints

2. The Ego; is the composite term for all mental functions that are involved in
reality. The Ego includes perception, memory, judgment, self awareness and
language skills

3. The superego; evolves somewhat later in childhood, includes prohibition about

moral behavior and ideal’s about one’s potential as a moral person.
• The superego is generally referred to as the conscience. It is usually less oriented
than ego although not quite so remote from conscious awareness as the Id is
 Freud psychosexual development theory includes

1. The oral stage from birth -18 months

• The mouth is the site of sexual and aggressive gratification
• The child is poorly differentiated and dependant on others, as the child
grows, the ego becomes more clearly differentiated and distinction between
himself and others develop

2. The anal stage from 18- 36 months

• The anus is the most sexualized body part
• The child learn to expel or withhold feces at will
• The conflict at this stage focuses on the subordination of the child’s will
and the demands of his culture (by the parents) for appropriate toilet habits
3. The phallic stage from 3-6 years
• Freud describe the behavior at this stage as bisexual
• Children directs sexualized activity toward both sexes, as well
as engaging in self stimulation
• It’s the stage of Oedipal and the Electra conflicts occur with
the feelings of hostility and competition with the same-sex
parent
• The creation of the superego results in the repression of
sexualized and aggressive impulses that have been directed
towards the child’s parent
4. The period of latency from about 6 yrs to puberty
• Freud did not view these years as particularly eventful
• No new significant conflicts on impulses are assumed to arise

5. The genital stage

• It is the final stage of psychosexual development
• At this stage the individual direct his sexual development
towards the opposite sex
• Adolescence brings about a reawakening of Oedipal and
Electra impulses and of earlier infantile identification
 Freudian Stages
Birth to 1½ to 3 3 to 6 6 yrs to Puberty
1½ yrs yrs years puberty onward
Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Latency Genital
Stage Stage Stage
Infant’s Child’s
pleasure pleasure Child
centers on Child’s A time of
focuses on pleasure represses sexual
Mouth anus sexual
focuses on reawakening;
genitals interest source of
and develops sexual
social and pleasure
intellectual becomes
skills someone
outside of the
family

Figure 2.1
 3. The social role theory

• Brown (1965) defined the role as any set of behaviors

which have some socially agreed upon functions for
which there exist an accepted code of norms

• In infancy, the person has only one role, that of a child. At

successive life stages, the person participates in a variety
of roles and role relationship within the context of other
people and other institution. The concept of role highlights
the importance of social context in the development
process
 Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura
• Stressed how children learn
by observation and imitation.

• Believed that children gradually

become more selective in what

they imitate.
 Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation

Child Child imitates

observes behavior
someone that seems
admired rewarded
 3. The psychosocial theory

Psychosocial Theory
This theory is based on four organizing concepts and eight sequential stages of psychosocial
development as suggested by Erickson (1950).
In part, these stages correspond to the stage of development as proposed by Freud (1953),

• Expanded on Freud's theories.

• Believed that development is life-long.
• Emphasized that at each stage, the child acquires attitudes and skills resulting from the successful
negotiation of the psychological conflict.

The four organizing concepts

1. Eight stages of psychosocial development
2. Developmental tasks
3. The psychosocial crisis and
4. The process of coping
 1. Erickson’s eight stages of psychosocial development

Life is a series of stages. Each individual must pass through each stage.
The way in which a person handles each of these stages affects the
person’s identity and self-concept. These psychosocial stages are:

1.Trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year)

2.Autonomy vs. shame & doubt (2 to 3 years)
3.Initiative vs. guilt (4 to 5 years)
4.Industry vs. inferiority (6 to 11 years)
5.Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18 years)
6.Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood)
7.Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood)
8.Integrity vs. despair (older adulthood)
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Human Development

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Industry vs. Inferiority

Initiative vs. Guilt

Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

Trust vs. Mistrust

 2. Developmental tasks

• The developmental tasks consists of a set of skills and competencies that

are acquired by the individual as he gains increased mastery over his
environment.

• These tasks may reflect gains in motor, social and emotional skills.

• Mastery of the tasks of later stages of development often depends on the

successful acquisition of earlier and simpler skills.

• For example, one of the developmental tasks in infancy is to develop trust

and attachment to the mother (social relationship with mother), the
person’s ability to develop his initial sense of attachment and trust.
 Critique of Erik Erikson

• Supporters of this Erikson theory, suggest that those best equipped to resolve
the crisis of early adulthood are those who have most successfully resolved the
crisis of adolescence.

• On the other hand, Erikson's theory may be questioned as to whether his stages
must be regarded as sequential, and only occurring within the age ranges he
suggests. There is debate as to whether people only search for identity during the
adolescent years or if one stage needs to happen before other stages can be
completed.
 4. The psychosocial crisis

• It is the person’s psychological efforts to adjust to the demands of his social environment
at each stage of his development according to Erickson. The word “crisis” in its context
refers to a normal set of stresses and strains rather than to extra-ordinary set of events

• The theory postulates that at each stage of development, the society within which one
lives makes certain psychic demands upon the individual. These demands differ from stage
to stage.

• As an individual nears end of a particular stage of development, he is forced to make some

type of resolution, adjusting himself to the demands of his society into personal terms

• The demands experienced by the individual produce a certain state of tension within the
individual which must be reduced to allow the person to proceed to the next stage. It is
the tension state which is called the psychosocial crisis
4. The process of coping
• This process refers to active efforts on person’s part to resolve
stress and to create new solutions to the problems that face him
at each developmental stage.

• Coping can be understood as behaviors that allow for the

growth and development of the individual, not merely the
maintenance of equilibrium in the face of threat