Developing individual in society Lecture 2 : 22/10/2020 Theories and tools of studying development Lecturer: Fenja Ziegler Theory: A system of ideas and facts which explain something, often based on general principles and is independent of what it is trying to explain. Knowing a theory may help you understand many things that the researchers say/write all at once. It will help you understand the researcher's stance on many debates in science and their theoretical positions. Psychodynamic theory : Sigmund Freud - Still influential to this day, in a therapeutical context. - States that there are forces and dynamics within the individual, the conflict between these lead to the behaviour of this individual. - Behaviour is determined through formative early experiences and biologically based drives. - Development is a balance between the unconscious drives and the conscious adaptations to these drives. ID: Instinctual drive, pleasure principle. Dominates the infant. In conflict with the Super Ego. Ego: Satisfy drives, but in a socially acceptable manner. Internalises the values of those around you, such as family and the community. Balances the ID and Ego. Super Ego: The ethical component, in conflict with the ID. Psychosexual stages - Heavily focused on sexual impulses throughout development. A stage theory. Oral : Focused on pleasure from the mouth, the child shoves items in their mouth, suckling and feeding. Anal : Focused on pleasure around the anus, defecation, etc. Can't defecate when desired will lead to conflicts. Phallic : Children have discovered genitalia, begins to explore. Fall in love with the parent and identify with the same sex parent. Latency : Phase of relative calm. Focus on learning, books, etc. Identification lasts until puberty. Sexual suppression and focus on cognitive and social skills. Genital : Sexual drive reawakens, look for peers to direct this impulse at.
Positives - Focuses on early experiences. - Focuses on the conflicts between the internal drives and societies values. - Source of hypotheses (Miller, 2fifi2) Negatives - Phallic stage does not cover females, androcentric theory. - Very unscientific, heavily subjective. Dream-analysis, attempts to reach the unconscious through talking. Cognitive-Developmental fl Information-Processing - Focuses on cognitive development, not personality. - Looks to find how the child influences the environment and how the environment influences them. - The cognitive processing of these experiences Constructivism - Jean Piaget 'Greatest developmental psychologist of all time' (Does not mean he was right) Piaget focused on the kind of error's children make. Conservation of volume experiment found that appearances can be deceiving to children. 3 mountains experiment found that children are egocentric, they are unable to view from another individual's perspective. He added to his theory by saying that children did not need to be instructed in development, but would learn it for themselves, such as the perception of volume, when they were at the correct maturational stage. Cognitive constructivism: - Knowledge is not innate - Knowledge is not taught - Children figure out the knowledge for themselves. - They are able to shape their environment.
Piagets theory: