THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT



THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

JEAN PIAGET (1898-1980)

Theory of Cognitive (Thought Process) Development

The Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years) During the sensorimotor stage, infants and toddlers "think" with their eyes, ears, hands. Piaget said that a child’s cognitive system is limited to motor reflexes at birth, but the child builds on these reflexes to develop more sophisticated procedures. They learn to generalize their activities to a wider range of situations and coordinate them into increasingly lengthy chains of behavior.

Preoperational Thought (2 to 6/7 years) At this age, according to Piaget, children acquire representational skills in the area of mental imagery, and especially language. They are very self-oriented, and have an egocentric view; that is, preoperational children can use these representational skills only to view the world from their own perspective.

Concrete Operations (6/7 to 11/12 years) As opposed to preoperational children, children in the concrete operations stage are able to take into account another person’s point of view and consider more than one perspective simultaneously, with their thought process being more logical, flexible, and organized than in early childhood. They can also represent transformations as well as static situations. Although they can understand concrete problems, Piaget would argue that they cannot yet contemplate or solve abstract problems, and that they are not yet able to consider all of the logically possible outcomes. Children at this stage would have the ability to pass conservation (numerical), classification, seriation, and spatial reasoning tasks.

Formal Operations (11/12 to adult) Persons who reach the formal operation stage are capable of thinking logically and abstractly. They can also reason theoretically. Piaget considered this the ultimate stage of development, and stated that although the children would still have to revise their knowledge base, their way of thinking was as powerful as it would get.

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ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994)

Stages of Psycosocial (Social Behavior / Personality) Development

Infancy (Birth-12 Months)

• The child will let mother out of sight without anxiety and rage because she has become an inner certainty as well as an outer predictability. The balance of trust with mistrust depends largely on the quality of maternal relationship.

• Main question asked: "Is my world predictable and supportive?"

• Central Task: Receiving care

• Definition: Enduring belief that one can attain one’s deep and essential wishes

• Developmental Task: Social attachment; Maturation of sensory, perceptual, and motor functions

• Significant Relations: Maternal parent

Younger Years (1-3 Years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame & doubt

• If denied autonomy, the child will turn against him/herself urges to manipulate and discriminate. Shame develops with the child's self-consciousness. Leftover doubt may become paranoia.

• Main question asked: "Can I do it by myself? Or will I always need assistance?" This question becomes important with the child and toilet training and how the parents react to the child's newfound independence.

• Central Task: Imitation

• Positive Outcome: Pride in self; Assertion of will in the face of danger

• Ego Quality: Will

• Definition: Determination to exercise free choice and self-control

• Developmental Task: Locomotion; Fantasy play; Language development; Self-control

Early Childhood (3-5 Years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt

• The child feels guilt over the goals contemplated and the acts initiated in exuberant enjoyment of new locomotive and mental powers.

• Main question asked: "Am I good or am I bad?"

• Central Task: Identification

• Ego Quality: Purpose

• Definition: Courage to imagine and pursue valued goals

• Developmental Task: Sex-role identification; Early moral development; Self-esteem; Group play; Egocentrism

• Significant Relations: Basic family

Middle Childhood (6-10 Years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Industry vs. Inferiority

• To bring a productive situation to completion is an aim which gradually supersedes the whims and wishes of play. The child can become a conformist and thoughtless slave whom others exploit.

• Main question asked: "Am I successful at what I do or am I worthless?"

• Central Task: Education

• Positive Outcome: Acquire skills for and develop competence in work; Enjoy achievement

• Ego Quality: Competence

• Definition: Free exercise of skill and intelligence in completion of tasks

• Significant Relations: School, neighborhood

Adolescence (11-18 Years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Identity vs. Role Confusion

• The adolescent is newly concerned with how they appear to others. Ego identity is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness and continuity prepared in the past are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for others, as evidenced in the promise of a career. The inability to settle on a school or occupational identity is disturbing.

• Main question asked: " Who am I? Where am I going in life?" An identity crisis generally happens at this stage because of the changes in an individual. Those changes are physical and cognitive

• Central Task: Peer group, cliques

• Positive Outcome: A strong group identity; Ready to plan for the future

• Ego Quality: Loyalty

• Developmental Task: Physical maturation; Emotional development; Membership in peer group; Sexual relationships

• Significant Relations: Peer groups

Early Adulthood (18-34 years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy vs. Isolation

• The danger at this stage is isolation, which can lead to severe character problems.

• Central Task: Caregiving

• Positive Outcome: Form close relationships and share with others

• Ego Quality: Love

• Definition: Capacity for mutuality that transcends childhood dependency

• Developmental Task: Stable relationships; Child bearing; Work etc.

• Significant Relations: Marital partner, friends.

Middle Adulthood (35-60 Years)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation. Generativity is the concern of establishing and guiding the next generation. Simply having or wanting children doesn't achieve generativity. Socially-valued work and disciples are also expressions of generativity.

• Main question asked "Will I produce something of value with my life?"

• Central Task: Creativity

• Positive Outcome: Nurturing children or helping the next generation in other ways

• Ego Quality: Care

• Definition: Commitment to and concern for family and community

• Developmental Task: Nurture close relationships; Management of career and household; Parenting

• Significant Relations: Workplace - community & family

Later Adulthood (60 years-Death)

• Psychosocial Crisis: Ego integrity vs. despair

• Ego integrity is the ego's accumulated assurance of its capacity for order and meaning. Despair is signified by a fear of one's own death, as well as the loss of self-sufficiency, and of loved partners and friends. Healthy children, Erikson tells us, won't fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.

• Central Task: Introspection

• Positive Outcome: A sense of fulfillment about life; a sense of unity with self and others

• Ego Quality: Wisdom

• Definition: Detached yet active concern with life in the face of death

• Developmental Task: Promote intellectual vigor; Redirect energy to new roles and activities; Develop a point of view about death

• Significant Relations: Mankind ("My-kind').

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