Theories of Development

FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY

• childhood experiences and unconscious motivations influence personality development

• Based on his observations, he developed a theory that described development in terms of a series of psychosexual stages.

• According to Freud, conflicts that occur during each of these stages can have a lifelong influence on personality and behaviour.

• There are 3 components of personality: 1)Id 2) Ego 3) Superego

3 PARTS OF PERSONALITY

• Id/Unconscious level. - the largest portion of the mind is the source of basic biological

needs . - Id uses wish fulfilment to satisfy its needs: if a baby is hungry with no

food nearby, the id imagines the food and temporarily satisfies the need

• Ego/Conscious level - 0-2 yrs + interaction with the environment = ego - its action was based on the reality principle- that is, the primary job of

the ego is to satisfy the id impulse, but in a realistic way.

• Superego/ conscience - about 5 years - develops from the interaction of the parents, who eventually insist

that children conform to the values of society - primary weapon – guilt!

The Interaction of the Parts

ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

• Is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology

• Explains eight stages that a healthy human should pass through during childhood all the way through adulthood.

• In each stage a person should find new challenges & hopefully succeed through them.

PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• There are 4 stages of Cognitive Development1. Sensorimotor stage2. Preoperational stage3. Concrete Operational Stage4. Formal Operational Stage

Sensorimotor Stage

• Birth – 2 years old• Infants are trying to make sense to the world

only in terms of their own sensory input (what they see, smell, taste, touch and hear) and their physical or motor actions on it (e.g. Sucking, reaching, grasping)

Preoperational Thought

• 2-7 yrs.• Child learns the use of language, more sophisticated

classification of objects, use of numbers and the principle of conservation

conservation – “concept that certain basic properties of an object (e.g. Volume, mass, and weight) remains the same even if its physical appearance changes”

Concrete Operational • 7-11 yrs.During this stage, the child begins to develop:• The fundamentals of logic • Ability to sort objects• Ability to classify objects • Understanding of conservation (physical

quantities do not change based on the arrangement and/or appearance of the object)

Formal Operational

• 11- up The child begins to develop: • Ability to hypothesize, test and re-evaluate

hypotheses • Children begin thinking in a formal systematic

way.

Summary of the stages

LAURENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY

• He develop a six stages of moral development, and grouped these six stages in three, higher-order level of development

Moral Development?

• The gradual development of an individual’s concept of right and wrong.

• Includes the development of a ‘conscience’, spiritual values, social attitudes, certain behaviours.

• Morals are learned from experience.

What does “moral” mean?

• At various times in our lives, our morals are challenged when we are confronted with a moral dilemma. In these situations we have to decide which one of two courses of action to take, both of which can make us feel psychologically uncomfortable.

• Moral dilemma: A social problem which has two or more solutions, each of which is ‘wrong’ in some way.

Stages