THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT

-UNNATI SHAH

1.SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

2.ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTUAL THEORY

3.ETHOLOGICAL THEORY

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Social cognitive theory is used in psychology, education, and communication.• An individual's knowledge can be directly

related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences.

• In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others.

• Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be modeled.

HISTORY

• Social cognitive theory stemmed out of work proposed by Neal E. Miller and John Dollard in 1941. Identifying four key factors in learning new behavior, 1) drives, 2) cues, 3) responses, and 4) rewards, they believed that if one were motivated to learn a particular behavior, then that particular behavior would be learned through clear observations.

• This was later expanded upon and theorized by Albert Bandura from 1962 until the present.

• Social cognitive theory states that behavior, environment and persons cognitive factors are important in understanding development.

• This theory provides a framework for understanding, predicting and changing human behaviour.

ALBERT BANDURA’S SCT

ALBERT BANDURA’S SCT THEORY

Bandura’s theory :• People learn by observing others.• The same set of stimuli may provoke different

responses from different people, or from the same people at different times.

• The world and a person’s behavior are interlinked.

• Personality is an interaction between three factors: the environment, behavior, and a person’s psychological processes.

• People learn by observing others, with the environment, behavior, and cognition all as the chief factors in influencing development.

• These three factors are not static or independent elements; rather, they influence each other in a process of triadic reciprocal determinism.

• For example, each behavior witnessed can change a person's way of thinking (cognition). Similarly, the environment one is raised in may influence later behaviors, just as a father's mindset (also cognition) will determine the environment in which his children are raised.

Bandura - Steps involved in the Modelling Process:

1. Attention You need to pay attention to learn something new. The more striking or different something is (due to colour or drama, for example) the more likely it is to gain our attention. Likewise, if we regard something as prestigious, attractive or like ourselves, we will take more notice.

2. Retention You must be able to retain (remember) what you have paid attention to. Imagery and language pay a role in retention: you store what you have seen ,the model doing, in the form of verbal descriptions or mental images, and these triggers up later to help you reproduce the model with your own behavior.

3. Reproduction At this point you have to translate the images or descriptions into actual behavior. You must have the ability to reproduce the behavior in the first place. For instance, if you are watching Olympic ice skating you may not be able to reproduce their jumps if you can’t ice skate at all.

4. Motivation Unless you are motivated, or have a reason, you will not try to imitate the model. Bandura states a number of motives, including:• Past reinforcement• Promised reinforcement• Vicarious reinforcement.

There are negative motivations too, giving you reasons not to imitate someone, including:• Past punishment.• Promised punishment.• Vicarious punishment.

ADVANTAGES1. Focus on environmental determinants of

behaviour.2. Importance of observational learning.3. An emphasis on person and cognitive factors. DISADVANTAGES4. Too much emphasis on environmental

determinants.5. Inadequate attention to developmental changes.6. Too little emphasis on human spontaneity and

creativity.

APPLICATIONS

1. Social cognitive theory is applied today in many different areas excessively- Mass media, public health, education, and marketing.

2. An example of this is the use of celebrities to endorse and introduce any number of products.

REFERENCES

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognitive_theory

2. http://www.education.com/reference/article/social-cognitive-theory/

3. http://www.careers.govt.nz/educators-practitioners/career-practice/career-theory-models/banduras-theory/

4. SANTROCK ,2011. LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT, 13TH EDITION, NEW DELHI, TATA Mc GRAW HILL.

ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTUAL THEORY

URIE BRONFENBRENNER

5 Environmental systems

1) Microsystem2) Mesosystem3) Exosystem4) Macrosystem5) Chronosystem

• Child development takes place through the processes of complex interactions between an active child and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment. To be effective, the interaction must occur on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time. (Adapted from Bronfenbrenner, 1998, p. 996)

1) Microsystem- Relationships with direct contact with the child.

2) Mesosystem- Relationships between two or more microsystems.

3) Exosystem- Social settings in which the individual does not have an active role.

4) Macrosystem- Culture context.

MICROSYSTEMS

• The setting in which the adolescent lives.• Contexts include- Family, Peers, School and

Neighborhood.• Most direct interactions with these social

agents.

Example- The adolescent is not viewed as a passive recipient of experience in these settings but someone who constructs them.

MESOSYSTEM

• Relations between two or more microsystems.• Examples - Connections between- family

experiences and school experiences, family experiences and peer experiences etc.

EXAMPLE- Children who’s parents have rejected them may have problems developing positive relationships with teachers.

EXOSYSTEM

• Social settings in which the adolescent does not have an active role but which influences his experiences.

EXAMPLE- A women’s work experience can affect her relationship with her husband or children. She might get a promotion and might have to travel more which might inturn increase the marital conflict.

MACROSYSTEM

• The culture in which the adolescent lives.• Culture refers to- Behavior patterns, beliefs

and all other products of a group of people that are passed on from generation to generation.

CHRONOSYSTEM

• The pattern of environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as socio-historical circumstances.

EXAMPLE- In studying the effects of divorce on children, researchers have found that the negative effects often peak in the 1st year after the divorce. The effects is also more negative for sons than for daughters. By two years after the divorce the family interaction becomes less chaotic and stable.

ADVANTAGES1. Systematic examination of macro and micro

dimensions of environmental systems.2. Attention to connections between

environmental settings.3. Consideration of sociohistorical influences on

development. CRITICISM4. Too little attention given to biological

foundations of development.5. Inadequate attention to cognitive processes.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.slideshare.net/aislado/bronfenbrenner-ecological-theory

2. http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/35bronfebrenner94.pdf

3. SANTROCK ,2011. LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT, 13TH EDITION, NEW DELHI, TATA Mc GRAW HILL.

ETHOLOGICAL THEORY

• Ethological theories note that responsiveness to the environment varies across the life-span and that the environment has an effect on development. Environmental influences will have different effects at different times.

• Ethology is a theory that emphasizes the ability of biology to impact behavior. Ethology states that behavior can be directly related and linked to not only biology, but to evolution and the impact of this is heightened even more so during particularly critical and sensitive periods in an individual's development.

• "Ethology stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods." In other words, there are times when we are most sensitive to particular types of stimuli.

• A zoologist by the name of Konrad Lorenz conducted a groundbreaking study on ethology by using the behavior of greylag geese.

• Greylag geese are known for following their mothers (or the first moving object they see) immediately upon hatching.

EXPERIMENT

• Lorenz separated two groups of eggs, allowing one group to hatch with their mother near, and the other group to hatch with him near. The first group followed their mother, as expected, while the second group followed Lorenz. Lorenz then put both groups together, along with the mother goose, and the goslings each followed whoever had been present at their hatching; the mother or Lorenz.

• This notion of a critical period demonstrates the importance of biology in development.

• A critical period is "…a fixed time period very early in development during which certain behaviors optimally emerge.."

• Ethologists are like behaviorists in their emphasis on behavior, but they feel that behavior must be observed in the natural setting.

• Another researcher, by the name of Bowlby, believed that the attachment an individual develops with a caregiver during the very early years of life has dramatic affect on the continued growth and development throughout that individual's life.

• Bowlby believed that if this attachment was positive and provided the individual with a sense of security, that the likelihood of positive growth and develop to continue throughout is great. However, if the attachment to the caregiver is negative and does not provide the individual with security, the person may suffer the after affects of this poor connection for the remainder of their life.

• Both Bowlby and Lorenz believed that these actions to create an attachment in an individual must take place at an early, sensitive age or they will never occur.

• Had the geese not been "imprinted" immediately following birth, it is unlikely their behavior would have changed later down the road.

• According to Bowlby, children, much like the greylag geese, must be imprinted with these attachments and behaviors at an early age or they may never be imprinted upon.

• By developing these attachments to caregivers at such an early age, the stage is set for continued positive growth and development.

REFERENCES

• http://voices.yahoo.com/the-ethological-theory-7629868.html

• http://faculty.riohondo.edu/mpilati/psych112/Section_1/Psych112_Lecture02O.htm

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