Theories of Development

Theories of Development

Qualities of a good theory • Internally consistent--parts fit together in a consistent way • Should provide meaningful explanations • Open to scientific evaluation • Stimulate new thinking and research • Should provide guidance to parents and professionals in the day-to-day work

How theories differ on four developmental issues • Maturation or experience? • Process or stages? • Active or passive role of the child? • Broad or narrow focus?

Psychodynamic developmental theories

Freud • The ID seeks pleasure and avoids pain. It is not logical in its searches. • The ego is rational. Conscious, and problem-solving • The superego is the moral and ethical component.

Freud’s defense mechanisms • Defense mechanisms are unconscious distortions of reality used to protect the ego • Repression forces unacceptable feelings and impulses from memory • Projection attributes one’s own feelings such as aggression or distrust onto another person • Fixation is a blockage in development.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages Psychosexual Stage Approximate Age Description Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital Birth - 1 year 1 - 3 years 3 - 6 years 6 - 12 years 12 - adulthood The mouth is the focus of stimulation and interaction; feeding and weaning are central. The anus is the focus of stimulation and interaction; elimination and toilet training are central. The genitals (penis, clitoris, and vagina) are the focus of stimulation; gender role and moral development are central. A period of suspended sexual activity; energies shift to physical and intellectual activities. The genitals are the focus of stimulation with the onset of puberty; mature sexual relationships develop.

Erik Erikson • Personality development is a psychosocial process • Personality development is a lifelong experience and is influences by three interrelated forces (next slide)

Erikson’s forces: • The individual’s biological and physical strengths and weaknesses • the person’s unique life circumstances and developmental history, including early family experiences and degree of success in resolving earlier development crises; and • the particular social, cultural, and historical forces at work during the individual’s lifetime (racial prejudice, war, poverty)

ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES • Trust vs. Mistrust • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt • Initiative vs. Guilt • Industry vs. Inferiority • Identity vs. Role Confusion • Intimacy v. Isolation • Generativity vs. Stagnation • Ego Integrity vs. Despair • Birth – 1 year • 1 - 3 years • 3 - 6 years • 6 - 12 years (Latency Period) • 12 - 19 years (Adolescence) • 19 – 25 years (Early Adulthood) • 25 – 50 years (Adulthood) • 50 years and older

Ivan Pavlov’s Classical conditioning • For involuntary responses • Basic, not higher order learning • Paired conditioned response with UCR to form new behaviors (see page 44 of text)

Illustration of Classical Conditioning BEFORE CONDITIONING: (A) Place a nipple in baby's mouth: Touch of nipple (US) — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR) (B) Show baby a bottle with a nipple: Sight of bottle — — — — — —elicits — — — — — > No sucking (UR) with nipple (CS) DURING CONDITIONING: (C) Show baby the a bottle and place its nipples in baby's mouth. Repeat a number of times: Touch of nipple (US) — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR) (paired with) Sight of bottle — — — —elicits — — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR) with nipple (CS) AFTER CONDITIONING (D) Show baby the bottle with nipple: Sight of bottle — — — —elicits — — — — — > Sucking reflex (UR) with nipple (CS)

B. F. Skinner’s Operant conditioning • Looks at empirically verifiable behaviors only. Not an introspective field of inquiry. • Operant conditioning works with voluntary muscles only, in contrast to classical.

The behavior-modifier’s tools Positive reinforcement, response cost, timeout, overcorrection, extinction, ALT-R, negative reinforcement, PAC

Effective positive reinforcement • Should be something that the STUDENT finds rewarding • In schools, will likely be tertiary reinforcement • Beware of satiation • Timeliness • Reinforcers can change

Using response cost effectively • Spell out the rules of the game early • Allow for buildup of reserve without telling students • Take fining only so far before mixing it with other techniques such as time out

Using time out effectively • Remove the person from sources of stimulation immediately • Timeout situation must be neutral with no reinforcing properties of its own • Short in duration

Overcorrection (restitution) • Insure the relevance of the corrective measure to the problem behavior • Apply the procedure immediately and consistently • Keep the performance consistent during overcorrection. If the student is having to walk heel-toe, do not allow him to run the last few yards.

Extinction (systematic non-reinforcement) • Specify the conditions for extinction so that the child knows why these things are happening • Dispense no reinforcement before its time • Watch for spontaneous recovery

Reinforcement of alternative behaviors (ALT-R) • Behavior to be reinforced must be incompatible with that to be extinguished • Alternative behavior must already be established • Alternative behavior must be one that is likely to be supported by the natural environment

Negative reinforcement, also called escape conditioning • Do not allow the noxious stimulus to become aversive or a different set of behaviors will take over. • Dispense R- immediately • Do not remove the noxious stimulus prematurely

Communicate the rules before beginning an episode where PAC might be used No escape after announcement that PAC is about to occur Consistent and immediate application Present at strong intensity Combine PAC with extinction so that the student will not attempt the prohibited behavior again. Using PAC effectively

Negative reinforcement uses a noxious stimulus NR has an increase in behaviors as its goal Presentation of aversive consequences uses an aversive stimulus PAC has the elimination of behaviors as its goal Differences between negative reinforcement and PAC

Shaping • Shaping is the behaviorist’s way of adding new behaviors • Behaviors that have even slight resemblance to the target behavior are reinforced. • The “professor in a corner”

Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Learning Theory • Observational learning • First in a long line of studies was at Stanford, 1961, Bandura, Ross, & Ross. Modeling of aggression. • Film-mediated had same results (1962)

Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory • Thinking is qualitatively different depending upon the developmental stage of the learner • Processes include direct learning, social transmission, and maturation.

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE STAGES PIAGET’S BASIC PRINCIPLES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational Birth - 2 years 2 – 7 years 7 – 11 years 11 years - adulthood Child develops schemes primarily through sense and motor activities Child can think symbolically; holds egocentric view of the world Child becomes able to manipulate logical relationships among concepts but only by generalizing from concrete experiences Child is able to deal with abstractions, form hypotheses, solve problems systematically • SCHEME: Organized pattern of thought or behavior • ASSIMILATION: Person interprets new ideas or experiences to fit existing schemes • ACCOMODATION: Person changes existing schemes to fit new ideas or experiences • ADAPTATION: Interplay between assimilation and accomodation, resulting in development • EQUILIBRIUM: Harmonious balance of a person’s schemes and experiences with the environment

Piaget’s Social Transmission Factors • Cognitive consonance--what the learner is experiencing fits with what he believes and knows • Cognitive dissonance--new info doesn’t agree • Equilibrium--state of no dissonance

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE STAGES Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operational Formal Operational Birth - 2 years 2 – 7 years 7 – 11 years 11 years - adulthood Child develops schemes primarily through sense and motor activities Child can think symbolically; holds egocentric view of the world Child becomes able to manipulate logical relationships among concepts but only by generalizing from concrete experiences Child is able to deal with abstractions, form hypotheses, solve problems systematically

Lev Vygotsky’s proximal development • Higher mental functions grow out of the social interactions and dialogues that children have • Zone of proximal development • (Womack) Theory explains developmental strain well

Vygotsky’s ideas have given birth to the concept of scaffolding in promoting student learning. Teachers build a cognitive “scaffold” in order to “bring forward” previous learnings and to let students know in which framework the new instruction is coming. This has the effect of extending the Zone of Proximal Development a little further so that the student may extend the boundaries of his knowledge.

Vygotsky’s ideas fit well with those of an American psychologist, David Ausubel (not listed in our book). He pointed out the advantage of advance organizers (1970s) to prepare students for new knowledge. Creating advance organizers might be likened to renting, in advance, several post office boxes for incoming mail, upon beginning a new business. One box receives only payments on account; one, complaints; one, invoices from other businesses; a fourth, general mail. In this way the business owner should have a good idea what awaits him when he gets his mail and should have a head start on his bookkeeping and correspondence.

Path of a memory (if remembered) • Stimulus occurs • Sensory register • Decision to attend • If attending, short-term memory • Rehearsal strategy • Long-term memory

Factors in Information Processing • Control processes, including rehearsal strategies. Failure to use rehearsal strategies is the single greatest difference between retarded and non-retarded learners. • Metacognition • Knowledge base. This affects the meaningfulness aspect.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning Welcome to The Brain and Learning The following slide show may be used in a PowerPoint presentation session or copied onto overhead transparencies. Each slide is accompanied with notes for the instructor or session facilitator.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning “Educators must develop a basic understanding of the psychobiology of the brain to enable them to evaluate emerging educational applications.” Robert Sylwester

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning There are two types of brain cells. Neurons 10% of your brain cells are neurons. Glia 90% of your brain cells are glia.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning • The average three-pound brain contains about 100 billion neurons. • The average three-pound brain contains about 1000 billion glial cells.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning The average three-pound brain has about one quadrillion connections between neurons.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning It is the connection between neurons that makes us “smart”.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning • Heredity provides about 30-60% of our brain’s wiring. • 40-70% of our wiring comes from environmental impact.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning “Experience is the chief architect of the brain.”

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning • Neurons consist of a cell body, an axon and dendrites.

Brain Basics: How Neurons Communicate The axon sends information. The dendrites and cell body receive information. The action inside the cell is electrical. The action between cells is chemical. . Dendrites . Axon Cell Body .

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning Reoccurring electrical stimulation between cells promotes cell growth. This cell growth occurs in the form of dendrite branching. More dendrite branches create more connections. Hence, better understanding.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning • We learn on many levels at once. The cellular level is just one way learning occurs. Learning and behavior are also strongly affected by the other chemicals in the brain: the monomines and peptides. • Some estimate that over 98% of the brain’s communications occur through peptides and perhaps only 2% occurs through the synapses.

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning Take a moment to think on your own… then turn to your partner and share an insight, idea or personal response to the material just covered. Take 2 to 3 minutes each.

Brain Basics:The Memory Process Rehearsal Sight Elaboration and Organization Sensory Memory Short Term Memory Long Term Memory Sound Smell Initial Processing Taste Retrieval Touch Not transferred to short term memory and so not stored in the memory system

Brain Basics: The Brain and Learning Sensory memory influences different areas of the brain.

Theories of Development