Most early influential theories in human development describe change in terms of stages.

 

A stage is a period of time during which a person’s activities have certain characteristics in common.

 

Classic Stage Theories of Development

 

There are two important features of stage theories:

 

First, they describe development as qualitative or transformational.

 

At each new stage, new behaviors are both different from and more complex than the ones in previous stages.

 

There is a kind of unfolding or emergence of behavioral organization.

 

Second, they imply periods of relative stability (within stages) and periods of rapid transitions (between stages).

 

Metaphorically, development is a staircase – a steep rise followed by a plateau.

 

Incremental Theories of Development

 

Incremental models characterize development as a more continuous and steady process.

 

Not a staircase, but a steady climb up a mountain side.

 

Incremental models do not believe that developmental change is marked by major, sweeping reorganizations.

 

Classic Stage Theories: Freud

 

Five psychosexual stages – each new stage is initiated by changes in the id and its energy

 

For each stage, a disproportionate amount of id energy is invested in drives satisfied through one part of the body.

 

Need fulfillment is a critical factor at each stage.

 

The term sexual applies to all biological instincts or drives and their satisfaction.

 

Psychosexual stages:

 

Oral stage, birth to 1 year

 

2. Anal stage, 1 to 3 years

 

3. Phallic stage, 3 to 5 or 6 years

 

4. Latency stage, 6 years to puberty

 

5. Genital stage, puberty through adulthood

 

Freud’s Theory of Psychsexual Development

 

The Genital Stage (puberty through adulthood )

 

The genital stage is the final stage in Freud’s theory of

 

psychosexual development and begins in puberty.

 

During this stage, the teenager has overcome latency, made associations with one gender or the other, and now seeks out pleasure through sexual contact with others.

 

At puberty, adult sexual needs become the most important motivators of behavior.

 

Freud’s Theory of Psychsexual Development

 

The Genital Stage (puberty through adulthood )

 

The individual seeks to fulfill needs and expend energy in socially acceptable activities, such as work, and through marriage with a partner who will substitute for the early object of desire, the opposite sex parent.

 

When this stage has been completed successfully, the individual should be well balanced, warm and caring.

 

Fixation results in guilt about sexuality, feelings of inadequacy, poor interpersonal relationships, and anxious feelings regarding the opposite sex

 

Classic Stage Theories: Erikson

 

Erikson deemphasized the id and emphasized the more rational processes of the ego.

 

He based his theory on psychosocial aspects of behavior, attitudes, and feelings toward the self and toward others.

 

He viewed personal identity and interpersonal attitudes are continually evolving from birth to death.

 

Age periods correspond to Freud’s stages, but include 3 adult stages.

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

In each stage, the individual faces a different crisis or developmental task.

 

Change in individual needs or social expectations create new challenges or crises at each stage.

 

The responsiveness of caregivers creates a positive psychosocial development.

 

The successful resolution of a crisis at one stage helps smooth the way for successful resolutions of future crises.

 

Unsuccessful resolution at an earlier stage may stall progress and make maladaptive behavior more likely.

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Eight stages of psychosocial development

 

Trust vs. Mistrust, Birth to 1 year

 

Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt, 1 to 3 years

 

Initiative vs. Guilt 3 to 5 or 6 years

 

Industry vs. Inferiority, 6 to 12 years

 

Identity vs. Role Confusion, 12 to 20 years

 

Intimacy vs. Isolation, Young adulthood

 

Generativity vs. Stagnation, Middle adulthood

 

Ego Integrity vs. Despair, Late adulthood

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18 years)

 

Erikson’s term for the fifth stage of development, in which the person tries to figure out “Who am I?” but is confused as to which of many possible roles to adopt.

 

Concerns and Characteristics:

 

Struggle for identity (who am I?)

 

Changing self-image

 

Breaking away from parents

 

Making choices about values, vocational goals, etc.

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18 years)

 

Identity achievement –Erikson’s term for the attainment of identity, the point at which a person understands who he or she is as a unique individual, in accord with past experiences and future plans.

 

Also referred to as fidelity.

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18 years)

 

Identity not yet achieved – inability to establish a sense of self

 

Role confusion (identity diffusion) –A situation in which an adolescent does not seem to know or care what his or her identity is.

 

Foreclosure –Erikson’s term for premature identity formation, which occurs when an adolescent adopts parents’ or society’s roles and values wholesale, without questioning or analysis

 

Moratorium –An adolescent’s choice of a socially acceptable way to postpone making identity-achievement decisions. Going to college is a common example.

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood)

 

Erikson’s term for the sixth stage of development, in which the person becomes willing to share and identify with others and to commit to close relationships with others.

 

Concerns and Characteristics:

 

Searching for a partner

 

Focus on education and careers

 

Parenting may begin for some

 

Wanting to demonstrate competence on the job

 

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood)

 

Achievement – Successful resolution of this crisis results in formation of relationships that are intimate on a physical, intellectual, and emotional level.

 

In other words, love.

 

Crisis: Difficulties during this stage result in feelings of loneliness and even fear of relationships themselves.

 

In other words, distancing and fear of intimacy

 

Classic Stage Theories: Piaget

 

Piaget takes a constructivist view of development, in which individuals actively build their own knowledge

 

Hierarchical integration – simpler patterns of physical or mental activity at one stage become integrated and more complex organizational systems at the next stage.

 

Four stages of cognitive development

 

Sensorimotor, birth to 2 years

 

Preoperational thought, 2 to 6-7 years

 

Concrete operational thought, 7 to 11-12 years

 

Formal operational thought, 12 years-adulthood

 

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

 

Piaget theorized that we learn through adaptation, which is the combination of assimilation and accommodation.

 

Assimilation – fitting new information into existing knowledge

 

Accommodation – changing existing knowledge structures to fit what is new

 

Individuals interpret new experiences and information in ways that fit their current ways of understanding even as they make adjustments to their own ways of understanding in the process.

 

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

 

Formal Operational Thought (12 years thru adulthood)

 

During this stage, adolescents and young adults develop the ability to think about and solve abstract problems in a logical manner.

 

Thought is more flexible, rational, and systematic.

 

The individual can now conceive all the possible ways they can solve a problem, and can approach a problem from several points of view.

 

Logical thinking extends now to formal, or abstract, material. Young adolescents can think logically about hypothetical situations.

 

Can engage deductive reasoning.

 

Can develop and use general rules, principles, and theories

 

Cognitive Development in Young Adulthood

 

Postformal Thought or Fifth Stage Thinking (young adulthood thru adulthood)

 

Some propose that more advanced kinds of thinking emerge in young adulthood.

 

This is referred to postformal or fifth-stage thinking, implying an extension of Piaget’s sequence of stages.

 

Fifth-stage thinkers can understand the logic of contradictory perspectives and integrate those perspectives into a larger whole.

 

In other words, although an individual may make a commitment to one belief, she is able to recognize that more than one belief may be valid.

 

Fifth stage thinking combines both intuitive and analytic thought, resulting in more balanced thought.

 

Cognitive Development in Young Adulthood

 

Postformal Thought or Fifth Stage Thinking (young adulthood thru adulthood)

 

Individuals

 

are able to recognize that several truth systems exist describing the reality of the same event.

 

are able to recognize the validity of these differing truth systems.

 

abandon the quest for absolute knowledge.

 

are able to reconcile uncertainty and inconsistency, contradiction, and perfection and compromise.

 

Cognitive Development in Young Adulthood

 

Perry theorizes that there is an Intellectual shift from dualism to multiplicity.

 

Dualism: the division of something into two opposed aspects

 

The world is viewed dichotomously: Good/Bad, Right/Wrong.

 

Dualistic thinkers make meaning by seeking out what they believe to be the Authority (big A) on the subject and accepting that answer as truth.

 

Transition to next stage begins when they find out that those authorities do not have all of the answers.

 

Experts disagree, teacher can’t answer a question.

 

Perry’s Theory of Intellectual Development

 

Cognitive Development in Adulthood

 

Perry theorizes that there is an Intellectual shift from dualism to multiplicity.

 

Multiplicity: Honoring diverse views when right answers are not yet known.

 

Multiple ideas exist and all opinions are equally valid.

 

Authority has gone from “Big A” to “Little a” authority.

 

Peers become more legitimate source of knowledge. “I was talking to my friend and she said that I should have gotten my refund already…”

 

Transition to next stage begins with the recognition that opinions need to be supported by facts/evidence in order to be accepted as truth.

 

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

 

Kohlberg identified three distinct levels of moral reasoning: Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post-Conventional.

 

Each level has two sub-stages.

 

People can only pass through these levels in the order listed.

 

Each new stage replaces the reasoning typical of the earlier stage.

 

Not everyone achieves all the stages.

 

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

 

Conventional Level: Stages 3 and 4 (adolescents and most adults)

 

During the conventional level, an individual’s sense of morality

 

is tied to personal and societal relationships.

 

Moral decisions are made based on the belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order.

 

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

 

Conventional Level: Stages 3 and 4 (adolescents and most adults)

 

Stage 3: Interpersonal Concordance (ages 13 to 16)

 

Decisions based on the approval of others.

 

Shared feelings and needs are more important than self-interest.

 

Helpfulness, generosity, and forgiveness are idealized.

 

Examples “I never swear in front of my grandma because

 

I want her to think I am a good person.”

 

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

 

Conventional Level: Stages 3 and 4 (adolescents and most adults)

 

Stage 4: Law and Order (late adolescents/young adults)

 

The social order is most important now.

 

Behaviors that contribute to the functioning of a social system

 

are most valued.

 

Decisions are usually made to follow the laws simply because that is what is expected.

 

Focused on mutual benefit and reciprocity.

 

Example “I drive the speed limit because it is the law.”

We can handle this paper for you

We Guarantee ZERO Plagiarism ZERO AI

Done by Professional writers from scratch