Psychology: Theory and Method 2

PS4042 Social and Moral Development

Dr. Hara Tsekou

Theories of Social Development: The Goal

Theories of social development attempt to account for important aspects of development:– Emotion, personality, attachment, self, peer

relationships, morality, and gender

Such theories must:– Explain how children’s development is influenced by

the people and individuals around them – Examine the ways that human beings affect each

other

Psychoanalytic Theories

A. View of Children’s Nature

B. Central Developmental Issues

C. Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development

D. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

E. Current Perspectives

Freud’sTheory

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has had greater impact on Western culture and on thinking about social and personality development than any other psychological theory.

Erikson’s Theory

Erik Erikson’s life-span developmental theory, which was a successor to Freud’s theory, has also been influential.

View of Children’s Nature

In Freud’s theory, behavior is motivated by the need to satisfy basic biological drives.

Psychoanalytic theories also stress the continuity of individual differences, maintaining that early experiences shape subsequent development.

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development

Freud was a neurologist who became interested in the origins and treatments of mental illness.

He believed that many of his patients’ emotional problems originated in their early childhood relationships.

Basic Features of Freud’s Theory

Freud’s theory is referred to as a theory of psychosexual development because it posits a series of universal developmental stages in which psychic energy becomes focused in different erogenous zones.

– Psychic energy: the biologically based, instinctual drives that energize behavior, thoughts, and feelings

– Erogenous zones: areas of the body that become erotically sensitive in successive stages of development

The Developmental ProcessFreud’s Personality Structure:Id

– The biological drives with which the infant is born – The earliest and most primitive personality structure– Unconscious and operates with the goal of seeking

pleasureEgo

– Emerges in the first year– The rational, logical, problem-solving component of

personality

Superego– Develops during the ages of 3 to 6– Based on the child’s internalization (or adoption as his

or her own) of the parents’ attributes, beliefs, and standards

Stages of Psychosexual DevelopmentStage Description

Oral(first year)

The primary source of satisfaction and pleasure is oral activity. During this stage, the mother is established as the strongest love-object.

Anal(1-3 years)

The primary source of pleasure comes from defecation.

Phallic(3-6 years)

Characterized by the localization of pleasure in the genitalia.

Latency(6-12 years)

Characterized by the channeling of sexual energy into socially acceptable activities.

Genital(12+ years)

Sexual maturation is complete and sexual intercourse becomes a major goal.

If fundamental needs are not met during any stage, children may become fixated on these needs, continually attempting to satisfy them.

Superego Development

For boys, the path to superego development is through the resolution of the Oedipus complex, a psychosocial conflict in which a boy experiences a form of sexual desire for his mother and wants an exclusive relationship with her– Freud argued that the son’s desire for his mother

and hostility toward his father is so threatening that the episode is repressed and infantile amnesia results.

– The complex is resolved through the boys’ identification with his father.

Freud thought that girls experience a similar but less intense conflict, the Electra complex, involving erotic feelings toward the father.

Erikson’s Life-Span Development Theory

Development proceeds in stages

Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial challenge or crisis

Stages reflect the motivation of the individual

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

Erik Erikson accepted the basic constructs of Freud’s theory, but enlarged the theory to include other factors such as culture and contemporary issues.

Eight age-related stages (five during childhood and adolescence)– Each stage is characterized by a specific crisis that

the individual must resolve.– If the dominant issue of a stage is not successfully

resolved before the next stage begins, the person will continue to struggle with it.

Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Human Development

1 - Trust vs. mistrust

2 - Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

3 - Initiative vs. guilt

4 - Industry vs. inferiority

5 - Identity vs. identity confusion

6 - Intimacy vs. isolation

7 - Generativity vs. stagnation

8 - Integrity vs. despair

Erikson’s Human Development Stages

1 - Trust vs. Mistrust

0–1 years

2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt 1–3 years

3 - Initiative vs. Guilt3–5 years

Developed through consistent love and support

Independence fostered by support and encouragement

Developed by exploring and accepting challenges

Erikson’s Human Development Stages

4 - Industry vs. Inferiority6 years–puberty

5 - Identity vs. Role ConfusionAdolescence

Mastery comes from success and recognition

Exploration of different paths to attain a healthy identity

Erikson’s Human Development Stages

6 - Intimacy vs. IsolationEarly adult years

7 - Generativity vs. StagnationMiddle Adulthood

8 - Integrity vs. DespairLate Adulthood

Life review and retrospective evaluation of one’s past

Form positive, close relationships with others

Transmitting something positive to the next generation

The Developmental Process: Erikson’s Stages

Stage Description

Trust vs. Mistrust(first year)

Developing trust in other people is the crucial issue.

Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt(1–3½ years)

The challenge is to achieve a strong sense of autonomy while adjusting to increased social demands.

Initiative vs. Guilt(4–6 years)

Resolved when child develops high standards and the initiative to meet them without being crushed by worry about not being able to measure up.

Industry vs. Inferiority(6–puberty)

The child must master cognitive and social skills, learn to work industriously, and play well with others.

Identity vs. Role Confusion(adolescence–early adulthood)

Adolescents must resolve the question of who they really are or live in confusion about what roles they should play as adults.

Current Perspectives

The most significant of Freud’s contributions to developmental psychology were:– His emphasis on the importance of

early experience and emotional relationships

– His recognition of the role of subjective experience and unconscious mental activity

Erikson’s emphasis on the search for identity in adolescence has had lasting impact.

Learning Theories

A. View of Children’s Nature

B. Central Developmental Issues

C. Watson’s Behaviorism

D. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

E. Social Learning Theory

F. Current Perspectives

View of Children’s Nature Learning theorists emphasize the role

of external factors in shaping personality and social behavior.

– Reinforcement and punishment

More contemporary learning theorists emphasize the importance of cognitive factors and the active role children play in their own development.

Central Developmental Issues

Emphasize continuity in development, proposing that the same principles operate throughout life and that there are no stages.

Focus on mechanisms of change (i.e., learning principles) and argue that individual differences arise because of different histories of reinforcement and observation.

Relevant for research and children’s welfare in that therapeutic approaches to treat children are based on learning principles.

Watson’s Behaviorism

John Watson is the founder of behaviorism

Believed that children’s development is determined by their social environment and that learning through conditioning was the primary mechanism of development.

– Demonstrated the power of classical conditioning in a famous experiment with “Little Albert”

Critique

Watson’s exclusive emphasis on conditioning is now regarded as simplistic.

However, his approach to extinguishing fear has been widely used to rid people of phobias.

– This approach, known as systematic desensitization, is a form of therapy based on classical conditioning in which initially debilitating responses to a given stimulus are gradually deconditioned.

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner conducted research on the nature and function of reinforcement.

His discoveries include the importance of attention as a powerful reinforcer, and the difficulty of extinguishing behavior that has been intermittently reinforced (i.e., responded to inconsistently).

Skinner’s work on reinforcement also led to a form of therapy known as behavior modification, in which reinforcement contingencies are changed to encourage more adaptive behavior.

Social Learning Theory

Emphasizes observation and imitation, rather than reinforcement, as the primary mechanisms of development

In a classic series of studies, Albert Bandura and his colleagues found that preschool children can acquire new behaviors through observing others.

– Discovered that children’s tendency to reproduce what they learned depended on vicarious reinforcement (i.e., whether the person whose actions they observed was rewarded or punished)

Bandura’s Research

Preschool children initially watched a short film in which an adult model performed highly aggressive actions on an inflatable Bobo doll (weighted at the bottom so it pops up when knocked down).

– One group of children observed the model rewarded with candy and soda for the aggressive behavior.

– Another group saw the model punished.

– The remaining children saw the model experience no consequences.

Bandura’s Research

Findings:

– Observing someone else receive a reward or punishment for the behavior affects the subsequent reproduction of the behavior.

– Boys were initially more aggressive than girls, but the girls increased their level of imitation when offered rewards.

Social Learning Theory

Over time, Bandura placed more emphasis on the cognitive aspects of observational learning.

Unlike most learning theorists, Bandura argued that child-environment influences operate in both directions, a concept referred to as reciprocal

determinism.

Reciprocal Determinism

Social Learning Theory

In recent years, Bandura has emphasized the importance of perceived self-efficacy.– An individual’s beliefs about how

effectively he or she can control his or her own behavior, thoughts, and emotions in order to achieve a desired goal

Current Perspectives

Learning theories are based on principles derived from empirical research.– They, in turn, have generated extensive

research and valuable practical applications

The weaknesses of the learning approach are its limited attention to biological factors and (with the exception of Bandura’s theory) to the impact of cognition.

Author of a three-stage theory on how moral reasoning develops

Moral reasoning is the aspect of cognitive development that has to do with the way an individual

reasons about moral decisions

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Assessed moral reasoning by posing hypothetical moral dilemmas and examining the reasoning behind people’s answers

Proposed three distinct levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional

Each level is based on the degree to which a person conforms to conventional standards of society

Each level has two stages that represent different degrees of sophistication in moral reasoning.

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. the drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

Should Heinz steal the drug? Why or why not?

Kohlberg’s moral dilemma

Preconventional—moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments

Conventional—laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules

Postconventional—reasoning based on personal moral standards

Levels of moral reasoning

Characterized by the desire to avoid punishment or gain reward

Typically children under the age of 10

Preconventional moral reasoning

A focus on direct consequences Negative actions will result in punishments EXAMPLE: Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug

because he’d go to jail if he got caught.

Stage 1: Punishment & Obedience

Getting what one wants often requires giving something up in return

“Right” is a fair exchange. Morals guided by what is “fair” EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug

because the durggist is being greedy by charging so much.

Stage 2: Mutual benefit

Primary concern is to fit in and play the role of a good citizen

People have a strong desire to follow the rules and laws.

Typical of most adults

Conventional moral reasoning

An attempt to live up to the expectations of important others

Follow rules or do what others would want so that you win their approval

Negative actions will harm those relationships

EXAMPLE: Heinz should try to steal the drug because that’s what a devoted husband would do.

Stage 3: Interpersonal expectations

To maintain social order, people must resist personal pressures and follow the laws of the larger society

Respect the laws & authority EXAMPLE: Heinz should not steal the

drug because that would be against the law and he has duty to uphold the law.

Stage 4: Law and Order

Characterized by references to universal ethical principles that represent protecting the rights or of all people

Most adults do not reach this level.

Postconventional moral reasoning

Must protect the basic rights of all people by upholding the legal principles of fairness, justice, equality & democracy.

Laws that fail to promote general welfare or that violate ethical principles can be changed, reinterpreted, or abandoned

EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug because his obligation to save his wife’s life must take precedence over his obligation to respect the druggist’s property rights.

Stage 5: Legal Principles

Self-chosen ethical principles Profound respect for sanctity of human life,

nonviolence, equality & human dignity Moral principles take precedence over laws that

might conflict with them, Conscientious objectors – refuses to be drafted

because they are morally opposed to war. EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug even if

the person was a stranger and not his wife. He must follow his conscience and not let the druggist’s desire for money outweigh the value of a human life.

Stage 6: Universal Moral Principles

Research has not supported Kohlberg’s belief that the development of abstract thinking in adolescence invariably leads people to the formation of idealistic moral principles

Some cross-cultural psychologists argue that Kohlberg’s stories and scoring system reflect a Western emphasis on individual rights, harm, and justice that is not shared in many cultures.

Kohlberg’s early research was conducted entirely with male subjects, yet it became the basis for a theory applied to both males and females.

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory

Examples:Erikson’s Human Development Stages

Erika is experiencing some indecision. She has to choose what college to attend, whether to go away from home, what career to choose, and whether to room with someone she knows. According to Erikson’s life-stage development theory, in what stage is Erika?

Erikson’s Human Development Stages Andrea created a picture of an aquarium,

which she plans to give to her teacher to hang in the classroom. Andrea was very excited at the idea that her teacher would hang up her picture on the wall, especially because the reason Andrea had made it was to show her teacher she could draw all sorts of fish from memory. In which of Erikson’s stages do children realize that they can obtain the recognition of teachers and parents by producing things?

Erikson’s Human Development Stages

Chase’s mom thinks it’s better to let her infant son cry for a while before attending to his needs so that he does not get spoiled. According to Erikson’s theory, if an infant thinks that his needs may or may not be met, s/he will likely develop which trait?

Erikson’s Human Development Stages According to Erikson’s life-span

development theory, if a toddler is punished harshly or restrained severely, he or she will likely develop which trait?

Erikson’s Human Development Stages During which of Erikson’s stages

is a person expected to focus his or her efforts on transmitting something positive to the next generation?