Chapter 2

Question 1

What is a Theory?

Answer 1

A logical system of concepts Helps explain observations

Contributes to development of body of knowledge

Question 2

Three questions to ask:

Answer 2

Which phenomena is the theory trying to explain?

What assumptions does the theory make?

What does the theory predict?

Question 3

The Theory of Evolution

Answer 3

Darwin emphasized adaptive value of behavior and physical characteristics to specific environments:

Natural selection

Fitness, or reproductive success Adaptation

Inclusive fitness

Question 4

Ethology

Answer 4

Studies the survival value of unique adaptive behavior and its evolutionary history

Question 5

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 5

Studies long-term historical origins of behavior

Question 6

Evolutionary theory highlights three phases of the life span:

Answer 6

Healthy growth and development leading up to the reproductive period
Success in mating and the conception of offspring
Parenting offspring to survive and bear their own offspring

Question 7

Psychoanalytic Theory (Slide 1 of 4) Children move through a series of stages:

Answer 7

Confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations

Healthy personality development

Determined by how parents manage child’s early sexual and aggressive drives

Focuses on how individuals resolve conflicts between drives

Question 8

Psychoanalytic Theory (Slide 2 of 4) Freud believed that all behavior is

Answer 8

-motivated
Unconscious
Stores powerful, primitive motives

-Drives, or libido
Sexual and aggressive forces that desire to be satisfied

-Id, ego, and superego

Question 9

Three Stages of development

Answer 9

Oral
Anal 
Phallic 
Latency 
Genital

Question 10

The psychoanalytic approach recognizes:

Answer 10

The tension between interpersonal and intrapsychic demands help shape personality

The influences of childhood experiences on adult behavior

The importance of motives, emotions, and fantasies

The role of sexual impulses during childhood

Question 11

Cognition

Answer 11

The process of organizing and making meaning of experience

Question 12

Two cognitive developmental theories

Answer 12

Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

Question 13

Basic Concepts in Piaget’s Theory

Answer 13

Equilibrium 
Schemes 
Operations 
Assimilation 
Accommodation

Question 14

Four stages of cognitive development:

Answer 14

Sensorimotor Stage (0-18 months)
Preoperational Stage (18 months-6 years) Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Enables scientific reasoning
Formal Operational Stage (11 years on)
Knowledge is created through active engagement Novelty promotes cognitive development

Question 15

Vygotsky’s Concepts of Cognitive Development

Vygotsky is an interactionist

Answer 15

Human development can only be understood within a social-historical framework

-Cognitive development is a socially mediated process

-Zone of proximal development
-Range of tasks that the child cannot handle alone
Can accomplish with help of adults, more skilled peers

Question 16

Theories of learning empathizes

Answer 16

• Learning via observation and imitation
• Role of modeling
• Learning via vicarious reinforcement
• Social cognition rather than a social learning approach

Question 17

Cognitive Behaviorism

Answer 17

-Study of thoughts, ideas, and -memories that influence behavior
- Edward Tolman
Learner develops a cognitive map
-Mental representation of the learning environment

Question 18

Cultural Theory (Slide 1 of 3) Emphasizes:

Answer 18

-Meaning, or the behavior shared by a group of people

• An individual’s psychological experiences are shaped through:
• Cultural
• pathways
• Cultural determinism
• Enculturation

Question 19

Implications for human development

Answer 19

• Culture and biological development
• interact Determine how each period of life is experienced
• Links to the psychosocial approach
• All cultures must be able to adapt to changes in economic, environmental, and intercultural conditions to survive

Question 20

Social Role Theory (Slide 1 of 2)

Answer 20

Process of socialization and personality development

Via the individual’s participation in increasingly diverse and complex social roles

Question 21

Three elements of concern:

Answer 21

• Role enactment
• Social roles
• Role expectations

Question 22

Four dimensions of social roles:

Answer 22

Number of roles
Intensity of role involvement
Amount of time the role demands Degree of structure or flexibility

Question 23

Social Role Theory – Implications for Human Development

Answer 23

Social roles:
Provide consistency to life experiences
Prompt new learning

Personal relationships and social groups help contribute to one’s social identity

Question 24

Social Role Theory – Links to Psychosocial Theory

Answer 24

-Socialization takes place via role relationships

Reciprocity in roles is closely linked to concept of interdependence of people at each psychosocial stage

Question 25

Systems Theory (Slide 1 of 2)

Answer 25

-Systems are characterized by relationships among component parts - The whole is more than the sum of its parts - An open system - Adaptive self-organization - Components and the whole are always in tension

Question 26

Ecological system

Answer 26

Urie Bronfenbrenner argues that individuals develop within a multilayered system of relationships ``` Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem Chronosystem ```

Question 27

Developmental Systems Theory Emphasizes the ongoing interaction across many levels of the human organism (genetic to behavioral) Focuses on:

Answer 27

The individual in the setting | Plasticity, both in the individual, and in an environmental context

Question 28

Systems Theory – Implications for Human Development

Answer 28

- The family system is maintained by patterns of communication - Interdependence - Change in one family member is accompanied by changes in others - Interventions at any level of the environment can affect development

Question 29

Systems Theory – Links to Psychosocial Theory

Answer 29

- System and psychosocial theories both suggest that development requires analysis of the person within context - Systems theory predicts that change: - Is not patterned - Occurs through adaptive self-regulation and self- organization - Psychosocial theory proposes that change is patterned

Question 30

Case Study – Jack Manasky and His Daughter Marilyn (Slide 1 of 2)

Answer 30

-What defense mechanisms might Jack be using? How might the differences in Jack and Marilyn’s “cultures” affect their cognitive reasoning? How might Marilyn use social learning techniques to modify her father’s coffee-drinking behavior?

Question 31

Case Study – Jack Manasky and His Daughter Marilyn (Slide 2 of 2) Reflections

Answer 31

What cultural norms for the relationship of an adult daughter and an aging father are at play? What reciprocal roles do you see between Jack and Marilyn? What feedback mechanisms encourage or discourage certain behaviors between Jack and Marilyn? Case Study – Jack Manasky and His Daughter Marilyn (Slide 2 of 2) Reflections • • Copyri

Question 32

Your Perspective

Answer 32

What theories do you find most relevant to your current stage of development, and why? Evolutionary theory Psychoanalytic theory Cognitive developmental theories Theories of learning Cultural theory Social role theory Systems theory