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INTRODUCTION
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T H E O R E T I C A L PE RSP E C T I V E & H IST O R I C A L & C U L T U R A L C O N T E X T
Baumrind, Diana (1927-Present) is an American developmental psychologist. In 1955,
she received a Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis on clinical and socialdevelopmental psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Although now
officially retired, Dr. Baumrind continues to conduct research and publish. She is
currently a member of the Institute of Human Development at the University of
California, Berkeley. She is mostly known for her work on parenting styles. An avid
proponent of the authoritative parenting style, Dr. Baumrind has also studied the effects
of corporal punishment on children.
C ultural-H istorical Context: Diana Baumrind was born into a small middleclass Jewish community in New York City. She was especially close to her father and
uncle, both sons of Easter European immigrants, militant atheists and Marxists. As the
first of two daughters and the eldest in an extended family of female cousins, she
inherited the role of eldest son. As such, she was able to defy gender stereotypes and had
opportunities to participate in serious conversations about philosophy, literature, ethics,
morals, and politics at an early age. Her interest in ethics and morals is illustrated in her
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E rikson, E rik (1902-1994) was born in Germany. Initially an artist, Erikson became
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psychoanalysis. This led him to train at Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. He also studied
child development when studying for a teaching degree and a certificate in the
Montessori Method of education. He did not ever obtain an advanced degree. In 1933,
Erikson and his wife left Nazi Germany and immigrated to the United States, where
Erikson became the first child psychoanalyst in Boston. Erikson worked at several
institutions, including Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, and Berkeley. He
returned to Harvard in 1960, where he worked until his retirement in 1970. He died in
1994, at the age of 92. +HWKRXJKW)UHXG¶VHPSKDVLVRQVH[ZDV extreme and decided to
focus his theory on socialization. Erikson was also heavily influenced by cultural
anthropologists including Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead. His influence from Freud,
Benedict, and Mead led him to develop his theories of child development.
C ultural-H istorical Context: Erikson was born in Germany to a mother whose
husband had deserted her. His biological father has never been named, but he was likely
Danish. When Erikson was three years old, his mother married a Jewish pediatrician,
Theodor Homburger, who gave the young Erik his surname and moved the family to
southwest Germany; and later Erikson was adopted by Homburger. Erikson was a tall,
blond, blue-eyed boy, he was teased by other Jewish children for being Nordic; and then
in grammar school, he was teased for being Jewish. When he became an American
citizen in 1939, Erikson changed his name from Erik Homberger to Erik H. Erikson.
F reud, Sigmund (1856-1939) was an Austrian Neuro-psychiatrist, he is known as the
father of psychoanalytic theory. He attended the University of Vienna where he studied
philosophy, physiology, and zoology. In 1881, Freud completed his medical studies in
neurology; he worked as a doctor at Vienna General Hospital and then went into practice
INTRODUCTION
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treating psychological disorders. His private practice works lead him to his theories of
development and of the effect of repressed memories. Although the unconscious had
SUHYLRXVO\EHHQGLVFXVVHGLQSV\FKRORJ\)UHXG¶VERRN The Interpretation of Dreams,
published in 1900, formally introduced the world to the unconscious. In 1901, his book
entitled, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life LQWURGXFHGWKHQRWLRQRIWKH³)UHXGLDQ
6OLS´ZKLFKLVDVOLSRIWKHWRQJXHWKDWRFFXUVDVDUHVXOWRIWKHLQWHUIHUHQFHRIVRPH
XQFRQVFLRXVWKRXJKW)UHXG¶VPRVWshocking theory, his theory of Psychosexual
Development was published in 1905.
C ultural-H istorical Context: Freud was born in Moravia, but the family moved
to Vienna when he was four years old. In the 1930s, as the Nazi regime gained power,
Freud (who was a Jew) was convinced to leave Vienna, and he and his family fled to
London. By 1939, in pain from cancer, he convinced a friend to administer enough
morphine to kill him. Freud studied with Josef Breuer and expanded his theory of mind.
He continued working with Breuer using hypnosis to treat hysteria. The medical world
rejected hypnosis and treatment for hysteria. Breuer and Freud ended their working
relationship because Freud was convinced that the undefined energy associated with
hysteria was sexual. Since hypnosis was rejected by the medical society, Freud began to
practice free association. Free association allows individuals to recall repressed
memories from the unconscious to the conscious.
Pavlov, Ivan (1849-1936). Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist. Initially Pavlov was
primarily interested in theological studies. After he came across the work of Charles
Darwin he transitioned his interest from theological studies to studies in the natural
sciences. His first empirical scientific research focused on the digestive and circulative
systems of dogs. Findings from his research revealed that digestion began in the mouth,
and saliva played a prominent role in the digestive process. In addition, placing food
SRZGHURQWKHGRJ¶VWRQJXHZRXOGHOLcit the salivary reflex (Pavlov, 1897/1902). Further
his findings revealed that dogs began to salivate at the sight of the food powder prior to
putting the food on the dogs tongue. Based on these findings Pavlov concluded that there
was another stimulus thDWFDXVHGWKHGRJ¶VWRVDOLYDWHUDWKHUWKDQWKHIRRGSRZGHU,QWKLV
perspective, Pavlov transitioned his research interest from the digestive systems of dogs
to Pavlovian conditioning, which we now refer to as classical conditioning.
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contributed to the scientific community by demonstrating how the nervous system plays a
substantial role in regulating the digestive system. This discovery has led to the current
physiology of digestion. His research in physiology of the digestion system has also
inspired him to construct a science of conditioned reflexes. The invention of conditioned
reflexes has enabled researchers to assess the interactions that take place between a living
organism and the environment.
Piaget, Jean (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist. He was originally
trained in zoology and published his first papers in his early teen years. However, after
working with Alfred Binet, Piaget became interested in child development and began his
now infamous series of studies that chronicled the development of his own three children.
INTRODUCTION
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From these studies, he created his cognitive theory of development. Piaget described
development as a discontinuous series of changes in thinking abilities.
C ultural-H istorical Context: Piaget was influenced by the intelligence
movement of Binet, as he found himself interested less in the responses that children
produce, and more in the reasoning that they gave for their answers. Whereas
intelligence theorists were interested in the outcome of thought, Piaget was interested in
the process. Moreover, he found it difficult to compare the intelligence of children
against that of adults, instead believing that there were qualitative differences in the
thought processes of the two. His emphasis on reasoning and process over product has
helped his theory to remain prevalent in and dominant in most formal schooling systems.
Skinner, B. F. (1904-1990) is an American Psychologist who has significantly
contributed to the procedures of shaping behavior in academic and social contexts. He is
well known for his work on operant conditioning. His interest in operant conditioning
evolved as he initiated the construction of a baby box that would serve as a controlled
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to positing that the box was an effective way to control aQLQIDQW¶VLPPHGLDWH
environment, he decided to use pigeons as his subjects. Through this experiment, he
developed the concepts of operant conditioning.
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educational and social communities in terms of strategies to use for behavior regulation.
Skinner has also contributed to the psychological field through writing including several
journal articles such as, two types of conditioned reflex and a pseudo type, Superstition in
the pigeon, Are theories of learning necessary, and the origins of cognitive thought.
V ygotsky, L ev (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who studied the intersections of
various fields such as education, sociology, linguistics, psychology and philosophy. He
is most known for his sociocultural theory of development, which suggested that
development of the human being is driven by interactions between culture and language.
He lived and wrote during the times of minds like Freud and Pavlov. However, due to
Communist disagreement with his theories, his writings were not translated into English
until the late 1970s.
C ultural-H istorical Context: Vygotsky lived and theorized amidst several wellknown FRQWHPSRUDULHV3LDJHW¶VFRJQLWLYHWKHRU\RIGHYHORSPHQWGRPLQDWHGSV\FKRORJ\
Karl Marx revolutionized social theory, and Stern and Hegel made great contributions to
the study of philosophy. Vygotsky drew from these figures, critiquing and redefining the
concepts their understandings of thought, language, culture and development. From these
critiques, sociocultural developmental theory emerged.
W atson, John (1878-1958) is an American psychologist. He earned his Ph.D. in 1903. In
1913 Watson gave a lecture at Columbia University entitled ³Psychologist as the
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primarily focus on the human mind, but on the observable human actions. Thus, Watson
believed that in order to understand human development researchers should focus on how
individuals respond to the external stimuli within their contexts. In this perspective
Watson stated ³*LYH me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified
INTRODUCTION
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world to bring them up and I will guarantee to take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, merchant-chief, and yes,
even beggar man and thief regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities,
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educational and social settings. That is his work has demonstrated how conditioning can
be used to help individuals cope with psychological problems. Further Watson has also
used his principles of behaviorism in the advertising industry. That is he has
demonstrated techniques that could be used to control human emotions such as love, fear,
and range. Watson has also written several books including, the ways of behaviorism,
journal articles such as Psychology as the behaviorist views it.