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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL
Chapter 1
Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Chapter Outline
INTRODUCTION: THEORIES OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Bet You Didn’t Know That . . . Newborns Can Recognize Their Mothers by Smell
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: A BRIEF HISTORY
CRITICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
1. How Do Biological and Environmental Influences Affect Social Development?
Insights from Extremes: Genie—A “Wild Child”
2. What Role Do Children Play in Their Own Development?
3. What Is the Appropriate Unit for Studying Social Development?
4. Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
5. Is Social Behavior the Result of the Situation or the Child?
6. Is Social Development Universal across Cultures?
Cultural Context: Parenting Advice Around the Globe
7. How Does Social Development Vary across Historical Eras?
Research Up Close: Children of the Great Depression
8. Is Social Development Related to Other Developmental Domains?
9. How Important Are Mothers for Children’s Social Development?
10. Is There a Single Pathway of Social Development?
11. What Influences How We Label Children’s Social Behavior?
12. Do Developmental Psychologists “Own” Social Development?
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVES
Freud’s Theory
Erikson’s Theory
Psychodynamic Perspectives: An Evaluation
Into Adulthood: Fatherhood and Generativity
TRADITIONAL LEARNING THEORY PERSPECTIVES
Classical and Operant Conditioning
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Learning Theory Approaches: An Evaluation
COGNITIVE LEARNING PERSPECTIVES
Cognitive Social Learning Theory
Beyond Modeling: Reciprocal Determination and Self-Efficacy
Cognitive Social Learning Theory: An Evaluation
INFORMATION-PROCESSING PERSPECTIVES
Social Information Processing
Information-Processing: An Evaluation
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Piaget’s Theory: An Evaluation
Social Cognitive Domain Perspective
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky’s Theory: An Evaluation
SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVES
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory
Ecological Systems Theory: An Evaluation
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Ethological Theory
Ethological Theory: An Evaluation
Evolutionary Developmental Theory
Evolutionary Developmental Theory: An Evaluation
Human Behavior Genetics
Human Behavior Genetics: An Evaluation
LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE
Life Span Perspective: An Evaluation
A VARIETY OF THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Chapter Summary
Key Terms
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Learning from Living Leaders: Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Joan E. Grusec
Joan Grusec is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, where she first learned of
social-learning theory as an undergraduate. She found it exciting enough to trek off to Stanford
University for graduate work with Albert Bandura, abandoning her plans to be a social worker or
a historian. Since then, she has been an advocate, chronicler, and modifier of social-learning
theory. Her early work with Bandura focused on imitation. Later she studied children’s prosocial
behavior and parents’ discipline processes. She was interested in what makes parents effective in
achieving their socialization goals and what makes some parents more effective than others. She
found that parents’ effectiveness depended on the child’s age, the parent’s emotional state, and
the cultural context. Grusec is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and the
American Psychological Association and has been Associate Editor of the journal
Developmental Psychology. She believes that developmental psychology is the most exciting
area of psychology because it is the only one that brings together under one umbrella a concern
with how biology and culture interact over the course of time to make us what we are.
Further Reading
Grusec, J. E. (2011). Socialization processes in the family: Social and emotional development.
Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 243–269.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Barbara Rogoff
Barbara Rogoff, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been a
major force in bringing attention to the role of culture in children’s development. Like many
others in the field, she did not plan to be a psychologist. She started out to be a cartoonist and
majored in art. Her cultural journey began when as a graduate student at Harvard she became
involved in research in a Mayan town in Guatemala. After discovering that how these people
thought and acted was closely related to their social experiences, she began a career examining
how people learn, how other people help them learn, and how this varies in different cultural
communities.
Through her work in different cultures and in a wide array of settings from classrooms to
Girl Scouts to school drama groups, she showed how cultural rules govern social development.
In her book, Apprenticeship in Thinking, she demonstrated the value of Vygotsky’s theory as a
way to understand how learning takes place in routine everyday social interactions with parents,
siblings, and peers. For Rogoff, the pressing issue for the field of social development is how to
foster children’s development in ways that respect the differences in the values and practices of
their cultural communities.
Rogoff has received many honors for her work. She is a Fellow of the American
Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, and the American
Anthropological Association. She has served as a committee member on the Science of Learning
for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She sends this message to students: “You are the
generation that can make a real difference in how we understand and foster children’s
development in the varying communities of the United States and the world. I hope you continue
to think about these issues long after you finish reading this book.”
Further Reading
Rogoff, B. (2011). Developing destinies: A Mayan midwife and town. New York: Oxford
University Press.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
David Bjorklund
David Bjorklund is Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University. He has taught there for
more than 30 years, since completing his Ph.D. work at the University of North Carolina. As an
undergraduate, Bjorklund wanted to be a clinical child psychologist “saving the world by curing
one neurotic child at a time.” However, the reality of working with delinquent youth during college
made him realize that he was not cut out for a clinical career but was more suited to research. After
a lengthy period doing research on children’s cognitive development, Bjorklund became an
eloquent spokesman for the evolutionary theoretical perspective. His views are described in his
book The Origins of Human Nature: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology, which was the
first extended treatment of an evolutionary approach to development.
Bjorklund believes that our unique intelligence is not technological ability but an ability
to negotiate the social environment, to cooperate with others, and to understand their intentions
and desires. The central question that concerns him is how human social intelligence evolved.
He suggests that many social development issues can be better understood through an
evolutionary lens. For example, although child abuse and young males’ aggression are no
longer adaptive in modern environments, they may have been adaptive in our evolutionary
past. Bjorklund hopes that in the future the field will embrace more biological ideas including
not only evolution but also the effects of hormones and the central nervous system on social
behavior. He has been widely recognized for his work, receiving the Alexander von Humboldt
Research Award and invitations to be a visiting professor in Germany, Spain, and New
Zealand. He is editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and served as a
contributing editor to Parents Magazine. He advises undergraduates to do what works for him,
“Write to see what you think.”
Further Reading
Bjorklund, D. F., & Pellegrini, A. D. (2011). Evolutionary perspectives on social development.
In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell handbook of childhood social
development (2nd ed., pp. 64–81). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Learning Objectives
1. Describe what the study of social development entails.
2. Summarize the historical foundations of the study of social development.
3. Understand the critical questions of social development (biological and environmental
influences; role children play in their own development; appropriate unit for studying social
development; continuous and discontinuous development; role of the situation vs. the child;
universality of social development; variation across historical eras; social development as
related to other domains; importance of mothers vs. others; single vs. multiple pathways of
development; influences on judgments of children’s social behavior).
4. Understand each of the theoretical perspectives presented in this chapter.
5. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of each theoretical perspective.
6. Explain why several complementary theories are needed for the study of social development.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Chapter Summary
Social Development
 The field of social development includes descriptions of social behaviors, individual
differences in social behavior, and changes in social behavior with age as well as
explanations for these changes and differences.
Social Development: A Brief History
 The scientific study of social development began with Darwin’s work in the 1800s.
Subsequently, competing views were expressed in Watson’s behaviorally oriented theory,
Freud’s biologically inspired theory, and Gesell’s maturational theory.
Critical Questions about Social Development
 How do biological and environmental influences affect social development? Modern
developmental psychologists recognize the importance of both biological and environmental
influences and are concerned with discovering the ways in which these factors interact to
produce developmental differences.
 What role do children play in their own development? Most developmental psychologists
believe that children actively shape, control, and direct the course of their own development.
 What is the appropriate unit for studying social development? Although researchers have
typically focused on individual children, they have increasingly recognized that other units
such as dyads, triads, and social groups are also important.
 Is development continuous or discontinuous? Some theorists view social development as a
continuous process whereby change takes place smoothly and gradually. Others see
development as a series of qualitatively different stages or steps. The more closely we
examine development, the more we see ebbs and flows in the acquisition of social skills.
 Is social behavior the result of the situation or the child? Most developmental psychologists
stress the complementary roles of situational factors and child differences.
 Is social development universal across cultures? Most developmental psychologists agree
that cultural contexts should be considered but believe that universal aspects of development
such as emotions, language, and communication coexist with cultural variations.
 How does social development vary across historical eras? Both abrupt and gradual changes
in society influence social development.
 Is social development related to other developmental domains? Social development
influences and is influenced by emotional, cognitive, language, perceptual, and motor
development.
 How important are mothers for children’s social development? Although mothers are clearly
important in children’s social development, other people including fathers, siblings,
grandparents, peers, teachers, and religious leaders also are important influences.
 Is there a single pathway for social development? Children may start out at a similar place
but end up at very different points (multifinality), or they may follow different paths but end
up at the same point (equifinality).
 What influences how we label children’s social behavior? Three sets of factors—
characteristics of the child, the adult, and the context—influence social judgments and, in
turn, how social behaviors are labeled.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development

Do developmental psychologists own social development? Scholars in a variety of fields
including pediatrics, psychiatry, anthropology, economics, law, and history have made
valuable contributions to the field of social development.
Theoretical Perspectives on Social Development
 Theories help organize and integrate knowledge into a coherent account of how children
develop and foster research by providing testable predictions about behavior. Historically,
grand theories reflected attempts to account for all aspects of development. Modern theories
tend to be more narrowly focused attempts to explain specific aspects of social development.
Psychodynamic Perspective
 In Freud’s psychodynamic theory, basic biological drives motivate the child. Early
experiences are essential for determining later behavior.
 Erikson expanded Freud’s theory to include social and cultural influences on development.
 His psychosocial theory is organized around a series of fundamental personal and social tasks
that individuals must accomplish at each stage.
 Psychodynamic theories helped shape many concerns of modern social development,
including the effects of early experience in the family and the psychological roots and
importance of aggression, morality, gender roles, and attachment. However, the central
claims of the theories are difficult to test empirically.
Traditional Learning Perspective
 Traditional learning theories emphasize how new behaviors are acquired through a gradual
and continuous process of learning. The theories had important applications and have been
used in homes, schools, and clinics to reduce children’s behavior problems. Their lack of
attention to developmental changes is a limitation.
Cognitive Social Learning Theory
 Bandura focused attention on observational learning. The notions of reciprocal determinism
and self-efficacy were important additions to this theoretical position. The lack of attention to
developmental issues, the limited ecological validity of the findings, and the limited
recognition of the roles of biology and culture are shortcomings of the theory.
Social Information-Processing Theory
 This approach focuses on how children take in, use, and remember information to make
decisions about social actions. The lack of developmental focus, the limited role allocated to
emotion, and the heavy emphasis on deliberate decision making rather than automatic or
habitual responding are limitations of this perspective.
Cognitive Developmental Perspective
 In Piaget’s theory of development, children actively seek new experiences and from them
construct mental structures. They assimilate new information into existing structures and
accommodate structures when the information doesn’t fit. Piaget’s focus on stages has been
questioned, and his lack of emphasis on emotions, culture, and social behavior make his
theory of limited use in the field of social development.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Social Cognitive Domain Theory
 This perspective focuses on how children learn to make social judgments about their world.
 According to this approach, children’s social judgments are domain specific.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 This theory focuses on the contributions of social and cultural factors to children’s
development. Children grow and change as a function of their own efforts and the guidance
of more skilled others. The theory does not describe how interactions change over the course
of development.
Systems Perspective
 According to systems theories, other elements or members of the system influence an
individual’s behaviors.
 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory stresses the importance of relations between the
child and environmental systems, such as the family, school, community, and culture.
Development involves the interplay between the child and the microsystem, mesosystem,
exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Lack of developmental focus as well as limited
information about the processes that govern cross-level linkages are limitations of this theory.
Biological Perspective
 Ethologists observe behaviors in natural settings and study patterns of behaviors across
human and infrahuman species and across human societies and cultures. The theory is largely
descriptive.
 Evolutionary psychology asserts that social behaviors reflect survival needs and processes of
human evolution. It focused attention on parental investment as a way to ensure
intergenerational continuity of genes and on the adaptive value of immaturity. A recent
application of evolutionary developmental theory is “life history theory,” which suggests that
the schedule of key events over the life course is influenced by natural selection to produce
the largest possible number of surviving offspring and thus maximize the successful passing
on of the organism’s genes. These key events include the age of sexual maturity and first
reproduction, the number of offspring produced, and the level of parental investment in
children. The approach has limited relevance for addressing issues associated with rapid
changes. Many explanations are post hoc.
 Behavior genetics addresses the relative contributions of heredity and environment to social
development and the interdependence between environmental conditions and whether and
when genes are expressed in behavior. The particular genes or clusters of genes that account
for social outcomes are still poorly understood, and the way in which the environment is
measured is often very general.
Life Span Theory
 This theory emphasizes development over the entire life course. Changes can be traced to
normative age–graded events including entry into school, nonnormative events such as
divorce, and historical or cohort-related events such as the Great Depression or the Vietnam
War.
 The impact of this perspective is limited by the fact that much of the theorizing has involved
older adults.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Variety of Theoretical Perspectives
 Social development can be approached from a variety of perspectives and it is often helpful
to draw on several theories to explain children’s development.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Key Terms
GLOSSARY TERMS
age cohort People who were born in the same time period and share historical experiences.
accommodation Modifying an existing schema to fit a new experience.
assimilation Applying an existing schema to a new experience.
chronosystem The time-based dimension that can alter the operation of all other systems in
Bronfenbrenner’s model, from microsystem through macrosystem.
classical conditioning A type of learning in which a new stimulus is repeatedly presented with a
familiar stimulus until an individual learns to respond to the new stimulus in the same way as the
familiar stimulus.
cognitive social learning theory A theory that stresses the importance of observation and
imitation in the acquisition of new behaviors, with learning mediated by cognitive processes.
critical period A specific time in an organism’s development during which external factors have
a unique and irreversible impact.
desensitization Classical conditioning therapy used to overcome phobias and fears through
exposure to increasingly intense versions of the feared stimulus.
domain specificity Processes of development are different for different types of behavior, for
example, moral judgments, manners, and peer relationships.
drive-reduction theory A version of learning theory suggesting that the association of stimulus
and response in classical and operant conditioning results in learning only if it is accompanied by
reduction of basic primary drives such as hunger and thirst.
ecological theory A theory stressing the influences of environmental systems and the relations
between the systems on development.
ego In Freud’s theory, the rational component of the personality, which tries to satisfy needs
through appropriate, socially acceptable behavior.
egocentric Tending to view the world from one’s own perspective and to have difficulty seeing
things from another’s viewpoint.
Electra complex According to Freud, girls blame their mother for their lack of a penis and focus
their sexual feelings on their father.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
equifinality The convergence of developmental paths in which children follow very different
paths to reach the same developmental end point.
ethological theory A theory that behavior must be viewed in a particular context and as having
adaptive or survival value.
exosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the collection of settings that impinge on a
child’s development but in which the child does not play a direct role.
generativity A concern for people besides oneself, especially a desire to nurture and guide
younger people and contribute to the next generation.
id In Freud’s theory, instinctual drives that operate on the basis of the pleasure principle.
life history theory The schedule of key events over the life course is influenced by natural
selection to produce the largest possible number of surviving offspring and thus maximize the
successful passing on of the organism’s genes.
macrosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the system that surrounds the microsystem,
mesosystem, and exosystem, representing the values, ideologies, and laws of the society or
culture.
maturation A biologically determined process of growth that unfolds over a period of time.
mesosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the interrelation among the components of
the microsystem.
microsystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the context in which children live and
interact with the people and institutions closest to them, such as parents, peers, and school.
multifinality The divergence of developmental paths in which two individuals start out similarly
but end at very different points.
object permanence The realization in infancy that objects and people do not cease to exist when
they are no longer visible.
Oedipus complex Freud’s theory that boys become attracted to their mother and jealous of their
father.
operant conditioning A type of learning that depends on the consequence of the behavior;
rewards increase the likelihood that a behavior will recur, but punishment decreases that
likelihood.
psychodynamic theory Freud’s theory that development is determined by innate biologically
based drives shaped by encounters with the environment in early childhood.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
psychosocial theory Erikson’s theory that each stage of development depends on accomplishing
a psychological task in interactions with the social environment.
social dyad A pair of social partners, such as friends, parent and child, or marital partners.
social information-processing theory An explanation of a person’s social behavior in terms of
his or her assessment and evaluation of the social situation as a guide deciding on a course of
social action.
sociocultural theory Vygotsky’s theory that development emerges from interactions with more
skilled people and the institutions and tools provided by the culture.
superego In Freud’s theory, the personality component that is the repository of the child’s
internalization of parental or societal values, morals, and roles.
systems Developmental contexts made up of interacting parts or components, for example, a
family.
transactional Ongoing interchanges between social partners such as a parent and child across
time that result in modifications of the social behavior of each.
zone of proximal development The difference between children’s level of performance while
working alone and while working with more experienced partners.
OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN THE CHAPTER
collective efficacy
continuity
discontinuity
diverse disciplinary perspectives
domains of development
historical events
non-normative events
normative events
person factors
reciprocal determinism
self-efficacy
sensitive period
situation factors
social judgments
species specific
unit of analysis
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Class Discussions and Student Activities
1. Divide the class into smaller discussion groups to consider the following questions: How
does one's theoretical view of development affect the kinds of behaviors one notices?
What behaviors would be observed by Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Skinner, Bandura,
Vygotsky, etc. if they were observing children on the playground over the course of one
day? What additional information (if any) would each theorist like to have beyond the
observed behaviors? Ask each group to nominate someone to write down the results of
the discussion. Allow some time for discussion and then ask the groups to report and
generate discussion.
2. Choose a few of the critical questions about social development and divide the class into
smaller discussion groups. Each group should be divided into two smaller groups so that
within each small group students can debate their assigned critical question. For example,
one group will debate whether development is continuous or discontinuous. A second
group will debate whether social behavior is the result of the situation or the child.
Students should use information from their textbook to support their arguments. Then,
reconvene the class and ask the groups to present their ideas and allow the class as a
whole to weigh in on each debate.
3. The purpose of this activity is to have students apply the critical questions about social
development to their own experiences. Ask students to imagine themselves when they
were age 3. Then ask them to compare that 3 year old child to the way they are today.
Ask them to give examples of the ways they are different in terms of their social behavior
and the ways they might be the same. Then, ask them to think about what may have
contributed to the changes or the similarities over time. Help the students to determine
how their answers reflect nature vs. nurture, person vs. situation, cultural, and historical
influences of development.
4. Using Student Handout 1-3, break the students into 4 smaller groups. Have each group
work on one of the critical questions and have them determine where each theory falls
with regard to that question and provide explanations for their answers. Have each group
report back to the whole class.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Research Paper Topics
1. Watch the film NOVA: Secret of the Wild Child (1997), a documentary about Genie, the 13year-old girl who was rescued from her home by social workers after a decade with virtually
no human contact. Apply what is learned in the film to the concepts of sensitive and critical
period. Review at least three studies involving human and/or animal research that
demonstrate the concepts of critical or sensitive periods (e.g., human infant attachment,
imprinting).
2. Discuss the social dyad as a unit of study and how it is measured (see research on parentchild reminiscing by Robyn Fivush, Catherine Haden as examples).
3. Evaluate the usefulness of Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective for understanding social
development by a review of recent work inspired by this theory.
4. Review research that examines the role of self-concept or perception in peer acceptance or
rejection as an illustration of the notion of reciprocal determinism.
5. Discuss continuous versus discontinuous models of development in view of recent evidence
that there is an ebb and flow in the process of acquiring social behavior.
6. Describe and critique an evolutionary account of social development.
7. Is a life span perspective on social development with its focus on adult development a useful
one for understanding social development?
8. What aspects of Freudian theory have left their imprint on contemporary studies of social
development?
9. Describe and illustrate (by specific studies) the ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner.
10. Explain the importance of including historical change and culture in our studies of social
development by providing research examples that examine these factors.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Articles, Chapters, Books to Supplement Textbook
Overviews
Bjorklund, D. F., & Pellegrini, A. D. (2011). Evolutionary perspectives on social development In
P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell handbook of childhood social
development (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Spells out implications of the
evolutionary viewpoint for social development. Evolutionary developmental psychology
involves the expression of evolved, epigenetic programs, as described by the
developmental systems approach, over the course of ontogeny. There have been different
selection pressures on organisms at different times in ontogeny, and some characteristics
of infants and children were selected in evolution to serve an adaptive function at that
time in their life history rather than to prepare individuals for later adulthood. Examples
of such adaptive functions of immaturity are provided from infancy, play, and cognitive
development. Most evolved psychological mechanisms are proposed to be domain
specific in nature and have been identified for various aspects of children's cognitive and
social development, most notably for the acquisition of language and for theory of mind.
Differences in the quality and quantity of parental investment affect children's
development and influence their subsequent reproductive and childcare strategies. Some
sex differences observed in childhood, particularly as expressed during play, are seen as
antecedents and preparations for adult sex differences. Because evolved mechanisms
were adaptive to ancestral environments, they are not always adaptive for contemporary
people, and this mismatch of evolved mechanisms with modern environments is seen in
children's maladjustment to some aspects of formal schooling. They argue that an
evolutionary perspective can be valuable for developing a better understanding of human
ontogeny in contemporary society and that a developmental perspective is important for a
better understanding of evolutionary psychology.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In
R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th edition), Volume 1:
Theoretical models of human development (pp 793-828). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Provides a
thorough presentation of the ecological model of human development. The bioecological
model is an evolving theoretical system for the scientific study of human development
over time. The model presented in this chapter represents major theoretical innovations
from the 1983 chapter in both form and content. The new model is not a paradigm shift,
but rather represents a transition from a focus on the environment to a focus on proximal
processes as engines of development. They begin with the defining properties of the
model, which involves four principal components (process, person, context, and time),
and the dynamic, interactive relationships among them. They then turn to the research
designs required for testing the model. In doing so, they not only present the next stage in
the evolution of an ecological theory of human development, but also document the
requirements for conducting developmental research in the discovery mode. They
conclude with a look to the future—and what the bioecological model means for the
future development of our species.
Cairns, R. B., & Cairns, B. D. (2006). The making of developmental psychology. In R. M.
Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.), Volume 1:
Theoretical models of human development (pp 89–165). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. A
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
comprehensive summary and historical view of the field of developmental psychology.
This chapter provides a synthesis of the historical foundations of developmental
psychology. The roots of the developmental approach are traced from nineteenth-century
concepts in psychology and allied disciplines (e.g., biology, developmental
psychobiology, developmental psychopathology, ethology, and philosophy) to current
perspectives of a holistic science of development. The genesis and contributions of major
developmental theories are examined in relation to both their contemporary and historical
contexts. James Mark Baldwin's pioneering developmental approaches bridging the study
of social institutions (i.e., sociology) and individual functioning (i.e., psychology) are
highlighted. Additional foundations of an integrative developmental science are explored
in relation to the social applications of psychology.
Collins, W. A. (2011). Historical perspectives on contemporary research in social development.
In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell handbook of childhood social
development (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. A historical perspective and a
contemporary overview of the main issues that have concerned social development
researchers and theorists over the past century. The chapter is organized around the
division of the first century of social development into three periods: emergence (roughly
1890–1919), the middle period of institutionalization and expansion (1920– 1946), and
the modern era (from 1947 to the present). These broad divisions reveal striking
variations in the degree to which systematic theoretical perspectives influenced the
dominant questions and methods of social development research.
http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/93/14051967/1405196793-46.pdf
Charlesworth, W. R. (1992). Darwin and developmental psychology: Past and present.
Developmental Psychology, 28, 5–16. A look at the contributions made by Darwin to
previous and current conceptions of developmental psychology. Addresses the historical
question of what influence Darwin has had on the emergence of developmental
psychology as a scientific discipline. Suggestions for possible synergistic connections
between modern evolutionary theory and developmental psychology are offered.
Darwin's distinctive contributions to evolutionary theory appear to have had less
influence on developmental psychology than traditionally believed. Possible reasons for
this include developmentalists' commitment to meliorism, conceptual issues
characterizing differences between ontogenetic and phylogenetic change, and
methodological differences in studying proximate and ultimate factors. It is suggested
that developmentalists use evolutionary theory as a heuristic for structuring new research
into human development. In return, evolutionary biologists can have hypotheses
concerning the impact of phylogeny on human ontogeny tested by those best qualified to
test them.
Chen, X ., Chung,J., Lechcier-Kimel, R. French, D. (2011). Culture and social development. In P.
K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell handbook of childhood social
development (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. A review of how children’s social
behavior varies across cultures and how cultural values,attitudes, and socialization
practices contribute to these cross-cultural variations in children’s social development.
This chapter contains sections titled: Culture, Social Interactions and Relationships, and
Development: Theoretical Perspectives; Early Socioemotional Characteristics,
Socialization, and Cultural Context; Play, Peer Interaction, and Self - Expression Across
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Cultures; Children's Social Functioning Across Cultures; Friendship and Peer Group
Affiliation: Cultural Variations on the Structure and Function of Peer Relationships
de Haan, M., & Gunnar, M. R. (2009). Handbook of developmental social neuroscience. New
York: Guilford. An overview of new theoretical perspectives based on the emerging area
of developmental social neuroscience. This is an excellent example of the new
interdisciplinary look of social development in which the neurological underpinnings of
social development are revealed by collaborations among neuroscientists, developmental
psychobiologists, and developmental psychologists.
Gauvain, M. (2001). The social context of cognitive development. New York: Guilford Press.
This book describes research conducted from a Vygotskian or sociocultural perspective
on various areas of cognitive development, such as problem solving and planning. It is an
excellent source for a description of the sociocultural approach to the study of cognitive
development and examples of research that illustrate notions of scaffolding and guided
participation that are directly relevant to social development.
Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (2012). The cultural organization of children’s environments. In L.
Mayes & M. Lewis (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of environment in human development.
(pp.498-516). New York: Cambridge University Press. A good overview of crosscultural approaches to children’s social development. These authors provide many
examples of how childrearing practices vary across cultures and make a strong case for
the importance of including cultural context in deliberations about social development .
Hollstein, T. (2012). The dynamic systems perspective: What is the system? In L. Mayes & M.
Lewis (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of environment in human development (pp.138-151).
New York: Cambridge University Press. An up-to-date explanation of the value of a
systems approach to development. This provides an interesting history of this set of ideas,
definitions of the key terms, analytic strategies for assessing system level issues, and
remaining theoretical issues that need to be addressed.
Lewis, M. D. (2000). The promise of dynamic systems approaches for an integrated account of
human development. Child Development, 71, 36–43. Describes the dynamic systems
perspective and helps to explain how development proceeds using principles of selforganization. After decades of theoretical fragmentation and insularity, a converging
explanatory framework based on general scientific principles is an important goal for
developmental psychology. Dynamic systems approaches may provide such a framework,
using principles of self-organization to explain how novel forms emerge without
predetermination and become increasingly complex with development. New trends in
traditional theoretical families emphasize systemic, emergent processes, and these can
now be explicated with principles of self-organization that apply to all natural systems.
Self-organization thus provides a single explanation for the multiple facets of
development, integrating diverse developmental viewpoints within a larger scientific
perspective.
Miller, P. H. (2009). Theories of developmental psychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Summaries and comparisons of the major developmental theories; the best known textbook
in this area. This book provides information about the main tenets of each theory, the
empirical evidence in support of these approaches, and the strengths and weaknesses of
each theory.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Parke, R. D., & Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (2013). History of developmental psychology: Theories
and themes. In I. B. Weiner (Gen, Ed.) Handbook of Psychology (rev. ed.), & D. K.
Freedheim (Vol. Ed.), History of Psychology (pp. 224-247). New York: Wiley. An
overview of the history of developmental psychology from Darwin to the present, which
provides a summary of recent theoretical and methodological issues characterizing
contemporary research .
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University
Press. Identifies patterns of similarities and differences across many cultural
communities in children’s opportunities to participate in activities and the role of such
participation in children becoming competent members of their community.
Sameroff, A. (2009). The transactional model of development: How children and contexts shape
each other. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Presents cutting edge
theory and research regarding the interplay of nature and nurture in development. The
book is divided into three parts, with the first part introducing the transactional model and
designs for transactional research, the second and third parts focusing on the predictive
power of the transactional model and the many social settings contributing to child
development.
Examples of Relevant Recent Studies
Gross, H. E., Shaw, D. S., & Moilanen, K. L. (2008). Reciprocal associations between boys’
externalizing problems and mothers’ depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child
Psychology, 36, 693-709. Demonstration of the transactional nature of development.
Although much has been written about the utility of applying transactional models to the
study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used such an approach to
examine how children influence maternal wellbeing throughout their development. Using
a sample of males from predominantly low-income families, the current study explored
reciprocal relations between boys’ overt disruptive behavior (boys’ ages 5 to 10 years)
and maternal depressive symptoms. The authors then examined this model with youthreported antisocial behaviors (ASB) and maternal depressive symptoms when the boys
were older, ages 10 to 15. In middle childhood, evidence was found for both maternal and
child effects from boys’ ages 5 to 6 using both maternal and alternative caregiver report
of child aggressive behavior. In the early adolescence model, consistent maternal effects
were found, and child effects were evident during the transition to adolescence (boys’
ages 11 to 12). The findings are discussed in reference to reciprocal models of child
development and prevention efforts to reduce both maternal depression and the
prevalence of child antisocial behavior.
Kim, J., Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., & Manly, J. T. (2009). Child maltreatment and trajectories
of personality and behavioral functioning: Implications for the development of
personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 889-912. Illustration of
multifinality, resiliency, and multiple paths of development among maltreated children.
This study investigated the longitudinal impact of maltreatment parameters on personality
processes and maladjustment and prospective relationships between personality trajectory
classes and subsequent maladjustment outcomes. The sample involved maltreated (n =
249) and nonmaltreated (n = 200) children followed longitudinally between ages 6 and 10.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Growth mixture modeling indicated multifinality in personality development depending
on the risk status (i.e., maltreated vs. nonmaltreated). Two trajectory classes of ego
resiliency were identified for maltreated children: those who showed a declining
trajectory exhibited greater maladjustment. In contrast, three trajectory classes of ego
control were identified for nonmaltreated children; the subgroups showing increases in
ego undercontrol or dramatic changes from high ego undercontrol to high ego overcontrol
exhibited poor adjustment. Experiencing multiple maltreatment subtypes and
physical/sexual abuse were related to higher levels of ego undercontrol and externalizing
symptomatology, whereas early onset of maltreatment was associated with the low and
decreasing trajectory of ego resiliency and higher levels of internalizing symptomatology.
The findings suggest that ego resiliency and ego control, personality processes related to
self-regulation, may be important factors in identifying distinct pathways to later
personality disorders as well as pathways to resilient functioning.
Ladd, J. A., & Linderholm, T. (2008). A consequence of school grade labels: Preservice
teachers’ interpretations and recall of children’s classroom behavior. Social Psychology
of Education, 11, 229-241. Demonstration of how context can influence perceptions and
labeling of children’s behavior. This study investigated whether preservice teachers’
attitudes surrounding school grade labels influenced interpretations and recall of
children’s classroom behavior using the automatic attitude activation model (Fazio, In R.
M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition:
Foundations of social behavior, 1986) as a theoretical framework. Participants were
randomly assigned to one of three conditions: The expectation of viewing a video of
children in schools labeled as “A,” “F,” or “typical” as a result of the school’s aggregated
student performance on standardized tests. Results indicated that participants who
believed that they were viewing a video of an “F” classroom recalled more negative and
fewer positive behaviors compared to the “typical” classroom. Likewise, there was a
trend for participants to recall more negative and fewer positive behaviors when viewing
a video of an “F” compared to an “A” school. Therefore, negative attitudes about a
school label of “F” biased preservice teachers’ perceptions and memories of children’s
classroom behaviors.
Phillips, L., & Cameron, C. A. (2012). Investigating the multimodality of children and youth.
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2 & 3, 284–299. This article
illustrates various ways of empirically testing transactional (Sameroff) and biosocial
(Bronfenbrenner) models of development. Capturing lived childhoods without
decontextualizing their meaning and still providing information needed by policy-makers and
practitioners is a pressing challenge for contemporary researchers. In this paper the authors
provide information to open up such a dialogue via a range of tools they have utilized when
investigating well-being. They interrogate biosocio-ecological approaches to human
development to provide relatively holistic pictures of the lived experience of childhood. They
utilize various methods within this approach to determine what they transactionally facilitate
at each level. At the biopsychological level, for example, controlled, psychologically valid,
psychosocial stress procedures expose hormonal responses, yielding valuable information
about individual differences in physiological stress reactivity. At the level of the
psychological self within a social ecology, they systematically observe children and youth in
naturalistic, environmental transactions with the aid of visual methods such as Day in the Life
filming, and invite the children and their parents and youth to share their reflections on their
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
lived context via focused discussions and interviews. In this paper they discuss new ways of
integrating research findings by suggesting Sameroff’s (2010) unified theory as an
interpretive framework for research within the field of child and youth care.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Movies for Instructors
Introduction: The Developing Person: Theories of Development (2003, Insight Media, 30 min.).
This program presents the history of the scientific study of human development from Locke and
Rousseau to Piaget and Erikson. It explores the lifespan perspective, examines Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological model of development, and introduces psychoanalytic theory, learning theory,
behaviorism, and cognitive theory.
Freud: Biography—Sigmund Freud: Analysis of a Mind* (2004) uses photographs, interviews
with psychoanalysts and Freud’s grandchildren, and even a brief recording that Freud himself
made to provide a glimpse into the life of this complex man. Home movies of Freud with his
friends and family made in the 1930’s are available at these sites: http://www.freudmuseum.at/freud/media/video-e.htm; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQOcf9Y-Uc8.*
Erikson: Lost in Translation* (2003) is a useful movie for illustrating Erikson’s psychosocial
stages of development. The film explores the relationship between a young woman and a middleaged man stuck in Tokyo. Both characters are experiencing developmental crises. They help
each other articulate their dilemmas and begin to take steps forward.
Classical conditioning: Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction drama, A Clockwork Orange* (1971)
portrays a violent youth convicted of murder and rape who is given an experimental program of
“aversion therapy” in which he is conditioned to detest violence. For a clip of Pavlov and his
salivating dogs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = hhqumfpxuzI.* Watson’s classical
conditioning of Little Albert is presented in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = Xt0ucxOrPQE*;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI; and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE.
Operant conditioning: Skinner’s operant conditioning is illustrated in these clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = I_ctJqjlrHA*; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =
fLoHH03QAAI*; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-RS80DVvrg.
Social learning theory: Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory: An Introduction (Davidson Films;
38 minutes; http://www.davidsonfilms.com/giants-of-psychology/banduras-social-cognitivetheory-introduction)
Piaget: Clips illustrating Piaget’s theory include the following: Piaget on Piaget (1977): Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL8FFCE12A86C68F7B&v=I1JWr4G8YLM&NR=1&feat
ure=endscreen; Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb4TPj1pxzQ&list=PL8FFCE12A86C68F7B; Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9nSC_Xgabc&list=PL8FFCE12A86C68F7B; Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVSaEHhOEZY&list=PL8FFCE12A86C68F7B.
Piaget's Four Stages of Human Development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZndF_NruR4.
Darwin: The documentary film The Genius of Charles Darwin* (2008) includes segments on
Darwin’s life and discoveries and an attempt to convince a group of school children that
evolution explains the world better than religion. The movie Creation* (2009) focuses on
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Darwin’s personal life during the time he was writing On the Origin of Species and reveals the
struggles he went through balancing his religious faith with his science.
Ethological theory: is illustrated in the short documentary Konrad Lorenz: Science of Animal
Behavior* (1975). Lorenz’s work is also the basis for the movie Fly Away Home* (1996) in
which a young girl becomes the “mother” to a flock of geese and has to teach them how to
migrate south for the winter.
How social development is influenced by environmental factors: NOVA: Secret of the Wild
Child* (1997) is a documentary about Genie, the 13-year-old girl who was rescued from her home
by social workers after a decade with virtually no human contact.
How social development varies across neighborhoods and historical eras: Where Do the
Children Play?* (2002) shows how children’s experiences depend on where and when they are
born. The film opens by examining differences between growing up today and childhood as it was
lived 50 years ago and examines how restrictive patterns of sprawl, congestion, and suburban
development affect children’s development.
How children’s experiences (and social development) differ in different cultures: Families
of the World* (1997–2000), a documentary series illustrating cultural differences and similarities
among children from Mexico, Japan, India, Egypt, China, Russia, France, the United States, and
several other nations. Each film records two children performing their daily activities. Babies*
(2010) is a visually stunning film that chronicles the lives of four infants—in Mongolia, Namibia,
San Francisco, and Tokyo—from first breath to first steps.
* Movies that are included in the “At the Movies” section in the Student Guide are marked
with an asterisk.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Student Handout 1-1
Chapter Summary
Social Development
 The field of social development includes descriptions of social behaviors, individual
differences in social behavior, and changes in social behavior with age as well as
explanations for these changes and differences.
Social Development: A Brief History
 The scientific study of social development began with Darwin’s work in the 1800s.
Subsequently, competing views were expressed in Watson’s behaviorally oriented theory,
Freud’s biologically inspired theory, and Gesell’s maturational theory.
Critical Questions about Social Development
 How do biological and environmental influences affect social development? Modern
developmental psychologists recognize the importance of both biological and environmental
influences and are concerned with discovering the ways in which these factors interact to
produce developmental differences.
 What role do children play in their own development? Most developmental psychologists
believe that children actively shape, control, and direct the course of their own development.
 What is the appropriate unit for studying social development? Although researchers have
typically focused on individual children, they have increasingly recognized that other units
such as dyads, triads, and social groups are also important.
 Is development continuous or discontinuous? Some theorists view social development as a
continuous process whereby change takes place smoothly and gradually. Others see
development as a series of qualitatively different stages or steps. The more closely we
examine development, the more we see ebbs and flows in the acquisition of social skills.
 Is social behavior the result of the situation or the child? Most developmental psychologists
stress the complementary roles of situational factors and child differences.
 Is social development universal across cultures? Most developmental psychologists agree
that cultural contexts should be considered but believe that universal aspects of development
such as emotions, language, and communication coexist with cultural variations.
 How does social development vary across historical eras? Both abrupt and gradual changes
in society influence social development.
 Is social development related to other developmental domains? Social development
influences and is influenced by emotional, cognitive, language, perceptual, and motor
development.
 How important are mothers for children’s social development? Although mothers are clearly
important in children’s social development, other people including fathers, siblings,
grandparents, peers, teachers, and religious leaders also are important influences.
 Is there a single pathway for social development? Children may start out at a similar place
but end up at very different points (multifinality), or they may follow different paths but end
up at the same point (equifinality).
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development


What influences how we label children’s social behavior? Three sets of factors—
characteristics of the child, the adult, and the context—influence social judgments and, in
turn, how social behaviors are labeled.
Do developmental psychologists own social development? Scholars in a variety of fields
including pediatrics, psychiatry, anthropology, economics, law, and history have made
valuable contributions to the field of social development.
Theoretical Perspectives on Social Development
 Theories help organize and integrate knowledge into a coherent account of how children
develop and foster research by providing testable predictions about behavior. Historically,
grand theories reflected attempts to account for all aspects of development. Modern theories
tend to be more narrowly focused attempts to explain specific aspects of social development.
Psychodynamic Perspective
 In Freud’s psychodynamic theory, basic biological drives motivate the child. Early
experiences are essential for determining later behavior.
 Erikson expanded Freud’s theory to include social and cultural influences on development.
 His psychosocial theory is organized around a series of fundamental personal and social tasks
that individuals must accomplish at each stage.
 Psychodynamic theories helped shape many concerns of modern social development,
including the effects of early experience in the family and the psychological roots and
importance of aggression, morality, gender roles, and attachment. However, the central
claims of the theories are difficult to test empirically.
Traditional Learning Perspective
 Traditional learning theories emphasize how new behaviors are acquired through a gradual
and continuous process of learning. The theories had important applications and have been
used in homes, schools, and clinics to reduce children’s behavior problems. Their lack of
attention to developmental changes is a limitation.
Cognitive Social Learning Theory
 Bandura focused attention on observational learning. The notions of reciprocal determinism
and self-efficacy were important additions to this theoretical position. The lack of attention to
developmental issues, the limited ecological validity of the findings, and the limited
recognition of the roles of biology and culture are shortcomings of the theory.
Social Information-Processing Theory
 This approach focuses on how children take in, use, and remember information to make
decisions about social actions. The lack of developmental focus, the limited role allocated to
emotion, and the heavy emphasis on deliberate decision making rather than automatic or
habitual responding are limitations of this perspective.
Cognitive Developmental Perspective
 In Piaget’s theory of development, children actively seek new experiences and from them
construct mental structures. They assimilate new information into existing structures and
accommodate structures when the information doesn’t fit. Piaget’s focus on stages has been
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
questioned, and his lack of emphasis on emotions, culture, and social behavior make his
theory of limited use in the field of social development.
Social Cognitive Domain Theory
 This perspective focuses on how children learn to make social judgments about their world.
 According to this approach, children’s social judgments are domain specific.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 This theory focuses on the contributions of social and cultural factors to children’s
development. Children grow and change as a function of their own efforts and the guidance
of more skilled others. The theory does not describe how interactions change over the course
of development.
Systems Perspective
 According to systems theories, other elements or members of the system influence an
individual’s behaviors.
 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory stresses the importance of relations between the
child and environmental systems, such as the family, school, community, and culture.
Development involves the interplay between the child and the microsystem, mesosystem,
exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Lack of developmental focus as well as limited
information about the processes that govern cross-level linkages are limitations of this theory.
Biological Perspective
 Ethologists observe behaviors in natural settings and study patterns of behaviors across
human and infrahuman species and across human societies and cultures. The theory is largely
descriptive.
 Evolutionary psychology asserts that social behaviors reflect survival needs and processes of
human evolution. It focused attention on parental investment as a way to ensure
intergenerational continuity of genes and on the adaptive value of immaturity. A recent
application of evolutionary developmental theory is “life history theory,” which suggests that
the schedule of key events over the life course is influenced by natural selection to produce
the largest possible number of surviving offspring and thus maximize the successful passing
on of the organism’s genes. These key events include the age of sexual maturity and first
reproduction, the number of offspring produced, and the level of parental investment in
children. The approach has limited relevance for addressing issues associated with rapid
changes. Many explanations are post hoc.
 Behavior genetics addresses the relative contributions of heredity and environment to social
development and the interdependence between environmental conditions and whether and
when genes are expressed in behavior. The particular genes or clusters of genes that account
for social outcomes are still poorly understood, and the way in which the environment is
measured is often very general.
Life Span Theory
 This theory emphasizes development over the entire life course. Changes can be traced to
normative age–graded events including entry into school, nonnormative events such as
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development

divorce, and historical or cohort-related events such as the Great Depression or the Vietnam
War.
The impact of this perspective is limited by the fact that much of the theorizing has involved
older adults.
Variety of Theoretical Perspectives
 Social development can be approached from a variety of perspectives and it is often helpful
to draw on several theories to explain children’s development.
27
Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Student Handout 1-2
Key Terms
GLOSSARY TERMS
age cohort People who were born in the same time period and share historical experiences.
accommodation Modifying an existing schema to fit a new experience.
assimilation Applying an existing schema to a new experience.
chronosystem The time-based dimension that can alter the operation of all other systems in
Bronfenbrenner’s model, from microsystem through macrosystem.
classical conditioning A type of learning in which a new stimulus is repeatedly presented with a
familiar stimulus until an individual learns to respond to the new stimulus in the same way as the
familiar stimulus.
cognitive social learning theory A theory that stresses the importance of observation and
imitation in the acquisition of new behaviors, with learning mediated by cognitive processes.
critical period A specific time in an organism’s development during which external factors have
a unique and irreversible impact.
desensitization Classical conditioning therapy used to overcome phobias and fears through
exposure to increasingly intense versions of the feared stimulus.
domain specificity Processes of development are different for different types of behavior, for
example, moral judgments, manners, and peer relationships.
drive reduction theory A version of learning theory suggesting that the association of stimulus
and response in classical and operant conditioning results in learning only if it is accompanied by
reduction of basic primary drives such as hunger and thirst.
ecological theory A theory stressing the influences of environmental systems and the relations
between the systems on development.
ego In Freud’s theory, the rational component of the personality, which tries to satisfy needs
through appropriate, socially acceptable behaviors.
egocentric Tending to view the world from one’s own perspective and to have difficulty seeing
things from another’s viewpoint.
Electra complex According to Freud, girls blame their mother for their lack of a penis and focus
their sexual feelings on their father.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
equifinality The convergence of developmental paths in which children follow very different
paths to reach the same developmental end point.
ethological theory A theory that behavior must be viewed in a particular context and as having
adaptive or survival value.
exosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the collection of settings that impinge on a
child’s development but in which the child does not play a direct role.
generativity A concern for people besides oneself, especially a desire to nurture and guide
younger people and contribute to the next generation.
id In Freud’s theory, instinctual drives that operate on the basis of the pleasure principle.
life history theory The schedule of key events over the life course is influenced by natural
selection to produce the largest possible number of surviving offspring and thus maximize the
successful passing on of the organism’s genes.
macrosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the system that surrounds the microsystem,
mesosystem, and exosystem, representing the values, ideologies, and laws of the society or
culture.
maturation A biologically determined process of growth that unfolds over a period of time.
mesosystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the interrelation among the components of
the microsystem.
microsystem In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the context in which children live and
interact with the people and institutions closest to them, such as parents, peers, and school.
multifinality The divergence of developmental paths in which two individuals start out similarly
but end at very different points.
object permanence The realization in infancy that objects and people do not cease to exist when
they are no longer visible.
Oedipus complex Freud’s theory that boys become attracted to their mother and jealous of their
father.
operant conditioning A type of learning that depends on the consequence of the behavior;
rewards increase the likelihood that a behavior will recur, but punishment decreases that
likelihood.
psychodynamic theory Freud’s theory that development is determined by innate biologically
based drives shaped by encounters with the environment in early childhood.
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
psychosocial theory Erikson’s theory that each stage of development depends on accomplishing
a psychological task in interactions with the social environment.
social dyad A pair of social partners, such as friends, parent and child, or marital partners.
social information-processing theory An explanation of a person’s social behavior in terms of
his or her assessment and evaluation of the social situation as a guide deciding on a course of
social action.
sociocultural theory Vygotsky’s theory that development emerges from interactions with more
skilled people and the institutions and tools provided by the culture.
superego In Freud’s theory, the personality component that is the repository of the child’s
internalization of parental or societal values, morals, and roles.
systems Developmental contexts made up of interacting parts or components, for example, a
family.
transactional Ongoing interchanges between social partners such as a parent and child across
time that result in modifications of the social behavior of each.
zone of proximal development The difference between children’s level of performance while
working alone and while working with more experienced partners.
OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN THE CHAPTER
collective efficacy
continuity
discontinuity
diverse disciplinary perspectives
domains of development
historical events
non-normative events
normative events
person factors
reciprocal determinism
self-efficacy
sensitive period
situation factors
social judgments
species specific
unit of analysis
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Chapter 1 Introduction: Theories of Social Development
Student Handout 1-3
Theorist/Theoretical
Question 1:
Question 4:
Question 5:
Question 6:
Perspective
Biology (B)
Continuity (C)
Situation (S)
Universal (U)
versus
versus
versus
versus
Environment (E)
Discontinuity (D)
Individual (I)
Cultural (C)
Freud
Erikson
Learning
Cognitive social
learning
Information
processing
Piaget
Vygotsky
Ecological
Ethological
Evolutionary
Behavior genetics
Life span
31