Download Lecture 2 theoretical perspectives

HS1000-71
Human Growth &
Social Environment
Lecture 2:
Overview of Human Growth and
the Social Environment
Theoretical Perspectives on
Human Development
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Contents
Discussion:
• Is human growth a science subject or a social
science subject?
• The commonalities and differences of
different perspectives?
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Contents
Theoretical Perspectives on
Human Development
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2.
3.
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5.
Psychoanalytic perspective
Learning / Behaviorism perspective
Cognitive perspective
Humanistic perspective
Ecological / Contextual perspective
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Psychoanalytic perspective
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory:
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which views development as shaped by unconscious
forces that motivate human behavior.
unconscious forces act to determine personality and
behaviour
three aspects of personality: id, ego, and superego
Id:
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operates according to the pleasure principle, the goal is
to maximize satisfaction and reduce tension.
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ID, EGO and SUPEREGO
Ego:
 operates on the reality principle, in which
instinctual energy is restrained / controlled in
order to maintain the safety of the individual and
help integrate the person into society
Superego:
 represents a person’s conscience, incorporating
distinctions between right and wrong. It begins
to develop around age 5 or 6 and is learned from
an individual’s parents, teachers, and other
significant figures
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Freud’s idea of
the personality structure
Ego
Conscious mind
Unconscious
mind
Superego
Id
Psychosexual development
Psychosexual development
 a series of stages that children pass through in
which pleasure, or gratification, is focused on a
particular biological function and body part
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unable to gratify sufficiently or receive too much
gratification during a particular stage, fixation(固定)
may occur
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Fixation
Fixation:
 behaviour reflecting an earlier stage of
development due to an unresolved conflict
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Stage 1 – Oral 口腔-感覺期
(birth to 12 – 18 months). Baby’s chief source
of pleasure involves mouth-oriented activities
(sucking 吸、吮 and feeding).
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lead to unusually absorbed in oral activities –
eating, talking, chewing gum
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Stage 2 – Anal 肌肉-肛門期
(12 -18 months to 3 years).
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Child derives sensual gratification from
withholding (抑制 / 阻擋)and expelling (排出)
feces (排泄物). Zone of gratification is anal
region, and toilet training is important
activity.
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1.
Stage 3 – Phallic 運動- 生殖期 ( 3-6 years).
Child becomes attached to parent of the
other sex and later identifies with same-sex
parent. Superego develops. Zone of
gratification shifts to genital (生殖器 ) region.
Oedipus Complex (戀母情意結)
Boy has an unconscious sexual desire
toward his mother and feelings of
jealousy and hatred (憎恨) for the rival
(敵手) father
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Stage 4 – Latency 潛伏期
( 6 years to puberty).
Time of relative calm between more turbulent
/ stormy (動蕩期 / 暴風期 / 混亂期) stages.
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Stage 5 – genital (兩性期)(puberty through
adulthood)
Recurrence (再現) of sexual impulses of
phallic stage, directed into mature adult
sexuality.
Implication
 A key event in psychosexual development
occurs in the phallic stage of early
childhood. Boys develop sexual
attachment to their mothers, and girls to
their fathers, and they have aggressive
urges toward the same-sex parent, whom
they regard (注重) as a rival (競爭者).
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Children eventually resolve their anxiety
over these feelings but identifying with the
same-sex parent and move into the latency
stage of middle childhood, a period of
relative emotional calm and intellectual
and social exploration. They redirect their
sexual energies into other pursuits (追求),
such as school work, relationships, and
hobbies.
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The genital stage, the final stage, lasts
throughout adulthood. The sexual urges
represented during latency now resurface (重
新出現) to flow in socially approved channels,
which Freud defined as heterosexual (異性)
relations with persons outside the family of
origin.
Defense Mechanisms
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Repression (抑壓): unacceptable wishes are barred
from conscious thought
Suppression (無意識的壓抑)
壓抑／抑制（英文術語Suppression/Repression）： 「壓抑」指當一
個人的某種觀念、情感或衝動不能被超我接受時，下意識的將極度痛
苦的經驗或慾望就被潛抑到無意識中去，以使個體不再因之而產生焦
慮、痛苦， 這是一種不自覺的主動性遺忘（不是否認事實），有時表
現為口誤筆誤。「抑制」則為有意識的進行同樣工作。但需要注意的
是，壓抑在潛意識中的這些慾望還是有 可能會無意識的影響人類的行
為。
例如：一位中年婦女的獨生女於十八歲時死於車禍，事情發生在十月
份。當時她非常痛苦，經過一段時間以後，她把這不堪忍受的情緒抑
制、存放到潛意識 中去， 「遺忘」了。可以說感情留在意識之中，
而觀念卻被忽視了。這些潛意識中的情緒不知不覺地影響她的情緒，
果然她每年十月份均會出現自發抑鬱情緒，自己不知道 為什麼，藥物
治療也無效。
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Projection (投射): unacceptable wishes are
attributed to someone else
Reaction formation (反向): unacceptable
feelings are expressed by the opposite
feelings
Regression (倒退): one avoids confronting
conflicts and stresses by reverting to
behaviours that were effective and comforting
at an earlier life stage
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http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%83%E7%90%
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Displacement (轉移/ 移置): unacceptable impulses
are expressed toward a substitute target
Rationalization (合理化): unacceptable feelings and
actions are justified by logical or pseudo logical(偽
邏輯) explanations
Denial (否認): parts of external reality are denied
Sublimation(昇華): unacceptable wishes are
channeled to socially acceptable behaviours
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Psychodynamic Perspective
Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994)
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Psychosocial Development
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Erik Erikson, a German born psychoanalyst,
modified and extended Freudian theory by
emphasizing the influence of society on the
developing personality.
Erikson was a pioneer in taking a life-span
perspective.
Freud maintained that early childhood
experiences permanently shape personality
but Erikson contended that ego
development is lifelong.
Psychosocial Development
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encompasses changes in our interactions with
and understandings of one another, as well as in
our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as
members of society
eight stages that emerge in a fixed pattern and are
similar for all people
each stage presents a crisis or conflict that the
individual must resolve
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e.g. the generatively (生產) versus
stagnation (停滯) stage: their contributions
to family, community, and society can
produce either positive feelings about the
continuity of life or a sense of stagnation and
disappointment about what they are passing
on to future generations
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Stage 1 birth to 12-18 months
 Basic trust (信任) versus mistrust (不信任).
Baby develops sense of whether world is a
good and safe place, virtue: hope.
Stage 2 12-18 months to 3 years
 Autonomy(自主) versus shame and doubt
(羞怯懷疑). Child develops a balance of
independence and self-sufficiency over
shame and doubt. Virtue: will
Stage 3 3-6 years
 Initiative (進取)versus guilt (罪惡感). Child
develops initiative when trying out new
activities and is not overwhelmed by guilt.
Virtue: purpose
Stage 4 6 years to puberty
 Industry (勤勉)versus inferiority (自卑).
Child must learn skills of the culture or face
feelings of incompetence. Virtue: skill
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Stage 5 – puberty to young adulthood 12-18
 Identity(自我認同) versus identity
confusion (角色混淆). Adolescent must
determine own sense of self (Who am I?) or
experience confusion about roles. Virtue:
fidelity(盡責)
Stage 6 – young adulthood 18-35
 Intimacy (親密) versus isolation (疏離).
Person seeks to make commitments to
others; if unsuccessful, may suffer from
isolation and self-absorption. Virtue: love
Stage 7 – middle adulthood 35-55
 Generativity(生產建設)versus
stagnation(停滯). Mature adult is concerned
with establishing and guiding the next
generation or else feels personal
improvement. Virtue: care
Stage 8 – late adulthood 55- 死亡
 Integrity (自我統整) versus despair (絕望).
Older adult achieves acceptance of own life,
allowing acceptance of death, or else despair
over inability to relive life. Virtue: wisdom
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Implication
 The resolution of later crises or conflicts
depends on the resolution reached in
previous stages.
 Erikson’s theory is important because of its
emphasis on social and cultural influences
and on development beyond adolescence.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths of Psychodynamic Perspective
Psychoanalytic theory:
 contemporary researchers study memory and
learning suggests that we carry with us memories of which we are not consciously aware - that have a
significant impact on our behaviour
Psychosocial theory:
 development continues throughout the lifespan is
highly important, and received considerable support
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Learning / Behaviorism
perspective
J. B. Watson(1878 – 1958)
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Perspective 2 –Learning
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Learning theories have helped to make the
study of human development more scientific.
Their terms are defined precisely, and their
theories can be tested in the laboratory.
Two important learning theories are
behaviorism and social learning theory.
Behaviorism
 Behaviorism is a mechanistic theory, which
describe observed behavior as a
predictable response to experience.
 They hold that human begins at all ages learn
about the world the same way other
organisms do: by reacting to conditions, or
aspects of their environment, that they find
pleasing, painful, or threatening.
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Two kinds of associative learning are
classical conditioning and operant
conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning
 The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov
devised experiments in which dogs learned to
salivate at the sound of a bell that rang at
feeding time. These experiments were the
foundation for classical conditioning, in which
a response (salivation) to a stimulus (the
bell) is evoked after repeated association with
a stimulus that normally elicits the response
(food).
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The American behaviorist John B. Watson
applied such stimulus-response theories to
children, claiming that he could mold(塑造)any
infant in any way he chose.
Classical conditioning occurs throughout life.
Food likes and dislikes may be a result of
conditioned learning. Fear of drowning or of
heights may arises from fallen off a diving
board or from the top of a slide.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning
 Baby angel lies in his crib. When he starts to
babble (Ma-ma-ma), his mother smiles and
repeats the syllables. Angel learns that his
behavior (babbling) can produce a desirable
consequence (loving attention from a
parent), and so he keeps babbling to attract
his mother’s attention. An originally
accidental behavior (babbling) has become a
conditioned response.
•B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
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The American psychologists B. F. Skinner,
who formulated the principles of operant
conditioning, worked primarily with rats and
pigeons.
He found that an organism will tend to repeat
a response that has been reinforced by
desirable consequences and will suppress a
response that has been punished.
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Reinforcement is the process by which a
behavior is strengthened, increasing the
likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
Punishment is the process by which a
behavior is weakened, decreasing the
likelihood of repetition.
Operant conditioning
(B. F. Skinner)(1904 – 1990)
a form of learning in which a voluntary response is
strengthened or weakened by its association with
positive or negative consequences
Behaviour modification
 is a form of operant conditioning used to gradually
eliminate undesirable behaviour or to instill positive
behaviour
Positive reinforcement:
 consists of giving a reward, such as food, a bonus, or
praise in order to strengthen the behaviour, thus
increase the likelihood that the behaviour will be
repeated
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Negative reinforcement:
 encourages repetition of a behaviour by removing or
avoiding an aversive(嫌惡) event
Punishment:
 suppresses a behaviour to bring on an aversive
event, or by withdrawing a positive event
Extinguish:
 behaviour that receives no reinforcement or is
punished, likely to be discontinued (extinguished)
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Social-Cognitive Learning Theory
Albert Bandura (1925 - )
Social learning theory
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The American psychologist Albert Bandura
developed many of the principles of social
learning
an approach that emphasizes learning by
observing the behaviour of another person,
called a model
Classical social learning theory maintains that
people learn appropriate social behavior chiefly
by observing and imitating models – that is by
watching other people, such as parents,
teachers, or sports heroes. This process is
called observational learning or modeling.
Four steps of observational
learning
1. pay attention and perceive the most critical
features of a model’s behaviour
2. successfully recall the behaviour
3. reproduce the behaviour accurately
4. must be motivated to learn and carry out the
behaviour
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Implication
 Through feedback on their behavior, children
gradually form standards for judging their
actions and become more selective in
choosing models who exemplify those
standards. They also begin to develop a
sense of self-efficacy, the confidence that
they have what it takes to succeed.
Cognitive perspective
Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)
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Jean Piaget’s Cognitive-stage theory
 Piaget suggested that cognitive
development begins with an inborn ability to
adapt to the environment.
 This cognitive growth occurs through three
interrelated processes: organization,
adaptation and equilibration
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Organization – according to Piaget, people
create increasingly complex cognitive
structures called schemes, ways of
organizing information about the world that
govern the way the child thinks and behaves
in a particular situation.
As children acquire more information, their
schemes become more and more complex.
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Adaptation – adaptation occures through
two complementary processes (1)
assimilation (吸收), taking in new information
and incorporating it into existing cognitive
structures, and (2) accommodation (適應/ 調
節) , adjusting one’s cognitive structures to fit
the new information.
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Equilibration – a constant striving for a
stable balance, or equilibrium, dictates the
shift from assimilation to accommodation.
Piaget described cognitive development as
occurring in four universal qualitatively
different stages.
Stage 1 - Sensorimotor感知運動階段(birth to 2
years)
 Infant gradually becomes able to organize
activities in relation to the environment
through sensory and motor activity
Stage 2 – Preoperational前運算階段( 2-7 years)
 Child develops a representational system and
uses symbols to represent people, places
and events. Language and imaginative play
are important manifestation of this stage.
Thinking is still not logical.
Stage 3 – Concrete operations具體運算階段
( 7-11 years)
 Child can solve problems logically if they are
focused on the here and now but cannot think
abstractly.
Stage 4 – Formal operations形式運算階段
(11 years through adulthood)
 Person can think abstractly, deal with
hypothetical situations, and think about
possibilities.
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Humanistic perspective
Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987)
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a. Carl Rogers
 all people have a need for positive regard that
results from an underlying wish to be loved
and respected
 our view of ourselves and our self-worth is a
reflection of how we think others view us
b. Abraham Maslow:
 self-actualization is a primary goal in life
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Theory contends that people have a natural capacity
to make decisions about their lives and control their
behaviours
Self-actualization:
 a state of self-fulfillment in which people achieve their
highest potential in their own unique way
 Initially applied to only a few select, famous people
such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and
Albert Einstein
 Later expanded the concept to apply to any person
who realizes his or her own potential and possibilities
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Hierarchy of Needs
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Ecological / Contextual
perspective
Jacques Jacob Bronfenbrenner (1883-1953)
Ecological / Contextual
perspective
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917 – 2005):
 The theory that considers the relationship
between individuals and their physical, cognitive,
personality, and social worlds
 According to the contextual perspective,
development can be understood only in its social
context.
 Contextualists see the individual, not as a
separate entity interacting with the environment,
but as an inseparable part of it.

The American psychologists Urie
Bronfenbrenner’s (布朗芬布倫納)
bioecological theory identifies five levels of
environmental influence, ranging from very
intimate to very broad: microsystem,
mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and
chronosystem.
A microsystem
 Is the everyday environment of home, school,
work, or neighborhood, including face-to-face
relationships with spouse, children, parents,
friends, classmates, teachers, employers, or
colleagues.
The Mesosystem
 Is the interlocking of various microsystem –
linkages between home and school, work and
neighborhood.
The exosystem
 Consists of linkages between a microsystem
and outside systems or institutions that affect
a person indirectly.
The macrosystem
 Consists of overarching cultural patterns,
such as dominant beliefs, ideologies, and
economic and political systems
The chronosystem
 Adds the dimension of time: change or
constancy in the person and the environment.
This can include changes in family structure,
place of residence, or employment, as well as
larger cultural changes such as wars and
economic cycles.
Implication
 A person is not only an outcome of
development, but it also a shaper of it.
People effect their development through their
biological and psychological characteristics,
talents and skills, disabilities, and
temperament.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
Systems Theory
Microsystem
 a setting in which a child interacts with others on an everyday,
face-to-face basis. E.g. parents, peers, family, school and
neighborhood
Mesosystem
 linkages between two or more microsystems. E.g. experiences
of family – school, school – church, family – peers
Exosystem
 linkages between two or more settings, one of which does not
contain the child. E.g. husband – wife links with husband/wife’s
work experience
Macrosystem
 a society’s overall cultural patterns. E.g. culture of an individual
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lives, socioeconomic status, poverty, and ethnicity
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Questions for reflection
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What are your feelings toward these
perspectives?
If you are asked to formulate your own theory
of human behaviour and development, which
one would you choose? Why?
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Each perspective emphasizes somewhat different
aspects of development
Same developmental phenomenon can be looked at
from a number of perspectives simultaneously
Some developmentalists use an eclectic approach,
drawing on several perspectives
When considering the perspectives together, we can
come to a fuller understanding of the area
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