Psychology 30

The Psychological Perspectives!

Remember Bronfenbrenner’s approach to development? This is known as the ecological or socio-cultural approach The main idea is that all four levels of our environment work

simultaneously to influence our development. Can you name the four levels?

Microsystem- our everyday, immediate environment (homes, friends, caregivers, teachers, etc.).

Mesosystem- provides connections between the various aspects of the microsystem (child-care centre, the office, play groups, neighbours, church groups, etc.).

Exosystem- broader influences and societal institutions (local government, community schools, places of worship, local media, etc.).

Macrosystem- larger cultural influences on the individual (government, religious systems, political thought/societal values, etc.).

Here’s an easier way to remember Bronfenbrenner’s approach!

Important terms within the ecological perspective Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem,

macrosystem Cohort—hey, what’s a cohort? You’re a cohort!! A cohort is a group of people born at around the

same time in the same place. For example, the “baby boomers,” “Generation X,”etc. Major social events (e.g., wars, economic upturns, depression, etc.) influence members of a cohort.

Another important theorist within the socio-cultural perspective Lev Vygotsky- he believed it is impossible

to fully understand development without taking culture into account.

The socio-cultural theory emphasizes how cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture. On the other hand…

The Cognitive Perspective …the cognitive perspective focuses on the

processes that allow people to know, understand, and think about the world.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who proposed that people pass through a fixed sequence of stages of cognitive development.

He suggested that human thinking is arranged into schemes, organized patterns that represent behaviours and actions.

Important terms within the cognitive perspective Schemes (e.g., in infants, there is a scheme for sucking,

reaching, etc.) Assimilation- the process in which people understand an

experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking (in other words, understanding!).

Accomodation- the process that changes existing ways of thinking in response to encounters with new stimuli or events (in other words, learning!).

Assimilation and Accomodation in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o This video represents the difference between the pre-operational stage and the concrete operational stage—we’ll learn more about these later on!

The Behavioural Perspective What is classical conditioning? (Important theorists: Ivan

Pavlov, John Watson) Learning to respond in a particular way to a neutral

stimulus that does not normally evoke a response. Remember Pavlov’s dog? The metronome/bell/light did not make the dog salivate under ordinary circumstances!

What is operant conditioning? A form of learning in which behaviour is strengthened or

weakened by its association with positive or negative consequences (think chocolate and spray bottles!)

What’s the difference between the two?

More about the Behavioural Perspective The behavioural perspective suggests that the keys to

understanding development are observable behaviour and outside stimuli in the environment. If we know the stimuli, we can predict behaviour!

What do you think—is this theory true? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6F0bRTurPk

Behavioural psychologists would tell you that you can teach/condition a rat (or a person, for that matter!) to do just about anything! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIbU2bZS4bs&NR=1&feature=fvwp

The Social Learning Theory

You may remember this theory from Psych 20; it is very closely related to the behavioural theory.

Albert Bandura suggested that behaviour is learned through observation of another person (a model).

Do you think that children learn by watching their siblings? TV/movies/video games? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pxrcsyvHL4

The Humanistic Perspective This perspective emphasizes free will—the ability of

humans to make choices and come to decisions about their lives.

Carl Rogers (1971) suggested that all people need a positive regard that results from an underlying wish to be loved and respected.

Abraham Maslow suggested that self-actualization (the highest human potential) is the ultimate goal.

A criticism of this theory is that human beings are basically good (which is vague and largely unverifiable).

Maslow’s Hierarchy

Maslow believedthat only about6% of human beings canachieve self-actualization.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIvRITVgyKM

The Evolutionary Perspective Seeks to identify behaviour that is a result of our genetic

inheritance from our ancestors. Darwin- On the Origin of Species (natural selection) Ethology/biology- Konrad Lorenz discovered that

newborn geese are genetically preprogrammed to become attached to the first moving object they see after birth! (Imprinting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI&feature=related)

Criticisms: this perspective pays insufficient attention to environmental and social factors.

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Focuses on the inner person (memories, dreams, inner forces/conflicts…things beyond our control influence our behaviour!)

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is prominent in this perspective. He suggested that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behaviour.

According to Freud, personality has three aspects…

The personality! The id is the raw, inborn part of our personality which represents

primitive drives related to desire, hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses. These drives are fueled by libido (psychic energy). The id operates on the pleasure principle, in which the goal is to maximize satisfaction and reduce tension.

The ego is the rational and reasonable part of the personality. The ego acts as a buffer between the outside world and the id; it operates on the reality principle, in which instinctual energy is restrained in order to maintain safety and to help integrate the individual into society.

The superego represents a person’s conscience, incorporating distinctions between right and wrong. It develops around the age of five or six and is learned from an individual’s parents, teachers, and other significant figures.

In other words…

The Id represents “the devil on your shoulder” (your innermost desires) and the superego is “the angel on your shoulder (your conscious). The ego tries to balance both.

Another way of looking at it…

Our consciousthoughts are justthe “tip of the iceberg!”

Stages of Development Freud suggested that human beings went

through stages of psychosexual development—a series of stages that children pass through in which pleasure is focused on a particular biological function or body part.

Another psychoanalyst, Erik Erikson, had an alternate view: psychosocial development. This encompasses changes in our interactions with and understanding of one another (as well as in our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as members of a society).

Freud vs. Erikson