Table 1.5 Major Theories On Basic Issues

Front 1

PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE
(Discontinuous) Psychosexual and Psychosocial development takes place in stages

Back 1

ONE course: stages are assumed to be universal.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: innate impulses are channeled and controlled through child-rearing experiences where early experiences set course of later development

Front 2

BEHAVIORISM and SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
(Continuous) Development involves an increase in learned behaviors

Back 2

MANY possible courses: behaviors reinforced and modeled may vary from person to person
EMPHASIS on Nurture: result of conditioning and modeling where both early and later experiences are important.

Front 3

PIAGET'S COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
(Discontinuous) Cognitive development takes place in stages

Back 3

ONE course: stages are assumed to be universal.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: occurs as the brain grows and children exercise their innate drive to discover reality in a generally stimulating environment where both early and later experiences are important.

Front 4

INFORMATION PROCESSING
(Continuous) Children and Adults gradually improve in perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills

Back 4

ONE course: changes studied characterize most or all children and adults.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: children and adults are active, sense making beings who modify their thinking as the brain grows and they confront new environmental demands where both early and later experiences are important.

Front 5

ETHOLOGY and EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
(Both Continuous and Discontinuous) Children/Adults develop a wider range of adaptive behaviors. Sensitive periods occur in which qualitatively distinct capacities emerge fairly suddenly

Back 5

ONE course: adaptive behaviors and sensitive periods apply to all members of a species.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: evolution and heredity influence behavior, and learning lends to greater adaptiveness to it where early experiences set course of later development during sensitive periods.

Front 6

VYGOTSKY'S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
(Both Continuous and Discontinuous) Language development and schooling lead to stagewise changes. Dialogues with more expert members of society also lead to continuous changes that vary from culture to culture

Back 6

MANY possible courses: socially mediated changes in thought and behavior vary from culture to culture.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: heredity, brain growth, and dialogues with more expert members of society jointly contribute to development where both early and later experiences are important.

Front 7

LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
(Both Continuous and Discontinuous) Continuous gains and declines and discontinuous, stagewise emergence of new skills occur

Back 7

MANY possible courses: influenced by multiple, interacting biological, psychological, and social forces of which vary from person to person that leads to diverse pathways of change.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: multidimensional, affected by intricate blend of heredity and environmental factors. Emphasizes plasticity at all ages where both early and later experiences are important.

Front 8

ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY

Back 8

MANY possible courses: biological dispositions join with environmental forces at multiple levels to mold development in unique ways.
BOTH Nature and Nurture: individual's characteristics and reactions of others affect each other in bidirectional fashion where both early and later experiences are important.