Chapter 13: The Developmental Point of View

A History of Psychology

(3rd Edition)

John G. Benjafield

Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny

• E.H. Haeckel

• Ontogeny: individual development

• Recapitulation: to restate, review, summarize

• Phylogeny: evolutionary development of a species

G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924)

• 1878: awarded first American PhD in psychology– Studied with James at Harvard

• 1884: professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins

• Founding president of Clark University• 1887: founded American Journal of

Psychology• 1892: founded the American Psychological

Association

Hall’s Recapitulationism

• Informed by a deeply religious sensibility

• The historical order in which religions emerged was indicative of their developmental status

• People can only appreciate their destiny (to facilitate further evolutionary progression) once they understand themselves as the pinnacle of a long evolutionary process

Questionnaires

• Gathered data on childhood activities through use of the questionnaire– Method was taken up by other students of

child development

• Child Study Movement: most popular educational movement of the 1890s– Formed bond between psychologists and

teachers

Adolescence

• Adolescence as: – A period of transformation and reconstruction– A period of storm and stress

• Storm and stress caused by the transition from comfortable relationship with nature to a new, more civilized level of development

James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934)

• Studied with Wundt

• 1888: graduated from Princeton

• 1889: chair at the University of Toronto

• 1893: returned to Princeton

• 1903–1912: at Johns Hopkins

• Settled in France

Psychology of Mental Development

• Development occurs through a series of interactions between the child and the environment

• Assimilation: the tendency to respond to the environment in familiar ways

• Accommodation: the tendency to respond to the environment in the novel ways that changing circumstances may require

• Imitation: the major way in which accommodation takes place

Heinz Werner (1890–1964)

• 1914: PhD from University of Vienna

• 1917: University of Hamburg

• 1933: left for the United States

• 1949: Clark University

The Comparative Psychology of Mental Development

• Originally published in German• Approach to psychology was comparative:

examining the relation between developmental processes in different cultures as well as in different species

• Development not restricted to the study of the development of individuals

• Orthogenetic principle: development proceeds from state of globality to state of increasing differentiation

Uniformity vs. Multiformity

• Uniformity: behaviour tends to converge from isolated units towards integrated wholes

• Multiformity: behaviour tends to become increasingly differentiated

• Process analysis: examines in detail and over time the way in which a person arrives at a particular achievement

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

• Central issue in developmental psychology

• Werner: child’s ability to interact with the world in an increasingly differentiated (precise) and integrated (well-organized) way develops smoothly but also shows emergence– Emergence: later forms of behaviour have

properties not found in earlier forms

Unilinearity vs. Multilinearity

• Unilinearity: all developmental processes progress in the same way

• Multilinearity: individuals develop in idiosyncratic ways

Fixity vs. Mobility

• Later developmental levels not to displace earlier ones

• As development proceeds, earlier levels become subordinated to later ones

Microgenesis

• Developmental analysis can be extended to phenomena that develop over relatively brief periods of time– Microgenetic processes

• Werner pioneered the use of an experimental technique to investigate microgenetic processes in perception

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) and Bärbel Inhelder (1913–1997)

• Piaget– 1907: began publishing on biological topics (age: 11)– PhD in natural science from University of Neuchâtel – Director of the Centre for Genetic Epistemology at the

University of Geneva

• Inhelder– Made substantive contributions to Piaget’s theory– Helped promote the theory internationally

Genetic Epistemology

• Genetic epistemology: the study of the development of knowledge

• There are hereditary factors that limit the kinds of experience of which we are capable– Most important inheritance is the function of

intelligence

The Development of Intelligence

• 1963: The Origins of Intelligence in Children

• Logical thinking = the hallmark of intelligence

• Intelligence is rooted in biological processes

• Adaptation = an invariant function of the organism

• Organisms adapt by changing in response to the environment in ways that are not random

• Assimilation and accommodation

Piaget’s Clinical Method

• Clinical method: an open-ended series of questions designed to elicit a child’s viewpoint on the subject of an investigation

• Important features:– Gaining the child’s confidence– Not appearing to be superior– Asking questions about all aspects of the matter– Avoiding suggestions

• Criticized by some on grounds of objectivity

Stages in the Development of Intelligence

• Sensorimotor period – First two years of life

• Preoperational period– Two to seven years of life

• Concrete operational period– Seven to 11 years of life

• Formal operational period– Around age of 12

Contemporary Structuralism

• Structuralism: organized systems underlie and control all aspects of human experience

≠ Titchener’s psychology

• Members of the contemporary movement included:– Claude Lévi-Strauss– Roman Jacobson– Umberto Eco

Piaget as a Structuralist

• Emphasized that structures must be understood in terms of the way they develop over time

• Properties of developing structures:1. Wholeness

2. Systems of transformations

3. Self-regulation

Can development ever end?

• No matter the level of structure obtained, it is impossible for that level of structure to understand itself without progressing to a higher level that includes the first level

• Living structures are in a continuous, never-ending process of construction

L.S. Vygotsky (1896–1934)

• 1917: graduated from Moscow University– Originally interested in relation between art

and psychology– Later focused on psychology of teaching

• Most influential work: Thought and Language

• Died of tuberculosis

Thought and Language

• The developmental process is inherently social

• Crucial difference between humans and animals is the way that tools are used

• Elaborated on Piaget’s concept of egocentric speech—does not disappear but becomes inner speech

The Zone of Proximal Development

• One of Vygotsky’s most enduring concepts

= Distance between the actual level of development and the level of potential development– Actual development level determined by

standardized testing– Potential development level determined by

more sensitive exploration

Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994)

• Undertook psychoanalysis with Anna Freud

• 1933: graduated from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute

• 1933: first child psychoanalyst in Boston

Lifespan Developmental Psychology

• Heavily influenced by Freudian theories

• Emphasized importance of early childhood experiences in shaping adult personality

• Childhood and Society– Stages of development that occur throughout

the entire life cycle

Epigenesis

• Epigenesis: developmental stages unfold in a necessary sequence

• Progression through stages modulated by the society in which the person develops

• Stages may overlap in time

The Eight Stages

1. Basic trust vs. mistrust2. Autonomy vs. shame and doubt3. Initiative vs. guilt4. Industry vs. inferiority5. Identity vs. identity diffusion6. Intimacy vs. isolation7. Generativity vs. stagnation8. Integrity vs. despair

Eleanor J. Gibson (1910–2002)

• 1931: undergraduate degree at Smith College– Studied with Koffka; not attracted to Gestalt

psychology

• PhD at Yale– Studied with Clark Hull

Perceptual Learning

• One of Gibson’s most enduring contributions

• Matter of differentiation

• Involves becoming increasingly attuned to the specific events that make up the world

Reading

• Certain strings of letters more pronounceable than others– Pronounceability = important property of

words that would-be readers learned to perceive

• The ability to perceive spelling patterns may already exist in a limited way in grade-one pupils

The Visual Cliff

• Apparatus used to investigate depth perception

• Gibson: ability to see objects in depth is a highly adaptive skill

Eleanor Gibson on the Future of Psychology

• 1994: published an overview of the history of psychology during her last decades as an active researcher– Psychology lacking coherence– Lack of search for encompassing principles– Urged that a new agenda based on a

developmental approach be adopted in order to unify psychology’s purpose