December 15, 2008 Perspectives in Theory
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December 15, 2008 Perspectives in Theory: Anthology of Theorists affecting the Educational World Editors: Misty M. Bicking, Brian Collins, Laura Fernett, Barbara Taylor, Kathleen Sutton Shepherd University Table Of Contents Abstract_______________________________________________________________________4 Alfred Adler ___________________________________________________________________5 Melissa Bartlett Mary Ainsworth _______________________________________________________________17 Misty Bicking Alois Alzheimer _______________________________________________________________30 Maura Bird Albert Bandura ________________________________________________________________45 Lauren Boyer James A. Banks________________________________________________________________59 Adel D. Broadwater Vladimir Bekhterev_____________________________________________________________72 Thomas Cochrane Benjamin Bloom_______________________________________________________________86 Brian Collins John Bowlby and Attachment Theory ______________________________________________98 Colin Curry Louis Braille: Research_________________________________________________________111 Justin Everhart Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model___________________________________________124 Kristin Ezzell Jerome Bruner________________________________________________________________138 Laura Beth Fernett Noam Chomsky Stubborn Without________________________________________________149 Jamin Gibson Auguste Comte _______________________________________________________________162 Heather Manning Kazimierz Dabrowski __________________________________________________________175 Kelly Marie Martin Erik Erikson _________________________________________________________________189 Jennifer Nicewarner Sigmund Freud: A Man on a Mission______________________________________________200 Brian Porter Arnold Gesell ________________________________________________________________211 Denise Reed Through The Eyes Of Theorist Carol Gilligan _______________________________________228 Whitney Reed The Theories of Abraham Maslow ________________________________________________243 Kathleen Sutton Dorothea McCarthy ___________________________________________________________255 Barbara Taylor Jean Piaget __________________________________________________________________271 Loria Webb Abstract A compilation of research papers on theorists that affect the educational world are collected in this anthology. Twenty-one students, through the course of their education class, Social and Psychological Conditions of Learning—EDUC 320, researched and applied their knowledge in the elementary and secondary school environments. A website was also created to display this anthology— www.frontiernet.net/~nbicking . Alfred Adler 5 Running head: ALFRED ADLER Alfred Adler Melissa Bartlett Shepherd University Alfred Adler 6 Abstract This in depth research paper examines Alfred Adler and his contribution to education and psychology. The main goal was to understand his work, his theories and his influence on today’s society. His three main theories were inferiority v. superiority, social interest and birth order. People that were born with an organ deficiency had a harder time in life and often had to develop an inferiority or superiority complex. Alfred Adler thought people could change their core personality and this paper investigates that theory on social interest. He greatly impacted the way educators and psychologists view children and students. His theory on birth order is very important for educators to understand their current students. Alfred Adler was a brilliant psychologist with many important contributions to society. Alfred Adler 7 Alfred Adler Biographical Alfred Adler was born on February 7, 1870 in Vienna. His father was a Jewish grain merchant and he was the third of six children (Fisher, 2001). He did not walk until age four because he suffered from Ricketts (Fisher, 2001). Ricketts is a disorder caused by a lack of Vitamin D which may cause softening and weakening of the bones (Van Vorhees, 2006). At age five he got pneumonia and after he recovered, decided then, that he wanted to be a doctor. “It was not so much my childhood experiences in themselves that were important; rather the manner in which I judged and assimilated them” (Adler, 1923). In 1895, he received his medical degree from the University of Vienna (Boeree, 2006). It was there that he met his Russian wife named Raissa Timofeyeona Epstein who was a social activist studying in Vienna. They later had four children together over a period of years (Fisher, 2001). Adler began his career as an ophthalmologist but then switch careers to general practice in the suburbs of Vienna. Most of his patients were circus performers, he studied their unusual strengths and weaknesses and came up with his theory on organ inferiority. Organ inferiority means an organ does not grow or develop as it should and therefore is susceptible to disease. These inferior organs may include the sense organs, the digestive apparatus, the respiratory tracts, the genitor-urinary apparatus, the circulatory organs and the nervous system (Ansbacher, 1956). In 1902, Adler was invited to join Freud’s inner circle, a group of psychologists who discussed psychology. Adler had written a book earlier on treating the patient as a whole person so he did not agree entirely with Freud’s views. In 1911, he left Freud’s circle and started his own called Society for Free Psychoanalytic Research, which was later, changed to Individual Psychology. At the time of this separation it appeared that the similarities between Freud and Alfred Adler 8 Adler were greater than their differences; the two used similar methods, described and interpreted much of the same phenomena, and often did so in parallel terms (Ansbacher, 1956). Contextual Many outside influences shaped the forming psychiatrist Alfred Adler. When World War I started in 1914, Adler served two years at the front of the war as a medical doctor where he had many opportunities to observe the effects of shell shock (Hirsch, 2005). Later in the war, he was moved to a children’s hospital (Boeree, 2006). After the war, he returned home to Vienna, where he was a consultant for many mental hospitals including the Psychiatric Ward of the Mariahilfer (Hirsch, 2005). Adler saw first hand the devastation that war can bring and the effects it causes (Boeree, 2006). He closely watched how uncured neurosis could become wholly disabling, whereas, through treatment of neurosis, some men could be helped to recover from trauma (Hirsch, 2005). This is when he began studying people’s illnesses, deficiencies, and handicaps to see how they affected every day life. Theoretical Adler’s group Individual Psychology believed it was possible to change people’s core personality. “The term Individual Psychology stems from Adler’s stress on the uniqueness of the individual and his creation of his own ‘Life Style’ ” (Adler, 1963). The heart of Adler’s Individual Psychology was his belief that everyone can change, not just changing or modifying, but a transformation of the core personality (Stein, 2008). The challenging form of Adlerian psychotherapy is that it sees the therapist as an artist, not just a technician (Adler Institute, 2008). Three of the main theories that Adler addressed were inferiority v. superiority, social interest, and birth order. I will give detailed descriptions of each. The first theory from Adler was his views on organ deficiencies. He saw firsthand that people that were born without a necessary organ had a more difficult time in life. Inferiority is an Alfred Adler 9 overwhelming matter that when you, as in individual, are doing well, you can help others succeed. If you are struggling in everyday matters, you tend to stay focused on yourself (Boeree, 2006). Your body demands a lot of itself and another term that Adler used was compensation, or that lacking deficiency. You might have to compensate within the organ, through a second organ, or through psychological overcompensation (Ansbacher, 1956). Adler felt that your personality can be accounted for by the ways we use compensation for those thing we are lacking (Boeree, 2006). Another term that Adler used, and another theory, was superiority, which meant striving for perfection and self-enhancement (Ansbacher, 1956). He felt that all people were pushed from a young age to want more, do better and achieve more and therefore become a better individual. Sometimes a superiority complex will show itself in one’s own drive for achievement. Some examples of this behavior are: disdain, vanity, exaggerated masculine conduct in front of women, snobbishness, boastfulness, and the misuse of ideas to depreciate others (Ansbacher, 1956). “Anyone striving for perfection can hardly do so without considering his or her social environment” (Boeree, 2006). Adler stressed that individuals must be seen and must see themselves as a larger whole, to see the entire social situation (Ansbacher, 1956). His application of social interest is about active participation in life and the success of life’s tasks (Bitter, 2007). His main idea was that the more you have vested in your community the more you gave to those around you, the more you would receive. It would seem a simple mantra, live as you would want those around you to live. A balance in your community and your life would lead to a more balanced mental health (Bitter, 2007). Adler also meant for people not only to use this behavior to help themselves, but to