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Basic Psychology Theories of Development by the End of This Basic Psychology Theories of Development By the end of this lesson students will be able to: Evaluate the importance of understanding theories of human development. Identify influential theorists in human-development theory. Compare Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development with Carl Jung’s stages-of-life theory. Identify Erik Erikson’s eight stages of life development and explain his psychosocial life- span development theory. Analyze the components of Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and the theory’s weaknesses and strengths. Compare contemporary theories of adult development, and describe the role of contemporary life-span development theories in the counseling profession today. Discuss the trend toward an integrated theory of development in counseling today. Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Theories of Development Page 1 of 13 In addition to the fundamentals of behavior, cognition, and emotion, psychologists are interested in how people develop skills, abilities, and habits over their lifetime. The field of developmental psychology is vast, spanning infancy to adulthood. Human development is a lifelong process. Many theories of human development focus almost exclusively on childhood, although more modern theories account for the entire life span. The purpose of this lesson is to outline classic and contemporary theories of human development, all of which attempt to explain how people become who they are and why they share so many qualities while simultaneously expressing distinctive, unique personalities. Most developmental theories are expressed in terms of stages. Such stage theories are based on the idea that people move through a systematic, progressive set of Depiction of Stage Theory stages as they grow and develop over time. These stages are based on specific, age-related characteristics, such as childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, mid-life, and late life. The sections below describe classic stage theories that psychologists use to explain normal human development and how people develop psychological problems as a result of abnormal or disrupted development. Sigmund Freud proposed one of the earliest theories of human development. Given his clinical observations, he proposed a psychosexual theory of development. The premise of the theory was that personality, psychological problems, and interpersonal style emerge from a sexual conflict and/or the quest for sexual gratification. Accordingly, his developmental stages focused on the erogenous zones that are of interest to children of various ages. Freud believed that children cannot proceed through a stage until they have resolved a conflict they are facing. Children who cannot resolve conflict are fixated at a given stage; these fixations are associated with specific personality problems. An unusual focus on childhood sexuality and a failure to account for continued development are considered the major weaknesses of Freud’s theory. Note also that Freud views development as ending in adolescence. Freud’s five psychosexual stages (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2003) are discussed below: 1. Oral stage (0 to 1 year). During this state, which begins at birth, children receive most of their gratification from their mouths. Children nurse and receive bodily Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Theories of Development Page 2 of 13 nourishment while creating an emotional connection to their mothers. Children who are cared for, nurtured, and properly weaned during this phase will be able to proceed to the next stage. However, children whose mothers refuse to nurse their children or whose mothers wean their children too early will remain fixated at this stage. Orally fixated individuals, according to Freud, grow to be pessimistic, suspicious, and sarcastic. Children who are overindulged during the oral stage (i.e., were nursed too often or for too long) grow up to be overly optimistic, gullible, and full of excessive admiration for others. 2. Anal stage (1 to 3 years). As children reach the toilet-training years, they become more focused on the anus, being fascinated with the retention and expulsion of feces. Here there is a conflict between the id, which receives gratification from this bodily function, and the superego, which strives to control defecation as a matter of social propriety. To resolve this conflict, children may refuse to defecate, resulting in the development of anal-retentive characteristics (e.g., being overly neat, orderly, or stingy; obstinate; or passive-aggressive). Conversely, children may choose to overindulge the id, excrete at inappropriate times, and thereby frustrate their parents. This results in the development of anal-expulsive characteristics (e.g., being messy, careless, defiant, or disorganized). Parents’ ability to prevent their children from being so extreme in their behavior determines whether the children will progress to the next stage. 3. Phallic stage (3 to 6 years). The phallic stage is perhaps Freud’s most detailed, yet difficult to appreciate, stage. This stage is considered to be critical to the development of a healthy adult because it involves intrapsychic conflict and conflict with parents. During this stage, children become more interested in their own and others’ genitals. According to Freud, male children, who harbor a natural love for their mother, become sexually interested in their mother during this stage. However, male children notice that their father is their mother’s primary sex interest. Therefore, male children become envious of and hostile toward their father. At the same time, male children fear their father because he is much more powerful than they are. This conflict is known as the Oedipus complex, for the Greek character who fell in love with his mother and killed his father. Male children fear that their father can castrate them (as the father must have castrated the mother, who has no penis). Rather than fight their father, male children chooses to become like him, thereby developing his masculinity. Freud was much more vague when it came to females during the genital phase. The Electra complex is the complement to the Oedipus complex. It is a period during which female children fall in love with their father, wanting to be more like him physically and otherwise. Female children blame their mother for castrating them. To resolve this conflict, female children, like their male counterparts, choose to identify with their mother rather than fight her. People who remain fixated at the phallic stage are said to be reckless, too self- assured, and narcissistic. Vanity and pride also are phallic characteristics. Unresolved conflict in this stage can leave people afraid or incapable of love. 4. Latency stage (6 years up to puberty). The latency period is not considered a psychosexual stage, but it does mark the period during which libido lies dormant while children are school-age and developing socially. Freud believed that the Copyright © 2009 The Learning House, Inc. Theories of Development Page 3 of 13 latency period ends when puberty begins; that is, when children again become obsessed with their sexual urges and genitalia. 5. Genital stage (puberty). During this stage, teenage children regain their focus on their genitals and seek to engage in romantic heterosexual relationships. If children have successfully navigated the previous psychosexual stages, they will have the energy and emotional stamina needed to develop healthy relationships. If children remain fixated at any of the five stages—especially the phallic stage—they will find it quite difficult to establish effective relationships and will continue to struggle with a host of psychological problems. Whereas Freud focused on childhood sexual urges in his theory of human development, Carl Jung emphasized the development of the complete self throughout the entire life span of the individual. In further contrast, Jung paid much more attention to the later half of life than to childhood. The four stages in Jung’s stages-of-life theory (Lachman, 2001) are discussed below: 1. Childhood. During childhood, mothers and fathers are critically important. The quality of children’s relationships with their mother determines the children’s ability to be sensual, comforting, and caring. Both female and male children learn how to be feminine based on their experiences with their mother. Likewise, children’s relationships with their father determine the children’s ability to be productive, competent, and aware of their environment. Both female and male children learn how to be masculine based on their interpretation of their experiences with their father. During this stage, children also develop play habits that will translate to vocational habits later on in life. Children who have positive experiences with their parents will be able to develop more fully and productively during the next developmental stages. Those children who do not have good role models or attachments to their parents may struggle throughout the rest of their development. 2. Adolescence/early adulthood. Because children depended so fully on their parents for their personality development, children begin to seek independence from their family in terms of their interests and their pursuit of other interpersonal influences, especially romantic relationships. This stage continues throughout middle adulthood. 3. Middle adulthood. During this stage, adults begin to question whether the identity they have created for themselves is their true identity. They experience
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