2. Developmental Theories and Theorists

1. Piaget's Developmental Theory

Jean Piaget 1896–1980 was a Swiss psychologist.  He got his degree in Zoology from the University of Neuchatel in 1918 and then turned his attention to the cognitive development of children. He worked with Jung and Bleuler.  He is most well known for his theory of cognitive or intellectual development in children, and his ideas have had a large impact on education.

He proposed that children went through several different stages of thinking or cognitive levels.

This video shows the various stages of development according to Piaget.

Click on the following links for more examples of Piaget's stages:

An example of a baby that has not obtained object permanence

 This baby does have object permanence.

2. Erikson's Psychosocial theory

Erik Erikson developed his theory of child development after studying Freud's idea of personality development. Erikson suggested that the way in which a person develops physically, socially and emotionally will ultimately lead to the development of their personality.  Although Erikson is often studied as a personality theorist, we will study him in this section.  His theory is often referred to the 8 Stages of Human Social Development.

Refer to Beorree's page for more information about this theory.

For  a more in-depth explanation of this theory, watch the following Kahn academy video.

3. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning

We have talked about different kinds of development.  Lawrence Kohlberg was interested in what most psychologists of the day avoided. How do we develop our morals?

Watch the video of the train dilemma.  What would you do? Why?

In his research of morality, Kohlberg asked boys these types of questions and proposed this theory of development of morality:

Later, another psychologist, Carol Gilligan concluded in her research with girls, that girls' higher levels of morality depended on ideas of empathy rather than Ideal Principles.  With this in mind, how might girls or boys answer the train question differently?

Refer to Beoree' s Page on Moral Reasoning for more information.

4. Kohlberg - Moral Reasoning

Watch the following video to learn what a person would do in each of Kohlberg's level of moral development
in a story called the Heinz Dilemma

Now watch this interactive video to decide what stage of development you are at.

Then, complete the journal activity, below:

U3 Journal - Moral Development

In this journal response, you are to discuss the Heinz story. Indicate what you would do and explain why.  Discuss what level of morality you are at according to Kohlberg.  (You can access the journal by click on it in the "Activities" section in moodle on the right side of your screen.).

You will receive a marks for

1. Explain the Heinz Dilemma (10 Marks)
2. State your response (2.5 marks)
3. State your Kohlberg level (2.5 marks)
4. Explain the Heinz Dilenna to three other people and explain what their results were.  (5 marks)

5. Bandura - Social Learning Theory

The Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura is known for his Social Learning Theory.  Although many have described him as a behaviourist, Bandura described himself as a cognitive behaviourist. We will study him in the developmental psychology section. In his famous Bobo doll experiments, he showed videos of an adult hitting a doll, to children, and then later, observed them copying that aggressive behaviour in the absence of reward or punishment.  He then developed his theory that people's behaviour can be learned from observation and imitation.

6. Baumrind and Parenting

Diana Baumrind suggests that parenting styles have an effect on the development of children.

Accordng to these ideas, these are some types of parenting styles and the possible effects on the individual children.