Theories in developmental psychology: contributions and limitations

Developmental psychology is the study of humans from preconception to death. It covers all aspects of human development such as psychological, cultural, social and biological. The study focus on growth processes, mechanisms and changes that happens to humans over their lifespan. There are five major theories in lifespan and development which attempts to explain the growth processes, mechanisms and changes in a systematic and understandable way in order to build a framework for future research. They are psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive, evolutionary and humanistic theory. However no matter how much a theory attempts to explain a phenomenon there seems to be limitations to how much it can explain using that school of thought.

Psychodynamic theory contributions

This school of thought was founded by Sigmund Freud and it emphasized that the unconscious mind has influence over behaviour. According to Freud the mind is composed of the id, the ego and the superego. Id is the voice of desire, the unconscious feeling of need. The superego is the ideal moral teachings internalised into self which is learnt from parents or society. The ego is the personality that attempts to balance between the id urges and the superego.

Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages of development are how he attempts to explain human development. Freud believes that personality is developing through a series of childhood stages between which the id become focused on erogenous areas and if a certain issue is not resolved in a certain stage a fixation can occur. A fixation is a relentless focus to an earlier psychosexual stage. A fixation will not go away until the issue is resolved. The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stage.

The oral stage begins from birth to one year old. An infant main interaction with the world is through the mouth which is important for weaning and the infant gets pleasure from oral stimulation such as tasting and sucking. If these need is not met a fixation can occur resulting in thumb sucking, nail biting, overeating or smoking later in life.

The anal stage occurs from one to three years old. Freud states that the primary focus of the id in this stage is the controlling of bladder or bowel movements. Toilet training is the main issue here for the child and parent. Freud believes that too much parental pressure will result in excessive need for order or cleanliness in later life and too little parental pressure will result in messy or destructive behaviour in later life.

The phallic stage occurs from age three to six years old. Freud says that the focus of the id in this stage is on the genitals. The child will begin to vie for their opposite sex parents attention and see the same sex parents as rivals for affection. This is the time where the child learns about gender.

The latent stage occurs from seven to eleven years old where during this stage Freud states that sexual desires are being suppressed as the child concentrates on school and making friends. This stage is important in developing communication, confidence and social skills.

The genital stage ages 12 to 18 focuses on children exploring romantic relationships and instead of caring for themselves they learn to care for others. At this stage the goal is to be balanced in all life areas.

Erik Erickson’s psychosocial stage theory of personality expanded on Freud’s theories and adds the effect of social experience through the whole lifetime. In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s view, these conflicts are centred on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure. Psychosocial stage conflicts are trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus role confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation and ego integrity versus despair.

Trust versus mistrust begins from birth to one year of age. Erikson says that if the child develops trust with caregivers will feel safe and secure while inconsistency or rejection of caregivers causes mistrust leading to insecurity and the belief that the world is unpredictable.

Autonomy versus shame and doubt takes place during early childhood. Toilet training is important in this stage as Erikson believes that having control in one bodily functions leads to feeling of control and independence while those who do not will have a sense of inadequacy and self doubt.

Initiative versus guilt takes place during preschool years where children assert their power and control over the world through directing play and social interactions. Children who are successful in this stage will feel capable and able to lead others while those who fail will wallow in guilt, self doubt and lack of initiative.

Industry versus inferiority occurs during early school years from five to 11years old. The child begins to have a sense of pride in their achievements and abilities. Encouragement and commendations received by the child will develop a sense of competence and belief in their abilities while receiving little or no praise will cause doubts in their ability to be successful.

Identity versus role confusion occurs during adolescence when they are exploring their independence and sense of self. Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement will have a strong sense of self and the feeling of independence and control while those who are unsure of their beliefs and desires will be insecure and confused about themselves and the future.

Intimacy versus isolation occurs in early adulthood when the person begins to explore personal relationships. Those who develops close committed relationships have a strong sense of self while those who do not have intimate relationship show poor sense of self resulting in less committed relationships and are likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness or depression.

Generativity versus stagnation occurs during adulthood focusing on career and family. Those who are successful during this stage feel that they are contributing to the world by being active in their home and community while those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world.

Integrity versus despair happens during old age and is concentrating on reflecting back in life. People who are unsuccessful in this stage will feel bitterness and despair that their life has been wasted while successful people will feel a sense of accomplishment and have few regrets in life. The successful people will attain wisdom even when facing death.

Psychodynamic theory limitations

Psychodynamic theory is mostly based from case studies and not empirical research. Freud’s is based from recollections of his adult patients and not real observation of children. Some of Freud’s ideas such as libido cannot be measured and therefore cannot be tested and it is mostly about male development little is mention about female psychosexual development. Freud’s predictions of effects of fixation are vague and attributing current behaviour specifically to past childhood experience by forgoing other probable causes of the behaviour leaves a huge gap unanswered.

Cognitive theory contributions

Jean Piaget’s stages of cognitive development are based on concepts in cognitive psychology such as schemas, assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help in interpreting and understanding the world. Assimilation is a process of taking in new information into existing schemas. Accommodation is modifying and changing schemas due to the new information or experience which can result in new schemas. Equilibration is process in balancing assimilation and accommodation which explains how children move from one stage of cognitive development to another. The stages in cognitive development are the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage and the formal operational stage.

The sensorimotor stage begins from birth to two years of age. It focuses on the child trying to make sense of the world around them. Their behaviour is limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. Children use skills they are born with such as looking, sucking, grasping and listening to learn about the world.

The preoperational stage occurs between ages two to six years old. Language development is one of the high points of this phase. Piaget found out that children in this stage do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people, which he termed egocentrism. During the preoperational stage, children also become increasingly adept at using symbols, as evidenced by the increase in playing and pretending.

The concrete operational stage begins around seven to around eleven years old. Children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

The formal operational stage occurs around age 12 till adulthood. When in this phase the person will be able to think of abstract concepts and skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning and systematic thought could be learnt.

Cognitive theory limitations

Piaget’s theories were form from his observation of his three children and other children from his research small sample were from high social economic status making it harder to generalize his findings to the whole population as his sample does not represent the rest of the population. His formal operational stage did not take into account the role of the environmental factors that can affect the person’s development. Research has shown that Piaget had underestimated the children’s ability as most children display more capability at a younger age than Piaget suggested in his theory.

Sociocultural theory contributions

Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development according to him is the distance between actual developmental level which is determined by of independent problem solving and the level of potential development that can be achieved when the child does the problem solving with adult guidance or capable peers. Vygotsky emphasised how development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture. Vygotsky also state that in order to understand the course of development one has to consider what is meaningful to members of a given culture.

Sociocultural theory limitations

Vygotsky’s theory emphasis on society and culture did not cover the physical and sexual aspects of human development. The theory is also incomplete as Vygotsky died of tuberculosis at a young age of 38 before he completed his theories.

Conclusion

The theories in developmental psychology are use to explain human development. However there are many aspects to human growth making it hard for a branch of psychology which has its own uniqueness in getting its evidence, preferred school of thought or origins to fully explain everything in human development. Therefore many different branches of psychology are needed for their theories to cover up for what the other branch of psychology is missing out.