Factors Governing

Development
THIS WILL TALK ABOUT THE EDUCATION AND CULTURE WHICH ARE THE
FACTORS THAT GOVERNS DEVELOPMENT

What is Child Development?

Child development is a process every child goes through. This

process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking,
talking, skipping, and tying shoes. There are 5 main areas of
development:

Cognitive Development
Speech and Language Development
Social and Emotional Development
Gross Motor Skill Development
Fine Motor Skill Development

Development Delay

Development delay is where a child has not learnt the skills that are
expected at that time point. Development delay can occur in any
of the 5 areas.

For example, a child would be expected to walk between 9 and 15

months, and a child that cannot walk by 20 months would be
considered to have a developmental delay.

What causes developmental delay?

Biological- such as genetic or

chromosomal abnormalities
(Downs Syndrome) or illness
and disease

Social- such as a childs life

experiences or exposure to
harmful chemicals or parenting

Mind Map
Disability

Culture

Genotype
and
Maturation

BIOLOGICAL

Parenting
/parenting
styles
Factors
affecting
development

Approval/
interactions

SOCIAL
Education

Housing
Social
Class

Disease
and
illness

NATURE/NURTURE
DEBATE

Factors that Governs Development:

Education

Education affects childrens physical, emotional intellectual and social development.

Children benefit from larger play spaces and better equipment. This improves coordination and gross motor skills

Children learn to mix and socialise with other children

Staff are trained to promote cognitive development, introducing concepts like

numbers and shape

Fine motor skills can be developed through playing with dough, paint and by writing

Can promote self-confidence and esteem

Esteem is linked to a positive education experience: where children are unhappy

because they have not made friends, been bullied or are low achieving this can lead
to low esteem

Develop a sense of belonging

Stimulating activities such as jigsaws, modelling and books can improve development

Factors that Governs Development:

Culture

A childs culture can affect their development.

In some cultures girls arent encouraged to take part in physical play and activities while boys
are encouraged to be outside more and boisterous

Family may be very important. They may spend a lot of time with family members and friends

The importance of play can vary. Some families will place great interest in education and
encourage children to do homework

Children who have a wider supportive network can feel more secure

Boys may develop more gross motor skills while girls develop more fine motor skills

Education can be seen as better for boys, or as girlish. This affects attitudes to learning,
concentration and activities children engage in.

Children whose culture is a minority can face discrimination and isolation; this leads to lower
self-esteem as they don't have friends or may get bullied

Families differ in the amount of emphasis they place on physical activity and children sitting
being taught

Sequential Stages
in Development
THIS WILL EXPLAIN THE SKILLS EMERGE AT CERTAIN POINTS OF
DEVELOPMENT

Psychoanalytic Theories

Psychoanalytic theories are those influenced by the work of

Sigmund Freud, who believed in the importance of the unconscious
mind and childhood experiences. Freud's contribution to
developmental theory was his proposal that development occurs
through a series of psychosexual stages.
Theorist Erik Erikson expanded upon Freud's ideas by proposing
a stage theory of psychosocial development. Erikson's theory
focused on conflicts that arise at different stages of development
and, unlike Freud's theory, Erikson described development
throughout the lifespan.

Learning Theories

Learning theories focus on how the environment impacts behavior.

Important learning processes include classical conditioning, operant
conditioning and social learning. In each case, behavior
is shaped by the interaction between the individual and the
environment.

Cognitive Theories

Cognitive theories focus on the development of mental processes,

skills, and abilities. Examples of cognitive theories include Piaget's
theory of cognitive development.

Cognitive
Development
THIS WILL TACKLE THE UNDERSTANDING AND THINKING ABILITY

Cognitive Development

is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's

development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources,
perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of brain
development and cognitive psychology compared to an adult's point of
view.
is the emergence of the ability to think and understand.
process of acquiring intelligence and increasingly advanced
thought and problem solving ability from infancy to adulthood.

Historical Origin

Piagets Theory of Cognitive

Development

Piaget believed that the childhood plays a vital and active role to growth of
intelligence and child learns through doing and actively exploring.

To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental

processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience.

The theory of intellectual development involves focuses on intuition, believing,

remembering and perceiving. It is primarily known as a developmental stage
theory, but, in fact, it deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how human
comes gradually to acquire, construct, and use it.

Stages of Development in
Piagets Theory

Sensorimotor stage
This stage lasts from birth to two years old. During this stage, behaviors lack
a sense of thought and logic. Behaviors gradually move from acting upon
inherited reflexes to interacting with the environment with a goal in mind
and being able to represent the external world at the end.
Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six sub-stages:

THESE SIX SUB-STAGES REPRESENT THE APPROXIMATE GROWTH A CHILD UNDERGOES

DURING PIAGETS SENSORIMOTOR STAGE FROM BIRTH TO AGE 2. ONCE THE CHILD GAINS
THE ABILITY TO MENTALLY REPRESENT REALITY, THE CHILD BEGINS THE TRANSITION TO THE
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT.
Sub-Stage

Age

Description

Simple Reflexes

Birth-6 weeks

First habits and primary circular

reactions phase

6 weeks-4 months

Secondary circular reactions phase

48 months

Development of habits. "Infants become more objectoriented, moving beyond self-preoccupation; repeat
actions that bring interesting or pleasurable results".

Coordination of secondary circular

reactions stages

812 months

"Coordination of vision and touchhand-eye

coordination; coordination of schemas and intentionality".

Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and

curiosity

1218 months

"Infants become intrigued by the many properties of

objects and by the many things they can make happen
to objects; they experiment with new behaviour".

Internalization of Schemas

1824 months

"Infants develop the ability to use primitive symbols and

form enduring mental representations".

"Coordination of sensation and action through reflexive

behaviours".
"Coordination of sensation and two types of schema:
habits and primary circular reactions. The main focus is still
on the infant's body".

Stages of Development in
Piagets Theory

Preoperational stage

Lasts from 2 years of age until 6 or 7. It can be characterized in two

somewhat different ways. In his early work, before he had
developed his structuralist theory of cognition, Piaget described the
childs thought during this period as being governed by principles
such as egocentrism and animism.

Egocentrism is when a child can only see a certain situation his or

her own way. One can not comprehend that other people have
other views and perceptions of scenarios.

Animism is when an individual gives a lifeless object human like

qualities. An individual usually believes that this object has
human emotions, thoughts and intentions.

Stages of Development in
Piagets Theory
Concrete operational stage
Lasts from 6 or 7 years until about 12 or 13. During this stage the childs
cognitive structures can be characterized by group therapy. Piaget
argues that the same general principles can be discerned in a wide
range of behaviors. One of the best-known achievements of this stage
is that of conservation.

Criticism
Many of his claims have fallen out of favor. For example, he claimed
that young children cannot conserve number. However, further
experiments show that children did not really understand what was
being asked of them. When the experiment is done with candies, and
the children are asked which set they want rather than tell an adult
which is more, they show no confusion about which group has more
items.

Other theoretical perspectives on

cognitive development

Speculated core systems of cognition

Researchers who discuss "core systems" often speculate about

differences in thinking and learning between proposed domains.
Researchers who posit a set of so-called "core domains" suggest
that children are innate sensitivity to specific kinds of patterns of
information. Those commonly cited include:

1.

Number

Infants appear to have two systems for dealing with numbers. One
deals with small numbers, often called subitizing. Another deals
with larger numbers in an approximate fashion.

Other theoretical perspectives on

cognitive development
2. Space

Very young children appear to have some skill in navigation. This

basic ability to infer the direction and distance of unseen locations
develops in ways that are not entirely clear. However, there is some
evidence that it involves the development of complex language
skills between 3 and 5 years.

3. Visual perception

One of the original nativist versus empiricist debates was over depth
perception. There is some evidence that children less than 72 hours
old can perceive such complex things as biological motion.

Other theoretical perspectives on

cognitive development
4. Essentialism

Young children seem to be predisposed to think of biological entities

(e.g., animals and plants) in an essentialistic way.

5. Language Acquisition

A major, well-studied process and consequence of cognitive

development is language acquisition. The traditional view was that
this is the result of deterministic, human-specific genetic structures
and processes. Other traditions, however, have emphasized the role
of social experience in language learning. However, the relation of
gene activity, experience, and language development is now
recognized as incredibly complex and difficult to specify.

Whorfs Hypothesis

Benjamin Whorf (1897 1941), while working as a student of Edward

Sapir, posited that a person's thinking depends on the structure and
content of their social group's language. In other words, it is the belief
that language determines our thoughts and perceptions. For example,
it used to be thought that Greeks, who wrote left to right, thought
differently than Egyptians since the Egyptians wrote right to left.

Whorfs theory was so strict that he believed if a word is absent in a

language, then the individual is unaware of the objects existence. This
theory was played out in George Orwells book, Animal Farm; the pig
leaders slowly eliminated words from the citizens vocabulary so that
they were incapable of realizing what they were missing.

The Whorfian hypothesis failed to recognize that people can still be

aware of the concept or item, even though they lack efficient coding
to quickly identify the target information.

Quines Bootstrapping Hypothesis

Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000) suggested that there are innate
conceptual biases that determine the language meaning that we
acquire, and the concepts and beliefs that we acquire, as we develop.
Quine's theory relates to other nativist philosophical traditions, such as
the European rationalist philosophers. A relevant figure in this nativist
tradition for cognitive developmental theory is Immanuel Kant.

Neuroscience

During development, especially the first few years of life, children

show interesting patterns of neural development and a high degree
of neuroplasticity. The relation of brain development and cognitive
development is extremely complex and, since the 1990s, has been
a growing area of research.

Cultural Influences

From cultural psychologists view, minds and culture shape each

other. In other words, culture can influence brain structures which
then influence our interpretation of the culture. These examples
reveal cultural variations in neural responses

Psychological
Development
THIS WILL DISCUSS THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPABILITIES AND
FUNCTIONING THROUGHOUT THE LIFE SPAN

Development of Self-Concept and

Self-hood

Self-Concept

The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone

thinks about, evaluates or perceives themselves. To be aware of oneself
is to have a concept of oneself.

Baumeister (1999) provides the following self concept definition: "the

individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's
attributes and who and what the self is".

Self Concept is an important term for both social psychology and

humanism .

Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two

aspects: -

Self-Concept
1. The Existential Self

This is the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense
of being separate and distinct from others and the awareness of the
constancy of the self (Bee, 1992).

The child realizes that they exist as a separate entity from others and
that they continue to exist over time and space. According to Lewis
awareness of the existential self begins as young as two to three months
old and arises in part due to the relation the child has with the world. For
example, the child smiles and someone smiles back, or the child
touches a mobile and sees it move.

Selfhood

Selfhood is about pulling away from group thought/group belief and seeking one's
own value system.

We create healthier boundaries and find personal empowerment. We discover our

own likes and dislikes, needs and desires, values and beliefs --and we learn to
embrace them even if they do not conform to our tribe. This is usually accomplished
through action rather than through inner contemplation, since we are still at ego
level rather than soul level, so this creates a lot of change and movement in our lives.

Selfhood often takes the form of rebellion, be it mild or extreme. There is a "leaving of
the nest" that may be literal or figurative.

We suddenly change our personal appearance and style, for example, adapting
clothing that "reflects the new me." We explore new hobbies, new foods, new music.
If we are overweight, we may go on a diet or begin an exercise program. We find
new peers to hang out with. All manner of changes such as these can occur in the
Selfhood stage.

Selfhood

There are many positive aspects to Selfhood: We develop independence,

learn to handle risk and change, bolster our self-esteem, empower
ourselves to stand strong in our own beliefs, and learn that we have the
power to "go it on our own." Yet selfhood is still at the ego level. What this
means is that we are not quite able to discern the difference between
emotional and spiritual empowerment. (That begins to happen in some of
the later steps when we move to the soul level.)

Here, we are still making changes to our life circumstances in order to feel
better about ourselves inside, rather than the other way around. For some,
this can lead to a conscious spiritual quest for greater truth and meaning,
but for most this is all about self-improvement and self-empowerment rather
than self-transcendence.

Stages of Psychological
Development

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson - discusses psychosocial stages, His ideas, though, were greatly
influenced by Freud, going along with Freuds (1923) ideas about the
structure and topography of personality. However, whereas Freud was an id
psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized the role of
culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego
itself, whereas Freud emphasized the conflict between the id and the
superego.

According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that

are distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in
others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next
generation prepare for the future.

Erik Erickson

Erikson proposed a lifespan model of development, taking in five stages up

to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood.
Erikson suggests that there is still plenty of room for continued growth and
development throughout ones life. Erikson put a great deal of emphasis on
the adolescent period, feeling it was a crucial stage for developing a
persons identity.

The outcome of this 'maturation timetable' is a wide and integrated set of

life skills and abilities that function together within the autonomous
individual. However, instead of focusing on sexual development (like
Freud), he was interested in how children socialize and how this affects their
sense of self.

Stage

Basic Conflict

Important Events

Outcome

Infancy
(birth to 18 months)

Trust vs. Mistrust

Feeding

Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide

reliability, care, and affection. A lack of this will lead to
mistrust.

Early Childhood
(2 to 3 years)

Autonomy vs. Shame

and Doubt

Toilet Training

Children need to develop a sense of personal control over

physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads
to feelings of autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame
and doubt.

Preschool
(3 to 5 years)

Initiative vs. Guilt

Exploration

Children need to begin asserting control and power over

the environment. Success in this stage leads to a sense of
purpose. Children who try to exert too much power
experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.

School Age
(6 to 11 years)

Industry vs. Inferiority

School

Children need to cope with new social and academic

demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while
failure results in feelings of inferiority.

Adolescence
(12 to 18 years)

Identity vs. Role

Confusion

Social
Relationships

Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity.

Success leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while
failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self.

Young Adulthood
(19 to 40 years)

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Relationships

Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with

other people. Success leads to strong relationships, while
failure results in loneliness and isolation.

Middle Adulthood
(40 to 65 years)

Generativity vs.
Stagnation

Work and
Parenthood

Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast

them, often by having children or creating a positive
change that benefits other people. Success leads to
feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure
results in shallow involvement in the world.

Maturity(65 to
death)

Ego Integrity vs.

Despair

Reflection on
Life

Older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of

fulfillment. Success at this stage leads to feelings of wisdom,
while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair.

Developmental Task

Developmental Task

A developmental task is one that arises predictably and consistently at or

about a certain period in the life of the individual (Havighurst, 1948, 1953).

The concept of developmental tasks assumes that human development in

modern societies is characterized by a long series of tasks that individuals
have to learn throughout their lives.

Some of these tasks are located in childhood and adolescence, whereas

others arise during adulthood and old age (see also Heckhausen, 1999).
Successful achievement of a certain task is expected to lead to happiness
and to success with later tasks, while failure may result in unhappiness in the
individual, disapproval by the society, and difficulty with later tasks.

Developmental Task

Developmental tasks arise from three different sources:

First, some are mainly based on physical maturation (e.g., learning to walk).

Another source of developmental tasks relates to socio-structural and cultural

forces. Such influences are based on, for instance, laws (e.g., minimum age for
marriage) and culturally shared expectations of development (e.g., age norms;
Neugarten, Moore, and Lowe, 1965), determining the age range in which
specific developmental tasks have to be mastered.

The third source of developmental tasks involves personal values and aspirations.
These personal factors result from the interaction between ontogenetic and
environmental factors, and play an active role in the emergence of specific
developmental tasks (e.g., choosing a certain occupational pathway).

Childhood and Adolescence

Early childhood is characterized by basic tasks such as learning to walk, to take solid
food, and to control the elimination of body wastes. In addition, young children have
to achieve more complex cognitive and social tasks, such as learning to talk, to form
simple concepts of reality, and to relate emotionally to other people.

In middle childhood, developmental tasks relate to the expansion of the individual's

world outside of the home (e.g., getting along with age mates, learning skills for
culturally valued games) and to the mental thrust into the world of adult concepts
and communication (e.g., skills in writing, reading, and calculating).

Achieving adolescent developmental tasks requires a person to develop personal

independence and a philosophy of life. Adolescents are confronted, for example,
with learning to achieve new forms of intimate relationships, preparing for an
occupation, achieving emotional independence of parents, and developing a
mature set of values and ethical principals. The peer group plays a major role in
facilitating the achievement of adolescents' developmental tasks by providing a
context in which some of these tasks can be accomplished.

Adulthood and Old Age

The concept of developmental tasks describes development as a lifelong process.

Thus, it is also an early and significant contributor to the emerging field of lifelong
human development (e.g., life-span psychology and life-course sociology;
Setterstery, 1999).

In young adulthood, developmental tasks are mainly located in family, work, and
social life. Family-related developmental tasks are described as finding a mate,
learning to live with a marriage partner, having and rearing children, and managing
the family home.

A developmental task that takes an enormous amount of time of young adults relates
to the achievement of an occupational career. Family and work-related tasks may
represent a potential conflict, given that individuals' time and energy are limited
resources.

Thus, young adults may postpone one task in order to secure the achievement of
another. With respect to their social life, young adults are also confronted with
establishing new friendships outside of the marriage and assuming responsibility in the
larger community.

Adulthood and Old Age

During midlife, people reach the peak of their control over the environment around
them and their personal development. In addition, social responsibilities are
maximized. Midlife is also a period during which people confront the onset of
physiological changes (Lachman, 2001). Developmental tasks during midlife relate to,
for example, achieving adult responsibilities, maintaining a standard of living, assisting
children with the transition into adulthood, and adjusting to the physiological
changes of middle age (e.g., menopause).

Old age has often been characterized as a period of loss and decline. However,
development in any period of life consists of both gains and losses, although the gainloss ratio becomes increasingly negative with advancing age (Heckhausen, Dixon,
and Baltes, 1989; Baltes, 1987).

A central developmental task that characterizes the transition into old age is
adjustment to retirement. The period after retirement has to be filled with new
projects, but is characterized by few valid cultural guidelines.

Adulthood and Old Age

Adaptation to retirement involves both potential gains (e.g., self-actualization) and

losses (e.g., loss of self-esteem). The achievement of this task may be obstructed by
the management of another task, living on a reduced income after retirement

In addition, older adults are generally challenged to create a positive sense of their
lives as a whole. The feeling that life has had order and meaning results in happiness
(cf. ego-integrity; Erikson, 1986). Older adults also have to adjust to decreasing
physical strength and health.

The prevalence of chronic and acute diseases increases in old age. Thus, older adults
may be confronted with life situations that are characterized by not being in perfect
health, serious illness, and dependency on other people.

Moreover, older adults may become caregivers to their spouses (e.g., Schulz and
Beach, 1999). Some older adults have to adjust to the death of their spouses. This task
arises more frequently for women than for man. After they have lived with a spouse
for many decades, widowhood may force older people to adjust to loneliness,
moving to a smaller place, and learning about business matters.

Adulthood and Old Age

Other potential gains in old age relate to the task of meeting social and civic
obligations. For example, older people might accumulate knowledge about life
(Baltes and Staudings, 2000), and thus may contribute to the development of
younger people and the society.

The development of a large part of the population into old age is a historically recent
phenomenon of modern societies. Thus, advancements in the understanding of the
aging process may lead to identifying further developmental tasks associated with
gains and purposeful lives for older adults.

Interaction with Peers

Peer Groups

Peers constitute one of the most important contexts for child development and
socialization. Beyond their function as companions in leisure activities they serve as
sources of instrumental and emotional support, help a child formulate values and
beliefs, and oversee a child's adherence to behavioral norms of the peer culture and
broader society.

Much of a child's interactions with peers takes place in peer groups, making it
important for others to understand how peer groups are organized, how they
operate, and how these factors change from early childhood through adolescence.

Early Experiences with Peer Groups

During the toddler and preschool era, young people's interactions with peers tend to be
organized and closely supervised by adults, giving young people little opportunity to
choose their peer groups (Ladd & Golter, 1988). Moreover, peer groups are often
ephemeral, emerging from a specific, structured activity (such as a play group organized
by parents) and dissolving when the activity ends. In this context children are expected to
master the tasks of group entry and group interaction.

According to Putallaz and Gottman (1981), those who can adjust to the group's ongoing
interests, rather than disrupting group functioning by trying to impose their own agenda,
are more successful entering groups and better prepared to participate in the peer groups
that will emerge in school settings.

Once young people enter more stable peer settings, such as a school classroom, they can
exercise more choice in their peer associates and their groups become more stable.
Nevertheless, Kindermann (1993) notes that in these early school years peer groups feature
high turnover in membership from one month to the next. Most groups are formed among
youth who have ample opportunity to interact (e.g., live in the same neighborhood or are
in the same classroom at school) and share a strong interest in the activity that inspires the
group's formation.

Once past the preschool years, both girls and boys show a preference for forming groups
of same-sex peers, an inclination that Ennett and Bauman (1996) found will continue until
middle adolescence.

Peer Groups in Middle Childhood

As young people move past early childhood and the primary grades of elementary
school, peer group interactions typically expand. Young people try to join structured
after-school activities or organize informal after-school interactions that include the
friends they have in school classrooms. Despite this behavior, peer group membership
remains highly volatile. Cairns and his colleagues (1995) found that, over the course
of a school year, the core of a group may remain intact while more peripheral
members float among groups, but it is unlikely that a group will experience no
changes in membership over this time period. One reason for this flux is the rather
loose structure of peer groups that characterizes middle childhood.

Shrum and Cheek (1987) reported that in any given classroom several sets of students
will band together into cliques, but collectively they may constitute little more than
half of the students in a class. Other students will seem to have attachments to two or
more cliques and often serve as a conduit of information between groups (someone
who can facilitate a child's transfer between cliques). Still others may bond together
in a close friendship and confine interactions to the dyad, while a small cadre of
students can be regarded as isolates without close relationships with any classmates
(although they may have strong ties to a friend or clique outside the classroom).

Peer Groups in Middle School

Researchers disagree about the percentage of youth who belong

to cliques, largely because of differences in the ways that these
groups are defined or identified. It seems, however, as if
membership in a tight-knit peer group actually diminishes across
time, contradicting the stereotype of early adolescents as highly
clique oriented (Shrum & Cheek, 1987).

More consensus exists on the average size of peer groups. Cliques

usually contain between five and eight members. Ladd (1985)
found that boys' groups tend to be larger than those of girls, possibly
in order to facilitate boys' more active pursuits (e.g., sports) on the
playground. Also, according to Ladd (1985), children who are well
liked by classmates belong to larger cliques than peers who are
generally disliked.

Peer Groups in Middle School

As is true among older youth or adults, children are inclined to favor members of their
peer group over outsiders. They recognize and accentuate group differences in
attitudes and behaviors. Toward the end of childhood, however, young people are
likely to differentiate highly regarded, core group members from more peripheral and
less popular members, especially if these peripheral members do not adhere closely
to group norms.

A child may even favor peers who are members of so-called out-groups over fellow
clique-mates who tend to deviate from the clique's norms, especially if the peers in
the out-group are not highly committed to their group's norms (Abrams, Rutland, &
Cameron, 2003). Bigler, Brown, and Markell (2001) demonstrated that school adults
can exacerbate rivalries and hostilities among peer groups by calling attention to the
groups (e.g., allowing children to form their own work groups or teams at recess),
even if the adults show no favoritism of one group over another.

Expansion of Peer Groups in

Adolescence

The peer group system grows more complex in early adolescence, especially if young
people move from neighborhood-based elementary schools to larger secondary
schools that are no longer based on self-contained classrooms. The most significant
change is the emergence of a second layer of peer groups, often referred to as
crowds. In contrast to cliques, which identify students who routinely interact with
each other, crowds differentiate individuals who share a similar reputation or image
among peers, whether or not the crowd members routinely interact with one another
(Brown, 2004).

Crowds are organized around the most salient features of the peer social system.
They also tend to address developmental mandates of adolescence as a life stage
(Brown, Mory, & Kinney, 1994). In the dominant mainstream of American culture,
young people of this age are expected to become more autonomous from adults,
cultivate a sense of identity, and master the skills necessary to participate in
heterosocial interactions and relationships that form the normative social patterns of
adulthood. Accordingly, peer crowds reflect different prototypic identities or lifestyles,
based on individual abilities and interests: jocks, brains, delinquents, partyers, goths,
skaters, and so on.

Expansion of Peer Groups in

Adolescence

Crowds also tend to be arranged in a social hierarchy, according to their status

among peers (Brown et al., 1994). Sometimes group status forms the basis for a
crowd's name: populars, nerds, rejects. Important cultural elements endemic to a
particular school or community may also be reflected in the crowd system, such as
when groups emerge that are based on ethnic background, religious orientation, or
family economic background.

Thus, the crowd with which an adolescent is associated by peers is an indicator of the
child's status, public identity, and values or behavior patterns that are most
noticeable to peers.

The importance of belonging to a crowd grows through early adolescence, peaks in

middle adolescence (about the beginning of high school), then fades (Brown, Eicher,
& Petrie, 1986). Nevertheless, Schwendinger and Schwendinger (1989) reported that
even in middle adolescence, not all young people are associated definitively with
one particular crowd.

Some display a split image, in which peers associate them with two different
crowds, whereas others are not well enough known by peers to place in any crowd. It
appears to be more difficult for adolescents to change crowd affiliations than it is to
change clique membership.

Expansion of Peer Groups in

Adolescence

A major function of adolescent cliques is to socialize youth into heterosexual roles

and relationships (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000; Dunphy, 1963). Accordingly,
although same-sex groups still dominate the adolescent social landscape, mixed-sex
cliques become increasingly common. Youth who are involved in mixed sex groups
begin dating and romantic relationships earlier and with more confidence than
young people who remain in single-sex cliques (Connolly et al., 2000).

As is the case for childhood cliques, schools can affect the dynamics of adolescent
peer groups. Sponsoring ethnically based clubs or organizations helps to legitimize
ethnically oriented crowds. Favoring one group of students over another (e.g.,
spotlighting athletes or giving them special consideration) can boost the cliques or
crowds to which that group belongs. Separating students by academic ability or
English language fluency creates divisions in the student body that affect the
formation of friendship groups.

The Identification Process

Identification Process

Identification is a psychological process whereby the subject assimilates an aspect,

property, or attribute of the other and is transformed, wholly or partially, by the model
the other provides. It is by means of a series of identifications that the personality is
constituted and specified.

The roots of the concept can be found in Freud's writings. The three most prominent
concepts of identification as described by Freud are: primary identification,
narcissistic (secondary) identification and partial (secondary) identification.

Freud distinguished three main kinds of identification. "First, identification is the original
form of emotional tie with an object; secondly, in a regressive way it becomes a
substitute for a libidinal object-tie...and thirdly, it may arise with any new perception
of a common quality which is shared with some other person"

Primary Identification

Primary identification is the original and primitive form of emotional attachment to

something or someone prior to any relations with other persons or objects: "an
individual's first and most important identification, his identification with the father in
his own personal prehistory...with the parents". This means that when a baby is born
he is not capable of making a distinction between himself and important others. The
baby has an emotional attachment with his parents and experiences his parents as a
part of himself. "The breast is part of me, I am the breast".

During this process of identification children adopt unconsciously the characteristics

of their parents and begin to associate themselves with and copy the behavior of
their parents. Freud remarked that identification should be distinguished from
imitation, which is a voluntary and conscious act. Because of this process of
emotional attachment a child will develop a (super)ego that has similarities to the
moral values and guidelines by which the parents live their lives. By this process
children become a great deal like their parents and this facilitates learning to live in
the world and culture to which they are born.

Narcissistic (secondary) Identification

Narcissistic identification is the form of identification following

abandonment or loss of an object. This experience of loss starts at a
very young age. An example: wearing the clothes or jewelry of a
deceased loved one. In "Mourning and Melancholia" Freud, having
"shown that identification is a preliminary stage of object-choice",
argued that the experience of loss set in motion a regressive process
that "served to establish an identification of the ego with the
abandoned object. In "The Ego and the Id", he went on to maintain
that "this kind of substitution has a great share in determining the form
taken by the ego and that it makes an essential contribution towards
building up what is called its 'character'".

Lacan, in his theory of the Imaginary, would develop the latter point
into his view of "the ego is constituted in its nucleus by a series of
alienating identifications - part of his opposition to any concept of an
"autonomous" and conflict-free ego.

Partial (secondary) Identification

Partial identification is based on the perception of a special quality of another

person. This quality or ideal is often represented in a "leader figure" who is identified
with. For example: the young boy identifies with the strong muscles of an older
neighbor boy. Next to identification with the leader, people identify with others
because they feel they have something in common. For example: a group of people
who like the same music. This mechanism plays an important role in the formation of
groups. It contributes to the development of character and the ego is formed by
identification with a group (group norms). Partial identification promotes the social life
of persons who will be able to identify with one another through this common bond
to one another, instead of considering someone as a rival.

Partial Identification and Empathy

Freud went on to indicate the way "a path leads from identification by way of
imitation to empathy, that is, to the comprehension of the mechanism by which we
are enabled to take up any attitude at all towards another mental life". Otto Fenichel
would go on to emphasize how "trial identifications for the purposes of empathy play
a basic part in normal object relationships. They can be studied especially in
analyzing the psychoanalyst's ways of working". Object relations theory would
subsequently highlight the use of "trial identification with the patient in the session" as
part of the growing technique of analyzing from the countertransference.

Moral Thought and Behavior

Moral Thought Piagets Theory

1.

Piagets Theory

a.

Piaget believed that children are able to think differently as they mature, and
that for moral reasoning there are two stages:
Heteronomous morality is the first stage of moral development occurring at 4 to
7 years of age.

Justice and rules are conceived of as unchangeable properties of the world

removed from the control of people.

Immanent justice is the belief that all transgressions will be punished

somehow.

Consequences of an act determine how bad it is.

Rules of a game cannot be broken.

Moral Thought Piagets Theory

b.

Autonomous morality is the second stage beginning at about age 10,

when the child becomes aware that rules and laws are created by people.

When judging an action, the intentions must be considered.

Rules are agreed upon, and if all players agree, rules can be changed.

Some transgressions go unpunished and life is not necessarily fair.

Moral Thought Kohlbergs Theory

2.

Kohlbergs Theory

a.

Kohlberg also proposed that moral development develops in stages, linked to

individuals cognitive stage, and he used moral dilemmas to observe the
reasoning of different aged children. Kohlberg hypothesized three levels of moral
development, each of which is characterized by two stages and can be
attained most effectively by discussion using advanced moral reasoning.

Preconventional reasoning is controlled by external rewards and punishments.

Stage 1: Heteronomous morality: Behavior is tied to punishment.

Stage 2: Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange: People are nice to

others, so they will be nice in return.

Moral Thought Kohlbergs Theory

b. Conventional reasoning: Laws and rules are revered for their own sake and are
obeyed

Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal

conformity: trust, caring, and loyalty to others are valued as a basis of moral
judgments.

Stage 4: Social systems morality: Moral judgments are based on understanding

the social order, law, justice, and duty.

c. Postconventional reasoning: At this level, a personal moral code is determined by

considering various alternatives and making a choice based on reason.

Stage 5: Social contract or utility and individual rights: Individuals reason that
values, rights, and principles may transcend the law. Validity of current laws and
rules may be questioned and evaluated as to how they preserve and protect
fundamental human rights and values.

Stage 6: Universal ethical principles: The highest stage in Kohlbergs theory.

Individuals develop a moral standard based on universal human rights.

Moral Thought Influences on the

Kohlbergs Stages
3. Influences on the Kohlberg Stages

Although moral reasoning at each stage presupposes a certain level of cognitive

development, Kohlberg argued that advances in childrens cognitive
development did not ensure development of moral reasoning.

Moral reasoning also reflects childrens experiences in dealing with moral

questions and moral conflict.

Kohlberg believed that peer interaction is a critical part of social stimulation that
challenges children to change their moral reasoning.

Moral Thought Kohlbergs Critics

4.

Kohlbergs Critics

Key criticisms involve the following:

The link between moral thought and moral behavior

The way that moral development is assessed

The roles of culture and the family in moral development

Some assert that Kohlbergs theory is culturally biased.

Some assert that Kohlberg underestimated the influence of families.

The significance of concern for others

Carol Gilligan criticizes Kohlbergs theory on the basis that it does not reflect
relationships and concern for others and proposed two prospective to
consider:

Moral Thought Kohlbergs Critics

Justice perspective: focuses on the rights of the individual, with moral

decisions being made independently (Kohlbergs theory).

Care perspective: focuses on interpersonal connectedness and

relationships, and this perspective is lacking in Kohlbergs theory and is
more often a female perspective.

Some argue that Kohlberg did not adequately distinguish between moral
reasoning and social conventional reasoning. Social conventional reasoning
focuses on thoughts about social consensus and convention rather than the
moral issues in Kohlbergs theory.

Some issues belong to a personal domain, not governed by moral strictures

or social normssuch as control over ones body, privacy, and choice of
friends and activities.

Some issues are multifaceted, involving aspects of different domains.

Moral Behavior
1.

Basic Processes

2.

Behavioral view: Reinforcement and punishment are environmental determinants

of behavior. Models (i.e., imitation) of moral behavior are also important, and
moral behavior is situationally dependent.

Resistance to Temptation and Self-Control

Mischel argues that cognitive factors affect self-control.

Providing rationales for not engaging in a behavior are more effective in helping
children demonstrate self-control and resist temptation than are punishments that
do not use reasoning.

Moral Behavior
3.

Social Cognitive Theory

Social cognitive theory of morality highlights the relationship between

environment, cognition, and behavior. It emphasizes a distinction between
moral competence and moral performance

Moral competence depends on cognitive-sensory processes (i.e., what

children are capable of doing, what they know, their skills, awareness of
moral rules, and their cognitive ability to construct behaviors).

Moral performance is determined by motivation and the rewards or

incentives to act in a specific moral way.

Sexual
Development
THIS WILL TALK OVER THE PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF A PERSON
THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE SPAN

Psychosexual Stages

Freud (1905) proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a

series of fixed stages.

These are called psychosexual stages because each stage represents the fixation of
libido (roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body.
As a person grows physically certain areas of their body become important as
sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones), pleasure or both.

Freud believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. Freud also believed
that all tension was due to the build up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure
came from its discharge.

In describing human personality development as psychosexual Freud meant to

convey that what develops is the way in which sexual energy accumulates and is
discharged as we mature biologically. (NB Freud used the term 'sexual' in a very
general way to mean all pleasurable actions and thoughts).

Psychosexual Stages

Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult
personality. The id must be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a
conflict between frustrated wishes and social norms.

The ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need
for gratification into socially acceptable channels. Gratification centers of different
areas of the body at different stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage
psychosexual.

Role of Conflict

Each of the psychosexual stages is associated with a particular conflict that must be
resolved before the individual can successfully advance to the next stage. The
resolution of each of these conflicts requires the expenditure of sexual energy and
the more energy that is expended at a particular stage the more the important
characteristics of that stage remain with the individual as he/she matures
psychologically.

To explain this Freud suggested the analogy of military troops on the march. As the
troops advance they are met by opposition or conflict. If they are highly successful in
winning the battle (resolving the conflict) then most of the troops (libido) will be able
to move on to the next battle (stage).

But the greater the difficulty encountered at any particular point the greater the
need for troops to remain behind to fight and thus the fewer that will be able to go
on to the next confrontation.

Frustration, Overindulgence and

Fixation

Some people do not seem to be able to leave one stage and proceed on to the
next. One reason for this may be that the needs of the developing individual at any
particular stage may not have been adequately met in which case there is
frustration. Or possibly the person's needs may have been so well satisfied that
he/she is reluctant to leave the psychological benefits of a particular stage in which
there is overindulgence.

Both frustration and overindulgence (or any combination of the two) may lead to
what psychoanalysts call fixation at a particular psychosexual stage.

Fixation refers to the theoretical notion that a portion of the individual's libido has
been permanently 'invested' in a particular stage of his development. It is assumed
that some libido is permanently invested in each psychosexual stage and thus each
person will behave in some ways that are characteristic of infancy, or early
childhood.

Superego
Develops
The penis or
clitoris
masturbation

Latent

The anuswithholding
or expelling
feces

Phallic

The mouthsucking,
swallowing,
etc.

Anal

Oral

Ego Develops

Little or no
sexual
motivation
present

Genital

Psychosexual Stages of
Development
The penis or
vagina
sexual
intercourse

Oral Stage (0 1 year)

In the first stage of personality development the libido is centered in a baby's mouth.
It gets much satisfaction from putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido,
and thus its id demands. Which at this stage in life are oral, or mouth orientated, such
as sucking, biting, and breast-feeding.

Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral fixation in later life. We see oral
personalities all around us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb
suckers. Oral personalities engage in such oral behaviors particularly when under
stress.

Anal Stage (1 3 years)

The libido now becomes focused on the anus and the child derives great pleasure
from defecating. The child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right
and that their wishes can bring them into conflict with the demands of the outside
world (i.e. their ego has developed).

Freud believed that this type of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in
which adults impose restrictions on when and where the child can defecate. The
nature of this first conflict with authority can determine the child's future relationship
with all forms of authority.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an anal-retentive
personality who hates mess, is obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of
authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions. This
is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their faeces when toddlers, and their
mum's then insisting that they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they
perform!

Not as daft as it sounds. The anal expulsive, on the other hand, underwent a liberal
toilet-training regime during the anal stage. In adulthood the anal expulsive is the
person who wants to share things with you. They like giving things away. In essence
they are 'sharing their s**t'!' An anal-expulsive personality is also messy, disorganized
and rebellious.

Phallic Stage (3 5 or 6 years)

Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals and masturbation (in both
sexes) becomes a new source of pleasure. The child becomes aware of anatomical
sex differences, which sets in motion the conflict between erotic attraction,
resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud called the

Oedipus complex (in boys) and the

Electra complex (in girls)

This is resolved through the process of identification, which involves the child
adopting the characteristics of the same sex parent.

Oedipus Complex

The most important aspect of the phallic stage is the Oedipus complex. This is one of
Freud's most controversial ideas and one that many people reject outright.

The name of the Oedipus complex derives from Greek myth where Oedipus, a young
man, kills his father and marries his mother. Upon discovering this he pokes his eyes
out and becomes blind. This Oedipal is the generic (i.e. general) term for both
Oedipus and Electra complexes.

In the young boy, the Oedipus complex or more correctly conflict, arises because the
boy develops sexual (pleasurable) desires for his mother. He wants to possess his
mother exclusively and get rid of his father to enable him to do so. Irrationally, the
boy thinks that if his father were to find out about all this, his father would take away
what he loves the most. During the phallic stage what the boy loves most is his
penis. Hence the boy develops castration anxiety.

Oedipus Complex

The little boy then sets out to resolve this problem by imitating, copying and joining in
masculine dad-type behaviors. This is called identification, and is how the three-tofive year old boy resolves his Oedipus complex. Identification means internally
adopting the values, attitudes and behaviors of another person. The consequence
of this is that the boy takes on the male gender role, and adopts an ego ideal and
values that become the superego.

Freud (1909) offered the Little Hans case study as evidence for the oedipus complex.

Electra Complex

For girls, the Oedipus or Electra complex is less than satisfactory. Briefly, the girl desires
the father, but realizes that she does not have a penis. This leads to the development
of penis envy and the wish to be a boy.

The girl resolves this by repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for
a penis with the wish for a baby. The girl blames her mother for her 'castrated state'
and this creates great tension. The girl then represses her feelings (to remove the
tension) and identifies with the mother to take on the female gender role.

Latency Stage (5 or 6 puberty)

No further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means
hidden). The libido is dormant. Freud thought that most sexual impulses are
repressed during the latent stage and sexual energy can be sublimated towards
school work, hobbies and friendships. Much of the child's energies are channeled
into developing new skills and acquiring new knowledge and play becomes largely
confined to other children of the same gender.

Genital Stage (puberty to adult)

This is the last stage of Freud's psychosexual theory of personality development and
begins in puberty. It is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful
resolution of which is settling down in a loving one-to-one relationship with another
person in our 20's. Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self
pleasure like during the phallic stage.

For Freud, the proper outlet of the sexual instinct in adults was through heterosexual
intercourse. Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual
perversions may develop. For example, fixation at the oral stage may result in a
person gaining sexual pleasure primarily from kissing and oral sex, rather than sexual
intercourse.