Core Studies - Developmental Approach

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Developmental - Samuel and Bryant (1984)

Background: Piaget developed a theory of how a childs intellect develops from birth to adulthood. This theory suggested children think in different ways to adults, and every childs thinking develops through 4 stages: 
Sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs) - The childs thoughts are concerned with their actions and sensory perceptions. Theyre limited to the present time and place; Pre-Operational Stage (2-7yrs) - The child can think about absent people/things/events but it has limitations. They rely on intuition and the appearance of things instead of using reason, they show egocentrism (unable to consider things from another viewpoint), irreversibility of thought (if a child has seen something done, they cannot reverse the process mentally), they don't understand that quantity may remain the same even if the appearance is different (conservation);
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11yrs) - Children use reason more and can look at things from another viewpoint. It's suggested that understanding the principle of invariance appears gradually, first number then mass and volume conservation develop later (decalage); Formal Operational (11+yrs) - Children are now able to consider abstract ideas and think about how things might be.

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Developmental - Samuel and Bryant (1984)

Aim: To find out whether asking children about quantity of material once in a test of conservation (after a change in appearance) will lead to fewer errors than asking the same question twice; To find out whether ability to conserve changes with age.

Method: Lab experiment, 252 boys and girls aged 5-8.5 from schools and play groups around Devon. IVs = [Type of test used], 1) Standard (original 2 question task carried out by Piaget one-judgement test); 2) One judgement (child sees transformation take place but is only asked one question - post transformation)
3) Fixed array (child sees no transformation being made, only post transformation display then asked question once).
[Age of Child] Sample divided into 4 age groups of 63, 1) Mean age 5yrs3months; 2) 6yrs3months; 3) 7yrs3months; 4) 8yrs3months.
[Type of Material] 1) Counters - conservation of number; 2) Playdough - conservation of mass; 3) Liquid - conservation of volume.

DV = performance on test (whether child gave correct/incorrect response)

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Developmental - Samuel and Bryant (1984)

Procedure: All children tested 4 times with each material, 2 with equal amounts and 2 with unequal amounts (to check children weren't just getting answers right by guessing). Order children did tests was randomised to prevent order effects.

Results: - Children did better on one judgement than on standard, and better on standard than fixed array. - Childrens ability improved with age, older children consistently making fewer errors. - Children did better on cons of number.

Conclusion: S+B claim their results show Piaget was wrong about children under 7 not being able to conserve. They say many children in Piagets standard test failed because they think theyre expected to give a different answer when asked same question twice.
              Also their ability to correctly answer in one judgement help confirm children under 7 can conserve, as children must have been using conservation to carry over information from the first display to the second display to understand the quantity had not changed.

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Developmental - Bandura (1961)

Background: Social Learning Theory suggests behaviour can be learned through observing and imitating the behaviour of others (modelling). The implication is that children learn from watching the behaviour of those around them, even when theyre not being directly rewarded. Classical Conditioning is learning by association - Pavlov showed lab dogs had learned to associate the sound of a bell with being fed so they would salivate when they heard a bell ringing, even though they couldnt see/smell food. Operant Conditioning is learning through rewards and punishments - if a behaviour has a pleasant consequence we're more likely to repeat that behaviour.

Aim: To demonstrate that if a child is witness to an aggressive display by an adult, they would imitate this aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity, even if they saw these behaviours in a different environment and the model was no longer present.

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Developmental - Bandura (1961)

Hypothesis: - Children exposed to aggressive models would show more aggressive behaviours similar to the models than those exposed to non-aggressive/no models.
- Children watching non-aggressive models would show less aggression than those who hadn't been exposed to a model.
- Boys would imitate more aggression than girls.

Methods: 36 boys and 36 girls from Stanford University nursery aged between 37-69 months. 8 Experimental groups with 6 participants in each and a control group of 24. Exp groups divided into: whether they watched an aggressive/non-aggressive model; whether they were male/female; whether they watched a same-sex or opposite-sex model. Matched pairs design (matched for pre-existing aggression behaviour, rated by experimenter and nursery teacher)

Procedure: Stage One - Children in exp groups taken into a room by experimenter who invited the adult model to come in and 'join in the game'. 

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Developmental - Bandura (1961)

The child was told to play with potato prints in one corner and the model was shown to another corner with a tinker toy set, a mallet and a 5ft Bobo doll. The experimenter left the room.
       In the non-aggressive condition, the adult model assembled the tinker toy set and ignored the Bobo doll.
       In the aggressive condition, the model assembled the toy set for a minute then spent 9 minutes beating up the Bobo doll (involved punching and distinctive behaviours so theyd later be able to see whether any aggression was copied from model and not just general aggressive acts).
       The distinctive behaviours included laying the Bobo doll on its side, sitting on it and punching it in the nose then raising it up, picking up the mallet and striking it on the head. Tossing it in the air, then kicking it round the room.
       The sequence was repeated 3 times and accompanied by verbal aggression, e.g. 'Sock him in the nose', 'hit him down' and some non-aggressive comments, e.g. 'he keeps coming back for more' and 'he sure is a tough fella'.

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Developmental - Bandura (1961)

Stage Two - All participants exposed to mild aggression arousal by being prevented from playing with some very attractive toys (giving all groups an equal chance of showing aggression).
Stage Three - Children taken to another room which contained both aggressive (Bobo, mallet, dartguns + tetherball) and non-aggressive toys (tea set, dolls, paper) and left to play while the experimenter sat and did paperwork at a desk. The child was observed through a one-way mirror for 20 minutes.

Measurements of DV: - Imitative physical aggression; - Imitative verbal aggression; - Mallet aggression; - Punching Bobo; - Non imitative physical and verbal aggression; - Aggressive gun play. These were all measured by dividing the 20 mins into 5 second slots (240 slots) and recording whether child did any.
     - Male model did scoring for all children and didnt know which groups they were in (apart from children he had been model for). Another observer also took records of half childrens behaviour and the inter-rater reliability was high

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Developmental - Bandura (1961)

Results: - Females with ag female model made 5.5 mean number of imitative physical aggression; Females with non-ag female model made 2.5.
- Male with agg F model made 12.4; Male with non-agg F model made 0.2.

- F with agg M model made 2 mean number of imitative verbal aggression; F with non-agg M model made 0; - M with agg M model made 12.7; M with non-agg M model made 0.

- Children who saw aggressive model showed more behaviour resembling models physical and verbal aggression than children who saw non-aggressive/no model.
- Children who saw non-aggressive model showed less mallet aggression than those who had seen aggressive/no model.
- Boys in aggressive model imitated more physical aggression than girls.
- Girls spent more time than boys playing with dolls, tea set and colouring.
- Boys spent more time than girls playing with guns. 

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Developmental - Freud (1909)

Background: Personality contains and is greatly influenced by an unconscious mind which harbours repressed memories which determine conscious thoughts and behaviours. The pre-conscious, contains thoughts which may not be conscious at a given time, but are accessible.
       Freud believed we're born with a number of instinctual drives that regulates and motivates behaviour even in childhood. The source of drives is psychic energy and the most powerful is the Libido which is sexual in nature.
       The personality consists of the
ID (biologically determined and represents all instinctual drives which are inherited); Ego (develops in order to help satisfy the IDs needs in a socially acceptable way); Superego (represents individuals internal frame-work if the moral values which exist in surrounding culture.)    
        Ego Defence Mechanisms: - Denial
(arguing against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it doesnt exist); - Displacement (taking out impulses on a less threatening target; - Projection (placing unacceptable impulses in yourself onto someone else); - Regression (returning to a previous stage of development); - Repression (pulling into unconscious);

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Developmental - Freud (1909)

Psychosexual stages of development: - Oral (0-18mnth), mouth (erogenous), oral fixation (passive dependence or excessive smoking/eating/kissing);
- Anal (18-36), bowel+bladder elimination (erogenous), anal retention (obsession with organisation/excessive neatness), anal repulsive (reckless, careless, defiant);
- Phallic (3-6yrs), genitals (erogenous), Oedipus/Electra complex;
- Latency (6yrs-puberty), dormant sexual feelings;
- Genital (puberty+), sexual interests mature, frigidity/impotence/unsatisfactory relationships.

Oedipus complex: A boy (3-6yrs) develops an intense sexual love for his mother. Because of this he sees his father as a rival and wants to get rid of him. However, the father is bigger and more powerful so the boy develops a fear that his father will castrate him. Because it is impossible to live with the castration-threat anxiety, the boy develops a mechanism for coping with it known as 'identification with the aggressor'. He adapts his fathers attitudes, mannerisms and actions, feeling that if his father sees him as similar, he wont feel hostile towards him.

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Developmental - Freud (1909)

Aim: To report the findings of the treatment of a 5year old for his phobia of horses. To demonstrate that the boys fear was related to his Oedipus complex.

Method: Case study carried out by Little Hans' father, reported to Freud via correspondence and Freud gave directions as to how to deal with situation, based on his interpretations of the fathers reports. Freud noted it was the special relationship between Hans and his father that allowed the analysis to progess and for the discussions to be so detailed and intimate. First reports when he was 3.

 Hans developed interest in 'widdler' and those of others (e.g asked 'mum have you got a widdler too?'). At 3 years 6 months, his mum told him not to touch his widdler or shed call the doctor to come and cut it off. When Hans was almost 5, his father wrote to Freud explaining concerns. He described main problem as "he's afraid a horse will bite him in the street, and this fears connected with his having been frightened by a large penis". 

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Developmental - Freud (1909)

Hans phobia continued and he was afraid to go out of the house because of his phobia of horses. He told his father of a dream: "There was a big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one, and the big one called out because I took the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling out and I sat ontop of the crumpled one" Freud and the father interpreted the dream as a reworking of the morning exchanges in the parental bed. Hans enjoyed getting into the bed but his father objected (big giraffe calling). Freud believed the long neck was a symbol for the large adult penis. Hans rejected this idea.

Hans noted he didnt like horses with black bits around the mouth. Freud believed the horse was a symbol for his father and the black bits a moustache. After the interview, father recorded an exchange where Hans said 'daddy dont trot away from me'. Hans was frightened of horses falling over. He described an incident where he witnessed this. The father asked many leading questions to help the boy discover the root of his fear. E.g. Father: 'When the horse fell did you thik of daddy?'; Hans: 'perhaps,yes'.

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Developmental - Freud (1909)

Hans fear started to decline and Freud believed 2 final fantasies marked a change in Hans and lead to a resolution of his conflicts and anxieties. Firstly, Hans described a fantasy where he was married to his mother and was playing with his own children and his father was the grandfather.
    In the second fantasy, he described how a plumber came and removed his bottom and widdler then gave him another larger one of each.
    At age 19, Hans confirmed he'd suffered no troubles during adolescence and he was fit and well. He couldn't remember the discussion with his father and described how when he read his case history 'it came to him as something unknown'.

Conclusions: Freud believed the findings supported his theories of child development. It provided support for his theory of Oedipus complex. Freud believed much of Hans problem came from conflict caused by sexual love for mother. Supported by final fantasy. Hans afraid of horses as it was symbol for his father. (blinkers = fathers glasses). Feared fathers retaliation. Displaced fear. 

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