3.10: Comparing Contemporary Approaches
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| Theory | Major ideas | Continuous or discontinuous development? | One course of development or many? | More influenced by nature or nurture? | Major Theorist(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychodynamic Approach | Behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts, influenced by unconscious mind and early childhood experiences. | Discontinuous; there are distinct stages of development | One course; stages are universal for everyone | Both; natural impulses & early childhood/ sociocultural experiences | Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson |
| Behavioral Approach | Learning by the association of a response with a stimulus; a person comes to respond in a particular way through conditioning | Continuous; learning is ongoing without distinct stages | Many courses; learned behaviors vary by person | Mostly nurture; behavior is conditioned | Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura |
| Cognitive Approach | People gradually acquire, construct, and use knowledge and information, influencing behavior and development. | Both; stage theories like Piaget are discontinuous & information processing is continuous | One course; stages are universal for everyone | Both; natural maturation combined with experiences that grow skills | Jean Piaget, Richard Atkinson, Richard Shiffrin |
| Humanistic Approach | Individual’s inherent drive towards self-actualization & contend that people have a natural capacity to make decisions about their lives and control their own behavior. | Continuous; development is ongoing and multidirectional depending on environmental circumstances | Mostly one course; Maslow’s hierarchy is universally applied, but self-actualization is individualized | Mostly nurture; development is influenced by environmental circumstances and social interactions | Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow |
| Contextual or Sociocultural Approach | Development occurs within a social context as part of a cultural system. | Both, but mostly continuous as an individual learns and progresses | Many courses; there are variations between individuals and cultures | Both; development is influenced by biological preparation and social experiences | Lev Vygotsky, Uri Brofenbrenner |
| Biological Approach | Physiological functions, like the central nervous system and hormones, affect behavior and development. | Continuous; constant changes to the body affect changes in development | Both; there are universal milestones for growth, but variations due to environment | Both; nature provides a foundation for development and nurture supports or inhibits changes | |
| Evolutionary psychology Approach | Identify behavior that is a result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors. | Continuous; current behaviors have been shaped over multiple generations based on successful survival and reproduction | Both; behavioral genetics show similarities across the species, but our unique family history also plays a role in development | Both; our genetic history and biological impulses interact with life experiences to produce individual development and development across the history and future of the species | Charles Darwin, David Buss, Konrad Lorenz, Robert Sapolsky |