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Perspectives in Psychology

Introduction

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What are Perspectives? Perspectives are different view-points, different ways of looking at

something. If you witnessed a crime you would have a different perspective than

that of the ‘victim’ and the ‘criminal’. Each person looks at the incident from a different view-point.

Your perspective can be shaped by your beliefs and experiences. For example you might view dogs as friendly, fun, loyal companions.

But if you had been bitten by a dog you might view them as vicious and you may be wary of them.

If you lived in Indonesia you would have been brought up to eat dogs and see them as food!

If you followed a religion that worshipped dogs you would have a completely different view of them!

Psychology too has different perspectives based on different psychologists beliefs about people (their ontology) and what they are trying to find out (their epistemology)

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Developmental Psychology

This area of psychology is primarily interested in the way in which children develop.

It will carry out studies and research that chart the different stages and processes of development.

Developmental psychologists come from many different perspectives.

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Perspectives within Psychology There are a number of different perspectives and the

mains ones that we will be looking at are: Behaviourism Social learning Psychodynamic Humanistic Cognitive-developmental (Social-constructivism)

We may also look at Cognitive psychology which is to do with how the

brain is structured and is interested in thought processes Developmental psychology which looks at how we

develop, particularly children

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Behaviourism

You have looked at most of these perspectives and their theories about play and learning in unit 7.

What do you remember about Behaviourism? You may remember looking at Pavlov and

Skinner and the experiments they did with rats and dogs…remember?

What conclusions did they come to?

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Behaviourism

Behaviourists are interested in studying behaviour

They are only interested in what can be observed

Behaviourists look for scientific, demonstrable explanations for simple behaviours

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Behaviourism outline Behaviourists believe that we are shaped by our

environment – NURTURE They believe that our experiences reinforce our

behaviour. - Positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. Remember?

It is through this that we learn and develop. Apply this to learning language – how do you think

our language development is reinforced? How might this apply to personality and physical

development? How might this apply to fears? – Remember

Watson’s studies?

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Key people within behaviourism

Throughout this unit we will be looking at: Burrhus F. Skinner Ivan Pavlov John Watson

The DEBATES Sees development as continual through reinforcement

(CONTINUITY and LATER) Sees behaviour and learning as being shaped through

reinforcement (NURTURE) Applies the rules of reinforcement to all. (NOMOTHETIC)

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Social Learning Theory This perspective grew out of the behaviourist

traditions It believes that behaviour can be explained in terms

of both direct and indirect reinforcement. (NURTURE)

It emphasises the role of social influences on development, particularly observational learning.

Do you remember what this is? This means that children learn about social norms

and expectations by observing others; role models.

(Harris, Butterworth, 2002)

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Social Learning Theory The key influencer was Bandura. Do you remember Bandura’s experiment with the Bobo doll? What conclusions did he come to about this? That children observe key figures in their lives and they learn

about behaviour and how to behave in society from them. Think about how children learn about gender.

The DEBATES Sees development as continual through direct and indirect

reinforcement (CONTINUITY and LATER) Sees behaviour and learning as being shaped through

reinforcement (NURTURE) Applies the rules of reinforcement to all. (NOMOTHETIC)

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Psychodynamic The Psychodynamic Perspective was developed by a

psychologist named Sigmund Freud This approach has 3 broad themes1. Importance of unconscious motivations and feelings2. Origin of these in early childhood3. Significance of unconscious anxiety and inner conflict

(psychodynamics)The DEBATES Believes that the unconscious has its origins in biological

drives. (NATURE ) Freud believes we develop through Psychosexual stages.

(DISCONTINUITY) He applies these stages to all (NOMOTHETIC) He places the emphasis on our early experiences

(EARLY)

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Freud and psychodynamics

Conflict between 3 aspects of psyche; Id - this is the part that is likened to a child it focusses

on pleasure from satisfaction of biological needs e.g.food, sex

Superego – this is the part that can be likened to a parent. It’s the conscience side that stops you from doing or behaving in certain ways

Ego - this is the part that tries to regulate the other two. Problems occur when either the Id or the Superego is too

strong or when the Ego is not mature enough. Consequence of conflict is Angst which leads to defence

mechanisms such as repression, displacements, denial, isolation, sublimation (form of displacement for libido to creative valued goals), regression…

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Psychodynamic From this theory Freud developed a therapy

for helping patients deal with their unconscious drives and conflict – psychoanalysis.

Freud has been largely discredited by most other perspectives but it is a perspective that continues to develop e.g. Melanie Klein who pioneered observation and interpretation of children’s play.

We will look at this further throughout the rest of this unit.

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The Humanist Perspective

Started in 1950s with Abraham Maslow, George Kelly, Carl Rogers and Gordon AllPort

Inspired by Existentialism – that awareness of our existence and the ‘now’ is important

They felt that neither Behaviourism nor Psychoanalysis captured the core aspects of human experience. (Sometimes called 3rd force)

Wanted a perspective that did justice to people’s capacity to be self-aware and responsible for directing their own lives.

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The Humanist Perspective

Key Themes Focus on conscious not unconscious meanings Experiential approach – concerned with how people

experience the world. Phenomenological approach because it focuses on

phenomena – things as they appear to us. Conscious experience not fixed or given. People are self-aware and responsible for directing own

life. In contrast to the idea that early conscious experiences

influence actions, humanists emphasize our ability to become aware of our feelings and our power to initiate change. (Existential)

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The Humanist Perspective

The DEBATES It sees NURTURE as key and development

and CONTINUITY. The emphasis for change and development

is not in early experiences but throughout life (LATER).

It is interested in the individual’s experiences and not interested in applying general laws about people (IDIOGRAPHIC)

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Cognitive Perspective

This perspective looks at how our actions and behaviours are influenced by our thoughts and the way we process information.

They will also consider how the development of language influences our thinking.

Research in this area includes studies on; memory, information processing models, cognitive stages of development and language acquisition

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Cognitive-Developmental (Social Constructivism) The cognitive-developmental approach is interested

in studying the way that people think and process information. They are particularly interested in areas such as information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development and memory.

This perspective is also interested in the influence of social aspects; interactions with others and the influence of our culture and background

It was previously thought that babies and infants could not think however it is now recognised that babies do take an interest in their surroundings and from the time they are born they are actively learning about their environment.

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Cognitive-Developmental Remember Piaget? What were his main ideas?Main themes We are actively involved in our learning We are information processors We categorise and encode information We develop schemas about the world When we receive new information we either assimilate it into

existing schemas or we accommodate it into a new schema. Piaget sees children develop through stages (DISCONTINUITY) Vygotsky and Bruner would argue that children develop through

interaction with their environment (CONTINUITY) Both our biology and our environment are important (NATURE

and NURTURE)

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Cognitive-Developmental

Key People Piaget – schemas, Sensori-motor stages Vygotsky – ZPD, Contextual development Bruner – Category Learning & modes of representation

The DEBATES We are active in our learning. We interact with the social

world. (NURTURE & DISCONTINUITY) Piaget believes we pass through stages (DISCONTINUITY). The emphasis for change and development is not in early

experiences but throughout life (LATER). It is interested in applying general laws about people

(NOMOTHETIC)

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Finally…

This has been a brief overview of each perspective we will be looking at throughout this unit.

You need to familiarise yourself with their different approaches to the debates within psychology as these affect the way in which they approach developmental psychology and the information they set out to discover.

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Influence of perspectives Task 1 In pairs consider recap what each debate is Consider how the perspectives fall under each of the debates

Task 2 From what you have learned so far consider how each

perspective might influence our understanding of children’s behaviour

Now consider what influence each has had on early years practice.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at this in more detail. You need to keep these themes in mind as this relates to task 2.

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Task 2 – P2, M2, D1 Outline each of these perspectives and how they apply

to the understanding of the development of children’s behaviour. (P2)

Explain, using examples from placement, how areas of early years practice have been influenced by developmental theory. (M2)

Analyse the contribution of these perspectives to early years practice. (D1) You need to consider how and in what ways these perspectives have influenced practice. Do you feel that the ways in which they have been applied are relevant? Explain. Do you feel they should be applied in better ways or that we should be less influenced by one or more them? Explain. Are there some aspects of the perspectives that have not influenced practice that you feel would be useful?

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Bibliography

Harris.M., Butterworth.G., 2002, Developmental Psychology: A Student’s Handbook, East Sussex: Psychology Press, USA and Canada: Taylor and Francis Inc.

Miell,D., Pheonix,A., Thomas.K., (2002) Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes: The Open University

Squire.G., (2007) BTEC Nationals Children’s Care, Learning and Development 2nd Ed., Oxford: Heinemann