Perspectives on DevelopmentApproaches to Personality Development Approaches to Sex Role Development Publications Related to Development
Understanding DevelopmentDespite the many differences among individuals, there are certain basic commonalities in our lives, of which the most obvious is that we are living beings: we are born, we grow, and eventually we die. This much, we all share--and we all know it. But what makes life interesting is the details--and they are both more significant than the basic commonalities, and harder to predict or understand. Psychologists have been interested in the changes that occur during our lives since the very beginnings of the discipline. John B. Watson, in his famous statement about being able to shape any child to achieve any career, was making an assertion about the power of the environment to shape development; others, from Francis Galton onward, have asserted that our destiny is in our genes. While neither view is likely entirely correct, most of us wish we could better understand the processes that shape our lives--and maybe get a few glimpses of the road that lies ahead. What really does shape our personality? What makes a good parent? And what determines if someone is happy and active in old age, or bitter and withdrawn? While no one has complete answers to any of these questions, developmental psychologists, drawing on all of the five approaches, are gaining an increasingly detailed picture of the processes that influence the way we grow and change. It is impossible to cover all aspects of development, either here or in the text. Instead, you should consider this a starting point in exploring development in general, and possibly your own development. ResourcesDevelopmental Stages--Several pages, providing a basic overview of general developmental concepts. Part of grad student Andy Dannelley's psychology site. Child Development Institute--Extensive site offering a variety of information about early development; organized by topic and searchable. Music
Therapy: The Power of Music - Examines the power of using popular
music, something Adolescence--Site created by Nancy Darling of Penn State and her students, containing brief essays on many specific areas of development. (Note: the reviews are vary somewhat in quality and recency of sources, but often contain information about on- and off-line resources.) Psychology of Aging--An on-line course on aging, by Nadine Wisniewski at the University of Montana; has good information and links. On-line Resources for Developmental Psychology--Good site for general links on various aspects of development, from George Mason Univ.; section on research methods for studying development is particularly good. Developmental Psychology--Page maintained by Donelson Forsyth of Virginia Commonwealth University; part of larger site providing selective links for various areas in psychology.
Approaches to Personality DevelopmentThe idea that individuals have distinctive personalities has a long history--for example, five hundred years ago, Shakespeare made references to temperament in his plays, and the concept was old even then. Today, most of us accept the idea that individuals show some consistency in behavior over time and across situations, and we describe this consistency as representing the individual's "personality". Indeed, social psychologist George Kelley once commented that "in everyday life, we are all personality theorists"! As obvious as the idea seems, however, the study of personality is not without controversy. In fact, psychologists of different approaches have very different views of what produces the behavioral consistency we call personality--or even whether it really exists. Not surprisingly, psychologists favoring the Biological approach tend to see personality as based on hereditary processes. In the past century, a model of personality based on body shape was developed by William Sheldon, who argued that body type was closely related to temperament, and therefore personality. Sheldon's model, like many personality theories which seek to categorize people into a limited number of types, tended to oversimplify differences among individuals, and is generally regarded by most psychologists as invalid. However, in the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in the role of temperament as a factor in personality, and a variety of studies, by Stella Chess, Jerome Kagan, and others, have provided new understanding of temperament as an innate characterisitic. By contrast, Behaviorists have questioned whether personality is anything more than an imaginary construct. Since Behaviorists see individual differences as the product of prior learning, consistency (if it occurs at all in behavior) would simply reflect that the environment is relatively consistent. Similarly, Cognitive psychologists like Walter Mischel have questioned the notion that personality reflects any innate process; instead, Mischel and similar theorists focus on a combination of mental schemata and environmental influences. The idea that mental schemata influence behaviors can be traced back to the pioneering work of Jean Piaget, who believed that basic cognitive processes of assimilation and accommodation underlie all of our interactions with the world. More recently, theorists like Lawrence Kohlberg have extended the idea of cognitive structures to areas like moral development. Psychodynamic theorists of cours see behavior in terms of the processes that motivate our behavior. From this point of view, personality develops out of the interaction of basic drives and environmental experience. Freud's theory is certainly the best known psychodynamic theory, but other models build on a similar interaction of mental processes and environmental influences. The Humanistic Approach emphasizes healthy growth, and argues that other approaches (notably the Psychodynamic) fail because they offer no clear description of what it means to develop in a healthy way. Curiously, though, the primary Humanistic theories provide little detail about the process of growth. As the text discusses, Rogers favors a process orientation, rather than suggesting there are discrete stages of development, but in the end the Humanistic Approach is less than satisfying as a model for understanding the details of development. ResourcesPersonality: What Makes Us Who We Are?--Interesting site, featuring a variety of interactive demonstrations; created by Annenberg/PBS in conjunction with The Brain TV series. (Includes material related to Biological, Behaviorist, and Psychodynamic approaches.) Personality--An on-line slide show outlining basic concepts of personality, from ancient times to modern psychology, from the Univ. of Memphis. (Includes material related to all approaches except Humanistic.) The Personality Project--Extensive site by William Revelle at Northwestern University, covering most aspects of personality theory, with both original content and a variety of links; includes a 1995 Annual Review paper by Revelle. Great Ideas in Personality--Well-organized site with extensive material on many aspects of personality theory and research; maintained by psychologist Scott Acton of Northwestern University. Biological Sheldon's Body and Temperament Types--Chapter from book by Tyra and James Arraj; includes brief self-quiz to explore temperament. 10 Keys to Unlocking Temperament--1996 article by Nancy Olsen, describing research on temperament at Arizona State Univ. Cognitive Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development-- Extensive discussion, with embedded links, by Bill Huitt of Valdosta State Univ. in Georgia http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piaget.html Piaget's Theory of Development--On-line tutorial by Margaret Anderson, SUNY at Cortland. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development--A brief but clear overview of Kohlberg's theory, by Robert Barger of Notre Dame. The Illusory Nature of Personality Traits--Brief summary of factors which contribute to over-estimating the consistency of behavior, by Chris Wetzel of Rhodes College. Psychodynamic Facts for Families--Brief essays on various developmental topics from a psychodynamic perspective; part of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry site. Approaches to Sex Role Development One of the most obvious differences between individuals is the fact that two physical sexes exist. Physical gender is often seen as determining many aspects of behavior, but one needs to be careful in thinking about sex roles (behaviors associated with sex differences), because some gender roles vary across cultures (and hence seem to be partly learned), and sexual orientation is not based simply on one's sex. Indeed, understanding the many ways in which behavior is (or is not) determined by sex is one of the most challenging areas in developmental research. In this area, as in many aspects of development, the different approaches often have different points of view. Today, however, the primary focus of debate is often about whether the observed differences in gender roles and sexual orientation are primarily due to heredity or environment. When expressed in these terms, it often becomes a debate between the Biological Approach and all the others. ResourcesGender Roles About Gender--On-line text discussing gender roles from a variety of approaches, as well as a variety of material about other aspects of gender; site developed by Jed Bland of Derby TV (UK). The Significance of Gender--Abstracts from 1997 special issue of Journal of Social Issues. Sex Hormones and Human Cognitive Function--1996 article by psychologist Doreen Kimura, who pioneered studies of gender differences in brain structure and function. S/He-Brains--A 1995 report from Discover magazine on research on gender differences in language processing in the brain. The Neuronal Platonist--1998 journal article interviewing neuropsychologist Michael Gazzaniga on the nature of personality; interview by Shaun Gallagher of Canisius College. TV gender images and sex roles--Portion of review article by Daniel Chandler of the University of Wales, discussing how exposure to television influences the development of gender roles. Sexual Orientation A Long Tradition--1996 article from The Scientist discussing research favoring biological basis of sexual orientation; slightly dated, but provides a good discussion of the underlying issues. Interpreting the Biological Correlates of Sexual Orientation--Article by psychologist Daryl Bem of Cornell, arguing for interactionist theory of sexual orientation (article in press, 2000). See also 1996 Psych. Review article by Bem, outlining basic theory. (Bem's model argues that gender conformity/nonconformity in sex role behavior is a significant factor in sexual orientation.)
Publications Related to DevelopmentDevelopmental Psychology--Site for APA journal; includes on-line table of contents, and selected articles. British Journal of Developmental Psychology--Site for BPS journal; includes on-line table of contents, and full text of sample issue. |