Bronfenbrenner proposes that the natural environment

■ Bronfenbrenner proposes that the natural
environment actually consists of interacting
contexts or systems: microsystem; mesosystem;
exosystem; macrosystem; chronosystem
■ This detailed analysis of person–environment
interactions has stimulated many new
interpretations of development.

Themes/issues/controversies in development

Nature/nurture issue : the debate among developmental
theorists about the relative importance of biological predispositions
(nature) and environmental influences (nurture) as determinants of
human development.

Activity/passivity theme : a debate among developmental
theorists about whether children are active contributors to their
own development or, rather, passive recipients of environmental
influence.
 Continuity/discontinuity issue: a debate among theorists about
whether developmental changes are quantitative and continuous,
or qualitative and discontinuous (i.e., stage-like)

Most contemporary developmentalists are theoretically eclectic:
■ They recognize that no single theory offers a totally adequate
account of human development.
■ They believe that each theory contributes importantly to our
understanding of development.

Activity 1
Perspectives Representative theory Key
propositions
Contributions Criticisms
Psychoanalytic Freud’s Psychosexual
Erikson’s Psychosocial
Learning J.B. Watson’s radical
behaviorism
B. F. Skinner’s Operant
Conditioning
A. Bandura’s SLT
Cognitive Piaget’s cognitive
developmental theory
Vigotsky’s socio-cultural
theory
Information processing
theory
Ethological
perspective
Ethological &
evolutionary theory
Ecological
systems
perspective
U. Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological system theory

2. Adolescence: History and meaning
 Young people- 10-24 years
 Youth -15-24 years
 Adolescence- 10-19 years

The concept of ‘Adolescence’ invented in 1904

Granville Stanley Hall(1844-1924) associated with the
invention of Adolescence
 Hall established an experimental psychology laboratory at
Johns Hopkins University in 1882
 The term ‘Adolescence’ came from a Latin word ‘Adolescere’
which means to grow

Adolescence refers to a transition period between childhood
and adulthood[in most literature the time between 12 and 20
year]
 The meaning and timeframe of adolescence varies across
cultures and time.

The Nature of Adolescence: STORM AND STRESS IN
ADOLESCENCE

G. Stanley Hall (1904): adolescence is a time of
“storm and stress”

Typically the period during puberty, as the
adolescents adopt adult social roles and
responsibilities, is considered a time of
storm and stress .

According to G. Stanley Hall, adolescents…

Display mood alterations.

Distressing and unpredictable thoughts.

High anxiety and exaggerated defense mechanisms

Impulsive, inconsistent, or inappropriate behavior.

Inner disturbance.

…
STORM AND STRESS IN ADOLESCENCE
 Storm and Stress is related to hormonal changes associated with
puberty and offers a good account of the uniqueness of adolescence.