section.
Information Processing Theory
A developmental scientist presents a 5-year-old child with a puzzle in which a dog, cat, and mouse must find their way to a bone, piece of fish, and hunk of cheese. To solve the puzzle, the child must move all three animals to the appropriate locations. How will the child approach this task? Which item will she move first? What steps will she take? What factors influence whether and how quickly a child completes this task? Finally, how does the 5-year-old child’s process and performance differ from that of children older and younger than herself?
Table 1.4
The problem described above illustrates the questions studied by developmental scientists who favor information processing theory, which posits that the mind works in ways similar to a computer in that information enters and then is manipulated, stored, recalled, and used to solve problems (Halford & Andrews, 2011). Unlike the theories we have discussed thus far, information processing theory is not one theory that is attributed to an individual theorist. Instead, there are many information processing theories, and each emphasizes a different aspect of thinking (Callaghan & Corbit, 2015; Müller, Kerns, Müller, & Kerns, 2015; Ristic & Enns, 2015). Some theories focus on how people perceive, focus on, and take in information. Others examine how people store information, create memories, and remember information. Still others examine problem solving—how people approach and solve problems in school, the workplace, and everyday life.
According to information processing theorists, we are born with the ability to process information. Our mental processes of noticing, taking in, manipulating, storing, and retrieving information do not show the radical changes associated with stage theories. Instead, development is continuous and entails changes in the efficiency and speed with which we think. Maturation of the brain and nervous system contributes to changes in our information processing abilities. We tend to become more efficient at attending to, storing, and processing information over the childhood years and to slow over the adult years (Luna, Marek, Larsen, Tervo-Clemmens, & Chahal, 2015). Experience and interaction with others also contribute by helping us learn new ways of managing and manipulating information. We naturally engage in information processing throughout our lives. We will discuss these changes and their implications for children, adolescents, and adults in later chapters.
Information processing theory offers a complex and detailed view of how we think, which permits scientists to make specific predictions about behavior and performance that can be tested in research studies. Indeed, information processing theory has generated a great many research studies and has garnered much empirical support (Halford & Andrews, 2011). Critics of the information processing perspective argue that a computer model cannot capture the complexity of the human mind and people’s unique cognitive abilities. In addition, findings from laboratory research may not extend to everyday contexts in which people must adapt to changing circumstances and challenges to attention (Miller, 2016).
Contextual Theories
Contextual theories emphasize the role of the sociocultural context in development. People of all ages are immersed in their social contexts; they are inseparable from the cultural beliefs and societal, neighborhood, and familial contexts in which they live. The origins of sociocultural systems theory lie with two theorists, Lev Vygotsky and Urie Bronfenbrenner.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Writing at the same time as Piaget, Russian scholar Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) offered a different perspective on development that emphasized the importance of culture. As we have discussed on page 8, culture refers to the beliefs, values, customs, and skills of a group; it is a product of people’s interactions in everyday settings (Markus & Kitayama, 2010). Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory examines how culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through social interaction. Children interact with adults and more experienced peers as they talk, play, and work alongside them. It is through these formal and informal social contacts that children learn about their culture and what it means to belong to it. By participating in cooperative dialogues and receiving guidance from adults and more expert peers, children adopt their culture’s perspectives and practices, learning to think and behave as members of their society (Rogoff, 2016). Over time, they become able to apply these ways of thinking to guide their own actions, thus requiring less assistance from adults and peers (Rogoff, Moore, Correa-Chavez, & Dexter, 2014).
Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) emphasized the importance of culture in development. Children actively engage their social world, and the social world shapes development by transmitting culturally relevant ways of thinking and acting that guide children’s thought and behavior.
Heritage/Corbis
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory holds important implications for understanding cognitive development. Like Piaget, Vygotsky emphasized that children actively participate in their development by engaging with the world around them. However, Vygotsky also viewed cognitive development as a social process that relies on interactions with adults, more mature peers, and other members of their culture. Vygotsky also argued that acquiring language is a particularly important milestone for children because it enables them to think in new ways and have more sophisticated dialogues with others, advancing their learning about culturally valued perspectives and activities. We will revisit Vygotsky’s ideas about the roles of culture, language, and thought in Chapter 7.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory is an important addition to the field of lifespan human development because it is the first theory to emphasize the role of the cultural context in influencing people’s development throughout life. Critics argue that sociocultural theory overemphasizes the role of context, minimizes the role of individuals in their own development, and neglects the influence of genetic and biological factors (Crain, 2016). Another perspective on development, described next, refocuses attention on the individual in context.
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory
Similar to other developmental theorists, Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) believed that we are active in our own development. Specifically, Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory poses that development is a result of the ongoing interactions among biological, cognitive, and psychological changes within the person and his or her changing context (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Bronfenbrenner proposed that all individuals are embedded in, or surrounded by, a series of contexts: home, school, neighborhood, culture, and society, as shown in Figure 1.6. The bioecological systems theory thus offers a comprehensive perspective on the role of context as an influence on development. As shown in Figure 1.6, contexts are organized into a series of systems in which individuals are embedded and that interact with one another and the person to influence development.
At the center of the bioecological model is the individual. The developing person’s genetic, psychological, socioemotional, and personality traits interact, influencing each other. For example, physical development, such as brain maturation, may influence cognitive development, which in turn may influence social development, such as a child’s understanding of friendship. Social development then may influence cognitive development, as children may learn activities or ideas from each other. In this way, the various forms of development interact. The individual interacts with the contexts in which he or she is embedded, influencing and being influenced by them (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).
