1.

Using the theory of your choice, explain (as you believe the theorist would) what (if

anything) could be done to prevent adolescents from developing eating disorders. You

will need to clearly connect these suggestions to the theory you choose to discuss.

I am going to use Social Learning theory to explain what could be done to prevent

adolescents from developing eating disorders. I believe there are various reasons as to

why adolescents develop eating disorders. I depends on many factors that are happening

in the life of the adolescent, but for the sake of this question I decided to use Social

Learning Theory to answer the question. Social learning theory is the idea that people

learn from each other through imitation, observation, and modeling. If people in society

would promote healthy weight and healthy eating I believe there would be less trouble

with eating disorders. Eating disorders in many cases are learned by others. People see

models, actors, actresses, people important in society displaying the perfect body. Many

adolescents want that perfect body so they will be adored and loved by those around

them. Society thinks skinny is beautiful, so all the young girls want to be thin because

they think it will bring them happiness or popularity because it is what society

encourages. They imitate what they see on the television and in magazines. They observe

the eating habits of the people with the perfect bodies and they model this behavior

because society sees as beautiful, powerful, or perfect and all adolescents want to feel

like they are somebody and many of them think to be a somebody they must look a

certain way. This thinking can lead to binge eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, Body

Dysmorphic Disorder, and exercise addictions. In Social Learning Theory, imitative

behaviors are reinforced. The more weight a person loses, the more compliments they get
and the more they want to lose. They imitate the behavior society favors and get

reinforcement by getting compliments, which boost their self-esteem and it reinforces the

unhealthy behavior. If the powerful people in society, parents, teachers, and people

involved in an adolescents environment would promote healthy eating habits, exercise

habits, confidence and self -love, adolescents would be more likely to imitate their

behavior because society would have a different suggestion of how people should look.

People would be more likely to see a strong adolescent who is confident and has healthy

habits. People would compliment these healthy habits and the habits would be reinforced.

The same goes for binge eating disorders. If people in society imitate healthy behaviors

and eating habits, adolescents may try to imitate the healthy behavior and feel better

about themselves and become healthier and more positive about who they are. They will

probably get compliments about their positivity and yet again the healthy behavior would

be reinforced. Adolescents must learn this behavior from somewhere, they do not wake

up one morning and say I am going to have an eating disorder today, they learn the

behavior from society, they imitate the behavior, and the behavior gets reinforced by

society, so in order to fix the problem healthier body views, eating habits, and confidence

needs to be promoted society, so adolescent will learn this behavior, imitate the behavior,

model the behavior, and get positive compliments, from people in their environment

which acts as positive reinforcement.

References

Miller P.H. (2016). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY: Worth

Publishers
 2. When trying to understand developmental processes, discuss the value of studying

normal development vs. studying abnormal development. What merits and drawbacks

exist in each of the two approaches? In your answer, you should consider examples of

developmental theorists who used each of these approaches.

When trying to understand developmental processes, studying normal development is valuable

because it helps researchers understand how people develop throughout their life. It helps

researchers understand what is normal development in groups of children and adults. If most

children develop in a certain way then they are probably developing normally, if a child strays

from the considered normal development then researchers will know that they are not

developing in the way they are supposed to develop. Studying normal development can help

people understand how nature and nurture contribute to someones development. It can help

people learn and understand what plays a role in how people usually development, and find the

similarities to help provide a definition of what is normal development. It can also help people

understand when certain development is supposed to occur, so if it does not happen at the time it

is supposed to occur, they will know that there is something abnormal occurring in development.

Abnormal development. The merits of the study of normal development is that it helps create a

timeline of when development is supposed to occur, which can help define abnormal

development, it helps researchers understand what contributes to development, and it helps to

define abnormal development. Some of the drawbacks is how to define and understand normal

development. Normal development may be defined differently in different cultures. Perhaps it is

a cultural difference that defines what is normal and abnormal. What may be normal

development in the United States may not be normal to people who live India, so it may be

difficult to define normal development when other cultures are involved. Erik Erikson
understood that culture had a big influence on how people developed. He theorized on normal

and abnormal development in a social context. In Eriksonss view, society exerts its influence

on the developing organism at many levels, ranging all the way from its abstract ideology to a

parents caress (Miller, 2016). Another drawback is that development can occur at different

times and still be normal development. For example, Mary and Bob are six years old and they

are both in 1st grade. Mary can write well and without writing letters backwards, but Bob

accidently writes his letters backwards on some occasions, this does not mean Bob is developing

abnormally, he is just developing at a different pace. The value of studying abnormal

development is to also understand what is normal when it comes to development. It can also help

us study why someones development is abnormal. For example, Jane is not like the other kids in

her pre-school class, she spends most of the time by herself, fixated on a little toy car, she does

not talk and does not use eye contact when the teacher tries to get her attention. Studying

abnormal development can help us understand that Jane is not developing normally, there is

obviously something that is not right. Studying abnormal development can help us spot when

something is not normal in development and help us understand why someone is not developing

normally. It can help us understand biological issues and environmental influences that prevent

adequate development. Lev Vygotsky theorized about how people develop normally and

abnormally. He believed that much of development has to do with cultural changes in what

cultural practices they can engage in and how they participate in them (Miller, 2016). He

suggests that participating in cultural activities help people develop and learn. He considered

developmental inconsistencies to be cultural differences. The merits of studying abnormal

development is that we know when people are not developing correctly, it helps us understand

the reasons why abnormal development may occur, it may also help us come up with a way to
create programs and provide skills to those who are not developing normally. The drawbacks

include defining what might be abnormal because what is normal development in one culture

may be abnormal for another culture.

References

Miller P.H. (2016). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY: Worth

Publishers

7. To what degree do you believe early experience is more important than later experience in

shaping developmental outcomes? Discuss in detail and give specific examples. Which

developmental theorists, if any do you think would agree with you? Explain why.

I believe that early experiences are a lot more important than later experience in shaping

developmental outcomes. Most development occurs early on in life. Various connections are

made within the brain as new knowledge is learned. If that knowledge is not available early on in

life those connections will have more difficulty being made as one grows and further develops.

The first few years of life are very critical for development, that is when the brain grows,

becomes specialized, and efficient. This development occurs throughout childhood as the brain is

stimulated by environmental factors. An early stimulating and healthy environment must be

provided during early development because it can delay social development. For example,

children who do not receive cognitive enrichment and verbal stimulation are more likely to have

low literacy and social skills later in life. Children deprived of verbal stimulation during the
first few years of life are severely impaired in their capacity to learn language and have great

difficulty acquiring normal language later (Kessenich & Morrison, 2017). Unhealthy early

experiences such as poor early relationships with parents can cause a lack of social development

later in life. Children who are securely attached to their children early in life are more

cooperative with their mothers, have better relationships with their teachers and class mates, and

do better cognitively and academically compared to children who lacked a secure relationship

early on in life. However, the human brain is resilient and the levels of vulnerability to early

experiences can vary depending on ones temperament and coping abilities. Although I think

early experiences are more important, there is some research that suggests the cumulative

effects of both early and later experiences define an individual's trajectories later in life

(Kessenich & Morrison, 2017). I think Piaget would agree with me because he believed that

children are active participants in such learning. He was also able to observe how children

change and learn as they understand more about their world, however he seemed to

underestimate a childs intelligence and what they can learn at certain ages.

References

Kessenich, M. & Morrison, F.J. (2017). Developmental Theory - Cognitive and Information

Processing, Evolutionary Approach, Vygotskian Theory -Historical Overview. Retrieved

from: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1913/Developmental-Theory.html

Miller P.H. (2016). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
3. Choose any theory you want, and discuss how developmental neuroscience could be

used to advance and/or test some aspect(s) of that theory. You should discuss this in both

broad and specific terms. Give at least two specific examples.

I choose Piagets Cognitive -Stage Theory to discuss how developmental neuroscience

could be used to advance or test aspects of the theory. Developmental Neuroscience is a

field of psychology that examines the relationship between the developing brain and the

emergence of different abilities during infancy through childhood. (Nelson & Luciana,

2008). Developmental neuroscience could test Piagets theory by providing an inside look

of the connections that brain is making as a child learns and develops. Piagets theory

how a child builds a mental model of their world. He believed that a child gained intellect

by maturing biologically and interacting with the world around them. Developmental

Neuroscience could test his theory seeing if how the brain has matured after observing a

more matured mind. For example, Piagets stages are the observation of how children

develop and learn as they grow. Piaget used a task called the conservation task to see how

children between the ages of 2-7 answered questions about two containers that both had

the same amount of water in them. One container was wide and the other container slim.

He would then ask the children to point to the containers with the most water and explain

their answer. Many of the children pointed to the taller container because it gave the

illusion that there was more water in the container. They did not understand that the

containers still held the same amount of water, but when a child is between the ages of 7-

11, they understand that the containers still hold the same amount of water because

children can mentally grasp that the same amount of water is in both containers. This

observation and stage could be tested by the equipment used in developmental

neuroscience. When the observation is made, researchers could gather an image of the
brain and see the new connections the brain has made, then the researchers could

understand the connections and see where they have developed, thus helping researchers

understand more about the developing brain. Another example would be Piagets research

on how children think and represent things. He noticed that young children used mental

representations for objects or events as a broader skill as using one thing to stand for

something else. For example, A four- year old may use the word airplane, a swooping

picture of an airplane, or a toy airplane to stand for a real airplane. Children eventually,

between the ages of 7 to 11, are more organized with their thoughts and can make it into a

mental action rather than representational action. After this observation is made, the use

of technology in developmental neuroscience can help explore what is happening in the

brain as these observations in in a child are seen. This may also help corroborate Piagets

theory by providing visual proof of the new connections and structural changes the brain

has made. It would no longer only be an observation made by a researcher. This would

also help test this theory by using the equipment to test children at the times these stages

or periods are meant to occur, so researchers could see the connections the new

connections made at each stage. It could also help researchers understand when and why

certain stages happen at different times for some children. Developmental neuroscience

could help view the structural changes in the brain as it develops and creates connections,

it could help researchers see the areas where brain activity is increasing and how brains

develop from environmental stimulation. It can also help understand the differences in the

rates of brain development. This information could help test Piagets stages and provide

an image of the brain structure that can help prove that these stages are occurring at the

times he believed they occurred.

 References

Miller P.H. (2016). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Luciana, M. & Nelson C.A. (2008). Handbook of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 936.

4. Which theory or approach do you think best explains why some adolescents have

positive outcomes and others become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol? To fully answer

this, discuss how your theory of choice would explain the development of addiction, and

discuss why this theory is superior to others in explaining the phenomenon.

I think Vygotskys sociocultural theory best explains why some adolescents have positive

outcomes and others become addicted to drugs and /or alcohol. Sociocultural Theory

looks at how society helps people develop individually. The theory places great emphasis

on how interaction occurs between developing people and their culture. I think this theory

would explain the question because it seems that the United States is currently plagued by

drug use, especially in West Virginia. I believe that society is making adolescents more

prone to develop and addiction. Adolescents come to school with drugs or they have

alcohol at parties and they share these substances and it becomes a way for them to fit

in with the people they are around. This answer relates to Vygotskys sociocultural view

on human nature. It is embedded in people to seek out and respond to a variety of social

and physical contexts (Miller, P.H., 2016). So, if an adolescent sees their parents using
 opiates, the adolescent may do the same thing they witnessed their parent doing, then that

adolescent may take some opiates to their friends, so they can use the drugs together, they

both get addicted and become addicts. Adolescents who have grown up in the United

States and especially West Virginia have grown up around a culture that uses narcotics

and pills for every problem. It has become what seems like a cultural practice for many

adolescents to experiment with drugs and alcohol. It is a phase that can lead to an

addiction. It does not help that many of the parents of addicts do drugs themselves, which

can provide a biological means of addiction. Which leads to Vygotskys views on nature

vs. nurture. Vygotsky suggests that nature and nurture co- construct development. So, it

may be that an adolescent is more prone to becoming addicted and then they are

influenced by a culture that promotes drug use which in turns increases the chances of

and adolescent becoming more addicted. I may also be true that an adolescent is

influenced what is popular by their culture and become addicted accidently. Some

adolescents may be more prone to becoming addicted because of the drug use of their

culture, the influence of their biology, and the influence of others in their social

environment, and the influence of their family environment. Many adolescents will not

become addicted in many cases, despite growing up in a culture that turns to pills for

everything. They can avoid it if they avoid becoming part of a drug using environment

and are instilled with goals and values.

Miller P.H. (2016). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.