Developmental Psychology Archives - Page 8 of 14 - The Psychology Notes Headquarters

Harlow’s Monkey Experiment: Why Baby Monkeys Chose Touch Over Food

Harlow’s monkey experiment was a landmark series of studies conducted by psychologist Harry Harlow in the 1950s that proved infant attachment is driven by contact comfort—the need for physical touch—not by feeding. Baby rhesus monkeys given a choice between a wire surrogate that provided milk and a soft cloth surrogate that provided none spent up to 18 hours a day...

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development: All 8 Stages, Virtues & Life Examples

Erikson’s stages of development describe eight turning points that unfold from birth to old age. Each stage presents a central conflict — resolve it well, and you gain a lasting psychological strength called a virtue; struggle with it, and those tensions resurface in later stages. Real-life examples from every phase of life — toddlers asserting independence, teenagers wrestling with identity,...

Superego Development: Freud’s Conscience, Guilt, and the Ego Ideal

Superego development is the process by which children internalize moral standards from their environment and build a genuine internal conscience — transforming rules once enforced by others into a moral voice that regulates behavior from within. Freud argued this process begins between ages 3 and 6 through the resolution of Oedipal conflict and identification with the same-sex parent, the defining...

Identity vs Role Confusion: Erikson’s Stage 5, Fidelity, and Real-Life Examples

Identity vs role confusion is the fifth stage of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, occurring during adolescence between ages 12 and 18. During this stage, teenagers explore their independence and develop a sense of self. Success in this stage leads to the virtue of fidelity—the ability to commit to others and accept others despite ideological differences—while failure results in...

Generativity vs Stagnation: Erikson’s Stage 7 & Contributing to Society

Generativity vs Stagnation is the seventh stage of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, occurring during middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65). Generativity is the drive to create or nurture things that will outlast you — raising children, mentoring others, or contributing meaningfully to society. Stagnation is the failure to find that sense of contribution, leading to disconnection, lack of...

Ainsworth Attachment Styles: Bowlby’s Theory & All 4 Types Explained

Ainsworth attachment styles are four patterns of emotional bonding — secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized — that infants develop through their early caregiving experiences. Identified by Mary Ainsworth through her landmark Strange Situation experiments, each style reflects how reliably and sensitively a caregiver responded to the infant’s needs, and each predicts distinct outcomes in emotional regulation, peer relationships, and adult...

Category: Developmental Psychology