Stages of development

Order Description 1. Compare and contrast Piagetian, Eriksonian, and Freudian stages of development, including brief examples. (for Piaget see Chapter Seven on Developmental Psychology) 2. Consider a real or fictional group of your own choosing. Describe and explain how dependency and fight-flight assumptions disrupt the group's “work”. 3. What is required for psychology to be a "coherent" discipline, to develop a unified basic approach or paradigm? Based on what you now know, do you expect psychology to move towards theoretical convergence or increasing pluralism? Why? (see Chapter 10** “Psychology in Perspective”) 4. Do you think Freud and the existentialists are too pessimistic about human nature? Are humanistic psychologists closer to the truth, or too optimistic? 5. How does current research on the brain tend to confirm the existence of the unconscious mind? Does this evidence support psychodynamic theory? Give examples in your paper. 6. Behaviorally analyze an example of superstitious behavior that you are personally familiar with. What is the related reinforcer? Is it contingent or non-contingent?