Теория и научный метод в возрастной психологии. Горчакова Е.П - 5 стр.

       A theory is a coherent set of ideas that helps to explain data and to make
predictions. A theory has hypotheses, assumptions that can be tested to determine
their accuracy. For example, a theory about depression among the elderly would
explain our observations of depressed elderly individuals and predict why elderly
people get depressed. We might predict that elderly individuals get depressed
because they fail to focus on their strengths but instead dwell excessively on their
shortcomings. This prediction would help to direct our observations by telling us
to look for overexaggerations of weaknesses and underestimations of strengths
and skills.
       The scientific method is an approach that can be used to discover accurate
information about behavior and development, which includes the following steps:
identify and analyze the problem, collect data, draw conclusions, and revise
theories.
       Imagine that you have developed a major theory of development. What
would influence someone like you to construct this theory? A person interested in
developing such a theory usually goes through a long university training program
that culminates in a doctoral degree. As part of the training, the future theorist is
exposed to many ideas about a particular area of development, such as biological,
cognitive, or socioemotional development. Another factor that could explain why
someone develops a particular theory is that person's life-experiences. Two
important developmental theorists, whose views we will describe later in the
chapter, are Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. Let's examine a portion of their lives as
they were growing up to discover how their experiences might have contributed
to the theories they developed.
       Erik Homberger Erikson was born in 1902 near Frankfort, Germany, to
Danish parents. Before Erik was born, his parents separated and his mother left
Denmark to live in Germany. At age 3, Erik became ill, and his mother took him
to see a pediatrician named Homberger. Young Erik's mother fell in love with the
pediatrician, married him, and named Erik after his new stepfather.
       Erik attended primary school from age 6 to 10 and then the gymnasium
(high school) from 11 to 18. He studied art and a number of languages rather than
science courses such as biology and chemistry. Erik did not like the atmosphere
of formal schooling, and this was reflected in his grades. Rather than go to
college at age 18, the adolescent Erikson wandered around Europe, keeping a
diary about his experiences. After a year of travel through Europe, he returned to
Germany and enrolled in art school, became dissatisfied, and enrolled in another.
Later he traveled to Florence, Italy. Psychiatrist Robert
Coles described Erikson at this time:
To the Italians he was…                       friends as not odd or “sick”
the young, tall, thin Nordic                  but as a wandering artist who
expatriate with long, blond                   was trying to come to grips
hair. He wore a corduroy suit                 with himself, a not unnatural
and was seen by his family and                or unusual struggle. (Coles, 1970 15)
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