Ainsworth 

The Tavistock clinic (1920-the present). Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller set up the Tavistock Clinic, London, in 1920, in response to a need for psychological help for people affected by the First World War. From that time to the present, the Clinic has aimed to combine research into the causes of mental ill-health with the development of effective treatments, along with a commitment to the dissemination of skills to trainees and other professionals. During the Second World War, many of the staff joined the Forces to provide psychological and psychiatric treatment, particularly to people suffering from what was then called 'war neurosis' or 'shell-shock' and would now be called PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The return of these staff, with their experience in military service, influenced the Clinic's work, which continues to have as one of its specialities the treatment of trauma-related conditions. The period immediately following the Second World War was a time of great theoretical developments in psychoanalytic theory, and in Britain this was very much centred on the Tavistock Clinic. Amongst many theorists, it is notable that Melanie Klein, John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth were working at the Clinic and contributing to the development of the unique Tavistock style of work. This combines a deep compassion for the difficulties many people face in psychological adjustment with a concern for the development of theoretical understandings of the processes by which such difficulties arise and how best they can be treated. As well as being one of the key centres in which modern object relations theory continues to develop, the Tavistock Clinic has an international reputation for its work in marital therapy, for its systemic approach to family therapy and for its unique infant observation training.\nThe Tavistock Clinic is also important for another theme in the development of psychology – the systems approach to psychology – which has relevance in family therapy but also in industrial and occupational psychology. To quote from its published aim: \n\nToday, our core aim remains unchanged. It is as relevant for the millennium as it was in 1920: to make a significant contribution to improving the mental health of the nation by leading the development of innovative, multidisciplinary training for professionals working in the mental health field, the probation service, education and social work. Written by: Course Team 

Developmental psychology focuses on how our psychological characteristics change and develop throughout life, from birth (or, indeed, conception) to old age. Developmental characteristics studied include personality, development of relationships with others, cognitive capacities, and biological changes. All these characteristics are seen as interacting: for example the level of biological development influences our cognitive capacity; this will in turn have consequences for social interaction and so on. Two of the research designs used in developmental psychology are: • longitudinal studies, Where the same people are followed over time, and their changes in behaviour plotted. • Cross-sectional studies – which look at different people in different age groups, examing their different capacities in terms of cognition, capacity for social relationships etc. One of the first major influences on developmental psychology was Darwin, whose theory of evolution prompted a radical re-examination of the way people thought about human development. The first idea that developmental psychology inherited from Darwin's theory was a functionalist perspective, arguing that if a behaviour is functional it increases the organism's chances for survival. Darwin examined the high degree of similarity between adults and children within any one species, as well as degrees of difference, suggesting that some actions must be innate reflexes rather than learned behaviours. An individual is the result of a gradual sequence of prior changes, both in a broad evolutionary sense and within that individual's own lifetime. Throughout, an individual's life further development and change lies ahead. This emphasis on gradual and continual change forms the basis of modern lifespan psychology. At the beginning of the 20th Century developmental psychologists were particularly concerned with charting the ages at which certain changes in behaviour 'normally' occur (e.g. when does a child talk for the first time). This developed into an approach to studying human development that is known as the organismic approach. That is, the individual (or 'organism') is its main focus. Changes in behaviour throughout life are typically presented as a natural sequence of changes that occur sequentially, in a fixed order, so that an individual has to pass through an earlier stage before reaching a later one. This is referred to as a stage theory. It should also be noted that there are distinct 'developmental lines' which tend to develop in parallel, for example cognitive development (cf Piaget) and psychosexual development (cf Freud). One of the assumptions of an organismic stage theory is that environmental influences, while important, can only affect the speed of development. They may slow development down, or accelerate it, or even stop it, but they cannot alter the nature of the stages themselves or the sequence in which they occur.\nAn early influential example of such an approach to human development was Freud's theory of psychosexual stages, which a child had to pass through, seen as central to the emotional development of that child. If a crisis occurred during any developmental stage, then it would be reflected in that person's personality. Like many earlier developmental theories, it tended to conceive of adulthood as a relatively static 'product' of childhood development, rather than seeing it as having its own unique developmental stages. Another developmental approach in the organismic tradition was produced by Piaget, who focused on cognitive development rather than emotional development. Although Freud and Piaget both took an organismic approach, their research methods and psychological traditions are very different. Freud's ideas were based on the clinical data of psychoanalysis, whereas Piaget's theorizing was based, initially, on observation of his own children - informed by biological, evolutionary and psychometric perspectives.\nIn contrast to the organismic approach, the mechanistic approach to representing human development focuses not on the individual, but on his or her behaviour. Development is primarily seen as the product of environmental influences (external factors), with genetic inheritance and cognitive processes (internal factors) seen as less significant. This approach draws on behaviourism and its principles, where development is characterised as a sequence of behavioural responses to environmental stimuli. However, behaviour analysis attempts to address the full context and complexity of human responses to his or her environment, and differs from behaviourism is in its greater acknowledgement of biological influences and constraints on development. \nInitially, developmental psychology focussed primarily on changes during childhood; however, 'lifespan' theories (such as Erik Erikson's) attempt to look at possible developmental challenges occurring throughout adult life also. This represents the beginnings of attempts to overcome the rather pessimistic view implied by traditional approaches, which viewed adulthood as a relatively static 'end-point' of childhood development, with the only change perceived as the physical and psychological decline of old age.\nErik Erikson's lifespan psychology was pioneering in several ways: firstly, in explicitly recognising that psychological development continues during later life, and trying to map some of the key transitions. Secondly, because of its emphasis on the relationship between the individual and society in affecting personal development. Erikson's model of later life is essentially person-centred. Another approach is function-centred: looking at just one type of behaviour (e.g. memory) and measuring variation in it across the lifespan. This approach focuses on changes in ability with age. These changes can include both losses and gains (e.g. loss of processing speed compared to a young adult, but potentially balanced by increase in experience and knowledge). Modern developmental psychologists increasingly conceive development is as a transaction between the individual and their environment, with each influencing the other and in turn affecting the developmental path followed. This acknowledgement of the role a person plays in determining their own environment (and vice-versa) means that the 'nature-nurture' distinction is seen as overly simplistic in developmental psychology. Modern theories also conceive development as the outcome of interactions between age-related factors (e.g. biological maturation, social events such as attending school), historically-related factors (e.g. evolution, the occurrence of war), and 'random' biological and environmental occurrences that only relate to one individual. This approach to lifespan development is known as 'contextualism', drawing on a wide range of perspectives in addition to psychology, such as neuroscience, sociology, history and anthropology. The basic idea behind developmental contextualism is that development does not occur in isolation, it is affected by the context of a person's life. It is suggested that internal influences on development like an individual's biology and psychology interact with external factors such as their cultural influences, interpersonal relationships etc. It is this interaction between influences that results in human development. With this approach, development is seen as clearly embedded within society, its cultures and history. 

Attachment. This refers to an emotional bond between people, especially used that between babies and very young children, and their primary caregiver (often, but not necessarily, the mother). Some psychologists see the quality and reliability of this bond as a key factor in the emotional development of the infant. 

Clinical observations: case studies. Case studies in clinical medicine involve a detailed account of careful clinical observations, taking the personal history of the patient in relation to the illness, describing the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment(s), and the outcome of the treatments. Within a psychological context, case studies might be relevant to psychotherapy or counselling. Otherwise, they might be drawn from a medical setting, involving psychiatric or neurological observations. The term case study has now been generalised to include very detailed, tightly focused descriptions of single individuals, which might contain both 'inside' and 'outside' data (i.e. the viewpoints of both the researcher and the person being researched). Unlike experiments, which tend to focus on a single moment in time, case studies usually provide a summary over a period of time (cf. longitudinal studies). The main focus is usually qualitative, though some include quantitative aspects. Case studies have proved invaluable in the study of child language development and chimpanzee language. Comparing case studies from a range of different people can provide information about: treatment outcomes, the classification of different clinical disorders, and the basis for developing new theories about particular clinical or social phenomena. 

Psychoanalytic approaches provide both a psychological theory and a therapeutic method. There is a particular focus on the emotional conditions of early childhood, with many emotional problems in adult life seen as relating to unresolved developmental conflicts from this period. A key assumption is that much of our motivation is driven by unconscious forces, with their origins in this early childhood emotional development. Although there are many different psychoanalytic approaches, such as neoFreudians, Jungians, Kleinians, Object Relations etc., they all hold the above assumptions in common. A number of other therapeutic approaches also draw heavily on psychoanalytic ideas, such as Gestalt therapy, Transactional Analysis, and many others. It is useful in getting an understanding of psychoanalytic approaches to study the key Freudian ideas, as his theories still provide the basis of much psychoanalytic thinking. Freud's developmental model focuses particularly on a series of psychosexual stages in the first five years or so of childhood. These stages relate to shifts in basic sources of pleasure and satisfaction, including the oral, anal and phallic stages. Too much frustration or over-gratification at any of these stages is seen as leading to fixation, and later neuroses. Each of these stages must be successfully completed for the development of a healthy personality. A key stage occurs in the resolution of the phallic stage in the Oedipus complex, where a jealous desire to kill the same sex parent and possess the opposite sex parent leads to fear of being punished for this desire. This fear is dealt with by identification with the same-sex parent, seen as crucial for successful development of the super-ego and gender identity. It is probably fair to say that Freud's descriptions of female gender identity have often been viewed as rather less convincing than the male equivalent. It should also be noted that post-Freudian theorists have often proposed significant revisions to this developmental model (e.g. Melanie Klein's much greater emphasis on the importance of infancy, or the Object Relations school seeing motivational drive more as connecting with people rather than just focused on satisfying instincts). Freud's basic model of the mind sees the instinctual driving forces of the id often battling against the internalised social demands (initially received via the parents) of the super-ego. The ego has the job of finding an acceptable compromise between the conflicting demands of the id and super-ego, and of the external world. The anxiety associated with these conflicts in early childhood can, if the ego is too weak to cope with them at that time, lead to repression, with 'defence mechanisms' shielding the conscious, rational mind from disturbing anxieties and urges towards forbidden impulses. This repressed material will then go into the unconscious (i.e. it will no longer be accessible by the rational conscious mind), potentially leading to neurotic behaviour patterns. Psychoanalytic therapy essentially tries to reverse this process, creating a hopefully safe environment where the skills of the therapist can help identify the defence mechanisms in operation and acknowledge and release the previously repressed material. The libido ('life energy') associated with these defence mechanisms is then redirected, so the ego can deal with the conflict in a way which is more in harmony with the different parts of the psyche, and with current reality. The idea that the conscious mind is unable to be aware of the main emotional driving forces of the psyche mean the psychoanalytic approaches are much more pessimistic than humanistic approaches, for example, about possibilities for human agency (i.e. capacity to make genuine, conscious choices). However, although the theory is essentially deterministic, the therapy is less so, as genuine change is seen as possible with the help of therapeutic alliance with the psychoanalyst. Therapeutic techniques used include (among others): free association: clients are encouraged to say whatever comes into their heads, bypassing conscious editing. Silences or abrupt changes of topic can act as a signal to the analyst of resistances to this process, indicating a defence mechanism linked to the material being talked about at that point. Dream interpretation: where the overt, or manifest content is seen as screening an underlying latent content relating to inner conflicts. Transference: the emotional feelings aroused in our early relationships can be unconsciously 'transferred' into relationships in adult life. In analysis, early childhood emotional conflicts (often with the parents) are relived through the analyst-client relationship, with the analyst helping the client bring them into conscious awareness. Psychoanalytic approaches in general have had very great influence on Western culture as a whole, and are particularly influential in the therapy world. However, their emphasis on qualitative, clinical data, and limited 'testability' have tended to limit their influence within academic psychology departments, which have generally emphasised more experimental approaches. Psychoanalysts in clinical practice are, nevertheless, in a position to collect a great deal of data of different kinds (behavioural, inner experiences and symbolic) over long periods of time with the same patient. Patient's responses to psychoanalytic interpretations, whether immediate or in terms of the long term clinical effectiveness of treatment provide evidence for their ideas. It is problematic, however, that much of this evidence is essentially private and necessarily involves the subjective experience of both patient and analyst. 

Observation is clearly distinguished from experiments by the absence of any intervention. The method is often used in everyday social settings to observe behaviour 'naturalistically', but it is also sometimes used in laboratory settings (though often the reason for the latter setting is for careful control of experimental variables). Data can be both quantitative and qualitative, though most observation tends to involve the latter (see earlier section on qualitative observation under 'qualitative methods'). The data can be structured, and collected in terms of a pre-existing checklist, or unstructured, leaving observers free to write down their overall impressions in any way they see fit. It should be pointed out that even the 'unstructured' approach will still be affected by choices made by the observer to do with selection and construction (see 'construction of data' under 'qualitative methods'). However, 'unstructured observation' is essentially defined as not pre-structured in any way, leaving the observer free to pick up on whatever they think are salient issues, may be missed by more structured data.\nOne particular type of observational method is called participant observation, where a researcher will join in a particular group or social setting, participating in the activities of the group, usually without revealing they are a researcher. Because of its covert nature, this necessarily informal method of data collection raises significant ethical issues. However, it can be the source of very useful data. This approach has a number of factors in common with ethnographic methods (though with the latter, researchers are more likely to be open about what they are engaged in). A key ethical issue in observation in general in fact is that with naturalistic observation the 'participants' are usually unaware that they are being observed. However, if the participants know they are being observed, their behaviour may well change, so destroying the very natural behaviour the researcher wants to observe. This is analogous to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics, where bouncing light rays off an electron to find out its location will itself make the electron fly off somewhere else, which means you no longer know where it is! There are no simple answers to such dilemmas: researchers have to take decisions based on the particular research topic and setting they are looking at.