Developmentalists study the forces that direct human development. Those forces are biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle. Developmentalists make sense of adult development through views or models. It is very important to understand the models of development because they explain the theorists belief about human aging and development (Cavanaugh, 1997). Walter Mischel, a developmentalist of the 21-century, began his work by criticizing the traditional personality theories. His work is addressed specifically to four theories about adult development. The purpose of this outline is to laid- out the bases for the future explanation in depth of this theories. The theories in question are: The Psychodynamic Theory, The Strict trait theory, The Prototypical Theory, and The Theory of Behavior Specificity.
The Psychodynamic Theory talks about a maladaptive chilhood; on the other hand; The Strict trait Theory assumed a personality structure relatively stable. Mischel found several similarities between these two theories for example: the focus of both theories is based on responses as signs pervasive; underlying mental structures assumed excert generalized and enduring causal effects on behavior, and both theories search for signs that would be reliable indicators of these underlying dispositions. Mischel was also concerned about the influence of the environmental conditions on human development, and his critique stated that trait theories do not predict behavior well, and that people do not behave consistently across diverse situations.
The prototypical Theory explains the consistency paradox and helps bridge the gulf between aggregate predictions and individual predictions. Consistency paradox is the notion that " while intuition seems to support the belief that the people are characterized by broad dispositions resulting in extensive cross-situational consistency, the research in the area has persistently failed to support that intuition" This theory is also helpful understanding social scripts and contributes to Attribution Theory.