Child Development Theories, Slides of Childhood Development

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Child

Development

Theories

WHY IS CHILDHOOD CRUCIAL?

 Research has shown that early childhood may be the most

important life stage for brain development.

 A baby’s brain is about one quarter the size of an adults’.

 Scientists have found that babies’ brains develop in response

to stimulation.

 Arouses senses such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and

smell.

 Babies who are stimulated develop more quickly and have a

more secure self-image.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORISTS

 Although researches don’t always agree,

scientific researchers have agreed upon the

five following general rules.

 Development is similar for each individual

 Development builds upon earlier learning.

 Development proceeds at an individual rate.

 The different areas of development are interrelated.

 Development is a lifelong process.

Psychoanalytic Theories:

 Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

 Personality has 3 parts

 There are 5 stages of psychosexual development

 Oedipus complex allows child to identify with

same-sex parent

 Fixation is an unresolved conflict during a stage

of development

 Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory:

 There are 8 stages of psychosocial development

 Each has a unique developmental task

 Developmental change occurs throughout life span

 Key points of psychoanalytic theories:

 Early experiences and family relationships are very

important to development

 Unconscious aspects of the mind are considered

 Personality is best seen as a developmental

process

Erikson’s Stages Developmental Period

Trust vs Mistrust Infancy (first year)

Autonomy vs shame &

doubt

Infancy (1 to 3 years)

Initiative vs guilt Early childhood (3 to 5

years)

Industry vs inferiority Middle and late childhood

Identity vs identity

confusion

Adolescence (10 to 20 years)

Intimacy vs isolation Early adulthood (20s, 30s)

Generativity vs

stagnation

Middle adulthood (40s, 50s)

Integrity vs despair Late adulthood (60s onward)

Figure 2.

Erikson’s Eight Life -Span Stages

Preoperational Stage:

The child begins to represent the world with words and images. These words and images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory information and physical action.

Formal Operational Stage

The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic and logical ways.

Sensorimotor Stage:

The infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward end of the stage.

Concrete Operational Stage:

The child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets.

Figure 2.

11 – 15 years of age through adulthood

Birth to 2 years of age

2 to 7 years of age

7 to 11 years of age

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

 Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory

 Children actively construct their knowledge

 Social interaction and culture guide cognitive

development

 Learning is based upon inventions of society

 Knowledge is created through interactions with

other people and objects in the culture

 Less skilled persons learn from the more skilled

 Information-processing theory

 Compares computers to the human mind

 Thinking is information processing

Environment

Person

(cognitive)

Behavior

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model

Figure 2.

Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation

Child

observes

someone

admired

Child imitates

behavior

that seems

rewarded

Exosystem Mesosystems

Macrosystem

Family

School & classroom

Religion & groups

Peer group

Chronosystem

School system

Political philosophy

Figure 2.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development

Other factors, such as genetic tendencies, poverty, and sociohistorical circumstances (^) Children’s lack of self-control

Permissive parenting

Children’s lack of self-control

Permissive parenting

Permissive parenting

Children’s lack of self-control

and

causes

both

cause

causes

Observed correlation: as permissive parenting increases, children’s self -control decreases

Figure 2.

Possible Explanations for Correlational Data

OTHER INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT

 Heredity

 Blood type, eye color, and hair color

 Environment

 Children also learn attitudes and beliefs from their

environments