Chapter 2 THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 2 THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES INTERACTION. OFFER INSIGHT INTO WHY WE BEHAVE THE WAY WE DO AND HOW WE LEARN TO ACT IN NEW WAYS. A THEORY PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK OF GENERAL IDEAS THAT PERMITS A BROAD AND COHESIVE VIEW OF THE COMPLEXITIES THAT MAY BE INVOLVED IN ANY GIVEN HUMAN

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES A psychoanalytic theory interprets human development in terms of unconscious drives and motives. These unconscious impulses are viewed as influencing every aspect of a person's thinking and behavior. Psychoanalytic theory is based on "irrational, emotional forces."

SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) Freud began to evolve a theory that pointed specifically to the irrational basis of human behavior, to the hidden emotional content of our everyday actions, and to the ways in which the individual is driven by powerful sexual and aggressive impulses, and by fear of them. TIME 100: Scientists & Thinkers - Sigmund Freud

FREUD'S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES Each stage characterized by the focusing of sexual interest and pleasure in a particular part of the body

ORAL: Child gets pleasure from feeding and sucking

Anal: Child gets pleasure from defecation and toilet training

PHALLIC: Child gets pleasure from genital area.

LATENCY SEXUAL LATENCY :(5-6year period)sexual forces are dormant

GENITAL: Lasts through adulthood

Freud's three theoretical components of personality ID EGO SUPEREGO

ID: toward fulfillment of our needs - pleasure principle: striving Source of our unconscious impulses for immediate gratification.

EGO: Role of ego to mediate between uncontrolled demands of the id and the limits imposed by the real world reality principle: attempts to satisfy id's demands in ways that recognize life as it is, not as the id wants it to be.

SUPEREGO: Starts to develop as children begin to identify with their parents' moral standards (around4-5) - relentless conscience: that distinguishes right from wrong; prime objective is to keep id in check.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS: Ways in which people involuntarily defend themselves against the superego's "conscience" attack and the frightening impulses of the id. REGRESSION DISPLACEMENT REPRESSION

REGRESSION: Retreating to a form of behavior typical of a younger person.

DISPLACEMENT: Shifting a drive or emotion from a threatening or unavailable object to a substitute object.

REPRESSION: Pushing an idea or impulse into the subconscious.

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY HOLDS THAT EACH PERSON INHERITS A LEGACY OF PROBLEMS FROM THE CONFLICTS OF HIS OR HER CHILDHOOD, ALONG WITH PARTICULAR WAYS OF COPING WITH THEM.

ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994) Erikson was a student of Freud who, while acknowledging the importance of the unconscious, of sexual urges, and of early childhood, formulated a comprehensive theory of development utilizing his own theories. He lived in various countries, was educated abroad and at Harvard, and spent his adulthood in the U.S. He came to think of Freud's stages as too limited and proposed instead eight developmental stages, each characterized by a particular crisis or conflict that must be resolved. His stages are centered, not on a body part as are Freud's, but on each person's relationship to the social environment.

ERIKSON'S THEORY: PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING THEORIES/BEHAVIORISM EMPHASIS ON HOW WE LEARN SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS Focus on what people do and what particular circumstances make people likely to behave the same way again. Learning theorists think that unconscious urges are either irreverent or nonexistent.

Behavior therapists want to know what can be done in the immediate environment to change problem behavior. Basic laws of learning theory explore the relationship between stimulus(behavior or event) and response (behavioral reaction) it elicits.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: Ivan Pavlov(1849-1936) experiments with the dog salivating at the sound of a bell even when there was no food. Began by ringing the bell before feeding the dog. Dog associated the bell with food-learning by association.

REINFORCEMENT: A stimulus that increases the likelihood that a particular behavior will be repeated is called a REINFORCER.

MODELING: Process whereby one person learns from the example of another. Children learn by modeling their parents behavior

OPERANT CONDITIONING: B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) agrees that classical conditioning explains some behavior but operant plays a greater role. Whereas in classical conditioning the animal merely responds to prior clues, in operant, the animal learns that a particular behavior gets a particular response and then performs the behavior to achieve that response(e.g. training a dog to get a newspaper).

REINFORCEMENT 20 15 10 # of Pecks 5 0 Reinforcement/No Reinforcement

No REINFORCEMENT 20 15 10 # of Pecks 5 0 No Reinforcement

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES HELP EXPLAIN HOW CHILDREN LEARN COMPLEX CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS VALUES AND SOCIAL SKILLS, WHICH ARE RARELY TAUGHT DIRECTLY BUT ARE OFTEN ACQUIRED AS CHILDREN OBSERVE THE WORLD AROUND THEM.

COGNITIVE THEORIES JEAN PIAGET (1896-1980) EMPHASIZE THE POWERFUL INFLUENCE OF THOUGHTS AND INTERPRETATIONS ON FUTURE ACTIONS AND IDEAS. Piaget

Piaget held that there are four major stages of cognitive development and each is age related and has structural features that permit certain types of thinking.

INFANTS Think exclusively through their senses and motor abilities. Their understanding of the objects in their world is limited to the actions they can perform on them.

PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: Can think about objects independently of their actions on them and can begin to think symbolically as reflected in their ability to use language and to participate in dramatic play.

SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN: Can begin to think logically in a consistent way, but only with regard to specific features of their world.

ADOLESCENTS/ADULTS: Are able, in varying degrees to think abstractly: that is, they can think about thinking and coordinating ideas.

Each person seeks mental EQUILIBRIUM, which is a balance of opposing forces. Each person needs to make sense of conflicting experiences and perceptions. People achieve this through mental concepts, which Piaget calls SCHEMAS that strike harmony between their ideas and their experiences. When existing schemas do not seem to fit present experiences, the individual falls into a state of

DISEQUILIBRIUM, a kind of imbalance that initially produces confusion and then leads to growth as the person modifies old schemas and constructs new ones to fit the new conditions.

According to Piaget intelligence comprises 2 interrelated processes: ORGANIZATION AND ADAPTATION. People organize their thoughts so that they make sense. The adaptation includes ASSIMILATION (adding information to the current cognitive organization already there) and ACCOMMODATION (adjusting the existing intellectual organization to the new idea or information).

The process of assimilation and accommodation continues throughout life.

Psychoanalytic Theory: Has made us aware of the importance of early childhood experiences and of the possible impact of "hidden dramas" that influence our daily lives.

Learning Theory: Has shown us the effect of the immediate environment on behavior.

Cognitive Theory: Has brought us to greater understanding of how our thinking affects our actions.

MOST DEVELOPMENTALISTS DESCRIBE THEMSELVES AS HAVING AN ECLECTIC PERSPECTIVE, MEANING THAT RATHER THAN ADOPTING ANY ONE THEORY, THEY MAKE USE OF ALL OF THEM.