Chapter 1: Exploring Child Development

Theories about Child Development

By Kati Tumaneng (for Drs. Cook & Cook)

Theories about Child Development

What is a Theory? A theory is an explanation of how facts fit together,

allowing us to understand and predict behavior.

Why are Theories Useful? Summarize the facts as currently known Allow prediction of future behavior and events Provide guidance Stimulate new research and discoveries Act as filters for identifying relevant info, observations,

and relationships

Theories

Psychoanalytic Behavioral & Social

Learning Cognitive Biological Systems

Psychoanalytic Theories

Theories that focus on the structure of personality and on how the conscious and unconscious portions of the self influence behavior and development.

Prominent Theorists Sigmund Freud Erik Erikson

Sigmund Freud

http://www.freudfile.org/

Psychoanalytic Theories:Freud

Freud (1856-1939) focused on structure of personality; how conscious and unconscious shaped development

3 levels of conscious awareness Id – primitive sexual and aggressive instincts Ego – rational branch of personalities Superego – moral branch of personalities

Psychoanalytic Theories:Freud

5 Stages of Psychosexual development Oral (age 0-2) Anal (age 2-3) Phallic (age 3-7) Latency (age 7-11) Genital (age 11-adulthood)

Erik Erikson

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/erikson.html

Psychoanalytic Theories:Erikson Erickson (1902-1994) focused on ego and

healthy child development Psychosocial stages of development

Trust v. Mistrust (age 0-1) Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt (age 2-3) Initiative v Guilt (age 4-5) Industry v. Inferiority (age 6-12) Identity v. Role Confusion (adolescence) Intimacy v. Isolation (early adulthood) Generativity v. Stagnation (middle adulthood) Integrity v. Despair (later adulthood)

John B. Watson

http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/watson.htm

Behavioral Learning Theories

Behaviorism – An American movement to develop a psychology that was objective and scientific focusing on the principles of classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Watson (1878-1958) – Father of American Behaviorism; focus on observable conditions in environment and how they are related to overt behaviors

Ivan Pavlov

http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html

Behavioral Learning Theories

Classical conditioning – Process where neutral stimuli are paired with unconditioned stimuli until they come to evoke conditioned responses. Pavlov’s dog Watson applied classical conditioning work of

Pavlov to children Little Albert http://dushkin.com/connectext/psy/ch06/watson.mhtml

B. F. Skinner

http://www.bfskinner.org/bio.asp

Behavioral Learning Theories

Operant Conditioning – Process where reinforcing or punishing consequences of actions affect behaviors. Skinner stressed importance of consequences

of behavior for learning and development. E.g., praise for cleaning room or grounding for

missing curfew.

Albert Bandura

http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html

Social Learning Theories

Social Learning – Process where children learn by observing and imitating the behaviors of other people. Bandura studied how children learn by

observing and imitating others. E.g., girl learns to smile at visitors after

watching her father smile at visitors

Jean Piaget

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/piaget.html

Cognitive Theories:Piaget

Piaget (1896-1980) created the Cognitive Development Theory which focused on how children actively adjust their own understandings as they learn about the world.

Schemes – mental representations E.g., how to grasp a ball

Cognitive Theories:Piaget

Assimilation – the process of bringing new objects or information into a scheme that already exists. If the assimilation is not successful, the scheme needs to be accommodated. E.g., infant drops the ball.

Accommodation – the process of adjusting or adapting a scheme so it fits the new experience. E.g., infant learns to hold ball with 2 hands.

Cognitive Theorists:Piaget

Four Stages of Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete operational Formal operational

Current information processing approach to studying cognition built on Piaget’s foundation A theoretical approach focusing on how children

perceive, store, and retrieve information, and on the strategies they use to solve problems.

Lev Vygotsky

http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/index.htm

Cognitive Theorists:Vygotsky

Vygotsky (1896-1934) created the Sociocultural Theory which emphasized importance of language and culture in shaping cognition.

Internalization of speech aids self-control Social speech Private speech Inner speech

Cognitive Theorists

Information Processing Theory – A Theoretical approach focusing on how children perceive, store, and retrieve information, and on the strategies they use to solve problems. Emphasize roles of:

Basic processing efficiency Changes in the knowledge base

Biological Theories

Ethology – Area of study focusing on the adaptive significance or survival value of behaviors.

Strong influence from Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and natural selection concept.

Behavior Genetics Neuropsychology – An area of study that

focuses on the study of the brain and nervous system; researchers often observe brain functions using technology such as CT scans, PET, and fMRI.

Biological Theories

Urie Bronfenbrenner

http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Bronfenbrenner.htm

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Focuses on the complex set of systems and interacting social layers that can affect a child’s development. Microsystem – interactions with people in immediate

environment Mesosystem – larger social environment Exosystem – even larger social settings and networks Macrosystem – values, customs, laws and resources of

culture at large Chronosystem – how the effects of the systems, and the

interrelationships among them, change over time

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Dynamic Systems Theory

Theories that use models from mathematics and physics to understand complex systems of development.

Focus on how layers of systems interact with one another and change over time.

Baby on Slide 1: from http://www.learnonyourown.com/imagesnew/i_photo.jpg, retrieved December 8, 2005

Freud on Slide 5: from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/freud/images/vc008103.jpg, retrieved December 6, 2005

Baby on Slide 7: from Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives (1st ed.) (p. 10). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Erikson on Slide 8: from http://www.austenriggs.org/research.html, retrieved December 6, 2005

Watson on Slide 10: from http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~dornhoef/pioneers3.htm, retrieved December 6, 2005

Pavlov on Slide 12: from http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html, retrieved December 6, 2005

Cartoon on Slide 13: from http://evolution.massey.ac.nz/assign2/KR/ClassCond.jpg, retrieved December 8, 2005

Skinner on Slide 15: from http://www.cedu.niu.edu/tutortechlab/history/Skinnerbio.html, retrieved December 6, 2005

Bandura on Slide 17: from http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html, retrieved December 6, 2005

Piaget on Slide 19: from http://www.facade.com/celebrity/Jean_Piaget/, retrieved December 6, 2005

Baby on Slide 21: from Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives (1st ed.) (p. 14). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Vygotski on Slide 23: from http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/index.htm, retrieved December 6, 2005

Scan on Slide 27: from Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives (1st ed.) (p. 16). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Bronfenbrenner on Slide 28: from http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/ub11/, retrieved December 6, 2005

System on Slide 30: from Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives (1st ed.) (p. 18). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

All other images retrieved from Microsoft PowerPoint Clip Art.