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.
What is a theory?
A theory should allow us to predict and
explain human behavior
• It should be stated in such a way that it
can be shown to be false
• It must be open to scientific
investigation
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
Freudian Stages
Birth to 1½ to 3 3 to 6 6 yrs to Puberty
1½ yrs yrs years puberty onward
Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Latency Genital
Stage Stage Stage
Infant’s Child’s
pleasure pleasure Child’s Child A time of
centers on focuses on pleasure represses sexual
mouth anus focuses on sexual reawakening;
genitals interest source of
and develops sexual
social and pleasure
intellectual becomes
skills someone
outside of the
family
Figure 2.1
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 Eight Life-Span Stages
Erikson’s Stages Developmental Period
Trust vs Mistrust Infancy (first year)
Autonomy vs shame & Infancy (1 to 3 years)
doubt
Initiative vs guilt Early childhood (3 to 5
years)
Industry vs inferiority Middle and late childhood
Identity vs identity Adolescence (10 to 20 years)
confusion
Intimacy vs isolation Early adulthood (20s, 30s)
Generativity vs Middle adulthood (40s, 50s)
stagnation
Integrity vs despair Late adulthood (60s onward)
Figure 2.2
Cognitive theories:
Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
Stresses conscious mental processes
Cognitive processes are influenced by
biological maturation
Four stages of cognitive development
in children
Assimilation and accommodation underlie
how children understand the world, adapt
to it, and organize their experiences
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive
Development
Sensorimotor Stage:
The infant constructs an understanding of the world
Birth to 2 by coordinating sensory experiences with physical
years of age actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action
at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward
end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage:
2 to 7 years The child begins to represent the world with words
of age and images. These words and images reflect
increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the
connection of sensory information and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage:
7 to 11 years
of age The child can now reason logically about concrete
events and classify objects into different sets.
11–15 years Formal Operational Stage
of age
through The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic
adulthood and logical ways.
Figure 2.3
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
Information-Processing Theory
geography
literature
science INPUT OUTPUT
Information Information is
is taken into used as basis of
brain behaviors and
interactions
history religion Information
gets processed,
analyzed, and
stored until use
math
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model
Behavior
Person Environment
(cognitive)
Figure 2.4
Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation
Child Child imitates
observes behavior
someone that seems
admired rewarded
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory:
Environmental factors influence development
5 environmental systems affect life-span
development
Eclectic theoretical orientation:
Selects features from other theories
No one theory has all the answers
Each theory can make a contribution to
understanding life-span development
Political philosophy
Exosystem Mesosystems
School system
School &
Family classroom
Chronosystem
Religion Peer
& groups group
Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Theory
of Development
Macrosystem Figure 2.5
Observed correlation: as permissive parenting
increases, children’s self-control decreases
Permissive causes Children’s lack
parenting of self-control
Children’s lack causes Permissive
of self-control parenting
Permissive
Other factors, parenting
such as genetic cause
tendencies, poverty, and
and sociohistorical both
circumstances Children’s lack
of self-control
Possible Explanations for Correlational Data
Figure 2.9
Group 1 Time More
playing playful
video and
games: sociable
2 hours
each day
Group 2 Time More
playing aggressive
video and
games: antisocial
6 hours
each day
OTHER INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
Heredity
Blood type, eye color, and hair color
Environment
Childrenalso learn attitudes and beliefs from their
environments
