Theories of child development

1. Theories of child development • A theory is a set of logically related concepts or statements, which seeks to describe and explain development and to predict what kinds of behavior might occur under certain conditions. • Theories organize data, the information gathered by research, and are a rich source of hypothesis. • Hypotheses are tentative explanations or predictions that can be tested by further research.

2. Psychodynamic theories. • Erikson’s psycho-social stages. • Cognitive theories. • Information processing theory. • Behavioral and social learning theories. • Ethological theories. • Ecological, contextual theories.

3. Psychodynamic theories • Sigmund Freud's psycho-analytic theory consists of three structures: • Id- consists of instincts, which are reservoir of psychic energy. • Ego- deals with demands of reality. • Superego- moral branch. • Defense mechanisms are unconscious methods that ego uses to distort reality protect it from anxiety.

4. Repression is the most powerful and pervasive defense mechanisms that pushes unacceptable id impulses into the unconscious mind. • His psycho-sexual stages are based on erogenous zones (parts of body that have strong pleasure giving qualities at each stage) • Oral stage (0-18 months) • Pleasure centers around mouth. • Chewing, sucking and biting are chief sources of pleasure.

5. Anal stage (1.5-3 years) • Pleasure centers around the anus or its eliminative functions. • Exercise of anal muscles release tension. • Phallic stage (3-6 years) • Pleasures focuses on genitals and child discovers that self-manipulation is enjoyable. • Latency stage (6- puberty) • Represses all interest in sexuality and develops social and intellectual skills.

6. Genital stage (puberty onwards) • Sexual reawakening with the source of pleasure from outside family. • Freud argued that our basic personality is shaped in the first 5 years of life.

7. Erikson’s psycho-social stages • It focuses on the entire life span, and believed that each stage consisted of a developmental tasks that confronts in a crisis that must be faced. Cognitive theories • Jean piaget stressed that children actively construct their cognitive worlds, and information is not just poured into their mind from environment.

8. We move through 4 stages of distinct ways of thinking or understanding the world. Information processing theory • It is concerned with how individuals process information about their world: • How information enters the mind, how it is stored and transformed, and how it is retrieved to perform such complex activities like problem-solving and reasoning.

9. Behavioral and social learning theories Classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) • The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits the conditioned response (CR) after paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US). • The CR is a learned response to the CS that occurs after CS-US pairing. • According to this theory, phobias are irrational fears learned through classical conditioning, that can be eliminated by counter-conditioning .

10. Operant conditioning (B.F Skinner) • It is a form of learning in which the consequences of the behavior produce changes in the probability of the behavior’s occurrence. • Reinforcement is a consequence that increases the probability that a behavior will occur. • Punishment is a consequence that decreases the probability that a behavior will occur.

11. Social learning theory (Albert Bandura) • It emphasizes behavior environment and cognitive as key factors in development. • He proposed that behavior, environment and person or cognitive factors operate interactively.

12. Ethological theories • Ethological stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.

13. Ecological, contextual theories • Ecological theory is Urie Bronfenbrenner’s socio-culture view of development, which consists of five environmental systems. • Microsystem is the setting in which the individual lives. • Mesosystem involves the relationships between microsystems. • Exosystem is the social setting in which the individual is not directly involved.

14. Macrosystem is the culture in which the individual lives. • Chronosystem is the patterning of environmental events and transitions over life course and socio-historical circumstances. • All theories have made important contributions and no single theory can explain it all.