Theories of Development – Reading
notes
Freud – Psychosexual theory of development
Stresses the formative nature of early experience and of biologically
based drives, the individuals have unconscious drives.
Our personality is built of three structures, id, ego and superego.
id is the part which is made up of instinctual drives it operates to the
pleasure principles this is the direction towards the maximizing of
pleasure. Associated with infant stage of development.
The ego works to satisfy our drives in a socially acceptable manner,
gratifying our needs through constructive and socially appropriate
methods.
a discontinuous process.
Five stages of development in his theory of psychosexual development
Birth – Oral Gratification comes
18mont from oral activities
hs using the mouth such
as feeding, thumb
sucking or babbling.
2–3 Anal Responding to
years demands from society
such as bowel and
bladder control.
3–7 Phalli Realizes the
years c differences between
gender becoming
aware of sexuality.
7 – 11 Laten The child continues to
years cy development and
sexual urges are
relatively quiet.
dormant sexual
feelings.
11 years Genit The growing
to adult al adolescent shakes off
old dependencies and
learns to deal
maturely with the
opposite sex.
criticisms for Freud
- his theory and discovers were largely influenced by the examination
of males, neglecting the importance to examine it in females.
Erikson for further development of the theory
The idea of trust and distrust
Infancy we develop the idea of trust or distrust with our primary
caregivers and themselves.
Second stage (autonomy/shame and doubt)- sense of independence and
autonomy.
Individuals may develop self-doubt when forced to do a task.
Third stage (initiative/guilt)- sense of initiative a desire to master the
environment that the individual lives in.
Middle childhood (industry/inferiority)- keen to master intellectual and
social changes but failures may lead to feelings of inferiority and
incompetence.
Adolescence (identity/identity diffusion)- discovering who they are as
individuals, developing self-identity.
Adulthood (intimacy/isolation)- achieving a stable and intimate sexual
relationship
Middle adulthood (generativity/stagnation) – Creation of something this
could be children or something else such as art. The failure to express
oneself in this way can lead to feelings of stagnation and that one has no
meaningful accomplishments.
Criticisms
- loosely connected set of ideas which lacks a systematic quality
- difficult to understand
- no specific mechanisms for how development occur
- fails to state clearly how these factors create movement between
ages
B.F. Skinner – Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning stresses the behaviour which is operated in an
environment which in this case pupils are conditioned or learn to respond
to. Skinner considers how the process of operant conditioning is modified
by reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement evokes a response.
Skinner’s findings were derived from a series of experiments with animals
(rats). Rats had to perform an act of pressing a button to be rewarded
with a pallet of food. The concept of reinforcement is identical to that of
rewards. A reinforcer is a stimulus whose presentation or removal
increases the probability of a response reoccurring using. A reward
increased the likely hood of the behaviour reoccurring. His work has been
widely applied to child development studies.
Pavlov’s – Classical conditioning
An associative learning processes. Pavlov’s findings were derived from
studies of dogs, they associated food with salivation. Pavlov noticed that
when the bell which did not give this response Pavlov noticed that when
the bell which did not give this response so to condition the dog to
associate the bell with food it eventually conditioned the dog to associate
the bell with salivation. Similar with the child and touching the rat the
child learnt to fear the rat.
Bandura – Social learning theory
The principles of conditioning and reinforcement elaborated by Skinner
and others were important mechanisms of development. Demonstrating
observational learning (modelling), can be the result of a wide range of
behaviours such as aggression, helping, and sharing etc in the absence of
rewards and punishment simply by watching and listening to others
around them. Children will not copy the behaviours of others, but they will
select who they do copy behaviours from.
Social learning theory acknowledges the child’s ability to listen, remember
and abstract general rules from complex sets of observed behaviours
which affects both their imitation and their learning. The theory considers
the individuals sense of self-efficacy by observation.
Bandura considers and emphasises the aspects of the environment, such
as the nature of the role models available to the children which can
impact on their development. However, the theory is criticised for not
paying enough attention to a wide range of contextual variables which
may impact on children’s observational learning. Little acknowledgment
or exploration regarding socioeconomic factors, race, sex and educational
impact.
Bronfenbrenner – Ecological systems
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory focuses on the quality and
context of the child’s environment. Stating that as a child develops the
interaction within these environments becomes more complex. The
complexity can arise as the child’s physical and cognitive structures grow
and mature. Each lay of the system includes a new layer of their
interactions.
Further development and relation to Elders arguments towards life
course theory, our lives are defined a large part of the social context in
which we develop. Life course theory argues strongly that human
development is understood in the terms of interdependent principles.
Considering the events which occur during someone’s life which may
affected them, a type of historical effect called period affect. The historical
events which have an impact of the lives born and living at the time
(Great depression or even Covid-19).
Piaget – Cognitive development theory
Vygotsky – Social cultural theory
describes learning as a social process and the origination of human
intelligence in society or culture. Vygotsky believed that everything is
learned on two levels: through the interaction with others and the
integrated into the individual’s mental structure. Individuals develop and
learn from culture and society, language is understood as the root of
culture, individuals learn and develop within their role in the community.
The concept of a zone of proximal development, this concept is important
because for teachers to understand the child’s development, suggesting
that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent
children develop with their more skilful peers. Child develop through play
and imagination allowing their abilities to be stretched.