Child Development Theories and Theorists VIDEO

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

• Sigmund Freud's theory posits that every person consists of three parts:
  • ID: Seeks pleasure and avoids pain. In babies, this translates to:
    • Likes: food, cuddling, attention.
    • Dislikes: hunger, wet diapers, loneliness.
  • Ego: Understands cause and effect and figures out how to satisfy the ID's desires while considering consequences. For example, the ego learns that hitting a brother leads to yelling from the mother, which makes the ID unhappy.
  • Super Ego: Internalizes family rules and societal laws, balancing them with the ID's desires. For example, the super ego knows it's wrong to take candy from another child, even if the ID wants it.
• Psychoanalytic Theory: Freud's ideas. He encouraged patients to relive repressed fantasies and fears to relieve internal pressure.

Maria Montessori and the Montessori Method

• First woman in Italy to become a doctor, specializing in pediatrics.
• Focused on children labeled "ineducable," believing every child has innate skills and talents.
• Teaching philosophy:
  • Guiding children with love facilitates near self-directed learning.
  • Hands-on activities are crucial.
  • Teachers observe and leverage "sensitive periods" when a child's mind is most receptive to learning.
  • Forcing learning outside these periods is difficult.
• "Looking becomes reading and touching becomes writing."
• The Montessori method is still used today all around the world.

Arnold Gesell: Nature vs. Nurture

• Focused on nature versus nurture in child development.
  • Nature: Genetic makeup.
  • Nurture: Environment.
• Believed children develop in an orderly sequence determined by heredity (nature).
• Development occurs when the child is ready.
• Known for observational techniques using one-way mirrors and specialized enclosures.

Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural Development

• Believed nurture is more influential than nature.
• Five-step process of sociocultural development:
  1. Adults provide tools, modeling, guidance, interaction, and encouragement.
  2. Child performs tasks under adult supervision.
  3. Adults break tasks into smaller segments and assess understanding.
  4. Adults provide scaffolding for support.
  5. Adults guide the child to transfer knowledge to new situations.

Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development Theory

• Four stages of human development:
  • Sensory Motor: Using five senses and muscles to understand the world. The child only knows what they can see, touch, or hear.
  • Pre-operational: Learning through language and mental images. Children are egocentric but start to understand more of the world than what they see and touch.
  • Concrete Operational: Understanding others' viewpoints, logic, and conservation.
    • Conservation: Understanding that the amount of a substance remains the same even if its appearance changes. For example, (\text{three balls of clay mashed together still equal the same amount of clay}).
  • Formal Operational: Using abstract thinking, understanding right and wrong, seeing multiple perspectives, and recognizing shades of gray.

Rudolph Dreikurs: Misbehavior

• Believed misbehavior results from feeling isolated, leading children to seek to fit in through:
  • Attention: Acting out to get noticed, positive or negative.
  • Power: Trying to take a leadership role and control others.
  • Revenge: Retaliating against those not providing positive responses.
  • Avoidance: Withdrawing altogether.
• Advocated for natural consequences of misbehavior instead of reward and punishment systems.

Erik Erikson: Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Studied Freud and Montessori and focused on identity.
• Developed a timeline of eight psychological development stages; difficulty in any stage leads to an identity crisis later in life:
  • Trust vs. Mistrust: (Newborns/babies) Learning to trust caregivers. If needs are met, trust develops.
  • Autonomy vs. Doubt: Learning independent power, such as walking, talking, and self-care (e.g., toilet training).
  • Initiative vs. Guilt: Learning to do things independently. Success leads to initiative; failure leads to guilt.
  • Industry vs. Inferiority: Recognizing the importance of others' opinions. Positive feedback leads to industry; negative feedback leads to feelings of inferiority.
  • Identity vs. Role Confusion: (Teenage years) Developing a strong sense of identity or experiencing role confusion.
  • Later stages deal with adulthood, old age, and death.

Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs

• Observed that some needs take precedence over others.
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs (from most basic to highest):
  • Physiological Needs: Most basic needs that have to be met before anything else can happen.
  • Safety and Security
  • Love and Belonging
  • Esteem: Based on others' opinions and self-perception.
  • Self-Actualization: Full realization of one's potential. Maslow estimated that only 2\% of people reach this level.

John Bowlby: Attachment Theory

• Bonding is essential for child development.
• Attachment theory is based on a child's feelings for their mother.
• Four characteristics of attachment:
  • Proximity Maintenance: Desire to be near attachment figures.
  • Safe Haven: Returning to attachment figures for comfort and safety.
  • Secure Base: Attachment figure provides a secure base for exploration.
  • Separation Distress: Anxiety when the attachment figure is absent.

B.F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning

• Theory of operant conditioning.
• Used the Skinner box in research with rats and pigeons.
• Types of Responses:
  • Positive Reinforcement: Desired behavior results in something good.
  • Negative Reinforcement: Desired behavior stops something bad.
  • Extinction: No response occurs, leading to the behavior being ignored.
• Intermixing reinforcement with extinction is the most effective way to maintain behavior. The hope for a reward is a powerful motivator.

Dr. Benjamin Spock: Parenting Advice

• Pediatrician and author of "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care."
• Revolutionized parenting by suggesting parents are experts on their own children.
• Advocated for cuddling and affection, saying it would not spoil children but make them more secure.
• Urged flexibility and seeing children as individuals instead of following strict rules.
• Suggested parenting could be fun.

Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral Development

• Pioneered work in moral development, influenced by the Holocaust.
• Researched how people solve moral dilemmas:
  • Preconventional Level:Decisions are based on personal impact ("what's in it for me").
  • Conventional Level: Decisions are made based on societal norms of right and wrong. There is an understanding of extenuating circumstances.
  • Postconventional Level: Everything is taken into consideration.

T. Berry Brazelton: Neonatal Assessment

• Developed the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) in 1973.
• Used in the first two months of life.
• Assesses 46 physical developments and neurological responses.
• Helps parents and caregivers understand how best to care for the infant.
• Especially important for at-risk babies and parents.

Diana Baumrind: Parenting Styles

• Categorized parents into three groups:
  • Permissive: Children have an equal say in all decisions. Parents rarely punish.
  • Authoritarian: Children must follow every rule with no say. The parents is in control.
  • Authoritative: Parents talk with their children but remain the authority figures. Reasons are given for rules, and children can give input.

Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences

• Challenged the idea of one-dimensional intelligence.
• Identified eight types of intelligence:
  • Linguistic (word smart)
  • Mathematical (number/reasoning smart)
  • Spatial (picture smart)
  • Bodily-Kinesthetic (body smart)
  • Musical (music smart)
  • Interpersonal (people smart)
  • Intrapersonal (self smart)
  • Naturalist (nature smart)
• Everyone has varying amounts of each.

Ongoing Research in Child Development

• Theories continue to evolve.
• Researchers build on each other's findings.
• Advancing technology allows for deeper brain research.
• The goal is to help us raise healthier, happier children.