Theories of Growth & Development

Growth and Development

• Growth: Increase in physical size.
• Development: Acquisition of skills and function.

Characteristics of Growth & Development

• Individualized rate
• Orderly pattern, from simple to complex
• Vary between children of same age
• Rapid rate during infancy and puberty
• Affects “all” the body systems at different times

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal

• Cephalocaudal: Begins at the head and progresses toward the feet.
• Proximodistal: Progresses from center of the body to the extremities.

Developmental Theories

• Psychoanalytical Theory: Sigmund Freud
• Psychosocial Theory: Erik Erikson
• Cognitive Theory: Jean Piaget
• Human Needs Theory: Abraham Maslow
• Theories of Moral Development: Lawrence Kohlberg

Psychoanalytical Theory

• Levels of Awareness
  • Conscious
  • Subconscious
  • Unconscious
• Believed that behavior could be understood by delving into the forces of the unconscious mind
• 3 functional components of the mind
  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• In constant conflict with one another

Defense Mechanisms

• Techniques used at all stages of life to help cope with the threat of anxiety
• Way to protect the ego
• Most at the unconscious level
• Can be helpful or harmful
• Examples:
  • Suppression
  • Rationalization
  • Identification
  • Sublimation
  • Regression
  • Denial
  • Displacement
  • Projection
  • Compensation
  • Undoing
  • Reaction Formation
  • Conversion

Psychoanalytical Theory: Stages of Psychosexual Development

• Birth to 18 months: Oral Stage
• 18 months to 3 years: Anal stage
• 3-6 years: Phallic State
• 6-12 years: Latency Stage
• 13-20 years: Genital Stage

Psychosocial Theory

• 8 stages that span the full life cycle
• At each stage certain critical tasks have to be accomplished
• Successful completion of each task enables increased independence
• Stages:
  • Infant: Trust vs Mistrust
  • Toddler: Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt
  • Pre-schooler: Initiative vs Guilt
  • Grade-schooler: Industry vs Inferiority
  • Teenager: Identity vs Role Confusion
  • Young Adult: Intimacy vs Isolation
  • Middle-age Adult: Generativity vs Stagnation
  • Older Adult: Integrity vs Despair
• Increases in Complexity

Cognitive Theory

• 3 major concepts:
  • Schemas
  • Assimilation
  • Accommodation

Stages of Cognitive Development

• Birth to 2 years: Sensorimotor
• 2 to 6 years: Preoperational
• 6 to 12 years: Concrete operations
• 12 to 15 years and up: Formal operations

Human Needs Theory

• Bottom contains basic survival needs
• At the top are more complex needs
• People must meet their most basic needs before they can move up the hierarchy to the highest level
• Needs ordered in a hierarchy
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
  • Physiological: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion
  • Safety: security of: body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property
  • Love/belonging: friendship, family, sexual intimacy
  • Esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others
  • Self-actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

Moral Development

• Children progressively develop moral reasoning as they gain the ability to think logically
• 3 levels of moral development subdivided into 6 stages of acquired moral reasoning

Levels and Stages of Moral Development

• Level I: Preconventional Thinking (4 to 10 Years)
  • Punishment and obedience orientation
  • Instrumental relativist orientation
• Level II: Conventional Thinking (10 to 13 Years)
  • Interpersonal concordance orientation
  • Law and order orientation
• Level III: Postconventional Thinking (Post adolescence)
  • Social contract legalistic orientation
  • Universal ethical principle orientation