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PRINCIPLES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT I To begin this first module in Child Growth and Development, we must begin with theories in child development. In order to fully understand child growth and development you must know where and how the theories of development began. In your words, what is a theory? Discuss your answer to that question with your instructor. Theories lead to predictions that we can test in research; in the process, the theory is supported or not. When results of research match the predictions, this supports the theory. When results differ from the predictions, this shows that the theory is incorrect and needs to be revised. Perhaps now you see why theories are essential for child development research: They are the source of predictions for research, which often lead to changes in the theories. These revised theories then provide the basis for new predictions, which lead to new research, and the cycle continues. There are five major theoretical perspectives: 1. The Biological Perspective According to the biological perspective, intellectual and personality development, as well as physical and motor development, proceed according to a biological plan. One of the first biological theories, maturational theory, was proposed by Arnold Gesell (1880 – 1961). According to maturational theory, child development reflects a specific and prearranged scheme or plan within the body. In Gesell’s view, development is simply a natural unfolding of a biological plan; experience matters little. How do you feel about that theory? Do you agree with the maturational theory? If yes or no, explain why. Other biological theories give greater weight to experience. Ethological theory views development from an evolutionary perspective. In this theory, many behaviors are adaptive –they have survival value. Ethological theorists assume that people inherit many of these adaptive behaviors. Now looking at both the maturational and ethological theory which one do you believe most, and why? Hopefully you have noticed that so far ethological theory seems like maturational theory, with a dash of evolution for taste. How does experience fit in? Ethologists believe that all animals are biologically programmed so that some kinds of learning occur only at certain ages. A Critical Period – is the time in development when a specific type of learning can take place; before or after the critical period, the same learning is difficult or even impossible. One of the best known examples of a critical comes from the work of Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), a Nobel-prize-winning Austrian zoologist. Lorenz noticed that newly hatched chicks follow their mother about. He theorized that chicks are biologically programmed to follow the first moving object that they see after hatching. Usually this was the mother, so following her was the first step in imprinting, creating an emotional bond with the mother. Ethological theory and maturational theory both highlight the biological bases of child development. Biological theorists remind us that children’s genes, which are the product of a long evolutionary history, influence virtually every aspect of children’s development. 2. The Psychodynamic Perspective This is the oldest scientific perspective on child development, tracing its roots to Sigmund Freud’s (1856 – 1939) work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Freud was a physician who specialized in diseases of the nervous system. Many of his patients were adults who suffered from ailments that seemed to have no obvious biological cause. Using his patients’ case histories, Freud created the first psychodynamic theory in which development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts they face at different ages. Two aspects of Freud’s theorizing have influenced child development research. The first was his theory of personality. Freud proposed that personality includes three primary components that emerge at distinct ages. 1. Id – is a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives 2. Ego – is the practical, rational component of personality 3. Superego – emerges during the preschool years as children begin to internalize adult standards of right and wrong. Freud believed that development proceeds best when children’s needs at each stage are met but not exceeded. If children’s needs are not met adequately, they are frustrated and reluctant to move to other, more mature forms of stimulation. Freud’s student, Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994), believed that psychological and social aspects of development were more important than biological and physical aspects that Freud emphasized. Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory in which development consists of a sequence of stages, each defined by a unique crisis or challenge. The complete theory included eight stages: Basic trust versus mistrust 0-1 To develop a sense that the world is safe, a “good place.” Autonomy versus shame and doubt 1-3 To realize that one is an independent person who can make decisions. Initiative versus guilt 3-6 To develop the ability to try new things and to handle failure 6-adolescence To learn basic skills and to work with others adolescence To develop a lasting integrated sense of confusion self Intimacy versus isolation Young adulthood To commit to another in loving relationship Generativity versus stagnation Middle adulthood To contribute to younger people through child rearing, child care, or other productive work Old age To view one’s life as satisfactory and worth living Industry versus inferiority Identity versus identity Integrity versus despair Give examples of how educators can help children in the first four stages of Erikson’s psychosocial development. Whether we call them challenges, crises, or conflicts, the psychodynamic perspective emphasizes that the trek to adulthood is difficult because the path is strewn with obstacles. Outcomes of development reflect the manner and ease with which children surmount life’s barriers. When children overcome early obstacles easily, they are better able to handle the later ones. 3. The Learning Perspective Learning theorists champion John Locke’s view the infant’s mind is a blank slate on which experience writes. John Watson (1878-1958) was the first theorist to apply this approach to child development. Watson argued that learning determines what children will be. He assumed that with the correct techniques anything, could be learned by almost anyone. Watson did little research to support his claims; B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), filled the gap. Skinner studied operant conditioning in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future. Skinner showed that two kinds of consequences were especially influential. Reinforcement is a consequence that increases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows. Name a positive reinforcement you may give a child for cleaning his or her room. A punishment is a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows. Give an example of when a punishment would be issued and for what type of behavior. Skinner’s research was done primarily with animals, but child development researchers soon allowed that the principles of operant conditioning could be extended readily to children’s behavior. Applied properly, reinforcement and punishment are indeed powerful influences on children. However, researchers discovered that children sometimes learn in ways that are not readily explained by operant conditioning. The most important of these is that children sometimes learn without reinforcement or punishment. Children learn much simply by watching those around them, which is known as imitation or observational learning. Give examples where children learn by observational learning. Albert Bandura (1925- ) based his social cognitive theory on this more complex view or reward, punishment, and imitation. Bandura called is theory “cognitive” because he believes that children are actively trying to understand what goes on in their world; the theory is “social” because, along with reinforcement and punishment, what other people do is an important source of information about the world. Bandura also argues that experience gives children a sense of self-efficacy, which refers to children’s beliefs about their own abilities and talents. Self-efficacy beliefs help determine when children will imitate others. Bandura’s social cognitive theory is a far from Skinner’s operant conditioning. The operant conditioning child who responds mechanically to reinforcement and punishment has been replaced by the social cognitive child who actively interprets events. Nevertheless, Skinner, Bandura, and all learning theorists share the view that experience propels children along their developmental journeys. 4. The Cognitive-Developmental Perspective The cognitive perspective focuses on how children think and how their thinking changes over time. Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) was the most influential developmental psychologist of the 20th century and proposed the best- known of these theories. Piaget believed that children naturally try to make sense of their world. Throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence, youngsters want to understand the workings of both the physical and the social world. Piaget argued that in their efforts to comprehend their world, children act like little scientists in creating theories about the physical and social worlds. They try to weave all that they know about objects and people into a complete theory. Children’s theories are tested daily by experience because their theories lead them to expect certain things to happen. As with real scientific theories grows stronger. Piaget also believed that a few critical points in development, children realize their theories have basic flaws. When this happens, they revise their theories radically. Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor 0-2 Infant’s knowledge of the world is based on senses and motor skills. By the end of the period, infants uses mental representations Preoperational thought 2-6 Child learns how to use symbols such as words and numbers to represent aspects of the world, but relates to the world only through his or her perspective. Concrete operational thought Formal operational thought 7-11 Child understands and applies logical operations to experiences, provided they are focused on the here and now. Adolescence Adolescent or adult thinks abstractly, speculates and beyond on hypothetical situations, and reasons deductively about what may be possible Not all cognitive- developmental theorists view development as a sequence of stages. Information-processing theorists, for example, draw heavily on how computers work to explain thinking and how it develops through childhood and adolescence. Just as computers consists of hardware (disk drives, random-access memory, and central processing unit) and software (the program we use), information-processing theory proposes that human cognition consists of mental hardware and mental software. Mental hardware refers to cognitive structures, including different memories where information is stored. Mental software includes organized sets of cognitive processes that allow children to complete specific tasks, such as reading a sentence, playing a video game, or hitting a baseball. For both Piaget and information –processing theorists, children’s thinking becomes more sophisticated as children develop. Describe ways you could help children cognitive skills in Piagets’ stages of cognitive development. 5. The Ecological Perspective Most developmentalists agree that the environment is an important force in development. However, only ecological theories have focused on the complexities of environments and their links to development. For ecological theory, which gets its name from the branch of biology dealing with the relation of living things to their environment and to one another, child development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a child develops. In other words, all aspects of development are interconnected, much like the threads of a spider’s web are all intertwined. Interconnectedness means that no aspect of development can be isolated from others and understood independently. The best known proponent of the ecological approach is Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917 - ). Bronfenbrenner proposes that the developing child is embedded in a series of complex and interactive systems. Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1989, 1995) divides the environment into four levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem. At any point in life, the microsystem consists of the people and objects in an individual’s immediate environment. These are the people closest to a child, such as parents or siblings. Some children may have more than one microsystem; for example, a young child might have the microsystems of the family and of the daycare setting. As you can imagine, microsystems strongly influence development. We will discuss these four family systems in more depth in module two.