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Unit 1 - child development theories exam notes
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Notes about key theories and theorists as part of child development unit
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Ivan PavlovHe developed a theory on how learning takes place based on experiences. His approach is re-
ferred to as the behaviourists approach.
The behaviourist approach suggests that learning is influenced by rewards, punishments and envi-
ronmental factors. The term conditioning is usually used by behaviourists. Conditioning means that
we have learnt to act in a certain way based on past experiences that have taught us to do or not
to do something e.g. Not touching a flame or hot surface as we have learnt from past experiences
that we could get burnt.
Criticisms: could cause children to have fears/phobias of certain things
Bandura social learning theory
Theory is known as the theory of observational learning
It was renamed the social cognitive theory
The theory looked at moral and social behaviour
We learn through conditioning and observing
Children learn through watching others rather than being taught.
The bobo doll experiment
There were three groups of children
Group A saw an adult being aggressive towards the doll
Group B saw an adult being aggressive towards the doll but the adult was rewarded for their ac-
tions
Group C saw an adult being aggressive toward the doll but the adult was told off for their actions
At the end of the film each child was taken into a playroom. The playroom had a variety of toys in-
cluding the bobo doll. The reactions of the children were recorded. Group C were the least aggres-
sive toward the doll. Group A and Group B were very aggressive towards the doll. This suggested
that the children were less influenced by the reward that had been offered to the adult than they
were by the behaviour of the adult they observed.
Skinners Operant conditioning theory
The theory suggests that the environment effects how they learn
Positive and negative reinforcements change how they learn
Positive reinforcement means the child is more likely to continue with the behaviour
Negative reinforcement means the child is less likely to do the same thing again
Criticisms: It doesn't properly address free will, creativity and temperament
He believed that babies are born knowing nothing
Operant conditioning: child goes through trial and error in other words they try and fail to correct
there language until it succeeds with reinforcement and shaping from the parents gestures
Bronfenbrenner ecological systems theory of development
How a child's environment affect development
He believed that development was effected by everything around the child
Bidirectional: where relationships go both ways.
Altruism-this is when you are selfless to benefit someone else's wellbeing
Attachment Theories
Bowlby
His theory suggests that children are "preprogrammed" to form attachments as this is a survival in-
stinct. If the bonding doesn't take place between birth-2 years then the child could suffer with so-
cial, emotional and cognitive difficulties. One key attachment (mother) is different to the others. He
disagrees with Harlow that attachments are more than just care. Needs consistancy and pre-
dictability to form strong attachments.
Criticisms
It was seen as the mothers fault for children being deprived of having a close relationship
Harlow
, Children need comfort and food to make an attachment with an adult.
He did an experiment on monkeys to prove his theory
Criticisms
The experiment would have been considered by some people as animal cruelty
Ainsworth
A child gets distressed when there parent leave the room. When the parent returns the child is
calm as they have a strong psychological attachment with the parent. How the parent acts around
the baby affects their attachment.
Piaget's theory of cognitive development
He suggests that children have continuous thoughts that build over time after finding out more in-
formation about a certain subject.
Stages of cognitive development - Children develop at their own pace but all children will go
through the stages in the correct order.
Nature: maturation of the brain and body; motor skills, crawl, walk, ability to perceive, learn and act
Nurture: adaptation, children respond to demands of the environment to meet their own goals.
1. Sensorimotor 0-2 years
2. Pre operational 2-7 years
3. Concrete operational 7-11 years
4. Formal operational 11+ years
Sensorimotor: building knowledge e.g. Turn head to listen. The infant lacks internal mental
schemata and is unable to distinguish between itself and its environment. Build schemas around
there senses.
The infant lacks object permanence - fails to see or act on 'hidden' objects. (When things are out of
sight they no longer exist to the child)
At 8 months children will search for the object but will tend to search in the same place it has been
hidden before.
Pre operational: throughout this stage the child continues to add or create new schemas. The child
is still dominated by sensory information it receives and is then influenced by the appearance of
things. They fail to carry out logical operations and show concentration.
Lack of conservation - the inability to realise that some things remain constant or unchanged de-
spite changes to physical appearance. Egocentrism - the difficulty in understanding that others do
not see, think and feel the same as you do.
Concrete operational: the child is able see things from another persons point of view. However
things like mathematical sums can't be carried out in a child's head, they need objects to help
them.
Formal operational: ideas can be manipulated in the child's head. They can think about hypotheti-
cal problems.
Object permanence: when a child knows something exist and where it is even when it is moved or
can't be seen.
Piaget's theory of learning (schemas)
Assimilation - the child constructs a theory or schema
Equilibrium - the child's experiences to date seem to fit the schema
Disequilibrium - an experience occurs that casts doubt on the effectiveness of the schema
Accommodation - the child changes their original schema to fit the new experience or piece
of information
Conservation - understanding things remain the same even though their appearance may change
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