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Summary PYC2602 Child and adolescent development study notes
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CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENTTHEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
A theory is an organised set of ideas that is designed to explain and make predictions about development
Functions and advantages:
Summarises and explains the presently known facts
Aims to predict (to a certain degree) future behaviour
Stimulates new research (to determine whether a theory is true or not)
THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Behaviour is primarily determined by biological factors
Regard environmental factors as a secondary role player in behaviour
The maturational theory:
One of the first biological theories
Arnold Gesell
Experience matters little
Behaviours emerge spontaneously according to a predetermined developmental timetable without the
input/influence from the environment (parents)
Discarded because it had little to say about the impact of the environment on children’s development.
Ethological theory:
Evolutionary perspective, many behaviours tend to be adaptive.
A critical period is the stage 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
Example of a critical period: Konrad Lorenz – newly hatched goslings followed whatever moving object they
saw first. Imprinting, a form of learning that takes place during a short, early period in the life of an organism
when attachment to other organisms occurs. He also discovered that the goslings had to see the moving
object within about a day of hatching – this is a critical period.
Sensitive period – a period during which the child is very susceptible to environmental influences, but in a less
stringent way than with a critical period
Evolutionary theory
Apply Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection to human behaviour
Much of human behaviour results from successful adaptation to the environment
Changes are caused by successfully adapting to situations and passing of those efficient traits down to the
offspring
Applied to child development, evolutionary developmental psychology highlights the adaptive value of
children’s behaviour at different points in development
Sub-disciplines:
o Neuropsychology – focuses on the nervous system and especially the brain.
o Behavioural genetics – studies the role of genetic factors in behaviour
Adapted from: Louw, D.A., & Louw, A.E. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd Ed.). Bloemfontein: Psychology Publications.
, o Psycho-endocrinology – Focuses on the relationship between behaviour and the endocrine system,
especially the hormones. It has an effect on sexuality and emotion.
THE PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Freud’s psychosocial theory
Psychoanalysis, holds that development is largely determined by how well people resolve the unconscious
conflicts that they face at different ages.
The id – reservoir of primitive instincts and drives. The id is present at birth and demands immediate
gratification of bodily needs and wants.
The ego – is the practical, rational component of personality. Begins to emerge during the first year, as
infants learn they cannot always have what they want. It tries to resolve conflicts that occur when the
instinctive desires of the id encounter the obstacles of the real world. It often tries to guide the id’s impulsive
demands into socially more acceptable behaviours
The superego – is the moral agent in the child’s personality. Emerges during the preschool years as children
begin to internalise adult standards of right and wrong.
Psychosexual
Age Description
stage
Sexual energy is centred on the mouth.
Babies derive oral gratification from sucking.
Oral Birth – 1 If oral needs are not met appropriately, the individual may develop such
habits as thumb sucking and nail biting in childhood, and overeating and
smoking later in life.
Sexual energy focuses on the anal area, especially the control of
elimination functions.
Toilet training becomes a major issue between parent and child.
Anal 1–3
If parents insist that children be trained before they are ready, or make
too few demands, conflicts about anal control may appear in the form of
extreme orderliness and cleanliness or messiness and disorder.
Sexual impulses transfer to the genitals and the child finds pleasure in
genital stimulation.
Oedipus/Elektra complex arise and young children feel a sexual desire for
the other-sex parent.
Phallic 3–6
They identify with the same sex parent’s characteristics and values.
As a result the superego is formed.
The relations between the id, ego and superego establish at this time,
and determine the individual’s basic personality.
Sexual instincts subside and the superego develops further.
The child acquires new social values from interacting with other adults
Latency 6 – 11
and with same-sex peers.
Energy is channelled in school and social activities.
Puberty causes the sexual impulses to reappear.
Adolescents have to learn to express these urges in socially acceptable
Genital Adolescence ways.
If development has been successful during earlier stages it leads to
mature sexuality, marriage and the birth and rearing of children.
Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Embraced Freud’s idea of the unconscious conflict, but emphasised the psychological and social aspects of
conflict
Adapted from: Louw, D.A., & Louw, A.E. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd Ed.). Bloemfontein: Psychology Publications.
, Development consists of a sequence of stages (8), each defined by a unique crisis or challenge.
Psychosocial stage Age Challenge
Basic trust vs mistrust Birth – 1 To develop a sense that the world is a safe and a good place
Autonomy vs shame To realise that one is an independent person who can make
1–3
and doubt decisions
Initiative vs guilt 3–6 To develop a willingness to try new things and to handle failure
6– To learn basic skills and to work with others.
Industry vs inferiority
adolescence
Identity vs identity To develop a lasting, integrated sense of self
Adolescence
confusion
Young To commit to another in a lasting relationship
Intimacy vs isolation
adulthood
Generativity vs Middle To contribute to younger people, through child rearing, voluntary
stagnation adulthood community work or other productive work
Late To view one’s life as satisfactory and worth living
Integrity vs despair
adulthood
THE LEARNING THEORY PERSPECTIVE
Early learning theories
John B. Watson - Behaviourism (the theory that behaviour is primarily learned from one’s environment)
Influenced by Ivan Pavlov – classical conditioning (the process of learning through which an initially neutral
stimuli comes to illicit a particular response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
He showed an 11-month old infant (Albert) a white rat and found that the child was not afraid of the rat.
He then produced a loud sound whenever the child played with the rat. The noise startled the boy and
made him cry. Albert learned to be afraid of the rat and even cried when the noise was absent
He argued that learning (the environment) determines what children will be
Acknowledged the role of hereditary
B. F. Skinner believed that children learn by means of the responses from the environment
Operant conditioning – that children operate in their environment to attract more rewarding reactions and
to avoid punishment
Reward/punishment
Adapted from: Louw, D.A., & Louw, A.E. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd Ed.). Bloemfontein: Psychology Publications.
, Social cognitive theory
Children learn by watching those around them – imitation, modelling or observational learning
Albert bandura
Placed more emphasis on children’s ability to decide which behaviour to model
Argues that children’s self-efficacy (beliefs about their own abilities and potential) plays a role in their
decision to imitate others.
Learning theories contributions to child psychology:
They have made us aware of the significance of environmental Factors
Insisted on strictly scientific criteria
Criticism:
Placed too much emphasis on environmental determinants – ignore biological factors
Inadequate attention is paid to developmental changes
The role of cultural factors is not always taken into account
THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Believed that children naturally try to make sense of their world
In their efforts to understand their world, children act like scientists in creating theories about their physical
and social worlds
When the predicted events do occur, a child’s belief in his/her theory grows stronger
When the predicted events do not occur, the child must revise his/her theory
At a few critical points in development, children realise that their theories have basic flaws
When this happens they revise their theories radically
Claimed that radical revisions occur three times in development: age 2; age 7 and just before adolescence
Implies that children go through four distinct stages
Stage Approximate Characteristics
age
Sensorimotor Birth – 2 Infant’s understanding of the world is acquired through the senses
and movement (e.g. looking and grasping).
Object permanence develops, the child starts to realise that a
physical object can exist even if it is not in view
Preoperational 2–6 Children start to use language and symbols to represent ideas and
objects.
Animism (all lifeless objects also have feelings and thoughts) and
egocentric thinking (inability to see the world from other people’s
point of view) develop.
Concrete 7 – 11 Logical thinking develops, but only as it applies to real concrete
operational objects.
Abstract thinking is still largely absent.
Formal operational 12 and older Thinks abstractly, speculates on hypothetical situations and reasons
deductively about what may be possible.
The cognitive development of a child is based on the following interrelated processes:
1. Organisation – the tendency of the cognitive processes to become more complex and more systematic
and coherent. In order to make sense of their world, children organise their experiences
Adapted from: Louw, D.A., & Louw, A.E. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd Ed.). Bloemfontein: Psychology Publications.
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