THEORIES OF CHILD THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT

THEORIES OF CHILD THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT

Chapter 3Chapter 3

CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

• A belief system about why kids think, behave, and feel the way they do based on observation and research

• Crucial for developing ways of thinking about and interacting with children

MATURATIONIST THEORY

• Gesell,Hall

• Primacy of genetic predetermination

• Kids reveal themselves like a flower

• Downplays importance of home/school

environments.May cause inaction

• Supported by twin studies

BEHAVIORIST THEORY• Watson, Skinner, Bandura• Primacy of experiences• Child starts out a “blank slate”• Conditioning (Pavlov)• Reward success; ignore failure• Imitation and modeling• Break new tasks into small, sequenced steps

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

• Freud, Erikson

• Concerns personality development

• Emotional health stems from ability to resolve key conflicts between internal impulses and external demands

ERIKSON’S STAGES OF EMOTIONAL DEV.

• 8 life stages (through old age)

• 1. Trust V mistrust

• 2. Autonomy V shame, and doubt

• 3. Initiative V. guilt

COGNITIVE-DEV THEORY

• Piaget

• Focuses on learning

• Constructivism: knowledge is constructed through interaction with the environment

• Assimilation and accommodation

PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEV

• Sensorimotor

• Preoperational

• Concrete operational

• Formal operational

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY

• Vygotsky

• Knowledge is constructed through interaction with objects, and is assisted by language and social interaction

• Scaffolding

• Zone of proximal development

ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY

• Bronfenbrenner

• Institutions that surround us affect how children develop

• Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem