Introduction to CD2:

September 6

Minodora Grigorescu

Mothercraft College

Agenda

• Early modern theorists

• Issues in development

Reflection- why you are here

• What “teaching” skills do you have?

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Reflection – cont’

• Read the skills carefully

• If other professionals display the same

skills, cross them out

• What do you have left?

• What makes you a skilled practitioner?

Specific skills

• Knowledge about children’s development

• Helping children to emerge/work/ master

skills

• Observing children’s abilities, strengths

and program plan accordingly

• Use guidance strategies that are

developmentally appropriate

Importance of research

• Theories, hypothesis, collecting data

• Naturalistic observations

• Surveys, interviews, standardized tests,

case studies, research methods

Theories and theorists

• Psychoanalytic – Freud

– Erikson

• Cognitive – Piaget

– Vygotsky

• Behavioural and Social Cognitive – Skinner

– Bandura

• Ecological – Bronfenbrenner

• Freud – Theory of Development based on female adult patients to understand “hysteria”

• Erikson – Personal process of “finding self”

• Piaget – Intellectual orderly upbringing – keen observations of own children – Darwin made extensive observations of his first child as well

• Skinner – Conducted more empirical research than any major theorist

Exercise

• If you were to write a theory of child

development TODAY what would

influence your theory?

• Consider your development, social

influences, personal histories and

beliefs

Psychoanalytic - Freud

• Development primarily unconscious

• Early experiences with parents shape (and dictate) development

• Distinct stages – Follows “discontinuity” path

– Stages are defined by the seeking of pleasure (i.e., sexual in nature) and the avoidance of pain

– Oral – Anal – Phallic – Latency - Genital

Freudian Stages

• ORAL STAGE

• Birth – 18 months

• Pleasure centres in mouth

• Evidence – object in mouth

• ANAL STAGE

• 18 months – 3 years

• Pleasure centres on anus

• Evidence - toileting

• PHALLIC STAGE

• 3 – 6 years

• Pleasure centres on genitals

• Evidence – Sex play in childhood

• LATENCY STAGE

• 6 years to puberty

• Repression of sexual interest child focuses on social and intellectual

• Evidence - None

• GENITAL STAGE

• Puberty onward

• Sexual reawakening

• Evidence – Interest is sexual

relationships

Freud’s Oedipal & Electra

Complexes

• Occurs during the Phallic Stage

• Young child develops an intense desire

to replace the same-sex parent to win

the affection of the opposite sex parent

• For boys – Oedipal; For girls - Electra

Psychoanalytic - Erikson

• 8 stages of psycho-social development

• Each stage has a unique crisis to be overcome – Trust vs mistrust – Infancy – 1st year

– Autonomy vs shame/doubt – 1 to 3 years

– Initiative vs guilt – Preschoolers – 3 to 5 years

– Industry vs inferiority – 6 years to puberty

– Identity vs confusion - Adolescence

– Intimacy vs isolation – Young adulthood

– Generativity vs stagnation – Middle adulthood

– Integrity vs despair – Late adulthood

Individual Exercise

Using yourself as an example, what points

do you think Freud and Erikson were right

about?

• What criticisms do you have of their theories?

• What doesn’t speak to your experiences?

Evaluating Psychoanalytic

Theories

Contributions

Importance of early

experiences

Importance of family

relationships

Conscious AND

unconscious

Erikson first lifespan

theorist

Criticisms

Research problematic

Based on clinical

populations –

accuracy?

Culture biased

Gender biased

Cognitive - Piaget

• Children construct their understanding of the world – focus on “conscious”

– Organize and adapt

• Assimilation = incorporate new information into existing knowledge

– All 4-legged animals are dogs

• Accommodation = adjust knowledge to fit with new information

– Some 4-legged animals are not dogs

Piaget’s Four Stages

• Sensorimotor – Birth to 2 years

– Understand world through senses

• Preoperational – 2 to 7 years

– Understand world with words and images

– Use of words & images shows

development of symbolic thought

• Concrete Operational – 7 to 11 years

– Apply logic to understanding the world

– Classification

– Conservation

• Formal Operational – 11 years and up

– Abstract reasoning

– Idealistic

– Logical

Piaget’s stages

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yhXjJV

FA14&feature=related

Dev. Issues

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrUNBf

yjlBk&feature=related

Socio-Cultural Cognitive -

Vygotsky

• Culture and social interactions guide

development

• Cognitive skills mediated by language

– Language is a tool

• Cognitive skills have origins in social

relationships

– Understand children in social and cultural context

– Reading with a parent – reading skills and

importance of reading as social value

Vygotsky – Zone of Proximal

Development

Direction of Development

Zone of Proximal

Development

Activities

child can do

alone

Activities

child can do with

help Activities

child can

not yet do

Less skill

required to

solve problems

More skill

required to

solve problems

Interaction with

Skilled person supports

Development of this

skill

Behavioural – B.F. Skinner

• Can study only what can be observed

and measured

• Originated out of the work of Pavlov

– Classical conditioning

– Dog food = Dog salivates

– Dog food + bell = Dog salivates

– Bell = Dog salivates

Behavioural – B.F. Skinner

• Skinner – Children as “blank slates”

– Operant conditioning – learning occurs

through seeking reward and avoiding

punishment

– A behaviour that is followed by a

rewarding stimulus is more likely to

occur again

– A behaviour that is followed by

punishment is less likely to recur

Social Cognitive - Bandura

ENVIRONMENT

PERSON/ COGNITIVE

BEHAVIOUR

E.G. – THINKING & PLANNING;

TEMPERMENT MEDIATE CONNECTIONS

BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT & BEHAVIOUR

Bandura Example

• A JK child shows prosocial behaviour in

welcoming a transitioning preschooler to the

class (behaviour)

• The teacher provides positive

encouragement of this behaviour

(environment)

• The child thinks positively about his/her

interpersonal skills (person/cognitive)

Bandura cont…

• Theorist that moved forward the

importance of OBSERVATIONAL

LEARNING – children learn by

watching others

• Highlighted the importance of

MODELING

• Most notably for work in childhood

aggression – Methodology of Bobo doll

Evaluating Behavioural &

Social Cognitive Theories

Contributions

Importance of

scientific research

Importance of

environment

Observational/

vicarious learning

Interaction of

influences

Criticisms

Minimizing

importance of biology

Fail to address

developmental

change

Ethological Theory - Lorenz

• Behaviour strongly influenced by biology

• Behaviour is tied specifically to evolution – we do what we need to to survive

• Characterized by critical or sensitive periods

Lorenz’s Discovery

Hatched with Mom

Saw goose mom and

followed her as soon

as hatched

When separated from

mom & returned

followed her again

Hatched in Incubator

Saw Lorenz and

followed him when

first hatched

When separated from

Lorenz & returned

followed him again

Lorenz’s Discovery cont.

• Newly hatched goslings seem to be

born with the instinct to follow their mom

– it is innate

• Imprinting: the rapid, innate learning

within a limited critical period of time

that involves attachment to the first

moving object seen

• We now think of critical periods as

sensitive periods

Evaluating Ethological Theory

Contributions

Importance of biology

Importance of

naturalistic observation

Identification of

“critical” periods

Criticisms

“Sensitive” versus

“Critical”

Too much biology

Questionable

translation to humans

Ecological -

Bronfenbrenner • 5 systems contribute

– Microsystem = Individual

– Mesosystem = Family, School, Peers,

Neighbourhood

– Exosystem = Friends of family,

Community services

– Macrosystem = Culture

– Chronosystem = Social-historical

conditions

Evaluating Ecological Theory

Contributions

Considers the

environment as multi-

dimensional

Social and historical

context of

development

Criticisms

Neglect of biology

Where’s the cognitive

development

How do children grow

up?

Doctor’s check

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hL-

a5rs88k&feature=fvw

• Nipissing District developmental Screen-

hand out

Case studies

On Track

http://www.beststart.org/OnTrack_English/1-

introduction.html

Individual presentations

• Marking criteria:

• Accuracy of information /3

• Method of delivery /1

• Class engagement /2

• Pro's and Con's for the material presented /2

• Reflective presentation/Applicability /1

• References APA style /1

Resources

• Mitakuye Oyasin, 1989, We are all related,

F. L. K.

• Hsu K.,1970, Americans and Chinese:

Purpose and fulfillment in great

civilizations.

• Janet Gonzales Mena, 2008, Diversity in

Early care and Education.