Child
Development
Theories
WHY IS CHILDHOOD CRUCIAL?
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Research has shown that early childhood may be the most
important life stage for brain development.
A baby’s brain is about one quarter the size of an adults’.
Scientists have found that babies’ brains develop in response
to stimulation.
 Arouses senses such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and
smell.
Babies who are stimulated develop more quickly and have a
more secure self-image.
What is a theory?
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A theory should allow us to predict and
explain human behavior
It should be stated in such a way that it
can be shown to be false
It must be open to scientific
investigation
CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORISTS

Although researches don’t always agree,
scientific researchers have agreed upon the
five following general rules.
 Development
is similar for each individual
 Development builds upon earlier learning.
 Development proceeds at an individual rate.
 The different areas of development are interrelated.
 Development is a lifelong process.
Psychoanalytic Theories:
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Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
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Personality has 3 parts
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There are 5 stages of psychosexual development
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Oedipus complex allows child to identify with
same-sex parent
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Fixation is an unresolved conflict during a stage
of development
Freudian Stages
Birth to
1½ yrs
1½ to 3
yrs
3 to 6
years
6 yrs to
puberty
Puberty
onward
Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic
Stage
Latency
Stage
Genital
Stage
Infant’s
pleasure
centers on
mouth
Child’s
pleasure
focuses on
anus
Figure 2.1
Child’s
pleasure
focuses on
genitals
Child
A time of
represses
sexual
sexual
reawakening;
interest
source of
and develops
sexual
social and
pleasure
intellectual
becomes
skills
someone
outside of the
family
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Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory:
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There are 8 stages of psychosocial development
Each has a unique developmental task
Developmental change occurs throughout life span
Key points of psychoanalytic theories:
 Early experiences and family relationships are very
important to development
 Unconscious aspects of the mind are considered
 Personality is best seen as a developmental
process
Erikson’s Eight Life-Span Stages
Erikson’s Stages
Developmental Period
Trust vs Mistrust
Infancy (first year)
Autonomy vs shame & Infancy (1 to 3 years)
doubt
Initiative vs guilt
Early childhood (3 to 5
years)
Industry vs inferiority Middle and late childhood
Identity vs identity
Adolescence (10 to 20 years)
confusion
Intimacy vs isolation
Early adulthood (20s, 30s)
Generativity vs
Middle adulthood (40s, 50s)
stagnation
Integrity vs despair
Late adulthood (60s onward)
Figure 2.2
Cognitive theories:
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Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory
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Stresses conscious mental processes
Cognitive processes are influenced by
biological maturation
Four stages of cognitive development
in children
Assimilation and accommodation underlie
how children understand the world, adapt
to it, and organize their experiences
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage:
The infant constructs an understanding of the world
Birth to 2 by coordinating sensory experiences with physical
years of age actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action
at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward
end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage:
2 to 7 years
of age
The child begins to represent the world with words
and images. These words and images reflect
increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the
connection of sensory information and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage:
7 to 11 years
The child can now reason logically about concrete
of age
events and classify objects into different sets.
11–15 years
of age
through
adulthood
Figure 2.3
Formal Operational Stage
The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic
and logical ways.
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Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory
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Children actively construct their knowledge
Social interaction and culture guide cognitive
development
Learning is based upon inventions of society
Knowledge is created through interactions with
other people and objects in the culture
Less skilled persons learn from the more skilled
Information-processing theory
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Compares computers to the human mind
Thinking is information processing
Information-Processing Theory
geography
literature
science
INPUT
OUTPUT
Information
is taken into
brain
history
math
religion
Information is
used as basis of
behaviors and
interactions
Information
gets processed,
analyzed, and
stored until use
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model
Behavior
Person
(cognitive)
Figure 2.4
Environment
Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation
Child
observes
someone
admired
Child imitates
behavior
that seems
rewarded
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Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory:
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Environmental factors influence development
5 environmental systems affect life-span
development
Eclectic theoretical orientation:
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Selects features from other theories
No one theory has all the answers
Each theory can make a contribution to
understanding life-span development
Political philosophy
Exosystem
Mesosystems
School system
Family
School &
classroom
Chronosystem
Religion
& groups
Peer
group
Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Theory
of Development
Macrosystem
Figure 2.5
Observed correlation: as permissive parenting
increases, children’s self-control decreases
Permissive
parenting
causes
Children’s lack
of self-control
Children’s lack
of self-control
causes
Permissive
parenting
Other factors,
such as genetic
tendencies, poverty,
and sociohistorical
circumstances
Permissive
parenting
cause
both
and
Children’s lack
of self-control
Possible Explanations for Correlational Data
Figure 2.9
Group 1
Time
playing
video
games:
2 hours
each day
More
playful
and
sociable
Group 2
Time
playing
video
games:
6 hours
each day
More
aggressive
and
antisocial
OTHER INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
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Heredity
 Blood

type, eye color, and hair color
Environment
 Children
also learn attitudes and beliefs from their
environments