Overview of Child DevelopmentDr. Osama Refaat

Director of Training Department

Child Development

Definition: Change in the child that occurs over time. Changes follow an orderly pattern that moves toward greater complexity and enhances survival.

Periods of development: Prenatal: from conception to birth Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years Early childhood: 2-6 years old Middle childhood: 6-12 years old Adolescence: 12-19 years old

Domains of Development

Development is described in three domains, but growth

in one domain influences the other domains. Physical Domain:

body size, body proportions, appearance, motor development, coordination, perception capacities, physical health.

Cognitive Domain: thought processes and intellectual abilities including

attention, memory, problem solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, and language.

Social/Emotional Domain: self-knowledge (self-esteem, sexual identity, ethnic

identity), moral reasoning, understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation, temperament, understanding others, interpersonal skills, and friendships.

Child Development Theories

Psychoanalytical Theories

Beliefs focus on the formation of personality. According to this approach, children move through various stages, confronting conflicts between biological drives and social expectations.

Sigmund Freud

Psychosexual Theory Was based on his therapy with troubled adults.

He emphasized that a child's personality is formed by the ways which his parents managed his sexual and aggressive drives.

Erik EriksonPsychosocial Theory

Expanded on Freud's theories. Believed that development is life-

long. Emphasized that at each stage, the

child acquires attitudes and skills resulting from the successful negotiation of the psychological conflict.

Identified 8 stages: Basic trust vs mistrust (birth - 1 year) Autonomy vs shame and doubt (ages 1-3) Initiative vs guilt (ages 3-6) Industry vs inferiority (ages 6-11) Identity vs identity confusion

(adolescence) Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood) Generativity vs stagnation (middle

adulthood) Integrity vs despair (the elderly)

Behavioral and Social Learning Theories

Beliefs that describe the importance of the environment and nurturing in the growth of a child.

Behaviorism

Developed as a response to psychoanalytical theories.

Behaviorism became the dominant view from the 1920's to 1960's.

John Watson Early 20th century, "Father of American Behaviorist theory.”

Based his work on Pavlov's experiments on the digestive system of dogs.

Researched classical conditioning

Children are passive beings who can be molded by controlling the stimulus-response associations.

Skinner

Proposed that children "operate" on their environment, operational conditioning.

Believed that learning could be broken down into smaller tasks, and that offering immediate rewards for accomplishments would stimulate further learning.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura Stressed how children learn by observation and imitation.

Believed that children gradually become more selective in what they imitate.

Biological Theories

Belief that heredity and innate biological processes govern growth.

Ethology

Examines how behavior is determined by a species' need for survival.

Has its roots in Charles Darwin's research.

Describes a "critical period" or "sensitive period,” for learning

Konrad Lorenz

Ethologist, known for his research on imprinting.

Attachment Theory

John Bowlby Attachment between an infant and her caregiver can insure the infant’s survival.

Stranger’s anxiety Separation anxiety

Cognitive Theories

Beliefs that describe how children learn

Jean PiagetCognitive

development theory Children "construct" their understanding of the world through their active involvement and interactions.

Studied his 3 children to focus not on what they knew but how they knew it.

Described children's understanding as their "schemas” and how they use: Assimilation Accommodation.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Stages

Sensori-motor Ages birth - 2: the infant uses his senses and motor abilities to understand the world

Preoperation Ages 2-7: the child uses metal representations of objects and is able to use symbolic thought and language

Concrete operations Ages 7-11; the child uses logical operations or principles when solving problems

Formal operations Ages 12 up; the use of logical operations in a systematic fashion and with the ability to use abstractions

Lev VygotskySocio-Cultural Theory

Agreed that children are active learners, but their knowledge is socially constructed.

Cultural values and customs dictate what is important to learn.

Children learn from more expert members of the society.

Vygotsky described the "zone of proximal development", where learning occurs.

ced.ncsc.edu/hyy/devtheories.htm

Information Processing Theory

Uses the model of the computer to describe how the brain works.

Focuses on how information is perceived, how information is stored in memory, how memories are retrieved and then used to solve problems.

Cognitive Development

Piaget Main concepts:

Schema: Mental patterns (thought/action) Assimilation: Adapting new information into existing

schemata Accommodation: Modify existing schemes for new

information

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

1-The Sensori-motor Stage

2-The Preoperational Stage

3-The Concrete Operational Stage

4-The Formal Operational Stage

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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Inborn Reflexes

Sensorimotor Period

Preoperational Period

Concrete Operations

Formal Operations

(~Birth to 2 yrs)

(~2 to 6 yrs)

(~ 7-12 yrs)

(adolescence to adult)

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)

Coordinate sensory inputs and motor skills Transition from being reflexive to reflective Adualism Development of Problem-Solving Abilities Development of Object Permanence

Objects continue to exist when they are no longer visible/detectable

Appears by 8-12 months of age A-not-B error: search in the last place found, not

where it was last seen Complete by 18-24 months

The Preoperational Stage (2-7 years) Symbolic function / representational insight

One thing represents another Language Pretend (symbolic) play – developmentally a positive

activity Deficits in preoperational thinking:

Animism Attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects

Egocentrism View world from own perspective, trouble recognizing other’s

point of view 3 mountain problem

Prelogic (intuition) Magical thinking Omnipotence

Deficits in preoperational thinking Centration:

the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event

Appearance/reality distinction Cannot distinguish between the two

Lack of conservation Do not realize properties of objects do not change just

because appearance does Lack of reversibility

Mentally undo an action

Type of conservation Number Matter Length

Initial presentation Two identical

rows of objects shown to child

Two identical balls of clay shown to child

Two sticks are aligned in front of child

ManipulationOne row is spaced

Experimenter changes shape of one ball

Experimenter moves one stick to right

Preoperational child’s answer to “Are they still the same?”

“No, the longer row has more”

“No, the longer one has more”

“No, the one on top is longer”

Some Dimensions of Conservation: Number, Matter, and Length

The Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)

Cognitive operations Internal mental activity to modify symbols to reach a

logical conclusion (concrete) Conservation of matter Decentering:

They can appreciate the perspective of another viewer They can think about two concepts at the same time

Reversibility Appreciate causality Thinking systematically

remains difficult

The Formal Operational Stage (12+)

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning Ability to generate hypotheses and use deductive reasoning (general to

specific) Inductive reasoning

Going from specific observations to generalizations Individuals can imagine alternative worlds and reason systematically

about all possible outcomes of a situation Work in probabilities and possibilities Abstract concepts (Equality, Patriotism)

Piaget believed that the attainment of the formal operations stage, in contrast to the other stages, is not universal

Moral Development

Moral Development

Development of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding rules and conventions about what people should do in their interactions with other people..

The process by which children acquire society's standards of what is right and wrong.

Moral perspectives: Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes feelings of anxiety and guilt

Children identify with parents to reduce anxiety and avoid punishment

Superego: moral element of personality Other, more positive emotions contribute to child’s moral

development Example: empathy, which involves perspective-taking

Cognitive theory: Kohlberg We MUST understand right from wrong if we are to be expected to act in right or wrong ways.

Is morality a topic of concern for children? Regression (playing games):

taking turns, following a set of rules

Home: Questions such as “why can't I stay up as late as you??

You always get to watch what you want to watch. ”

School: So in everyday situations, children are confronted by some

rules, they have some sense of “right” and “wrong”

Exercise

Heinz stole a bottle of expensive drug from the pharmacy to save his mother’s life Do you agree with that or not ? Why ?

Not strictly linked to age Not everyone reaches the highest level

Preconventional1-Punishment Orientation Goodness or badness of an act are based on its

consequences. Child will defer to authority figure and obey their

commands in order to avoid punishment (BUT there is no true conception of rules--> it is only bad if you get caught).

Preconventional

2-Reward Orientation: person conforms to rules in order to gain rewards

or to satisfy personal needs doing things for others is “right” if the actor will

benefit in the long run

Conventional

3- Bad boy Orientation Behavior is guided by fear of being condemned by

others.

Conventional

4- Good boy Orientation Moral behavior is that which pleases, helps, or

is approved by others. One objective is to be thought of as a “nice”

person

Postconventional

5) Social contract and rules flexibility begins in moral reasoning moral actions are those that express the will of

the majority of individuals a sense of having to live up to the law, but an

understanding that laws can be wrong.

Postconventional

6) Conscience & ethical values “highest” stage of moral reasoning right and wrong defined on a personal belief or

self-chosen ethics belief in abstract principles which override all

others (life, liberty, equality)