Jean Piaget • Lev VygotskyAbraham Maslow • B.F. Skinner •

Erik Erickson • Howard Gardner

Why Study Child & Parenting Development Theories?

Theories help people:

– Organize their ideas about raising children.

– Understand influences on parenting.

– Discover more than one way to interact with children.

– Analyze the benefits and consequences of using more than one theory.

Why Study the Selected Theories?

The selected theories:

– Have been popular and influential.

– Represent different approaches to parent-child interaction.

– Offer help in the “real world” of daily child-rearing.

– Make good common sense.

Lev Vygotsky - 1896-1934

Main points• Development is primarily driven by

language, social context and adult guidance.

Key Words• Zone of proximal development• Scaffolding

The cultures in which children are raised and the ways in which they interact with people influence their intellectual development. From their cultural environments, children learn values, beliefs, skills, and traditions that they will eventually pass on to their own children. Through cooperative play, children learn to behave according to the rules of their cultures. Learning is an active process. Learning is constructed.

What is: Zone of Proximal Development

It is a range of tasks that a child cannot yet do alone but can accomplish when assisted by a more skilled partner.

There is a zone of proximal development for each task. When learners are in the zone, they can benefit from the teacher’s assistance.

Learners develop at different rates so they may differ in their ability to benefit from instructions.

What is: ScaffoldingAssistance that allows students to complete tasks that they are not able to complete independently.

Effective scaffolding is responsive to students’ needs. In classroom, teachers’ provide scaffolding by:

• Breaking content into manageable pieces

• Modeling skills• Provide practice and examples with prompts• Letting go when students are ready

Life is a series of stages. Each individual must pass through each stage. The way in which a person handles each of these stages affects the person’s identity and self-concept. These psychosocial stages are:1. Trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year)

2. Autonomy vs. shame & doubt (2 to 3 years)

3. Initiative vs. guilt (4 to 5 years)4. Industry vs. inferiority (6 to 11 years)5. Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18

years)6. Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood)7. Generativity vs. stagnation (middle

adulthood)8. Integrity vs. despair (older adulthood)Psychosocial Theory of Human

Development – Erik Erikson

Stage AgeBasic

Conflict Important

Event Summary

Oral-sensoryBirth to 12 to 18 months

Trust vs. Mistrust Feeding The infant must form a first loving, trusting relationship with the caregiver, or develop a sense of mistrust.

Muscular-Anal18 monthsto 3years

Autonomy vs.Shame/Doubt

Toilet training

The child's energies are directed toward the development of physical skill, including walking, grasping, and rectal sphincter control. The child learns control but may develop shame and doubt if not handled well.

Locomotor 3 to 6 years

Initiative vs.Guilt

Independence The child continues to become more assertive and to take more initiative, but may be too forceful, leading to guilt feelings.

Latency 6 to 12 years

Industry vs. Inferiority School The child must deal with demands to learn new skills or risk a sense of inferiority, failure and incompetence.

Adolescence 12 to 18 years

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Peer relationships

The teenager must achieve a sense of identity in occupation, sex roles, politics, and religion.

Young Adulthood

19 to 40 years

Intimacy vs.Isolation

Love relationships

The young adult must develop intimate relationships or suffer feelings of isolation.

Middle Adulthood

40 to 65 years

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Parenting Each adult must find some way to satisfy and support the next generation.

Maturity 65 to death

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Reflection on and acceptance of one's life

The culmination is a sense of oneself as one is and of feeling fulfilled.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Human Development

Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

Trust vs. Mistrust

Initiative vs. Guilt

Industry vs. Inferiority

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Ego Integrity vs. Despair Generativity vs. Stagnation

Critique of Erik Erikson

• Supporters of this Eriksonian theory, suggest that those best equipped to resolve the crisis of early adulthood are those who have most successfully resolved the crisis of adolescence.

• On the other hand, Erikson's theory may be questioned as to whether his stages must be regarded as sequential, and only occurring within the age ranges he suggests. There is debate as to whether people only search for identity during the adolescent years or if one stage needs to happen before other stages can be completed.

Theory of Behaviorism- B.F Skinner & others

Based on Locke’s tabula rasa (“clean slate”) idea, Skinner theorized that a child is an “empty organism” --- that is, an

empty vessel --- waiting to be filled through learning experiences.

Any behavior can be changed through the use of positive and negative reinforcement. Behaviorism is based on cause-

and-effect relationships.

Pavlo's dog game

Major elements of behaviorism include:

– Positive and negative reinforcement– Use of stimulus and response– Modeling– Conditioning.

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/L/LearnedBehavior.html

Theory of Multiple Intelligence

Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner’s theory

Howard Gardner defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting" (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). Using biological as well as cultural research, he formulated a list of seven intelligences. This new outlook on intelligence differs greatly from the traditional view that usually recognizes only two intelligences, verbal and mathematical.

Who is Howard Gardner? • Howard Gardner is a psychologist and

Professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.

• Based on his study of many people, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences.

• Gardner defines intelligence as “ability to solve problems or to create products which are valued in one or more cultural settings.”

• According to Gardner, 8 different types of intelligence are displayed by humans.

Gardner’s Intelligences:

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

consists of the ability to:• detect patterns • reason deductively • think logically

This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

Famous examples: Albert Einstein, John Dewey.

Linguistic Intelligence

• involves having a mastery of a mastery of languagelanguage

• This intelligence includes the the ability to effectively manipulate ability to effectively manipulate languagelanguage to express oneself rhetorically or poetically.

• It also allows one to use language language as a means to rememberas a means to remember information.

Famous examples: Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, T.S. Eliot, Sir Winston Churchill.

Spatial Intelligence

•gives one the ability to manipulate and create mental images in order to solve problems.

•This intelligence is not limited to visual domains--Gardner notes that spatial intelligence is also formed in blind children.

Famous examples: Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright

Musical Intelligence

• encompasses the capability to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms.

(Auditory functions are required for a

person to develop this intelligence in relation to pitch and tone, but these functions would not be needed for the knowledge of rhythm.)

Famous examples: Mozart, Leonard Bernstein, Ray Charles.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

• is the ability to use one's mental abilities to coordinate one's own bodily movements.

• This intelligence challenges the popular belief that mental and physical activity are unrelated.

• The ability to use your body skillfully to solve problems, create products or present ideas and emotions.

• An ability obviously displayed for athletic pursuits, dancing, acting, artistically, or in building and construction.

• You can include surgeons in this category but many people who are physically talented–"good with their hands"–don't recognize that this form of intelligence is of equal value to the other intelligences.

Famous examples: Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jordan.

Interpersonal Intelligence

• The ability to work effectively with otherswork effectively with others• to relate to other peoplerelate to other people• display empathyempathy and understandingunderstanding• notice their motivations and goals.motivations and goals.

This is a vital human intelligence displayed by good teachers, facilitators, therapists, good teachers, facilitators, therapists, politicians, religious leaders and sales politicians, religious leaders and sales people.people. Famous examples: Gandhi, Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

The ability for self-analysis and reflection–to be able to:

• quietly contemplate and assess one's accomplishments

• review one's behavior and innermost feelings• make plans and set goals• know oneself

Philosophers, counselors, and many peak performers in all fields of endeavor have this form of intelligence.

Famous examples: Freud, Eleanor Roosevelt, Plato.

Naturalist intelligence

designates the human ability to discriminate designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). natural world (clouds, rock configurations).

to make distinctions in the natural world and to use this ability

productively–for example in hunting, farming, or biological science. Farmers, botanists, conservationists, Farmers, botanists, conservationists,

biologists, environmentalists would all biologists, environmentalists would all display aspects of the intelligence. display aspects of the intelligence.

Famous examples: Charles Darwin, Rachel Carson.

Can we be more than one?Can we be more than one?

Yes! • Although the intelligences are anatomically separated from each other,

Gardner claims that the eight intelligences very rarely operate independently.

• Rather, the intelligences are used concurrently and typically complement each other as individuals develop skills or solve problems.

For example, a dancer can excel in his art only if he/she has For example, a dancer can excel in his art only if he/she has  • strong musical intelligence to understand the rhythm and

variations of the music 

• bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to provide him with the agility and coordination to complete the movements successfully

• interpersonal intelligence to understand how he can inspire or emotionally move his audience through his movements

The behavior of children and the development of their thinking can only be explained by the interaction of nature (intrinsic development) and nurture (extrinsic environmental factors).

Jean Piaget - 1896-1980

Goal of cognitive development

– Biological survival

Cognitive development as biological adaptation

– Adaptation of mental constructs from experiences

– Learner as ‘the little scientist’

Knowledge originates from the environment

– Assimilation + accommodation lead to equilibrium

– Cognitive development involves active selection, interpretation, and construction of knowledge

Key wordsCognitive learning theory; assimilate; symbolism; accommodate; egocentric; decentre; conservatism; active learners; schemata; sensory-motor; stages; pre-operational; animism; moral realism; concrete operations; formal operations

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Cognitive Development TheoryTwo processes are essential for development:

– Assimilation» Learning to understand events or objects,

based on existing structure.– Accommodation

» Expanding understanding, based on new information.

PiagetChildren pass through specific stages as they develop their Cognitive Development skills:

•Sensorimotor – birth - 2 years – infants develop their intellect•Preoperational – 2-7 years – children begin to think symbolically and imaginatively•Concrete operational – 7-12 years – children learn to think logically•Formal operational – 12 years – adulthood – adults develop critical thinking skills

Maslow’s Theory

Maslow’s theory maintains that a person

does not feel a higher need until the needs

of the current level have been satisfied.

Maslow's basic needs are as follows:

Physiological Needs

• Food

• Air

• Water

• Clothing

• Sex

Basic Human Needs

Safety Needs

• Protection

• Stability

• Pain Avoidance

• Routine/Order

Safety and Security

Social Needs

• Affection

• Acceptance

• Inclusion

Love and Belonging

Esteem Needs • Self-Respect

• Self-Esteem

• Respected by Others

Esteem

Self-Actualization

• Achieve full potential

• Fulfillment