Using Child Development Theories to Better Understand Children
Understanding child development is not just a theoretical exercise. It equips you with the knowledge to comprehend how children think, act, and behave. This understanding empowers you to better support and guide children’s learning and growth journey.
How Does Understanding Child Development help?
Child development theories provide professionals with frameworks that help us to understand how children learn, grow and develop over time. These theories encompass cognitive, emotional, social and moral development.
Understanding child development is not just a theoretical exercise. It equips you with the knowledge to comprehend how children think, act, and behave. This understanding empowers you to better support and guide children’s learning and growth journey.
The theories below provide a comprehensive understanding of child development, highlighting the factors influencing how children grow and change over time. Each of the theories below offers unique perspectives on other aspects of development, including cognitive, emotional, social and emotional growth.
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who proposed that children go through four stages of cognitive development before adulthood. This theory shows how children’s thinking evolves over time as they gradually acquire the skills to think logically and abstractly.
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)
Children learn about the world through their senses and actions during this stage. Towards the end of this stage, they develop object permanence, allowing them to understand that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
Children develop language skills and the ability to think symbolically; however, they remain egocentric and intuitive as they cannot think logically.
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Children become less egocentric and more empathetic and begin to develop logical thinking skills; However, they still lack the ability to understand abstract concepts.
Formal Operational Stage (11+ years)
Adolescents and adults develop abstract and hypothetical thinking, allowing them to use deductive reasoning and think about moral, philosophical, and scientific issues.
You can read a more in-depth look at this theory here: Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist who proposed that a child’s cognitive development is primarily influenced by their social interaction with more knowledgeable people.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
ZPD represents tasks that children cannot complete by themselves but can with the help of a more skilled person. ZPD represents the potential for cognitive development.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is known in the educational sector and refers to the support a teacher, parent, or peer provides to help the child perform a task within their ZPD.
Cultural Tools
Cultural tools are the language, symbols, and other cultural artefacts that influence a child’s cognitive development. These are usually passed by through generations.
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was a German-American developmental psychologist who proposed that a child’s personality develops through eight stages, each characterised by a specific psychosocial conflict that must be resolved. Success would produce a healthy trait; failure would create an unhealthy trait.
Trust vs. Mistrust (0-1 year)
Children use the reliable or inconsistent care that caregivers provide to develop a sense of trust or mistrust.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-3 years)
Children want to develop autonomy and confidence; this can create a sense of independence. Overbearing caregivers can hinder this and cause shame and doubt.
Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6 years)
Children learn to take the initiative and assert control, or if discouraged or overly controlled by caregivers, develop a sense of guilt about their desires and impulses.
Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12 years)
School-aged children develop a sense of competence and industry by mastering new skills and tasks. Failure and excessive criticism can cause the child to feel inferior if they struggle to meet expectations.
Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-18 years)
Adolescents explore different identities and develop a strong sense of self or experience confusion about their role in society. They are unsuccessful if they fail to integrate their identities into one stable self-concept.
The following three stages of Eriksen’s theory take place in adulthood:
- Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood)
- Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
- Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood)
Freud’s Psychosexual Development Theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist whose theory proposed that early childhood experiences shape their future personality and behaviour. Personality and behaviour develop through a series of five childhood stages.
Oral Stage (0-1 year)
If a child is weaned too early or too late, then they may develop an oral fixation.
Anal Stage (1-3 years)
If a child receives harsh or lenient toilet training, then they may develop anal-retentive or anal-expulsive personalities.
Phallic Stage (3-6 years)
Children become aware of their bodies and develop attraction toward the opposite-sex parent, leading to the Oedipus or Electra complex.
Latency Stage (6-puberty)
Freud suggests that at this stage, there is no fixation as the libido is dormant, meaning that sexual impulses are repressed as children focus on developing skills and relationships.
Genital Stage (puberty onward)
Providing that the previous stages were resolved, children are prepared for a well-balanced adulthood. If previous stages were unresolved, then children may struggle with forming healthy relationships and achieving sexual fulfilment.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura (1925-2021) was a Canadian-American psychologist who introduced the idea that children learn by observing others, also known as observational learning. Bandura’s famous “Bobo Doll” experiment highlighted the power of observational learning on children's behaviour.
Modelling
Children imitate the behaviours they observe others performing; the more of a role model the person that a child is observing, the more likely that the child will imitate the action.
Vicarious Reinforcement
Children learn about the consequences of behaviours by observing the outcomes of others’ actions.
Reciprocal Determinism
Behaviour, personal factors, and environmental influences continuously interact with each other to shape development.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) was a Russian-born American psychologist. Bronfenbrenner proposed that multiple layers of environmental systems influence child development. This theory suggests that development is shaped by the interplay between the child and their surrounding environments, such as family, school and the local community.
Microsystem
Microsystems affect the child’s immediate environment, including family, school, neighbourhood, and peers.
Mesosystem
Mesosystems are the interactions between different microsystems, like the relationship between home and school.
Exosystem
The more extensive social system that affects the child indirectly, such as parents’ workplaces. Job loss can impact family dynamics, which can affect the child.
Macrosystem
Macrosystems, which include the cultural and societal context, play a significant role in shaping all other systems. Understanding these influences can enlighten you about the broader factors that impact child development, making you more aware and sensitive in your professional role.
Chronosystem
The chronosystem represents the dimension of time, reflecting the impact of life events and transitions throughout a child’s development.
Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a British psychologist and psychoanalyst who emphasised how early relationships between children and their caregivers can have lasting effects on future relationships.
Attachment
Attachment is an emotional bond between a child and a caregiver (usually the primary caregiver). This bond is crucial for the child to develop a sense of safety and security.
Secure Attachment
Secure attachments form when a child receives consistent, responsive caregiving, leading to healthy emotional development.
Insecure Attachment
Insecure attachments form when a child receives inconsistent or neglectful caregiving, leading to difficulties in relationships and self-esteem.
Ainsworth’s Attachment Styles
Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) was an American-Canadian developmental psychologist. Ainsworth expanded Bowlby's work and developed the attachment styles that Bowlby proposed through her “Strange Situations” study of children.
Secure Attachment
Children with secure attachments feel safe and secure when the caregiver is present, and they are distressed when they leave but quickly comforted upon their return. They feel confident enough to explore their environment.
Insecure-Avoidant Attachment
Children with insecure-avoidant attachments avoid or ignore the caregiver, showing little emotion when they leave or return. This could be seen as emotionally distant.
Insecure-Resistant (Ambivalent) Attachment
Children with insecure-resistant attachments are highly distressed when the caregiver leaves and are not easily comforted upon their return. They may appear anxious or clingy and reject the caregiver's attempts to soothe them.
Insecure-Disorganised Attachment
Children with insecure-disorganised attachments will display confused or contradictory behaviours, such as approaching the caregiver but with an averted gaze. This attachment style is often associated with fear or apprehension towards the caregiver and is frequently linked to trauma or abuse.
References
Recommended Reading
- Piaget's Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development/Foundations of Constructivism - This bestselling introduction to Jean Piaget’s theory shows how children construct and acquire knowledge as it relates to current constructivist approaches to learning.
- Psychosocial Development According to Erik H. Erikson - It is Erikson's basic assumption that in the course of a lifetime, the human being goes through eight developmental phases, which are laid out in an internal development plan.
- Vygotsky, Piaget and Bloom.: The Definitive Guide to their Educational Theories - Embark on a journey to decode the enigmatic realms of Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bloom! If Piaget’s stages of development seem like riddles, Vygotsky's theories like intricate puzzles, or Bloom’s domains of learning like cryptic codes, breathe easy. This book is your Rosetta Stone.
- Introducing Bronfenbrenner: A Guide for Practitioners and Students in Early Years Education - This book presents a comprehensive introduction to Bronfenbrenner’s model of development in reference to early childhood education. It draws on practice-based research to identify and animate key elements of the model impacting on early educational pedagogy and practice
- John Bowlby and Attachment Theory - John Bowlby is one of the outstanding psychological theorists of the twentieth century. This new edition of John Bowlby and Attachment Theory is both a biographical account of Bowlby and his ideas and an up-to-date introduction to contemporary attachment theory and research, now a dominant force in psychology, counselling, psychotherapy and child development.
- Social Learning Theory - An exploration of contemporary advances in social learning theory with special emphasis on the important roles played by cognitive, vicarious, and self-regulatory processes.