Child and adolescent development theories
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Child developmental theories focus on how a child grows and develop from childhood to adulthood. This growth can include social, emotional, and cognitive growth. The study involving child development seems to be a broad one as some kids behave in specific ways according to family relationships and individual temperaments. For one to understand human development, various theories have arisen in a manner to give out more information on human growth (Kjellstrom et al., 2017).
The psychoanalytical theory was initially put in place by Sigmund Freud while working as a medical practitioner whose field got based on mental illness treatment. In this theory, Freud explains that childhood experiences and other desires act as major factors influencing behavior. Things such as conflicts can be instilled in a child for a longer time, thus influencing personality and behavior. The theory further explains that a child could grow healthy if there is success in completing each developmental stage. Furthermore, though some theories state that personality grows continuously during an individual’s development, it stresses that personality is shaped through early experiences, including considering when the child is at age five (Kjellstrom et al., 2017). In the behavioral and social learning theory, behaviorists believed that human behavior seems to come up due to an influence on the environment. Some behaviorists such as John Watson and B.F Skinner believed that learning always gets involved through the process of association and reinforcement. The theory states that child development is a result of environmental interactions through certain reactions, including rewards, punishments, and stimuli.
Furthermore, the theory contains the classical and operant conditioning approach. In classical, the child is passed through a learning session. In contrast, in operant conditioning, the child passes through punishment and reinforcement in a manner to change the behavior (Kjellstrom et al., 2017).
Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory is concerned with a thought development in an individual. It also talks about how individuals use their thoughts in their daily interactions with the world. Piaget proposed that this theory is further classified into various steps. The first step is the sensorimotor stage. This stage focuses on birth to two years of a child. The child seems to be limited to sensory and motor activities. Secondly, there is the preoperational stage, a period of two to six years of child growth. In this stage, children have no understanding of the concrete logic, including internalizing information. The concrete operational stage is a period of seven to eleven years of child development. In this period, a child logically thinks but have difficulties in internalizing hypothetical events. The last stage is the formal operational stage. it is twelve to adulthood in which the child thinks logically and could contain logical reasoning and planning skills. According to the information processing theory, humans always process the information they receive rather than responding to it. The theory equates this process to a computer in which it analyses the information from the environment. This theory explains that when a child grows, the brain grows leading to the ability to process and respond to information that they receive. The theory also occurs in stages. From ages two to five, children can learn to focus their attentions. At age five to seven, children learn the use of cognitive abilities for specific reasons. Children at this stage also are capable of internalizing information (Kjellstrom et al., 2017).
The evolutionary developmental psychology theory focuses on human development through evolution, including the influence of genetics. According to the theory, childhood differences in behavior result from evolution and genetics as a result of natural selection. Human development follows a life history strategy in response to the influence of the environment. The theory is closely associated with evolutionary psychology in addition to other genetical factors. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory explains that children learn to form a hand experience. Parents and caregivers also offer a large cultural responsibility in enhancing higher-order functions. Vygotsky state that learning is a social process that enables a child’s understanding of the world. The theory also states the gap between what a person can do and what cannot be done, thus leading to a proximal developmental gap. The theory also states that people learn from others in a manner to learn progressively, have skills, and have an understanding of the environment.
Urie developed the ecological system theory. The theory identifies the ecological environment in which an individual interacts. Various systems were placed to explain the theory. The microsystem is the group that is directly concerned about child development, such as the family. The mesosystem interconnects the microsystem, thus include the help of teachers and the family. The Exosystem involves using a social setting that does not link up the child to the parents. The macrosystem brings about the culture that influences the child, including the mesosystem and microsystem involvement. The last system is the chronosystem, which consists of a summation of the environment and the life course due to a change in social, historical events such as the influence of a parent’s divorce on the child (Belsky, 2019). The dynamic system theory influences one thinking of the family organization and change internalization. This theory focuses on the process of change rather than the outcomes. It focuses on the change from a one-time point to another, leading to a set of examinations of the overall patterns, including stabilization, destabilization, and self-regulation (Belsky, 2019).
When looking at the theoretical view, the most important part of the development is the child conflict involvement at different stages of growth. The experiences that occur from childhood to adulthood to an individual adversely influence an individual’s behavior. Furthermore, a child passes through several stages of a conflict, thus influencing personality and behavior. The stages could include a focus of different pleasure areas in the body, thus providing room for a course of development. Due to this, the most applicable theory that can be used in child development ought to be the psychoanalytic theory (Belsky, 2019).
When looking at the behavioral and social change theory, there is an internalization that children’s behavior originates from the environmental circumstances. Child development is a result of environmental stimulus, including the use of punishments and rewards to the child. A child is passed through classical and operant conditioning approach. Supporting a child using this theory could include the use of learning skills and also the use of rewards to the child. However, the use of punishment can also get put in place to straighten the child’s behavior. On the contrary side, the evolutionary developmental psychological theory focuses on the development of the child through an influence of genetics and evolution that occurred in man. The development can include the social, historical events that occur when a child is born till development. Supporting a child using this theory could include a typical examination of the child’s genetics and the previous social events that could have affected the child, such as the influence of parental divorce on the child.
References
Belsky, J. (2019). Early-life adversity accelerates child and adolescent development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(3), 241-246. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721419837670
Kjellström, S., & Stålne, K. (2017). Adult development as a lens: Applications of adult development theories in research. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 22(2), 266. Retrieved from: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/bdb0000053