Model of Early Childhood Development - Research Paper Example

Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY Developmental Theory: Model of Early Childhood Development Developmental Theory: Model of Early Childhood Development The developmental theory is the study of behavior through all life stages from the fetus to old age (Santrock, 1997). Researchers of the field study normal growth, change, self-actualization, and also life-stage related problems. The developmental theory was revolutionized in the 1950s due to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development (Coles & Erikson, 1970); of which was a major breakthrough as it explained that development is an ongoing process. Erikson’s theory was pioneering because it was in direct opposition of Freud’s psychosocial developmental design that explained that an individual’s personality is set by the age of five (Keoke & Porterfield, 2001). Unlike Erikson, Freud’s theories were based upon studies of neurotic patients; Erikson’s theories were based upon studies of normal childhood. Keoke and Porterfield (2001) explain the beginning of Erikson’s observation of normal childhood development as follows: in 1902, Erickson was born in Germany to a well-off family who immigrated to Germany from Denmark; at the age of 25 years, Erickson moved to Vienna, Austria where he established a school and was fortunate to become one of Sigmund Freud’s students and colleagues. During the Hitler reign of terror, Erikson migrated to the United States where he worked with prominent anthropologists and studied two American Indian tribes called the Sioux and Yukon. Erickson’s anthropology study turned into the first empirical study on normal childhood development. The focus of the study was the early childhood development of the Sioux and Yukon children in their home and school environment compared to White American children. After a longitudinal scientific investigation focused upon the childhood development of the Sioux, Yukon, and White American cultures, including the American Welfare system, Erikson knew that it was time to establish his own theory of development which was in direct conflict to his teacher and colleague namely Freud (Keoke & Porterfield, 2001). Santrock (1997) describes Erikson’s famous eight developmental stages as follows: (a) Trust vs. Mistrust is focused upon the fetal years through the first year and ideally the child learns to get physical and emotional needs fulfilled of which must be achieved before the child will learn how to trust; (b) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt initiate around the second year of the child’s life in which independence and the assertion of the child’s will is observed through the behavior of doing things and exploring. Erikson observed that if the child is overly restricted or punished, the child may develop doubt and shame; (c) Initiative vs. Guilt is when the child figures out how to balance holding on and letting go of issues directly associated by social factors. The child should be encouraged to become more responsible and at the same time the caregiver must take care to teach the child to walk through anxious emotions or the child will experience excessive guilt feelings; (d) Industry vs. Inferiority is developed before adolescence and between middle and late childhood and is focused upon logical thinking and intellectual development. The caregiver must encourage and reinforce the child during this stage to keep incompetent feelings at a minimum; (e) Identity vs. Identity Confusion develops during adolescence. The child’s focus is upon who he or she is and what is desired from its life where a clear sense of self is established. The caregiver should encourage this stage or the child may develop identity confusion; (f) Intimacy vs. Isolation occurs immediately after adolescence and begins the intimate relationship stage between others. Isolation will occur if this skill is not developed; (g) Generativity vs. Stagnation is developed during the middle adult years and is when the adult is focused upon helping the younger generation develop into useful citizens. Stagnation will occur if the adult does not develop this stage; (h) and lastly, Integrity vs. Despair is developed during the older adulthood and is focused upon evaluating one’s life and forming paths to correct the incomplete stages of childhood development in an effort to remove despair and encourage integrity. Up until the 20th century, the child was thought of as a little adult and the distinctions of childhood developmental stages were not documented. All scientists will agree that Freud’s studies of the abnormal behavior in children set the groundwork for an emergence of many childhood developmental theories (Keoke & Porterfield, 2001). Five major developmental theories are psychoanalytical, psychosocial, cognitive, behavioral, and social. Freud’s psychoanalytic child development theories are focused upon the satisfaction of libidinal desires that later play a role in the personality of the adult explains Santrock (1977). Freud’s theory makes clear the importance of childhood events and experiences from the abnormal childhood perspective where the focus is upon the psychosexual stages; oral, anal, phallic, latency period, and genital. Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development is focused upon overcoming stages of conflict and succeeding or failing the conflicts will impact overall functioning of the individual. The cognitive child developmental theories explain how children think and behave differently than adults theorized by Piaget (Santrock, 1977). Piaget pioneered the fact that child have an active role in obtaining knowledge from the world. The behavioral child developmental studies are geared towards how environmental interactions and influences affect an individual’s behavior detailed by theories from Pavlov, Skinner, and Watson, explains Santrock (1977). The behaviorist development theories use observational empirical research to understand how reactions to punishments and rewards affect childhood development using classical and operant conditioning. Lastly, the social child development theories is grounded by Bowlby’s attachment theory which explains that caregiver relationships play a huge role in child development and continues to shape the social relationship throughout a child’s life span (Santrock, 1977). The physical development aspect of early childhood development involves the nutritional intake and energy expenditure of the child (Davidson, 2007). Nutritious food intake, good personal hygiene, physical exercise of the mind and body along with preventive medical treatment is required for a child’s physical development. A healthy diet aids in the proper biological functioning of physical and mental bodily functions. Empirical research studies concluded that eating habits, family home environment, behaviors of parents, and media influence the physical and mental functioning of children and may create physical or mental health risks in children between the ages of 2 to 10 (Davidson, 2007). Eating habits should include moderate intake of the four basic food groups and a minimal amount of sweets and fat intake. The family home environment should reflect a calm nurturing model inductive to the stimulation of the positive aspects of Erikson’s developmental stages. Mental exercise includes the development of reasoning skills, intellectual, memory, and aspects of Piaget’s cognitive development. The mind should be able to recognize and feel the positive effects of good eating habits and exercise. For example, children will function more effectively and feel more alert after a ritual of bathing, eating, educational mind stimulation, and physical exercise. The behavior of parents should be carefully discipline as these affects will have a lasting impression upon the child’s development and is illustrated by Bowlby’s attachment theory. Also, the media may influences the child’s mental processing. For example, if a child views a scary movie or a horrific news event the child may have reoccurring nightmares as the child’s mental perceptions of the movie may become delusional or develop an unreal association between the movie and real life. Basically, the caretaker should offer parental guidance in all affairs to protect the child’s developing physical and mental processes. The social development aspect of child development has been grounded through Bowlby’s attachment theory which explains that the caretaker’s behavior directly affects the child’s ability to effectively interact socially. The caretaker is not only the parent but also any role model that is used by child. The environment or culture of the child affects the biology of the brain, the neuropsychology of emotion, and the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills associated with communication. Social support of children is required not only by the caretakers, but also by the school system, health agencies, and society in general. Research confirms that social support improves the health-related quality of a child’s life and the social-emotional aspect of children and adolescents reports Menon (2009). Emotional development is another key ingredient to effective childhood development explains Ryan, Emmerling, and Spencer (2009). The study of cognitive psychology helps researchers identify behaviors that elicit inappropriate emotions with a goal of correcting or adjusting behavioral patterns to achieve the desired emotions associated with the environment. For example, laughing at a funeral or when someone is diagnosed with a serious illness may be misinterpreted by others. Emotional displays are accepted differently according to each culture. The Intellectual development aspect of early childhood development is best explained using social and cognition theories which explain that cognitive development increases immensely from early childhood through adolescence (Pillow, 2008). Some intellectual development changes that occur during early childhood are listed as follows; (a) the child’s knowledge of mental stimulation, mental arithmetic, and mental imagery; (b) occurrence of particular activities; (c) organizations of acquired knowledge; and (d) philosophy of thought (Pillow, 2008). Basically the awareness of cognitive doings and social experiences influence the child’s concept of intelligence. The intellectual ability of the child is fine tuned during social interactions as assumptions about others’ thoughts are formed creating interpretations of others’ behaviors explains Pillow (2008). In learning environments intelligence affects the child’s frame of mind and learning style and further expands the child’s ability to critically think and understand data. Erikson’s development bridge between the child’s mental states explains developmental trends in children’s concepts of intellectual activities. The developmental trends of concepts are formed by a system of categories and concepts where the act of information retrieval is necessary to afford the child reasoning, thinking, and learning skills (Ingwersen, 1996). . Classroom management techniques explain the relationship between learning and cognitive abilities which has been examined by many research experiments. The classroom provides an excellent setting to develop social, intellectual, and the interpersonal skills of the child. Children differ towards their actions of situational cues and interpersonal cues (Allen, Weeks, Moffitt, & Allen, 2005). Self monitoring is based upon each child’s education and experiences. Motivation is a key element in learning. All research has determined that the higher level of achievement determines the higher level of performance (Allen, Weeks, Moffitt, & Allen, 2005). Due to the multicultural awareness from advance technology such as the internet and popular televisions shows; most children are concerned with communication skills (Seters & Field, 1989). Multicultural differences of sensitivity to certain mannerisms and protocol have prompted educators to heed the art of listening and exhibiting extremely polite mannerisms. For example, black children must resist the barriers found in various cultures. Also, gender related roles are frequently a concern for the family structure and stability such as allowing a girl to play football or allowing a boy to participate in a ballet class (Miville, Changming, Nutt, Waehler, Suzuki, Pistole, Arrendond, Duffy, Mejia, & Corpus, 2009). Classroom learning techniques are empirically controlled to ensure that the child’s development is protected as each child differs towards his or her actions of situational and interpersonal cues. The classroom provides an excellent setting to develop social, intellectual, and interpersonal skills. Conclusion The developmental theory is the study of behavior through all life stages from the fetus to old age. Erikson’s developmental stage theory was a major breakthrough as it explained that development is an ongoing process unlike Freud’s psychosocial developmental design that explained that an individual’s personality is set by the age of five. There are five major developmental theories which are psychoanalytical, psychosocial, cognitive, behavioral, and social. A child’s physical development requires a nutritious food intake, good personal hygiene, physical exercise of the mind and body along with preventive medical treatment in order to achieve the proper biological functioning of physical and mental processing. The social aspect of child development is grounded by Bowlby’s attachment theory which explains that caregiver relationships play a huge role in child development and continues to shape the social relationship throughout a child’s life span. Emotional development is learned by researchers by studying the behaviors of children that elicit inappropriate emotions with a goal of correcting or adjusting behavioral patterns to achieve the desired emotions that should be associated with the child’s environment. The intellectual development of children occurs during early childhood and some are listed as follows; (a) the child’s knowledge of mental stimulation, mental arithmetic, and mental imagery; (b) occurrence of particular activities; (c) organizations of acquired knowledge; and (d) philosophy of thought. References Allen, D. G., Weeks, K. P., Moffitt, K. R., and Allen, D. G. (2005). 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E., Jernigan, M. M., Sass, T., Skrzypek, A., and DeSilva, A. M. (2008). A conceptual framework for understanding the strengths of black youths. Journal of Black Psychology. Vol. 34, pgs. 261 - 280. Retrieved on Novmeber 30, 2009, from SAGE Journals online database. Pillow, B. (2008). Development of children’s understanding of cognitive activities. The Journal of Genetic Psychology; 169, p297-321. Retrieved on November 30, 2009, from ProQuest database: Research Library. Ryan, G., Emmerling, R., and Spencer, L. (2009). Distinguishing high-performing European executives: the role of emotional, social and cognitive competencies. Journal of Management Development; 28, p859-875. Retrieved on November 30, 2009, from Emerald Full-text Article database. Santrock, J. (1997). Life-Span Development, 6th, ed. Madison, Wisconsin: Brown & Brenchmark Publishers. Seters, D. V., Field, R. H. G. (1989). Journal of management education. Journal of Management Education; 13, p59-71. 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