Child, Adolescent, and Family Development - Essay Example

Critically compare and contrast the learning theories of two key child development theorists. Discuss how an understanding of the theories can help to meet the learning needs of young children. Introduction Various child development theorists have attempted to explain the psychological and the mental development of children through their thorough assessment processes of the stages of development. Their analysis has allowed them to consider the impact of both genes and the environment on the personality and the development of children. These theorists include Sigmund Freud through his psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson through his Stages of Psychosocial Development. This paper shall critically compare and contrast these two learning theories. It shall discuss how the understanding of these two theories can help to meet the learning needs of young children. Discussion Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory is deeply rooted in the sexual and aggressive urge of a person. According to Freud, “very young children have strong sexual and aggressive drives that find unique modes of expression through successive developmental stages” (Newman & Newman, 2009, p. 47). These sexual drives or urges direct the child’s fantasies, self concept, problem solving ability and it also determines the different manifestations in the child’s interactions with other people. Freud also set forth the different stages of a person’s development. He explains that from a child’s birth up to the time he is a year old, he manifests the oral stage of development where the main source of pleasure is his mouth, and he indulges such pleasure through suckling, eating, and tasting (About.com, 2010). From one year to three years of age, the child is in his anal stage – this is where he gains mastery by controlling his bladder and bowel movements. This stage is followed by the phallic stage, from 3 to 6 years of age, where the child’s focus is his genitals and he begins to identify with the parent he shares gender with (About.com, 2010). From 7 to 11 years of age, the latent period is seen. This is when the child’s libido is suppressed and he focuses on activities in school and with friends. During the child’s adolescent years, the genital stage manifests and the child begins to explore romantic relationships (About.com, 2010). Finally, during adulthood, Freud explains that the genital stage manifests through adulthood. His goal during adulthood is also to balance all aspects of his life (About.com, 2010). Freud explains that each developmental stage also has its own developmental task to resolve and when each task is not accomplished, then fixation in the child may manifest. This fixation hinders the child from progressing successfully to each developmental stage and the child’s development is often delayed for a while because of such fixation (Weiten, et.al., 2008, p. 39). In further explaining fixation at each stage of a person’s development, Freud explains that early weaning during the oral stage may later lead to obsessive eating or smoking during adult years (Weiten, et.al., 2008, p. 39). During the anal stage, toilet training plays a crucial part in the resolution of the developmental task. Punitive toilet training sometimes creates feelings of hostility against the trainer and sometimes, feelings of anxiety and genital concerns in relation to sexual activities in later life (Weiten, et.al., 2008, p. 39). During the phallic stage, the Oedipus and the Electra Complex has to be resolved. It is important to resolve this because “hostile relations with the same-sex parent may prevent the child from identifying adequately with that parent” (Weiten, et.al., 2008, p. 39). This may cause a distanced relationship with such parent. Erik Erikson Erikson’s analysis also focused on the ego aspect of a person’s personality. As was mentioned, he considered both the person’s inherent traits and his environment as having an impact on a person’s psychological development. He believed that a person’s sociocultural environment can either help or hinder a person’s ego development. He was the “first life-span developmentalist who maintained that personality development is not fixed in childhood, but involves unfolding of ego psychological developmental tasks over the life cycle” (Berzoff & Flanagan, 2002, p. 104). In this case, a person’s emotional and psychological manifestations cannot entirely be blamed or attributed to his childhood; nor may it be assumed that a person’s traits cannot be changed or adjusted beyond his childhood. Erik Erikson also explains his psychosocial stages of development. He starts off from the child’s birth to the time the child is 18 months old or the Trust versus Mistrust stage. Erikson explains that this stage is the infancy or the oral sensory stage where the focus is on the mother’s loving care and attention. When a person passes successfully through this stage, then the child will learn to trust that life will turn out well; and if this stage is not resolved, then a person might have “a deep-seated feeling of worthlessness and a mistrust of the world in general” (Harder, 2009). During the early childhood stage (18 months to 3 years) or the Autonomy versus Shame stage, the child starts to learn skills for himself – he can now walk, talk, eat on his own, and learn more motor skills (Harder, 2009). The child starts to build self-esteem and autonomy as these new skills are learned. Just as the child learns new skills, he also becomes vulnerable and when he feels shamed in the process of toilet-training or in learning new skills, he may feel great shame and doubt in his capabilities (Harder, 2009). Consequently, he may suffer from a low self-esteem in later life. At three to five years of age, the Initiative versus Guilt stage commences. In this stage, the child incurs the desire to mimic adults around him. He also takes the initiative in the creation of play situations (Harder, 2009). The child plays house, makes up stories about dolls and other toys; he also discovers the word “why”. Erikson is also one with Freud in describing the involvement of the Oedipal stage during this age. The child seeks resolution of this dilemma through social role identification and if he is not successful in his goal, then he often experiences guilt (Harder, 2009). During the child’s school age years, from 6 to 12 years of age, he goes through the stage of Industry versus Inferiority. In this stage, the child is already able to learn and create and thus develop a sense of industry (Harder, 2009). During the adolescent years, the Identity versus Role Confusion stage commences. This stage also starts the ‘what we do’ stage, putting an end to ‘what is done to us’ stage. Life becomes more complicated as the adolescent struggles with his identity and his social interactions (Harder, 2009). It is important also for the adolescent to distinguish himself from his family and to identify himself with the bigger society. At this point however, the adolescent may often withdraw from responsibilities and when he cannot successfully get through this stage, role confusion can set in (Harder, 2009). In this stage, the adolescent sets much store to his relationship with his peers. From 18 to 35 years of age, the young adult enters the Intimacy and Solidarity versus Isolation stage. The young adult seeks deeper relationships and seeks to establish satisfying relationships with friends and with family. Marriages and parenthood also usually sets in during this stage (Harder, 2009). Success in this stage means intimacy for the young adult; and failure to adjust can lead to isolation from others. The middle adulthood years are marked by the Generativity versus Self-absorption of Stagnation stage. Work becomes crucial at this stage and a person tends to be engaged in the creative and meaningful work, and in family issues (Harder, 2009). The important task in this stage is about transmitting values to family and to establish a healthy environment. A person yearns to contribute to society and Erikson terms this as generativity. This is the stage when children grow up and later move away and a person often enters a mid-life crisis soon after (Harder, 2009). New tasks and new focuses are forthcoming in order to give new meaning and purpose to life. If this goal is not fulfilled then a person becomes self-absorbed or becomes stagnated (Harder, 2009). Lastly, the final stage is from ages 55 or 65 up to death or the Integrity versus Despair stage. Older adults look back on their life and reflect on how worthwhile or happy their life has been – or they may look back and feel despair about how they have lived their life. When they feel fulfilled in their life, they establish a sense of dignity and integrity, and they accept and embrace the possibility of death. For others who feel despair, they perceive and linger over their failures and they often struggle to find meaning in their lives. Freud versus Erikson Freud’s work had a major impact on many personality theorists – from Adler to Sullivan to Carl Jung, and even his daughter Anna Freud, who was able to come up with a psychoanalytic approach appropriate for children (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 37). However, Freud’s work has had the most impact on Erik Erikson. As can be seen from the discussion above, both theorists analyse personality based on stages of development and they also share the concept of tasks to accomplish or resolve at each developmental stage. Barring such resolution, they both explain how fixation or unresolved feelings can arise from the person in later life (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 37). Inasmuch as they do share similar points of analysis in their assessment of personality development, these theorists also have differences which make their analysis distinct from each other. It is important to note that Erikson did not place much emphasis on sexual urges as drives for development, but his focus was more on social influences which included peers, schools, and the wider culture (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 37). He placed an important focus on the child’s parents and the society in general and for this reason, he termed his theory as the psychosocial theory, rather than the psychosexual theory (Slater & Bremner, 2003, p. 57). Erikson also focused less on the unconscious, on the irrational, and on the selfish id in a person – but more on the rational and the adaptive capability of the ego (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 37). Erikson also had a more positive view of human nature and he saw people being more engaged in their development, being rational and being able to overcome the effects of traumatic past experiences (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 38). Another theorist put it aptly when he stated that Erikson shifted Freudian principles “upward in consciousness, outward to the social world, and forward throughout the complete life span” (Hoare, as cited by Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 38). In the first stage of the child’s development, Freud focused on the mother’s or the caregiver’s feeding practices as having impact on the development of the child. Erikson, however, placed more focus on the general responsiveness of the caregiver having a greater impact on the development of the child (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 38). Erikson emphasized that if the caregivers neglected or rejected the child, then the child will develop a great mistrust of others. This pattern of unresolved tasks is seen in the other areas or stages of a person’s development as explained above. Another major difference between these two theorists is the fact that Erikson’s stages of development do not stop with adolescence; instead, his stages go on to the death or the older adult age of a person. And the unresolved tasks for each stage in a person’s development still affect a person until his elderly years, as explained by Erikson. Freud’s analysis ends at the full sexual development of a person and does not assess personality beyond the more adult tasks that he has to go through (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 39). Erikson did not believe that a person’s personality development cannot be changed after the first five years of a child’s life. He also believes that people undergo various changes in their personality. The individual experiences of a person often ultimately affect personality development. But the genetic influence is also crucial to this process. “Both biological maturation and demands of the social environment influence the individual’s progress through Erikson’s sequence of psychosocial stages” (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, p. 39). Because of the more balanced assessment of Erikson, other theorists and personalities in general perceive Erikson’s theory to be an easier theory to understand. Nevertheless, both theorists set forth important elements and principles in the understanding of personality development and in now helping to meet the learning needs of children. Freud and Erikson on meeting the learning needs of children During the infancy up to the first year and a half of a child’s life, the parents are usually the only teachers of the child. It is therefore up to them to ensure that the development learning task is accomplished by the child during this stage. There is a need for parents, as teachers, to maintain a degree of familiarity, consistency, and continuity in order for the child to be more trusting of the world. In other worlds, there is a need for circumstances to be ‘just right’ for the child. Being too protective can create an overly trusting child, one who cannot believe that other people may harm them (Boeree, 2006). For others who develop a great mistrust of the world, they tend to withdraw from the world and become paranoid and depressed (Boeree, 2006). During the second stage, the parents and the caretakers need to allow the child to explore and manipulate his environment in order for him to develop a sense of autonomy and independence. The parents should also not discourage the child, but at the same time, they should not also be too pushy (Boeree, 2006). When children are unrestricted in their freedom or if the parents never seem to let their children learn for themselves, they may feel that they are not actually good for anything (Boeree, 2006). During the third stage, the play ages commence. At this stage, the parents and the teachers can encourage initiative by encouraging the children to express and to try out their ideas (Boeree, 2006). Parents and teachers should therefore encourage the children’s curiosity, fantasy, and imagination. It is the child’s way of imagining the future and during such time, it is best to let them imagine and fantasize about the future and about scenarios. This process will help drive their activities towards achieving future goals and to making the non-reality a reality (Boeree, 2006). When children can imagine the future, they can also plan and be responsible for their actions. “If my two-year-old flushes my watch down the toilet, I can safely assume that there were no “evil intentions.” It was just a matter of a shiny object going round and round and down. What fun! But if my five year old does the same thing...well she should know what’s going to happen to the watch, what’s going to happen to daddy’s temper, and what’s going to happen to her! She can be guilty of the act, and she can begin to feel guilty as well.” (Boeree, 2006) During this stage, the parent is also responsible for encouraging the child to grow up. However, giving the child too much initiative can also create ruthlessness in a person. They may make plans and may not care who they step on in order to achieve their goals (Boeree, 2006). In the fourth stage, these children must learn to tame and temper their imagination and be more focused in their education and in learning social skills. The social influence is larger at this stage and the involvement of the teachers and the peers is also greater. In this stage, the children must be taught that carrying out their plans can also be pleasurable. For a four year old playing games, rules mean little to him, but for a seven year old playing a game, rules mean everything to him and he is dedicated towards finishing each game (Boeree, 2006). When a child is allowed too little success, he usually develops inferiority and incompetence and when he is taught too much industry, he is not allowed to enjoy his childhood and his activities. Too much industry among children can be seen among child actors of prodigies, who do not have a life beyond what their parents and teachers push them into (Boeree, 2006). In primitive societies, adolescents are made to leave the village to hunt for food and to survive alone and when they return, they gain much knowledge and strength. They become men or adults. “Without these things, we are likely to see role confusion, meaning an uncertainty about one’s place in society and the world” (Boeree, 2006). In the more modern context, Erikson discusses the moratorium which may be given to adolescents – it is a time given to them to be independent and to find themselves and to decide who they are and what they want with their lives. This will help resolve the adolescent’s lack of identity and ensures that he would not fuse with a group and be swayed by the more powerful and convincing demands of groups or of mainstream society (Boeree, 2006). Conclusion Freud focuses his analysis on sexual urges as motivations in a child’s activities. Erikson veered away from this analysis and focused more on the impact of parents, peers, and society in the development of the child. Both theorists however emphasize on the importance of resolving the different developmental tasks at each stage of the development in order to ensure that the child is not maladjusted in later life. In the learning process, parents and teachers must note which learning tasks should be accomplished, and how best they can be accomplished in order to ensure that the child adjusts well in functional society. Works Cited Berzoff, A. & Flanagan, L. (2002) Inside Out and Outside in: Psychodynamic Clinical Theory and Practice in contempory multicultural texts, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Boeree, G. (2006) Erik Erikson: 1902 – 1994, Webspace, viewed 22 June 2010 from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html Freud and Erikson Compared (2010) About.com, viewed 22 June 2010 from http://psychology.about.com/library/bl/bl-freud-erikson-compared.htm Harder, A. (2009) The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson, Learning Place Online, viewed 22 June 2010 from http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.htm Kornblum, W. (2008) Sociology in a Changing World, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Newman, B. & Newman, P. (2009), Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Sadock, B., Kaplan, H., & Sadock, V. (2007) Kaplan & Sadocks synopsis of psychiatry: behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry, Pennsylvania: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Sigelman, C. & Rider, E. (2009) Life-Span Human Development, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Slater, A. & Bremner, G. (2003) An introduction to developmental psychology, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing Slee, P. (2002) Child, adolescent, and family development, New York: Cambridge University Press Weiten, W., Lloyd, M., Dunn, D., & Hammer, E. (2008) Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Read More