Child Development Theories

Many developmental psychologists have worked hard to find out, understand, explain, and predict certain behaviors and changes throughout a child’s lifespan, focusing on various aspects of development such as social, emotional, and cognitive development. Understanding these developments helps us to appreciate the growth children go through, and helps us properly assist children in their development.

The following are seven of the most well-known Child Development Theories.

Cognitive Theory

"The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover." 

- Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist and genetic epistemologist and is the most well-known for his Cognitive Developmental Theory where he emphasized the influence of interactions and explorations on the child’s development.

His theory consists of 4 stages:

• Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years): The child gains a basic understanding of their world through the use of their senses and motor abilities, which allows them to interact with and build awareness of themselves and their environment.
• Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years): The child starts to learn to use language and engaging in symbolic play and manipulates symbols, but is unable to understand concrete logic or take other people's point of view.
• Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years): Children are better at mental operations, and are able to understand concrete logic, but are learning to understand in abstract and hypothetical ways.
• Formal Operational Stage (12 to adulthood): Their thinking is more complicated, and are able to think in abstract terms, and are capable of logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning.

Important concepts in his theory:

• Schema: it is how we form and categorize knowledge to help us interpret and understand the word.
• Example: a child believing that every animal with four legs is a dog.
• Assimilation: it is how we take in new information and add it to our existing schemas.
• Example: a child seeing another breed of dog and learning that it is also a dog.
• Accommodation: it is when we have to modify our existing schemas in light of new information or new experiences and may result in new schemas.
• Example: a child learning that cats also have four legs will modify her existing schema and create a new schema for cats.

Sociocultural Theory

"What a child can do today with assistance, she will be able to do by herself tomorrow."

- Lev S. Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky (1897-1934) was an influential Russian psychologist who is best known for his Sociocultural Theory. It is similar to Piaget’s theory, but Vygotsky believed that social and cultural factors largely influence a child’s development.

Vygotsky believed that the development of language happens through social interactions. He regarded language as the greatest tool of the mankind.

Important concepts in his theory:

• The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): it is the area of knowledge and skills that the child is capable of learning with the assistance of a more knowledgeable other. 
• The More Knowledgeable Other: this person is someone who has more knowledge and skills than the learner, which usually is an adult.

Social Learning Theory

"People not only gain understanding through reflection, they evaluate and alter their own thinking."

- Albert Bandura

Albert Bandura (1925-2021) was an important social-cognitive psychologist who was known for his social learning theory the concept of self-efficacy, and his famous Bobo doll experiments. He believed that observation plays an important role in learning. Observation can be done through watching someone else, listening to verbal instructions, reading books, or watching movies.

Important concepts in his theory:

• People can learn through observation: he demonstrated this concept through one of the most famous experiments known as the Bobo doll experiment, in which children observed an adult interacting with a doll and then later imitated the behavior they observed.
• Mental states are important to learning: he understood that a person’s mental state and motivation are critical in determining whether a behavior is learned or not.
• Learning does not necessarily lead to behavior change: his theory or observational learning shows that people can learn new information without demonstrating new behaviors.

Behavioral Theories

"There are... for us no instincts—we no longer need the term in psychology. Everything we have been in the habit of calling an 'instinct' today is a result largely of training—belonging to man's learned behavior."

- John B. Watson

Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are the result of experience and that anyone can be trained to act a certain way given the right conditioning. Well-known psychologists who influenced these theories include B. F. Skinner, John B. Watson, and Ivan Pavlov.

There are two types of conditioning:

• Classical conditioning: it is when an association is formed between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus and resulted in a learned response. Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov conducted a well-known experiment with dogs that he trained to associate a signal (naturally occurring stimulus) for food (environmental stimulus)
• Operant conditioning: it is when an association is formed between a behavior and a positive or negative consequence for that behavior. It is believed that actions that were rewarded were more likely to be repeated in the future.

Psychosexual Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believed that a child’s personality is developed over the course of their childhood through a series of stages where they seek pleasure and satisfy their urges.

Psychosexual stages: 

• The Oral Stage; Erogenous Zone - Mouth (birth to 1 year): the infant mostly interacts through their mouths, and they develop a sense of trust and comfort through oral stimulation.
• The Anal Stage; Erogenous Zone - Bowel and Bladder Control (1 to 3 years): children will be learning how to control their bodily needs, and parents need to provide support and encouragement.
• The Phallic Stage; Erogenous Zone - Genitals (3 to 6 years): children begin to discover the differences between the two genders.
• The Latent Period; Erogenous Zone - Sexual Feelings are inactive (6 to puberty): children’s sexual energy is repressed or dormant, and they develop social skills, values, and relationships with others.
• The Genital Stage; Erogenous Zone - Maturing Sexual Interests (puberty to death): their interest in other people and their welfare grow at this stage.

Psychosocial Theory

"The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery."

- Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was a German psychologist who is known for his psychosocial theory. His theory is somewhat similar to Freud’s, but he put more emphasis on how social interaction and experience influenced a person’s development.

The Eight Stages:

• Trust VS. Mistrust (birth to 1 year): Infants utterly depend on the parents, especially the mother for sustenance and comfort. Mistrust will lead to feelings of frustration, lack of confidence, and they will feel like they can't depend on their caregivers.
• Autonomy VS. Shame and Doubt (2 to 3 years): The child begins to explore the world and learns that she can control her actions and eventually acts on her environment to get results, which in turn allows them to gain personal control and independence.
• Initiative VS. Guilt (4 to 5 years): Children are now capable of initiating activities and begin to assert control over their environment through social interactions and play. If children are not successful in this stage, they develop a sense of guilt.
• Industry VS. Inferiority (6 to 11 years): Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their abilities and accomplishment. If children don't get the support of parents and teachers in the form of encouragement and appreciation, they will doubt their abilities to be successful.
• Identity VS. Confusion (12 to 18 years): Teenagers need to feel independent and in control. They need to explore themselves in order to be more sure of themselves and their beliefs. If unsuccessful, they will end up being insecure about themselves and the future.
• Intimacy VS. Isolation (19 to 40 years): During this stage, young adults will be exploring their relationships with others, and if successful, they will have formed secure, loving, and intimate relationships. However, if not, they become more lonely and isolated from others.
• Generativity VS. Stagnation (40 to 65 years): Adults who were successful in this stage will feel accomplished and useful when thinking about how they have built their lives. On the other hand, failure in this stage results in them feeling unproductive and uninvolved in the world.
• Integrity VS. Despair (65+): In this stage, when a person at old age looks back and reflects on their lives, the successful ones will feel wise and satisfied. The ones who feel regret may end up being bitter and in despair and will fear that they may end their lives without accomplishing anything. 

Attachment Theory

The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component of human nature

- John Bowlby

John Bowlby (1907-1990) was a British psychologist and psychoanalyst who is known for being the originator of the attachment theory. He believed that children have a natural urge to seek and stay close to attachment figures.

Stages of Attachment

• Pre-Attachment Stage (birth to 3 months): infant doesn't show any particular attachment to a specific caregiver, and signals for attention by crying and fussing.
• Indiscriminate Attachment (6 weeks to 7 months): infants start to show a preference for caregivers, and begin to develop a trust that the caregivers will respond to their needs.
• Discriminate Attachment (7 months to 11 months): infants show a strong attachment and preference for a certain individual, and may develop separation anxiety and stranger anxiety)
•  Multiple Attachments (9 months+): children begin to form strong attachments with other people other than their primary caregiver.

Influential factors:

• Opportunity for attachment: children need a primary caregiver
• Quality caregiving: caregivers should respond quickly and consistently