child development 1.24
freuds defense mechanisms.
repression:
unconscious methods by which the ego distorts reality to protect it from anxiety.
some examples
abused children. repress memories
displacement:
shifting of unacceptable feelings from one object to another, more acceptable object.
anger goes from boss displaces to the desk.
Sublimation:
replacing a socially distasteful course of action with a socially acceptable one.
sex crazed maniac —-> painting nudes
regression: behaving in a way that characterizes a previous developmental level.
denial:
arguing against an anxiety provoking stimulus by stating it doesn’t exist.
early experiences in life are important and will influence the personality.
what happens at the beginning will influence their whole life plan.
5 stages of psychosexual development
at each stage we experience pleasure more in one part of the body than another part.
those parts are called erogenous zones.
conflicts arise when the early sources of pleasure in the erogenous zones and the demands of reality are not resolved. conflict between the Id and ego. depending on what happens, if conflicts aren’t resolved then the kid becomes “fixated” on that stage of development.
1. oral stage
0-18 months
pleasure around the mouth
if you don’t resolve this conflict you will be overweight or a nail biter or other mouth related consequences
2.anal stage
18 months - 3 years
pleasure around the anus and with elimination functions.
may be compulsively and obsessively clean.
3. phallic stage
3-6 years
pleasure focuses around the penis.
conflict. later resolved with people who really like dirty jokes and stuff like that. penis envy. probably doesn’t exist. becoming an overly sexual person
4.latency stage
6 years-puberty
child represses all interest in sexuality develops social and intellectual skills.
5. genital stage
from puberty - on
sexual pleasure outside the self and the family.
opposite sex interests.
ERIK ERIKSON
1902-1994
psychosocial theory
less focus on sexuality and more on social enviroment
8 different stages.
each new stage of development acquires new skills and attitudes.
each stage consists of a unique developmental task that introduces a crisis that needs to be faced.
eight stages
1. trust - mistrust
first year of life.
you can’t spoil a child.
2. autonomy - shame and doubt
1-3 years
mental and motor skills start to
development.
let the child do things on their on when they want to.
3. intiative - guilt
preschool years
parents who allow their children to do things vs parents who don’t allow them. feeling guilt for their feeling
4. industry vs inferiority
middle and late childhood
children starting to master skills. making sure child doesn’t get the feeling of incompetence.
5. identity - identity confusion
adolescent years
looking for identity, what are we doing in life and what do we want to do. if you don’t have that opportunity or force you into a future plan then you get “identity confusion”
6. intimacy-isolation
early adult years
starts to develop relationships with people. either good experiences or starts to isolate themselves
7. generativity vs stagnation
middle adulthood
when you get older, you start to remember back and if you had done everything that you wanted to do. you can help teach people or stay at home and complain -stagnation-.
8. integrity - despair
older adults
people in their 70s and 80s, wondering if they have lived their life to the fullest and if they achieved anything. or people who think they haven’t done anything of value with their life.
if you realize you are on the positive sides of the stages you will live a good life.
EVALUATION OF PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES
emphasis on innate impulses and early child rearing experience(nature vs nurture)
discontinuous (stages)
early childhood experiences.
STRENGTHS:
emphasis on early experiences
mind is not all concious, there is unconcious
look at the dark side of existence.
WEAKNESSES:
concepts are very difficult to test
over emphasis on sexuality and the unconscious
too negative and pessimistic.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
Jean Piaget
1896-1980
went to parks and observed children.
piagets main idea:
children actively construct their cognitive development as they explore and manipulate their world.
they do this by organizing their experience and adapting their thinking to new ideas.
children adapt their thinking by:
1. assimilation
children deal with an object or event in a way that is consistent with existing knowledge.
ex: child goes to the zoo, sees a zebra, 4 legs and a tail = dog. because they try and fit new information into already existing categories
2. accommodate:
the children modify existing knowledge to adjust to new information.
ex: child sees a cow, “dog” now child must change existing knowledge. four legs and tail doesnt always mean it’s a dog.
piaget 4 stages of cognitive development
1. sensorimotor stage
0-2 years.
infants learn through direct experiences of the sense and by moving around.
using the senses, not much cognition
2. preoperational stage
2-7 years
operational means internalized
mental actions.
pre-operational means before all these internaliZed mental actions.
ex: the high narrow and wide short water glasses. child doesn’t understand the the fact that they contain the same amount of water even though they see that the water is being poured.
ex: peanut butter sandwich cut into 16 pieces is “better” than just a single sandwich.
3. concrete operational
7-11 years
thinking takes perspective of others and is logic in respect to concrete actions and objects.
understands mirror images, facing each other opposite hands. also things like.. their dad is the son of his granddad.
4. formal operation
11- and older.
children move beyond concrete experiences and now think in abstract terms.
INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY.
looks at how information is processed, how it enters the mind, how it is stored, and how it is retrieved. comparison with computers.
brain is hardware and cognition is software.
EVALUATION OF COGNITIVE THEORIES.
nature and and nurture.
(innate abilities and stimulating enviroment)
Piaget is discontinuous
information processing is continuous
early and later experiences are important.
strengths:
they contribute to our knowledge of children’s development.
opened many areas of research.
optimistic view of human development.
weaknesses:
questions about purity of piagets stages. (accuracy of stages)
information processing has no view of development.
hardly any consideration of unconscious mind and environmental experiences, especially family.
