Development is the continuous changes relating to age that occur over a span of someone’s life time. Most development theories have concluded that this change is discontinuous and is made of stages where one stage builds up on the previous stage. Most theorists observed the behaviors of children such as how they play, how they hold things, how they interact with each other and how they interpret concepts among other behaviors.
Psychoanalytic Theory
This theory was developed by Sigmund Freud and basically indicate that children’s development go through a series of psychosexual stages. In these stages, the child tries to fulfil certain desires which are later reflected in the adulthood of the person (Desai, 2018). It indicates that the libidinal energies of the child are focused on given organ of the child. These stages are oral, genital, anal, phallic and latent. At early ages, the child is interested in satisfying oral instincts and will regularly put things in his or her mouth. At the anal stages, the child will refrain from using the bathrooms. These behaviors are guided by instincts and biological drives as they progressively unfold in the child’s life.
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Cognitive Theory
This theory was developed by Piaget who was inspired observations on his nephew and daughter. This theory is based on an understanding that intelligence growths though a series of stages that involve variations in cognitive processes and abilities. He describes that at early stages, the children learn through interactions and through such actions as sucking, looking and grasping things. They then move on to words and pictorial views and they tend to be egocentric while struggling to see things as others do. They then move on to logical thinking and they get organized. They then move to abstractive thinking and are able to deduce logic. This theory points out that the intellectual growth is not passive but a constructive system of transformation through experimentation and investigation to build up knowledge ( McLeod, 2018 ).
Behavioral Theory
This theory was first developed by Pavlov and is centered on the learning acquired by the interaction of the child with the environment. Behaviorist concluded that development of the child is as a result of being associated, rewarding and punishment. This is facilitated by classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is forming an association between a conditioned stimulus and one that has automatically and naturally occurred. Operant conditioning involves learning though reinforcements and through punishments.
Social Cognitive Theory
This theory was conducted by Bandura and indicated acquiring of knowledge in the processes of social interactions and media influences. It indicates that someone observes a certain behavior and its consequences and are guided by this observation in subsequent behaviors where they engage what they have learnt.
Ethological Theory
This theory is founded on the theory of evolution and states that the behavior is inherited and therefore is in a person’s biological structure. Lorenz observed these aspects in animals but John Bowlby incorporated them into the human development. Most of the behaviors are passed down from the parent to the child. A good example is attachment where the child learn signaling behaviors attaching themselves to their parents such as crying and smiling.
Ecological Theory
This theory was developed by Bronfenbrenner and is based on the interaction of the child with variant ecological system in the development stage. The ecological systems that the children inevitably are in interactions with have a resultant influence on the various aspects of their life.
An Electric Theoretical Orientation
This theory indicates that no single theory of development can be able to account for the process of development but all the theories in the same are correct in their respective contexts on development. It also acknowledges that development is rigid and is a predictable process.
The Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic theory of development has been hailed as the best theory of development by many researchers. The descriptions offered in the theory helps in the understanding of the developmental process in every child. It has contributed a lot in the field of development studies and has provided a basis for other Psychoanalytic theorists in their work.
References
Desai, M. (2018). Module 7 Psychosocial Theories of Child Development. In Introduction to Rights-based Direct Practice with Children (pp. 183-214). Springer, Singapore.
McLeod, S. (2018). Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology .
