DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES AND

OTHER RELEVANT THEORIES

DR. LINDA BAÑAGA- CAMPOPOS, RGC

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The Psychoanalytic Theory

 Freud viewed the newborn as an inherently negative creature who is relentlessly “driven”
by two kinds of biological instincts (or motives) which he called EROS and THANATOS.
Eros, or life instinct, helps the child (and the species) to survive; it directs life —
sustaining activities such as respiration, eating, sex and the fulfillment of all other bodily
needs.
 Thanatos, or death instinct, is viewed as a set of destructive forces present in all human
beings. Freud believed that Eros is stronger than Thanatos thus enabling us to survive
rather than self-destruct.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

 1. Oral Stage (birth to 18 months)

 the erogenous zone is the mouth.
 During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral pleasure.

 2. Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years)

 The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is the anus.
 The child find’s satisfaction in eliminating and retaining
feces.
 3. Phallic Stage (ages 3 to 6)
 The pleasure or erogenous zone is the genitals.
 Pre-schoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals.
 The oedipus and electra complex can be observed in this stage.

 4. Latency Stage (ages 6 to puberty)

 It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed.

 5. Genital Stage (puberty onwards)

 Begin at the start of the puberty when sexual urges are once again
awakened. It is characterized by the maturation of the reproductive
system, production of sex hormones, and the reactivation of the
genital zone as an area of sensual pleasure.
 Freud’s Personality Components

 Freud describe the personality structures as having

three components, the id, the ego, and the superego.
 The id.
 Freud says that, a child is born with the id.
 The major function is to serve the instincts by seeking
objects that will satisfy them.
 Operates as the pleasure principle-by seeking
gratification of instinctual needs.

 The ego.
 Operates as the reality principle.
 The executive branch of the personality. To find realistic
ways of gratifying the instinct.
 The superego.
 The judicial branch of the personality
 the conscience and the person’s moral arbiter.
Three Components and Personal Adjustment

 Freud said that a well-adjusted person is one who has strong

ego, who can help satisfy the needs of the id without going
against the superego while maintaining the person’s sense
of what is logical, practical and real.
 Topographical Model
 The Unconscious - they influence our thinking, feeling and doing in perhaps
dramatic ways. The oedipus and electra complex were both buried down into the
unconscious level, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused.

 The Conscious – all we are aware of are stored in our conscious mind. It only
comprises a very small part of who we are so that in our everyday life we are only
aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are
is hidden and out of reach.

 The Subconscious/preconscious – part of us that we can reach if promoted,

but is not in our active conscious. It is right below the surface but is still hidden
unless we search for it. Information such as telephone number, some childhood
memories is stored in the subconscious.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Basic Cognitive Concepts
 Schema.
 Refer to the cognition structures by which individuals intellectually adapt to
and organize their environment. It is an individual’s way to understand or
create meaning about a thing or experience. Its like the mind has a filing
cabinet and each drawer has folders that contain files of things he had
experience with.

 Assimilation.
 Process of creating a new experience into an existing cognitive structure or
schema.
 Accomodation
 The process of creating a new schema. If the child sees now
another example of an animal that looks like a bit of what
was previously known but somehow different, an adult
guide of description will now create a new schema.
Equilibrium
Achieving proper balance between assimilation and
accomodation
Piaget’s Stage of Cognitive Development
 Stage 1. Sensori-motor Stage: (Birth to infancy)
 Focuses on the prominence of the senses and muscle
movement through which the infant comes to learn about
himself and the world. This is the stage when a child is
initially reflexive in grasping, sucking, and reaching.
 Object permanence- the ability of the child to know that an
object still exists even when out of sight.

 Stage 2. Pre-operational: (2 – 7 years old)

 Symbolic Function – ability to represent objects and
events. A symbol is a thing that represents something else.
 Egocentrism – the tendency of the child to only see his
point of view and to assume that everyone also has his
same point of view.

 Centration – refers to the tendency of the child to only

focus on one aspect of a thing or event and exclude
other aspects

 Irreversibility – Pre- operational children still have the

inability to reverse their thinking.
 Animism – tendency of children to attribute human
like traits or characteristics to inanimate objects.

 Transductive reasoning – type of reasoning that is

neither inductive nor deductive.
 Stage 3. Concrete – Operational Stage: 8-11 years
 the ability of the child to think logically but only in terms of
concrete objects.

 Decentering – ability of the child to perceive different

features of objects and situations.

 Reversibility – the child can now follow that certain

operation can be done in reverse.
 Conservation – the ability to know that certain
properties of objects like numbers, mass, volume, or are
do not change even if there is change in appearance.

 Seriation – ability to order or arrange things in a series

based on one dimension such as weight, volume or size.
 Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage: 12 - 15 years
 Here, thinking becomes more logical. They can now solve
abstract problems and can hypothesize. This stage is
characterized by the ff:
 Hypothetical Reasoning – ability to come up with
different hypothesis about a problem.
 Analogical Reasoning – ability to perceive the
relationship in one instance and then use that
relationship to narrow down possible answers in
another similar situation or problems.
 Deductive Reasoning – ability to think logically by
applying a general rule to a particular instance or situation.
For example, all countries near the north pole have cold
temperatures. Greenland is near the north pole, therefore
Greenland has cold temperature.
 From Piaget’s finding and comprehensive theory, we can
derive the following principles:

1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at

different stages of cognitive development.

2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or

situations that engage learners and require adaptation
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Stages of Development
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Stages
of Development: The Psychosocial Stages
 TRUST VERSUS MISTRUST (birth to 1 year)
Basic to Erikson’s concept of development is the element of trust. Infants whose needs are met and who
are cuddled, fondled and shown genuine affection evolve a sense of a world as a safe and dependable
place. In contrast, when a child is chaotic, unpredictable and rejecting as brought about by his
environment, he approaches the world with fear and suspicion.
 AUTONOMY VERSUS SHAME AND DOUBT (2 to 3 years)
As children begin to crawl, walk climb and explore, a new conflict confronts them. When parents are
patient, cooperative and encouraging, children acquire a sense of independence and competence. In
contrast, when children are not allowed such freedom and are overprotected, they develop an excessive
sense of shame and doubt.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Stages
of Development: The Psychosocial Stages
 INITIATIVE VERSUS GUILT (4 to 5 years)
Parents who give their children freedom in running, sliding, bike riding, skating and roughhousing are
allowing them to develop initiative. Parents who curtail this freedom are giving children a sense of
themselves as nuisances and inept intruders in an adult world.
 INDUSTRY VERSUS INFERIORITY (6 to 11 years)
During elementary school years, a child becomes concerned with how things work and how they are
made. Parents and teachers who support, reward and praise children are encouraging industry. Those
who rebuff, deride or ignore children’s efforts are strengthening feelings of inferiority.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Stages
of Development: The Psychosocial Stages
 IDENTITY VERSUS ROLE CONFUSION (12 to 18 years)
As children enter adolescence, they confront a “physiological revolution”. When the adolescent fails to
develop a “centered” identity, he or she becomes trapped in either role confusion or a “negative
identity”/ The identities and roles of “delinquent” and “hoodlum” are illustrations.
 INTIMACY VERSUS ISOLATION (young adulthood)
As Erikson views intimacy, it is the capacity to reach out and make contact with other people. Close
involvement, however, may also result in rejection. Consequently, some individuals opt for
relationships of a shallow sort. Their lives are characterized by withdrawal and isolation.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Stages
of Development: The Psychosocial Stages
 GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION (middle adulthood)
By generativity, Erikson means a reaching out beyond one’s own immediate concerns to embrace the
welfare of society and of future generations. In contrast, stagnation is a condition in which individuals
are pre-occupied with their material possessions or physical well-being.
 INTEGRITY VERSUS DESPAIR (old age)
Some feel a sense of satisfaction with their accomplishments. Other experience despair — “the feeling
that time is now short, too short for the attempt to start another life and to try out alternative roads to
integrity.”
Lev Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural
Theory
 Scaffolding is Vygotsky’s term for the appropriate
assistance given by the teacher to assist the learner
accomplish a task.

 Socratic Method a systematic question and answer

approach that allowed that examine current thinking
and practice higher levels of understanding.
 Piaget and Vygotsky : Difference
Theory in cognitive development

Piaget Vygotsky

More individual in focus believed that More social in focus

there are universal stages of cognitive Did not propose stages but emphasize on
development cultural factors in cognitive development

Did not give much emphasis on Stressed the role of language in cognitive
language development
 Social Interaction.
 Piaget – more on individual. Focused heavily on how an
individual’s cognitive development.
 Vygotsky – more on social. Emphasized that effective learning
happens through participation in social activities.

 Cultural Factors.
 Piaget – as the child develops and matures he goes through
universal stages of cognitive development.
 Vygotsky – believed in the crucial role that culture played on the
cognitive development of children.
 Language.
 Vygotsky – “talking-to oneself” is an indication of the thinking
that goes on in the mind of the child.

 Private Speech is a form of self- talk that guides the child’s

thinking and action.
 Zone of Proximal Development
 Zone of Actual Development - when child attempts to
perform a skill alone, she may not immediately proficient at it.
So alone, she may perform at a certain level of competency.

 More Knowledgeable other - with the guidance of this,

competent adult or more advanced peer, the child can perform
at a higher level of competency.
 Scaffolding – the support or assistance that lets the child
accomplish a task he cannot accomplish independently.

 Scaffold and fade-away technique – able to complete

tasks on their own that they could not initially do without
assistance, the guidance can be withdrawn.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
Theory
 Bioecological Systems – theory represents child
development within the context of relationship systems that
compromise the child’s environment. It describes multipart
layers of environment that has an effect on the development
of the child. Each layer is made up of different structures.
 The term “bioecological” points out that a child’s own
biological make-up impacts as the key factor in one’s
development.
 Through the child’s growing and developing
body and interplay between his immediate
family/community environment landscape
and fuels his development.
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model: Structure
of Environment

 The microsystem - is the layer nearest the child. Covers

the most basic relationship and interactions that a child has
his/her immediate environment. It includes structures such
as family, school and neighborhood. This means that the
child is affected by people with whom he interacts with,
and in turn, these people are also affected by the child.
 The mesosystem – this layer serves as the connection
between the structure of the child’s microsystem. Example, it
includes interaction between the child’s parents and teachers.

 The exosystem – this layer refers to the bigger social system

in which the child does not function directly. This includes
the city government, the workplace and the mass media.

 The macrosystem – this layer is found in the outermost part

in the child’s environment. Includes the cultural values,
customs and laws. The belief system contained in one’s
macrosystem permeates all the interactions in the other layers
and reaches the individual.
 The chronosystem – covers the element of time as it relates to a child’s
environment. This involves “patterns of stability and change” in the
child’s life. This involves whether the child’s day is characterized by an
orderly predictable pattern or whether the child is subjected to sudden
changes in routine. Is it a hurried or relaxed pace? No longer Nature vs
Nurture, but Nurturing Nature!

 The Ecological systems theory focuses on the quality and context of

the child’s environment.

 Bronfenbrenner pointed out that as a child develop, the interplay within

the layers of environment systems become more complex.
 Bioecological theory helps us determine how the different
circumstances ,conditions and relationships in the world
affect the child as he or she goes through the more or else
predictable sequence of natural growth and development.
The Role of School and Teachers

 Bronfenbrenner co-founded Head Start.

 He concluded that “the instability and unpredictability of
family life is the most destructive force to a child’s
development”

 Bronfenbrenner theory reminds the school and the teacher

of their very important role.
 This theory helps teachers look into every child’s
environmental systems in order to understand more about
the characteristics and needs of each child, each learner.

 The schools and the teacher can contribute stability and long
term relationships, but only to support and not replace the
relationships in the home.
 Bronfenbrenner also stressed that society should value
work done on behalf of children at all levels, and
consequently value parents, teachers, extended family,
mentors, work supervisors and legislators
 ENDDD..

 Thank you for listening..