Child Development Models Essay

This essay will describe the different explanations for children’s behaviour, examining the Psychodynamic, Behaviourist and Social Learning perspectives. It will also evaluate each of these theories and make reference to their practical application. In doing so, the essay will set out how parents, child psychologists, social workers and teachers can aim to understand children’s behaviour.  As Haggerty (2006) states, â€Å"The theory supporting psychodynamic therapy originated in and is informed by psychoanalytic theory.† The psychoanalytic approach to therapy was developed by Sigmund Freud, an Austrian psychiatrist. Freud’s model proposed that an individual has three elements to their psychological self: the ego, superego and id. The id is the most primitive, consisting of largely unconscious  biological impulses. The ego uses reality and its  consequences to modify the behaviour being urged by the  id. The superego judges actions as right or wrong based  on the person’s internal value system.  (Strickland ed., 2001, p.637)  According to Freud, children progress through various psychosexual stages of development. He claimed that, at particular points in the process, a single body part is particularly sensitive to erotic stimulation (Stevenson, 1996). The first stage begins at birth and continues until approximately 1 year old. It is classified as The Oral Stage because the mouth and lips are the main focus, displaying biting, sucking and chewing behaviour. The Anal Stage comes next and usually occurs between 1 and 3 years old. Toilet training encourages the child to enjoy expelling faeces. At this point the id will be satisfied by this instantaneous pleasure and will be in conflict with the ego and superego, which are concerned with controlling bodily functions to satisfy social expectations and practicality.  The Phallic Stage occurs between approximately 3 and 5 years old and contains one of Freud’s most controversial theories, the Oedipus complex (or Electra complex in females). His theory states that the child becomes focused upon the genital area and experiences turmoil in the form of an unconscious desire to possess the opposite-sexed parent and eliminate the same-sexed parent. What Freud termed the Latency Period comes next. He believed that sexual drive lay dormant due to repressed impulses and desires. At this stage, children focus upon non-sexual activities and form same-sex friendships.  At approximately 12 years old, a child faces puberty and enters what Freud classes as The Genital Stage. The focus returns to the genitals but this time in relation to others. There is now an interest in relationships and exploring sexuality. When a child is unable to resolve the conflicts that occur at any of these stages, fixation can occur. â€Å"If needs are not met in a satisfactory way or if the individual’s conscience or superego cannot deal with impulses and drives to love and to hate, then complex character traits emerge† (Errington and Murdin, 2006). For example, oral fixation may result in an adult displaying pessimism, sarcasm or gullibility, whilst phallic fixation may result in recklessness or fear of commitment. Freud, like many who begin a movement, now receives much criticism. One area of weakness is the limited scope of his research, as his therapy work mainly focused upon upper middle class women. Another popularly criticised aspect of Freud’s work is the emphasis on sexuality as, in his view, everything seems to stem from expression or repression of the sex drive (Boeree, 2006). Despite criticism, Freud’s methods underpin the commonly held belief that childhood experiences are hugely important to personality development. In practical terms, those working with children today place great importance on ensuring that a childhood contains opportunities to develop, to learn the difference between right and wrong, and to learn to appropriately act upon or repress urges.  Behaviour therapy is defined as â€Å"A collection of psychotherapeutic techniques aimed at altering maladaptive or unwanted behaviour patterns, especially through the application of principles of conditioning or learning.† (Colman, 2006). The main influencers of this theory were Pavlov, Watson and Skinner. Ivan Pavlov, later to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his research into the digestive system, observed that â€Å"†¦dogs would salivate upon seeing their keeper, apparently in anticipation of being fed.† (Strickland ed., 2001, p.478). Pavlov extended his experiment and rang a bell immediately before food was served to the dogs. Eventually, the dogs would salivate upon the bell ringing, even if no food was then served. This led Pavlov to develop an understanding of conditioned responses and unconditioned reflexes.