The child and adolescent and learning principles Module 5 PDF

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Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development)INTRODUCTION____________________________________________________________The complexity of human development invites the creation of multipleperspe...

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INTRODUCTION____________________________________________________________ The complexity of human development invites the creation of multiple perspectives and theories, some global and grand in nature addressing principles that apply to every domain of development where others are more domain specific. Child development theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of childhood. Such theories center on various aspects of development including social, emotional, and cognitive growth. The study of human development is a rich and varied subject. We all have personal experience with development, but it is sometimes difficult to understand how and why people grow, learn, and act as they do. Why do children behave in certain ways? Is their behavior related to their age, family relationships, or individual temperaments? Developmental psychologists strive to answer such questions as well as to understand, explain, and predict behaviors that occur throughout the lifespan. In order to understand human development, a number of different theories of child development have arisen to explain various aspects of human growth. This module will briefly describe the three theories on human development: Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory, Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory. Each theories can serve as a lens through which to view human development and to guide practice decisions. It is useful to consider the implication that each theory presents to further understand our learners and aid future teachers in doing intervention and prevention programs. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES____________________________________________ At the end of the module the students are expected to: 1. Explain Freud’s views about child and adolescent development 2. Draw implications of Freud’s theory to education 3. Describe Piaget’s stages in your own words 4. Match learning activities to the learner’s cognitive stage 5. Explain the Eight (8) stages of Erikson’s Psycho-Social Theory of Development 6. Formulate ways on how Erickson’s theory can be useful for you as future educator/teacher. DISCUSSION_______________________________________________________________ SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 1

“The ego is not master in its own house” Freud’s views about human development are more than a century old. He can be considered the most well-known psychologist because of his very interesting theory about the unconscious and also about sexual development. His theory is one of the most influential in psychology. His theory sparked the ideas in the brilliant minds of other theorists and thus became the starting point of many other theories. FREUD’S STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT Freud is the most popular and most controversial psychologist that studies the development of personality. His theory of psychosexual development includes five stages. According to him, a person goes through the sequence of these five stages and along the way there are needs to be met. Whether these needs are met or not, determines whether the person will develop a healthy personality or not. The theory identifies specific erogenous zones for each stage of development. These are specific “pleasure areas” that become focal points for the particular stage. If needs are not met along the area, a fixation occurs. As an adult, the person will now manifest behaviors related to this erogenous zones. 1. Oral stage (birth to 18 months). The erogenous zone is the mouth. During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little satisfaction can lead to Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is shown in an increased focus on oral activities. This type of personality may be oral receptive, which is, have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, overeat, or oral aggressive, that is, with a tendency to bite his or her nails, or curse words or even gossip. As a result, these persons may become too dependent on others, easily fooled, and lack leadership traits. On the other hand, they may also fight these tendencies and become pessimistic and aggressive in relating with people. 2. Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years) The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is the anus. The child finds satisfaction in eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s expectations, particularly the parents, the child needs to work on toilet training. Let us remember that between one year and a half to three years the child’s favorite word might be “No!” Therefore a struggle might exist in the toilet training process when the child retains feces when asked to eliminate, or may choose to defecate when asked to hold feces for some reason. In terms of personality, Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 2

fixation during this stage can result in being anal retentive, an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control; or anal expulsive where the person may become messy and disorganized. 3. Phallic Stage (ages 3 to 6) The pleasure or erogenous zone is the genitals. During the preschool age, children become interested in what makes boys and girls different. Preschoolers will sometimes be seen fondling their genitals. Freud’s studies led him to believe that during this stage boys develop unconscious sexual desire for their mothers. Boys then see their father as a rival for her mother’s affection. Boys may fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, thus, the castration anxiety. These feelings comprise what Freud called Oedipus Complex. In Greek Mythology, Oedipus unintentionally killed his father and married his mother Jocasta. Psychoanalysts also believed that girls may also have a similar experience, developing unconscious sexual attraction towards their father. This is what is referred to as the Electra Complex. According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of their father, boys eventually decide to identify with them rather than fight them. By identifying with their father, the boys develop masculine characteristics and identify themselves as males and repress their sexual feelings toward their mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysis. 4. Latency Stage (age 6 to puberty) It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed. The children’s focus is the acquisition of physical and academic skills. Boys usually relate more with boys and girls with girls during this stage. 5. Genital Stage ( puberty onwards) The fifth stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. In the earlier stages, adolescents focus their sexual urges towards the opposite sex peers, with the pleasure centered on the genitals. FREUD’S PERSONALITY COMPONENTS Freud described the personality structures as having three components, the id, the ego and the superego. For each person, the first to emerge is the id, followed by the ego, and the last to develop is the superego.

Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 3

1. The Id Freud says that a child is born with the id. The id plays a vital role in one’s personality because as a baby, it works so that the baby’s essential needs are met. The id operates on the pleasure principle. It focuses on immediate gratification or satisfaction of its needs. So whatever feels good now is what it will pursue with no consideration for the reality, logicality or practicality of the situation. For example, a baby is hungry. His or her id wants food or milk so the baby will cry. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. Nothing else matters to the id except the satisfaction of its own needs. It is not oriented towards considering reality nor the needs of others. When the id wants something, it wants it now and it wants it fast. 2. The Ego As the baby turns into a toddler and then into a preschooler, he/she relates more with the environment, the ego slowly begins to emerge. The ego operates using the reality principle. It is aware that others also have needs to be met. It is practical because it knows that being impulsive or selfish can result to negative consequences later, so it reasons and considers the best response to situations. As such, it is the deciding agent of the personality. Although it functions to help the id meet its needs, it always takes into account the reality of the situation.

3. The Superego Near the end of the preschool years, or the end of the phallic stage, the superego develops. The superego embodies a person’s moral Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 4

aspect. This develops from what the parents, teachers and other persons who exert influence impart to be good or moral. The superego is likened to conscience because it exerts influence on what one considers right and wrong. THE THREE COMPONENTS AND PERSONALITY 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. Of course, it is not easy for the ego to do all that and strike a balance. If the id exerts too much power over the ego, the person becomes too impulsive and pleasure-seeking behavior takes over one’s life. On the opposite direction, one may find the superego so strong that the ego is overpowered. The person becomes so harsh and judgmental to himself and others’ action. The person’s best effort to be good may still fall short of the superego’s expectation. The ability of the learner to be well-adjusted is largely influenced by how the learner was brought up. His experiences about how his parents met his needs, the extent to which he was allowed to do the things he wanted to so, and also how he was taught about right and wrong, all figures to the type of personality and consequent adjustment that a person will make. Freud believed that the personality of an individual is formed early during the childhood years. TOPOGRAPHICAL MODEL OF THE MIND Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, whereby he described the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind. 1. Conscious Freud (1915) described the conscious mind, which consists of all the mental processes of which we are aware, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment and decide to get a drink. 2. Preconscious/ Subconscious The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware of, but which can easily be brought to consciousness (1924). It exists just below the level of consciousness, before the unconscious mind. The preconscious is like a mental waiting room, in which thoughts remain until they ‘succeed in attracting the eye of the conscious’ (Freud, 1924, p. 306). This is what we mean in our everyday usage of the word available memory. For example, you are presently not thinking about your mobile telephone number, but now it is mentioned you can recall it with ease. Mild emotional experiences may be in the preconscious but sometimes traumatic and powerful negative emotions are repressed and hence not available in the preconscious. Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 5

3. Unconscious The unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002). According to Freud the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see. Our feelings, motives and decisions are actually powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the unconscious. Freud applied these three systems to his structure of the personality, or psyche – the id, ego and superego. Here the id is regarded as entirely unconscious whilst the ego and superego have conscious, preconscious, and unconscious aspects. The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and disturbing material which we need to keep out of awareness because they are too threatening to acknowledge fully. The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious area. For example, Freud found that some events and desires were often too frightening or painful for his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information was locked away in the unconscious mind. This can happen through the process of repression. The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros and hanatos) for the primitive urges for sex and aggression. Freud argued that our primitive urges often do not reach consciousness because they are unacceptable to our rational, conscious selves.

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People use a range of defense mechanisms (such as repression) to avoid knowing what their unconscious motives and feelings are. Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect. Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to reveal the use of such defense mechanisms and thus make the unconscious conscious. Freud believed that the influences of the unconscious reveal themselves in a variety of ways, including dreams, and in slips of the tongue, now popularly known as ‘Freudian slips’. Freud gave an example of such a slip when a British Member of Parliament referred to a colleague with whom he was irritated as ‘the honorable member from Hell ’ instead of from Hull. 4. Nonconscious The water, may represent all that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been made part of our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

JEAN PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT “The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply or repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers” Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development is truly a classic in the field of educational psychology. His theory focuses on how individuals construct knowledge. For sixty years, Jean Piaget conducted research on cognitive development. His research method involved observing a small number of individuals as they responded to cognitive tasks that he designed. These tasks were later known as Piagetian tasks. Piaget called his general theoretical framework “genetic epistemology” because he was interested in how knowledge developed in human organism. Piaget was initially into biology and he also had a background in philosophy. Knowledge from both these disciplines influenced his theories and research of child development. Out of his researches, Piaget came up with the stages of cognitive development. Piaget examined the implications of his theory not only to aspects of cognition but also to intelligence and moral development. His theory has been applied widely to teaching and curriculum design especially in the preschool and elementary curricula. Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 7

BASIC COGNITIVE CONCEPTS Schema. He used the term to refer to the cognitive 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. It is like the mind has a filing cabinet and each drawer has folders that contain files of things he had an experience with. For instance, if a child sees a dog for the first time, he creates his own schema of what a dog is. It has four legs and a tail. It barks and is furry. The child then puts this description of a dog “on file” on his mind. When he sees another similar dog, he “pulls out” the file (his schema of a dog) in his mind, looks at the animal, and says, “four legs, tail, barks, and furry. That’s a dog. Assimilation. This is the process of fitting new experience into an existing or previously created cognitive structure or schema. If the child sees another dog, this time a little smaller one, he would make sense of what he is seeing by adding new information (a different looking dog) into his schema of a dog. Accommodation. This is the process of creating a new schema. If the same child now sees another animal that looks a little bit like a dog, but somehow different. He might try to fit it into is schema of a dog, and say, “look Mommy, what a funny looking dog. Its bark is funny too!” then the mommy explains, “That’s not a funny looking dog. That’s a goat!” with mommy’s further descriptions, the child will now create a new schema, that of a goat. He now adds a new file in his filing cabinet. Equilibration. Piaget believed that people have the natural need to understand how the world works and to find order, structure, and predictability in their life. Equilibration is achieving proper balance between assimilation and accommodation. When our experiences do not match our schemata (plural of schema) or cognitive structures, we experience cognitive disequilibrium. This means there is a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is understood. We then exert effort through assimilation and accommodation to establish equilibrium. Cognitive development involves a continuous effort to adapt to the environment in terms of assimilation and accommodation. In this sense, Piaget’s theory is similar in nature to other constructivist perspectives of learning like Bruner and Vygotsky. Module 5: Developmental Theories ( Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Erikson’s Psycho-social Theory of development) 8

PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Stage 1. Sensori-motor Stage (birth to infancy) This is the stage when a child who is initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and activity. The term sensori-motor focuses on the prominence of the senses and muscle movement through which the infant comes to learn about himself and the world. In working with children in the sensori-motor stage, teachers should aim to provide a rich and stimulating environment with appropriate objects to play with. Object permanence. This is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when out of sight. This ability is attained in the sensory motor stage, Stage 2. Pre-operational Stage (two to seven years old) During this stage, children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols. However, Piaget noted that they do not yet understand concrete logic. His stage is highlighted by the following: a. Symbolic Function. Develops in the period between 2 to 7 years. This is the ability to represent object and events. Example, a 2 year old child pretend that she is drinking from a glass which is really empty. b. Egocentrism. This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. Example, a three year old girl who cannot understand why her cousins call her daddy “uncle” and not daddy. c. Centration. This refers to the tendency o...