Child Development: Comparative Analysis of Four Different Theories

Development refers to 'patterns of change overtime which begin at conception and continue throughout one's life span'. However, child development specifically focuses on these patterns of change that occur between conception and adolescence. This reflective essay on child development will be defining normative and idiographic developmental milestones, in addition to comparing and contrasting four theories of child development. There will also be an evaluation of two examples of practical applications of research into developmental psychology.

Explanation of Normative and Idiographic Development

Normative development, also known as sequential development, refers to 'the stages of growth or maturation that most people of a specific age are expected to achieve'. In other words, it is concerned with features that all individuals have in common as they develop; associated with biological developmental hypotheses - Gesell proposed development is the result of one's genetic environment, in which children go through developmental stages in the same sequence but each at their own rate. In short, it is the sequence of growth controlled by one's genes. Normative development uses stages of development and looks at matching ages to abilities, using the milestones approach. Developmental milestones are categorised into four classifications: physical development, cognitive development, communication development and social, emotional, and behavioural development. Physical development refers to gross motor skills; needed for tasks such as crawling, walking, and sitting, and fine motor skills; needed for smaller movement sequences such as grasping or picking up smaller objects. Cognitive milestones can involve memory for tasks such as learning the alphabet or counting, or perception in relation to deciphering facial expressions. Communication development involves the acquisition of non-verbal and verbal communication skills, which will aid children when in social situations. An example of a non-verbal communication skill is eye contact, which is used when children are in the presence of others to indicate their attention levels, such as during a lesson. An example of a verbal communication skill is language, as it serves as a basis for social communication, meaning without it, children will struggle to communicate their needs and relate to others. Social, emotional, and behavioural development refers to how a child conducts themselves, their emotions, and their behaviour around others as they age. For instance, a child aged between twelve and eighteen months may become more emotionally volatile, in which temper tantrums may begin, in comparison to when they were six months of age.

Idiographic development, on the other hand, alludes to an individual's differences in the extent, rate, and direction of development, meaning differences might occur in each child. As opposed to normative development, researchers of the idiographic approach believe that development is a result of environment and learning. Watson, who argued that environmental influences were primarily responsible for that of the development of children, was contrasting to Gesell's view. Succinctly, his view was that all developmental aspects were the result of learning, even going as far as to state: 'give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in, I will guarantee to take any one at random and train them to become any type of specialist I might select regardless of his talents, penchants, abilities, vocations and ancestors' race'. An example of idiographic development would be social skills. For instance, whilst one child may be talking frequently and begin to develop close friends, another might not talk as frequently and struggle with friendships. This is a result of culture, in which its influence on a child's development has become 'increasingly apparent', as children benefit from support by agents of socialisation in their culture, such as a parent, grandparent, or sibling, to ensure they reach their milestones. Results from a study conducted by Callaghan et al., in which the participant demographic comprised of one-to-three-year olds from both Western and Eastern cultures. It was found infants in the western cultural setting began producing words three months earlier than those in the eastern cultural setting. An explanation for this finding is that the literacy level was significantly higher in western mothers than eastern mothers. Markedly, idiographic development can affect a child physically. For instance, whilst it is deemed normative for a child to lift their head when they reach a month old, that might not always be the case due to individual differences. An example is spina bifida, which is a birth defect in which the spinal cord does not develop properly due to an incomplete closure of the neural tube, meaning younger babies with this condition may struggle to lift their head, whilst older babies might struggle with walking and running.

Overall, both normative and idiographic milestones are important in the topic of child development because they help doctors and psychologists detect abnormalities, by which they might confer with parents, or if the child themselves if they are old enough, or alternatively administer questionnaires, developmental screenings, scans, and assessments. Furthermore, they are important in educational settings as it is important for teachers to understand the social, cognitive, physical, and emotional needs of their pupils, as it can help them to determine the most suitable to way to teach them and ensure they get the most out of their education.

Comparative Analysis of Piaget and Vygotsky's Developmental Theories

The theory of cognitive development in children by Piaget (1896-1980) posited children construct thoughts based on their experience, which is also known as a schema. Furthermore, he proposed learning is an ongoing process; children adapt their schemas to fit new experiences, which was spilt into four sub-topics, assimilation, equilibrium, disequilibrium, and accommodation. Assimilation alludes to a child creating a theory based on their current understanding of the world. Equilibrium refers to experiences a child has that appears to fit their schema. Disequilibrium is when an occurrence does not align with a child's schema, causing them to feel doubt. Accommodation is when the child adapts their initial schema to fit their new experiences. An example of this would be if a child constructed a theory of men having short hair and women having long hair. However, if they see a woman with short hair or a man with long hair, this causes them to have misgivings about their initial schema. Eventually, the child adapts their schema to fit what they saw and they enter a new state of equilibrium, which is that both men and women can have short or long hair.

The theory of sociocultural cognitive development, developed by Vygotsky (1896-1934), postulated that a child's social and cultural experiences shape their cognitive development, and equated them to apprentices. Childrens' development emerges from social interactions with more skilled adults including parents and teachers, as well as tools provided for them by their culture, such as the media, books and the internet. Moreover, he believed play enabled children to understand and accommodate what they learnt because they are liberated of any constraints, therefore they explore their ideas fully. Furthermore, Vygotsky proposed the zone of proximal development, a phenomenon defined as the difference between a child's actual developmental level and their potential development, studies a child's cognitive development through social interaction. Vygotsky suggested potential development is 'determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more experienced peers'. In other words, when a child's learning is targeted through at their zone of proximal learning, their competence level changes with social experience.

A similarity between Piaget and Vygotsky's theories is they both influenced education in teaching methods; offering educators suggestions on how certain material can be taught in a developmentally appropriate manner. For instance, Piaget proposed the most effective form of learning is self-guided by the child; they are given minimal guidance and learn through self-discovery. However, Vygotsky proposed learning is of a social nature; relates to teaching as language is the 'prime medium for sharing knowledge in formal contexts such as schools'. Contrarily, a difference between the two theories is that Piaget stated a child's cognitive development is driven by innate tendencies to adapt to new experiences, suggesting nature is a prime influence, whereas Vygotsky believed cognitive development is driven by social interaction, suggesting nurture is more dominant. Spelke adopted a more modern theory known as the Core Knowledge theory, proposing that humans are endowed with a small number of domain-specific systems of core knowledge at birth such as language, hence newborn babies have the ability to responding to different tones of voice even before they begin speaking, that becomes elaborative with experience. This discredits Vygotsky's theory of learning being socially dominated. Core knowledge theorists propose some aspects of knowledge are innate. Whilst this argument agrees with Piaget's theory as he believed some initial brain structure was needed for children to make sense of the world around them, it is also in disagreement with the latter as he believed both nature and nurture played a part in child development.

Psychodynamic and Psychosocial Theories of Freud and Erickson

Psychodynamic theory, proposed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), suggested that all humans have an unconscious mind, and is split into three parts: The Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the instinctive part of one's personality, meaning it is unable to acknowledge others' needs. In relation to child development, babies cry until their needs are met; all babies have the ID present at birth. The role of the ego is to ensure the Id's needs are met in the best way possible, often developing within the first few months of a child's life. For instance, a baby might learn that by smiling, their needs are more likely to be met than if they do not. The role of the superego is to attempt to control the ego. It is a part of a child's moral development and develops around the age of four to six years old. An example of this in relation to child development is if a child knows they can steal a collectible toy from a shop without being caught. However, they eventually decide against it as their morals taught them stealing is wrong. Unlike the Id, the ego and the superego are not present at birth and gradually develop as a child ages.

The psychosocial theory, proposed by Erickson, elucidates that personality develops throughout eight life stages: infancy, early childhood, adolescence, young, middle, and late adulthood, with an influence of biological, social, and environmental factors. For instance, between birth and one years old, a child develops either trust or mistrust with their caregiver. If the caregiver provides warmth, comfort, and love, babies will determine they can trust them, whereas if the caregiver is emotionally detached, inconsistent or rejects the child, babies will conclude they cannot be trusted. Similarly, children aged between one and three years old are beginning to develop their autonomy and their independence away from parents and caregivers in preparation for school. An example of autonomy development is potty training, as it helps children become trained in using the toilet by themselves. Furthermore, children of this age group begin to develop shame and guilt, meaning if they were to be criticised for failing to use the toilet or have an accident, or if parents or caregiver exert too much control, it will increase feelings of shame and doubt respectively.

A similarity between Freud and Erikson's theories is that they both recognise the importance of the unconscious mind on child development, as they both acknowledged that personality develops in predetermined stages. On the other hand, a difference between the two is that Erikson's theory emphasises that early and later life experiences are equally important as it extends throughout the lifespan, whilst Freud's theory emphasises the importance of early life experiences and ends at adolescence. Whilst modern psychodynamic psychologists propose that the importance unconscious mind and early experiences are important in development, there is less of an emphasis on sexual and aggressive instincts which was Freud's primary focus.

There has a been a vast amount of research done on the topic of child development. Markedly, Jane Elliot, an American schoolteacher, conducted a direct experiment on the students in her class in 1968, in which she randomly assigned students into two groups based on their eye colour. There was an increased number of students in her class who had brown eyes than those who had blue eyes. She then proceeded to tell her blue-eyed students they were less intelligent and less clean. The brown-eyed students began to bully them and make them feel inferior. As a result of this, the blue-eyed students became quieter, despondent, and made more mistakes whilst the brown-eyed students became more dominant. A strength of this study is that it is generalisable. Whilst it was conducted in a classroom, it is applicable to real-world scenarios as it was conducted in the late 60's a time of which racial segregation became prevalent after the assassination of Martin Luther King. However, a limitation of this study is there was a lack of informed consent, meaning the students' parents were not informed of the experiment prior to it happening which is unethical. Furthermore, it is unknown if Jane Elliot was a qualified psychologist so it can be argued that she might not have been fully certified to carry out this experiment.

Likewise, Piaget conducted studies involving the use of observations and clinical interviews. In terms of sample size, he used his three children as participants. Following this, he created his theory describing the stages children go through in relation to the development of their intelligence and thought processes. He eventually began branching out into schools and studying school children in his hometown. A strength of his research is that they have high ecological validity as they were conducted out in the world, making them generalisable and reflective of the population. However, a criticism of this method is that it is subjective, meaning it is only interpreted as the researcher sees fit. Furthermore, it is unknown if he ever obtained parental consent when he observed the schoolchildren, which is problematic as it compromises the ethical principle of informed consent, where a child and their caregivers have a full understanding of the nature of the study and are comfortable proceeding with the study.

Conclusion

This essay defined normative and idiographic developmental milestones, as well as their importance in the topic of child development. There was a comparison and contrast of the respective theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Freud, and Erikson, and what modern psychologists propose about these theories. Furthermore, there was an evaluation into research studies conducted by Piaget and Jane Elliot, addressing methodologies, sample sizes and ethical considerations.

References

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