Child Development Models Essay Example for Free

child Development Models EssayThis essay willing describe the different explanations for childrens behaviour, examining the Psychodynamic, Behaviourist and Social Learning perspectives. It will also evaluate each of these theories and make reference to their practical exertion. In doing so, the essay will square up out how parents, child psychologists, social workers and teachers can aim to understand childrens behaviour.As Haggerty (2006) states, 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. Freuds model proposed that an mortal has three elements to their psychological self the ego, superego and id.The id is the most primitive, consisting of largely unconscious(p)biological impulses. The ego uses reality and itsconsequences to substitute the behaviour being urged by theid. The superego judges actions as expert or wrong ba sedon the persons internal value system.(Strickland ed., 2001, p.637)According to Freud, children progress through various psychosexual stages of development. He claimed that, at grumpy gunpoints in the process, a single body part is particularly sensitive to erotic stimulation (Stevenson, 1996). The first base stage begins at birth and continues until approximately 1 year old. It is classified as The Oral coiffure because the mouth and lips are the main focus, disp modeling biting, sucking and chewing behaviour.The Anal Stage comes next and usually falls amidst 1 and 3 days 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 difference with the ego and superego, which are concerned with controlling bodily functions to satisfy social expectations and practicality.The Phallic Stage occurs surrounded by approximately 3 and 5 years old and contains one of Freuds most controver sial theories, the Oedipus confused (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, reparation can occur. If needs are not met in a passing(prenominal) way or if the individuals conscience or superego cannot deal with impulses and drives to love and to hate, so complex character traits turn out (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 in the main focused upon upper middle class women. Another popularly criticised aspect of Freuds 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, Freuds methods underpin the usually held belief that childhood experiences are hugely important to personality development. In practical terms, those working with children at present 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 A show 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 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.