1. Introduction to developmental psychology

2. John Wilmot
“Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories.”

3. Some early thoughts
Plato (c. 400 BC) believed that children were born with knowledge that could be brought out by education (education derived from the Latin meaning ‘to draw out’);
John Locke ( ) presented the idea that children are born as blank tablets (empty vessels). In this way babies are seen to be psychologically identical but develop differently because they experience life differently.
The protestant (16th-17th Century) reformation began to see children as essentially evil, they had to be taught to be good.
The French-Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau ( ) presents a view opposed to that of the protestant reformists, arguing that children are born essentially good and that poor behaviour reflects on a corrupt society.
Darwin ( ) published ‘The Origin of the Species’ – set the scene for the notion that behaviour might be genetically pre-determined; Darwin also argued that child development mirrored the evolution of our species. In this way young children are seen to behave like primitive man, while adults behave in a ‘civilised’ manner that reflected the progress of our species.

4. Behaviourism John B. Watson Behaviourism today
John B Watson ( ) known as the father of behaviourism, took much of his theory from Lock;
Behaviourism was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920s to 1950
All neonates exactly the same, ready to be modelled by experience;
When born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).
Psychology seen as a science;
Behaviourism - primarily concerned with observable behaviour;
People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behaviour;
There is little difference between human and animal learning. Animal research telling of humans;
All behaviour, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response.
Classical and operant conditioning. 
John B. Watson
Behaviourism today
Regular habits (bed-time)
Consistent approach
Reward good behaviour
Punish or ignore bad behaviour
Children grow up like the adults in their environment
Emotion trivial or damaging

5. Sigmund Freud
Unconscious: that part of the active mind which one is not aware of but which still influences the conscious mind;
Id: the part of the mind which is purely pleasure seeking;
Ego. Most of what we normally consider to be ‘the mind’, its job is to make a compromise between the demands of the id and reality;
Superego. Conscience. Concerned with socially acceptable behaviour;
Freudian theory centres on the principle that stressors in any of the stages are not forgotten by the subconscious and may become apparent in later life.
Oral stage (0-1 year)
Anal stage (toddler)
Genital stage (pre-school)
Latency stage (6-12 years)
Adult sexuality stage (adolescence)

6. Freud – stages of development
Oral stage (0-1 year)
Pleasure from sucking, eating etc.
Lack of experience of oral gratification leads to an ‘oral’ personality (passivity, dependence, eating and speech problems).
Anal stage (toddler)
Interest centres on the anal region. Toilet training becomes a crucial issue.
This stage is characterised by possessiveness, retentiveness, aggression, messiness or tidiness, punctuality and shame.
Genital stage (pre-school child)
Interest centres on the genital area.
Boys treasure the penis and fear its removal (Castration anxiety).
Girls envy the boy's penis (penis envy).
Boys experience the ‘Oedipus Complex’, seeking a closer relationship with mother while fearing their father.
Girls experience the ‘Electra Complex’, characterised by seductive behaviour toward their father, while fearing their mother.
Latency stage (6-12 years)
Rather asexual
Concentrates on learning social roles.
Learns to relate to own sex.
Adult sexuality (adolescence)
Late adolescence
Tranquillity is lost
Sexual interest in opposite sex
Ego is disturbed due to the rapid changes resulting in the ‘adolescent psychosis’
normal for the adolescent which would be considered bizarre in an adult.

7. Jean Piaget 1869-1980 how thinking and problem solving develop
how cognitive activities contribute to development in general
children show qualitatively different levels of comprehension and reasoning at different ages
role of environment merely to provide information
everyone passes through the same 4 stages of development
Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
Preoperational (2-7 years)
Concrete Operations (7-11 years)
Formal operations (adolescence)

8. Piagetian theory Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
Sensation and motor skills predominate;
Develops the sense of ‘object permanence’;
Develops goal directed learning and experimentation in the second year;
No conceptual or abstract thought;
Child is bound by concrete aspects of sensation and activity.
Pre-operational (2-7 years)
Uses symbols with no abstract or conceptual thinking;
Language and memory are well-developed;
Understanding is growing of 'time‘;
Still has little understanding of the 'relationships' between phenomena. Has a very poor concept of volume and mass
If X is bigger than Y, Y is not necessarily smaller than X.;
The child will have more cricket balls than (an equal number of) marbles because the cricket balls are bigger;
The child is Egocentric (unable to see things from another‘s point of view)
He or she may expect a stranger to know what his brother‘s name is and where his Aunt lives;
‘Centring’, seeing a phenomenon from one point of view only, seeing only one quality of a thing at a time;
Capable of symbolic conceptual thought, but not at a level which would enable him or her to co-ordinate spatial, temporal, numerical and other qualities of things.
Concrete Operations (7-11 years)
Egocentrism, centring and the difficulty with relationships are gradually overcome;
Things are seen to have properties which change relatively little ('conservation') so that a volume of water is perceived as the same amount whatever the shape of container it is put in;
In this stage the child excites in classifying objects and become a great collector.
Formal Operations
Can think in wholly abstract terms, can depart imaginatively from reality;
The child can consider abstract thoughts which have no empirical referents (can discuss what might happen if time stopped).
Piagetian theory

9. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
8 psychosocial stages of development based on a sequence of ‘crises’.
Resolution of crisis important for healthy social development
Trust versus distrust (infancy)
Autonomy versus doubt (toddler)
Initiative versus guilt (pre-school child)
Industry versus inferiority (school child)
Identity versus diffusion (early adolescence)
Intimacy versus isolation (late adolescence)
… adult stages
Erik Erikson

10. Erikson: Infancy School child Infancy
Psychological crisis .. Trust versus distrust
Significant others .. Mother
Tasks .. Receiving, tolerating frustration, distinguishing mother from others.
Toddler
Psychological Crisis .. Autonomy versus doubt and shame.
Significant others .. Parents.
Tasks .. Learning speech, tolerating displeasure.
Pre-school child
Psychological Crisis .. Initiative versus Guilt
Significant others .. basic family
Tasks .. questioning, exploring body, environment and sex differences.
School child
Psychological Crisis .. Industry versus Inferiority.
Significant others .. Local school
Tasks .. Achieve recognition by production, exploring, collecting, related to own sex.
Early adolescence
Psychological crisis .. Identity versus diffusion
Significant others .. Peer groups
Tasks .. Move toward heterosexuality, select vocation, begin separation from family, personality integration.
Late adolescence
Psychological crisis .. intimacy versus isolation.
Significant other .. partner.
Tasks .. Lasting relationships, productivity, creativity.