Child development occurs through physical, cognitive, and social/emotional domains. There are several theories that describe child development, including psychoanalytic theories like Freud's psychosexual stages and Erikson's psychosocial stages. Behavioral theories like Watson's classical conditioning and Skinner's operant conditioning emphasize the environment's role. Piaget's stages of cognitive development describe how children construct understanding. Kohlberg outlined stages of moral development from obedience to internalized principles. Overall, development involves biological and environmental influences in a progressive, stage-like process.

1. Overview of
Child
Development
Dr. Osama Refaat
Director of Training Department

2. Child Development
 Definition:
 C hange in the child that occurs over time. C hanges follow an orderly
pattern that moves toward greater complexity and enhances survival.
 Periods of development:
 Prenatal: from conception to birth
 Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years
 Early childhood: 2-6 years old
 Middle childhood: 6-12 years old
 Adolescence: 12-19 years old

3. Domains of Development
Development is described in three domains, but growth
in one domain influences the other domains.
 Physical Domain:
 body size, body proportions, appearance, motor development, coordination,
perception capacities, physical health.
 C ognitive Domain:
 thought processes and intellectual abilities including attention, memory, problem
solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, and language.
 Social/Emotional Domain:
 self-knowledge (self-esteem, sexual identity, ethnic identity), moral reasoning,
understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation, temperament,
understanding others, interpersonal skills, and friendships.

4. Child Development
Theories

5. Psychoanalytical
Theories
B e lie fs fo c us o n the fo rmatio n o f pe rs o nality . A c c o rding
to this appro ac h, c hildre n mo v e thro ug h v ario us s tag e s ,
c o nfro nting conflicts be tw e e n bio lo g ic al driv es and
s o c ial expectations .

6. Sigmund Freud
Psychosexual Theory
 Was based on his therapy
with troubled adults.
 He emphasized that a
child's personality is
formed by the ways which
his parents managed his
sexual and aggressive
drives.

7. Erik Erikson
Psychosocial Theory
 Expanded on Freud's theories.
 Believed that development is life-long.
 Emphasized that at each stage, the child acquires
attitudes and skills resulting from the successful
negotiation of the psychological conflict.
 Identified 8 stages:
 Basic trust vs mistrust (birth - 1 year)
 Autonomy vs shame and doubt (ages 1-3)
 Initiative vs guilt (ages 3-6)
 Industry vs inferiority (ages 6-11)
 Identity vs identity confusion (adolescence)
 Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood)
 Generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood)
 Integrity vs despair (the elderly)

8. Behavioral and Social
Learning Theories
B e lie fs that de s c ribe the impo rtanc e o f the
e nv iro nme nt and nurturing in the g ro w th o f a
c hild.

9. Behaviorism
 Developed as a response to psychoanalytical
theories.
 Behaviorism became the dominant view from the
1920's to 1960's.

10. John Watson
 Early 20th century, " Father of
American Behaviorist theory.”
 Based his work on Pavlov's
experiments on the digestive system
of dogs.
 Researched classical conditioning
 C hildren are passive beings who can
be molded by controlling the
stimulus-response associations.

11. Skinner
 Proposed that children " operate" on their
environment, operational conditioning.
 Believed that learning could be broken down into
smaller tasks, and that offering immediate rewards
for accomplishments would stimulate further
learning.

12. Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura
 Stressed how children learn by observation and
imitation.
 Believed that children gradually become more
selective in what they imitate.

13. Biological Theories
B e lie f that he re dity and innate bio lo g ic al
pro c e s s e s g o v e rn g ro w th.

14. Ethology
 Examines how behavior is determined by a
species' need for survival.
 Has its roots in Charles Darwin's research.
 Describes a " critical period" or " sensitive
period,” for learning

15. Konrad Lorenz
 Ethologist, known
for his research on
imprinting.

16. Attachment Theory
 John Bowlby
 Attachment between an infant and her
caregiver can insure the infant’s survival.
 Stranger’s anxiety
 Separation anxiety

17. Cognitive Theories
B e lie fs that de s c ribe ho w c hildre n le arn

18. Cognitive development
Jean Piaget theory
 C hildren " construct" their
understanding of the world through
their active involvement and
interactions.
 Studied his 3 children to focus not on
what they knew but how they knew it.
 Described children's understanding as
their " schemas” and how they use:
 Assimilation
 Accommodation.

19. Piaget’s Cognitive
Development Stages
 Sensori-motor
 Ages birth - 2: the infant uses his senses and motor abilities to
understand the world
 Preoperation
 Ages 2-7: the child uses metal representations of objects and is able to
use symbolic thought and language
 C oncrete operations
 Ages 7-11; the child uses logical operations or principles when solving
problems
 Formal operations
 Ages 12 up; the use of logical operations in a systematic fashion and
with the ability to use abstractions

20. Lev Vygotsky
Socio-Cultural Theory
 Agreed that children are active
learners, but their knowledge is
socially constructed.
 C ultural values and customs dictate
what is important to learn.
 C hildren learn from more expert
members of the society.
ced.ncsc.edu/hyy/devtheories.htm
 Vygotsky described the " zone of
proximal development" , where
learning occurs.

21. Information Processing Theory
 Uses the model of the computer to describe how
the brain works.
 Focuses on how information is perceived, how
information is stored in memory, how memories
are retrieved and then used to solve problems.

22. Cognitive Development
 Piaget
 Main concepts:
 Schema: Mental patterns (thought/action)
 Assimilation: Adapting new information into existing
schemata
 Accommodation: Modify existing schemes for new
information

23. Piaget’s Four Stages of
Cognitive Development
1-The Sensori-motor Stage
2-The Preoperational Stage
3-The Concrete Operational Stage
4-The Formal Operational Stage
23

24. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Development
Formal Operations
(adolescence to adult)
Concrete Operations
(~ 7-12 yrs)
Preoperational Period
(~2 to 6 yrs)
Sensorimotor Period
(~Birth to 2 yrs)
Inborn Reflexes

25. The Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2
years)
 Coordinate sensory inputs and motor skills
 Transition from being reflexive to reflective
 Adualism
 Development of Problem-Solving Abilities
 Development of Object Permanence
 Objects continue to exist when they are no longer
visible/detectable
 Appears by 8-12 months of age
 A-not-B error: search in the last place found, not
where it was last seen
 Complete by 18-24 months

26. The Preoperational Stage (2-7
years)
 Symbolic function / representational insight
 One thing represents another
 Language
 Pretend (symbolic) play – developmentally a positive
activity
 Deficits in preoperational thinking:
 Animism
 Attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects
 Egocentrism
 View world from own perspective, trouble recognizing
other’s point of view
 3 mountain problem

29.  Prelogic (intuition)
 Magical thinking
 Omnipotence

30.  Deficits in preoperational thinking
 Centration:
 the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking
feature of an object or event
 Appearance/reality distinction
 Cannot distinguish between the two
 Lack of conservation
 Do not realize properties of objects do not change just
because appearance does
 Lack of reversibility
 Mentally undo an action

32. Some Dimensions of Conservation:
Number, Matter, and Length
Type of
conservation Number Matter Length
Initial
presentation Two identical Two identical Two sticks are
rows of objects balls of clay aligned in
shown to child shown to child front of child
Manipulation
One row is Experimenter Experimenter
spaced changes shape moves one
of one ball stick to right
Preoperational “No, the one
child’s answer to “No, the longer “No, the longer on top is
“Are they still row has more” one has more” longer”
the same?”

33. The Concrete Operational Stage
(7-11 years)
 Cognitive operations
 Internal mental activity to modify symbols to reach a
logical conclusion (concrete)
 Conservation of matter
 Decentering:
 They can appreciate the perspective of another viewer
 They can think about two concepts at the same time
 Reversibility
 Appreciate causality
 Thinking systematically
remains difficult

34. The Formal Operational Stage (12+)
 Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
 Ability to generate hypotheses and use deductive reasoning
(general to specific)
 Inductive reasoning
 Going from specific observations to generalizations
 Individuals can imagine alternative worlds and reason
systematically about all possible outcomes of a situation
 Work in probabilities and possibilities
 Abstract concepts (Equality, Patriotism)
 Piaget believed that the attainment of the formal
operations stage, in contrast to the other stages, is not
universal

37. Moral Development

38. Moral Development
 Development of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
regarding rules and conventions about what
people should do in their interactions with other
people..
 The process by which children acquire society's
standards of what is right and wrong.

39.  Moral perspectives:
 Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes feelings of anxiety and
guilt
 Children identify with parents to reduce anxiety and
avoid punishment
 Superego: moral element of personality
 Other, more positive emotions contribute to child’s moral
development
 Example: empathy, which involves perspective-
taking
 Cognitive theory: Kohlberg
 We MUST understand right from wrong if we are to be
expected to act in right or wrong ways.

40. Is morality a topic of concern for
children?
 Regression (playing games):
 taking turns,
 following a set of rules
 Home:
 Questions such as “why can't I stay up as late as you??
 You always get to watch what you want to watch. ”
 School:
 So in everyday situations, children are confronted
by some rules, they have some sense of “right”
and “wrong”

41. Exercise
 Heinz stole a bottle of expensive drug from the
pharmacy to save his mother’s life
 Do you agree with that or not ?
 Why ?

42.  Not strictly linked to age
 Not everyone reaches the highest level

43. Preconventional
1-Punishment Orientation
 Goodness or badness of an act are based on its
consequences.
 Child will defer to authority figure and obey their
commands in order to avoid punishment (BUT
there is no true conception of rules--> it is only
bad if you get caught).

44. Preconventional
2-Reward Orientation:
 person conforms to rules in order to gain rewards
or to satisfy personal needs
 doing things for others is “right” if the actor will
benefit in the long run

45. Conventional
3- Bad boy Orientation
 Behavior is guided by fear of being condemned by
others.

46. Conventional
4- Good boy Orientation
 Moral behavior is that which pleases, helps, or
is approved by others.
 One objective is to be thought of as a “nice”
person

47. Postconventional
5) Social contract and rules
 flexibility begins in moral reasoning
 moral actions are those that express the will of
the majority of individuals
 a sense of having to live up to the law, but an
understanding that laws can be wrong.

48. Postconventional
6) Conscience & ethical values
 “highest” stage of moral reasoning
 right and wrong defined on a personal belief or
self-chosen ethics
 belief in abstract principles which override all
others (life, liberty, equality)