This document provides an overview of child psychology theories including Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory and Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory. It summarizes Erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development and the key crises and outcomes at each stage. It also outlines Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development from infancy to formal operations, describing characteristics and dental applications at each stage. The document is presented by a dental student and provides references for further reading.

1. CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
Guided by-
Dr. Manohar Bhatt
(Professor and HOD)
Dr. Abhishek Khairwa
(Professor)
Dr. Deeksha Shekhawat
(Senior lecturer)
Presented By-
Namya Singhal
BDS Final year
Batch 2017-22
Department of Pediatric Dentistry

2. CONTENTS
• Psychosocial Development Theory
Erik Erikson
8 Stages of Psychosocial Development
• Cognitive Development Theory
Jean Piaget
Key concepts of theory
4 stages of development
• References

3. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
THEORY

4. Erik Erikson
• Erik H Erikson was a Danish-German-American developmental
psychologist and psychoanalyst
known for his theory on social
development of human beings.
• The psychosocial theory was proposed
by Erikson in 1950 in his book
‘Childhood and Society’.
• This theory postulates that society responds to a child’s basic needs or
developmental tasks in a specific period of life and in doing so society
ensures child’s healthy growth and survival in culture and traditions.

5. Stages of psychosocial development
• According to Erikson ,
each individual passes through
eight developmental stages.
• Each stage is characterized by a
different psychological crisis,
which must be resolved by the
individual before he can move
on to the next stage.
• If the person copes with a
particular crisis in a maladaptive
manner the outcome will be
more struggles with the same issue
later in life.

6. Stage 1: Infancy – Age 0
to 1 year
• Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust.
• Description: In the first year of life infants depend on others for food, warmth and affection and
therefore must be able to blindly trust the parents (or caregivers) for providing these.
• Positive outcome: If their needs are met consistently and responsively by the parents, infants not
only will develop a secure attachment with the parents but will learn to trust their environment in
general as well.
• Negative outcome: infant will
develop mistrust towards people,
environment and even towards
themselves.
• Dental applications: This stage identifies
with development of separation
anxiety in the child. So, if necessary to
provide dental treatment at this early age,
it is preferable to do with the parent
present and preferably with
parent holding the child.

7. Stage 2: Toddler – Age 1
to 2 years
• Crisis: Autonomy vs. Doubt.
• Description: Toddlers learn to walk, talk, use toilets and do things for
themselves. Their self-control and self-confidence begins to develop at this
stage.
• Positive outcome: If parents encourage their child’s use of initiative and
reassure him when he makes mistakes, the child will develop the confidence
needed to cope with future situations that require choice, control and
independence. The child will develop both self-control and self-esteem.
• Negative outcome: If parents are over protective or disapproving of the
child’s acts of independence he may begin to feel ashamed of his behavior or
have too much doubt of his abilities. Another failure factor is unrestricted
freedom, or if you try to help children do what they should learn to do for
themselves, you will also give them the impression that they are not good for
much
• Dental application: Child is moving away from mother, but still will
retreat to her in threatening situations. So, parent’s presence is essential in
dental clinic. At this stage as the child takes pleasure in doing tasks by
himself; dentist must obtain co-operation from him by making him believe
that the treatment is his choice not of the dentist/parent

8. Stage 3: Early Childhood –Age
2 to 6 years
• Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt.
• Description: Children develop motor skills and become more engaged in social interaction with people
around them. They must learn to achieve a balance between eagerness and responsibility and learning
to control impulses and childish fantasies.
• Positive outcome: If parents are encouraging but consistent in discipline, children will learn to accept
without guilt that certain things are not allowed and at the same time will not feel shame when using
their imagination and engaging in role plays.
• Negative outcome: children may develop a sense of guilt and may come to believe that it is wrong to
be independent.
• Dental application: Going to the dentist can be considered a new and challenging adventure in which
the child can experience success (coping with the anxiety of visiting the dentist) . Poorly managed
dental visit can also contribute toward the guilt that accompanies failure. A child at this stage will be
intensely curious about the dentist’s office and eager to learn about the things out there. An exploratory
visit with little work is often a good way to start the dental experience.

9. Stage 4: Elementary and Middle
School Years –
Age 6 to 12 Years
• Crisis: Industry vs. Inferiority.
• Description: School is the important event at this stage.
Children acquire the skills to be a worker and a potential
provider and they do all these while making the transition
from the world of home into the world of peers. In Erikson’s
terms, the child acquires industriousness and begins the
preparation for entrance into a competitive world. The
influence of peer group increases.
• Positive outcome: If children can discover pleasure in
intellectual stimulation, being productive, seeking success
they will develop a sense of competence.
• Negative outcome: If the child is allowed too little success,
because of harsh teachers or rejecting peers, then he or she
will develop a sense of inferiority or incompetence.
• Dental application: Because of the child’s drive for a sense
of accomplishment, cooperation with treatment can be
obtained. Children can be motivated by improved acceptance
or status from the peer group. This means that emphasizing
how the teeth will look better as the child cooperates is more
likely to be a motivating factor.

10. Stage 5: Adolescence – Age 12
to 18 Years
• Crisis: Identity vs. Role confusion.
• Description: This is the time when we ask the question ‘Who am
I’?; adolescents who have successfully dealt with earlier conflicts are
ready for the identity crisis. Adolescence, a period of intense physical
development and unique personal identity is acquired. Physical
ability changes and academic responsibilities increase, and career
possibilities begin to be defined.
• Positive outcome: If the adolescent solves this conflict successfully
he will comes with a strong identity and ready to plan for the future.
• Negative outcome: the adolescent will sink into confusion unable to
make decisions and choices about his role in life in general. This
can lead to a poor sense of direction for the future ; low self esteem.
• Dental application: Behavior management of adolescents can be
challenging. Any treatment should be carried out if child wants it,
parental authority is being rejected.
• For example, orthodontic treatment has become so common that
there may be a loss of status from being one of the few in the group
who is not receiving treatment, so that treatment may even be
requested in order to remain “one of the crowd”. It is extremely
important to realize that treatment is being done for him not to him.

11. Stage 6: Young Adulthood –Age 19
to 40 Years
• Crisis: Intimacy vs. Isolation.
• Description: the most important events are love
relationships. “No matter how successful you are
with your work you are not developmentally
complete until you are capable of intimacy.”
Successful development of intimacy depends on a
willingness to compromise and even to sacrifice to
maintain a relationship. An individual who has not
developed a sense of intimacy usually will fear a
committed relationship and may retreat into
isolation.
• Positive outcome: Success leads to the
establishment of affiliations and partnerships both
with a mate and with others of the same sex, in
working toward the attainment of career goals.
• Negative outcome: They will fear commitment,
feel isolated and unable to depend on anybody in
the world.
• Dental application: At this stage, external
appearances are very important as it helps in
attainment of intimate relation. Hence, the focus is
orthodontic and esthetic treatments.

12. Stage 7: Middle Adulthood –Age 40
to 65 Year
• Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation.
• Description: Generativity refers to the adult’s
ability to look outside oneself and care for others
through parenting.
The opposite personality trait in adults is
stagnation, characterized by self-indulgence and
self-centered behavior.
• Positive outcome: People can solve this crisis
by having and nurturing children or helping the
next generation in other ways.
• Negative outcome: Person will remain self-
centered and experience stagnation later in life.

13. Stage 8: Late Adulthood –Age 65
Years to Death
• Crisis: Integrity vs. Despair.
• Description: Old age is a time for reflecting
upon one’s own life and seeing it filled with
pleasure and satisfaction or disappointments
and failures.
• Positive outcome: If the other seven
psychosocial crises have been successfully
resolved, the mature adult develops the peak
of adjustment: integrity. If the adult has
achieved a sense of fulfillment about life , he
will accept death with a sense of integrity.
• Negative outcome: The opposite of this is
despair. This is often expressed as disgust and
unhappiness on a broad scale, frequently
accompanied by a fear that death will occur
before a life change.

15. Jean Piaget (1896-1930)
 Piaget created the International Center for Genetic
Epistemology in Geneva in 1955.
 From 1925 to 1929 Piaget was professor of psychology,
sociology, and the philosophy of science at the University of
Neuchatel.
 Jean Piaget (1896-1980) observed his children (and their
process of making sense of the world around them) and
eventually developed a four stage model of how the mind
processes new information encountered.
 The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and
processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops
into an individual who can reason and think using
hypotheses.

16. • Cognitive development was a progressive
reorganization of mental processes as a result of
biological maturation and environmental experience.
• Children construct an understanding of the world
around them, then experience
discrepancies between what they
already know and what
they discover in
their environment.

17. Core concepts-
Schema: (construction of information)
• Categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand
the world. As experiences happen, this new information is used to
modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas.
• Example is grasp reflex. This occurs when the baby is touched with a
finger. The baby immediately grasps the finger displaying grasping
schema.

18. Assimilation-
• This involves using an active schema in order to manage a
situation.
• Example-A toddler might come across a bald man with spiked hair
on the sides. The toddler mistakes the bald man for a clown and
addresses him as a clown.
 Accommodation-
• A scenario where an existing schema does not work for
a particular situation and needs to be altered or
changed with respect to the situation.
• Example- The toddler mistakes a bald man for a
clown. Now, the father of the toddler explains that
although the hair of the bald man was funny, the man did
not do anything silly. This information was grasped by
the toddler and the concept of clown was updated for a
more meaningful concept and changing the schema for a
clown.

19. Equilibriation-
• According to Piaget, cognitive development does not occur
at a steady rate but rather in leaps and bounds. This
equilibrium or mental balance is achieved when the new
information is dealt with existing schemas whereas
disequilibrium can occur if the new information cannot fit
with the present schemas.

21. 1. SENSORY MOTOR STAGE (BIRTH TO 2 YEARS)
 Characteristics:
 Begins to make use of imitation memory and thought.
 Learns the concept of object permanence.
 Child uses his senses and his increasing motor skills to explore the
environment.
 Communication between a child and adult at this stage is extremely limited
because of the child’s simple concepts and lack of language capabilities.
 Dental application is that the child begins to interact with the environment
and can be given toys while sitting on the dental chair in his/her hand.

22. 2. Preoperational period (2 to 7 Years of age)
 Characteristics:
 Starts to use language
 Capable of thinking in the forms of mental images and words but logical
reasoning limited.
 Struggle to understand other’s perspective.
 Preoperational period can be divided in to two stages:
1. Preconceptual stage (2 to 4 years): This stage marks the start of symbolic
activity. The child’s reactions are based not simply on the physical nature of the
stimulus but on its meaning. During this stage a stimulus begins to take on
meaning and the child can use a stimulus to represent other objects.
2. Intuitive stage (4 to 7 years): – Pre logical reasoning appears based on pre
conceptual appearances unhampered by reversibility. Trial and error may lead to
an intuitive discovery of correct relationships but the child is unable to take more
than one attribute into account at one time.

23. Dental application:
• A preoperational child will have trouble in understanding a chain of reasoning like brushing
and flossing to remove food particles which in turn prevents bacteria from forming acids
which prevents tooth decay.
• But in this stage he is much more likely to understand: brushing makes your teeth white,
clear and smooth.
• The three main areas of focus in this stage are:
1. Constructivism: The child likes to explore things and Construct own observations. For
example, child surveys the dental chair, airway syringe.
2. Cognitive equilibrium: Child is explained about the equipment or instrument and allowed
to deal with it.
3. Animism: Child correlates things with other objects which they are more used to or
accustomed, For example, the hand piece can be called “Whistling Willie” who is happy when
he works at polishing the child’s teeth.

24. 3. Concrete Operational Stage(7 to 11 years of age)
 Characteristics:
 Increase ability to think logically.
 He begins to understand cause & effect .
 He can think about real, concrete things in systematic ways, but cannot understand abstract
concepts.
 He is no longer egocentric (he can now understand other people’s points of view).
 The child is able to decentre, i.e. focus attention on more than one attribute at the same time.
 Important process:
1.Seriation- Able to understand series of an event
2.Transitivity – understands relation between subject and object
3.Classification – able to classify things
4.Decentring – focus on many aspects of a problem
5.Reversibility – if you break a candy bar in small amounts, it is still the same amount.
6.Elimination of egocentrism – understands others perspective
 Dental application include giving concrete instructions like this is a retainer, brush like this,
allowed to hold the mirror to see what is being done on his teeth, gets involved in the
treatment, e.g. holds the suction tip by himself.

25. 4. Formal Operational Stage (After 11 years of age)
 Characteristics:
 Ability to deal with abstract concept and abstract reasoning develops.
Child can carry out things on idea basis.
 Child’s thought process has become similar to that of an adult and the
child is capable of understanding concepts like health diseases and
preventive treatment.
 The child can reason a hypothetical problem and do a systematic search
for solution.
 Example- Children are asked where would they put an extra eye if they
had a third one and why?
A 9 year old would answer it should be on forehead
11 year old might answer more inventively like it is more useful on third
hand for seeing around corners
 Dental applications include esthetic and corrective dental treatment.

26. Conclusion
• Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial development
considers the impact of external forces we face as
individuals as we undergo transition into adults.
The 8 stages are guide to assist individuals who
they are.
• Piaget’s cognitive theory of development
encompasses underlying cognitive schemas
available to child at different levels which
determines the kind of solution plans child may
generate and execute with efficiency.

27. References
• Textbook of Pediatric Dentistry-Shobha Tandon
(3rd edition)
• Textbook of Pediatric Dentistry- Nikhil Marwah
(4th edition)
• Illustrated Pediatric Dentistry- PR Chockhalingam
• Contemporary Orthodontics- William R. Profitt