Historical Overview of Child Development Theories Part 1

Before the Reformation, children were considered to be little adults.

With the Reformation, the idea of original sin made children depraved heathens who needed to be tamed.

Over the years, we have combined all the succeeding theories, taking the best of each.

John Locke - Tabula Rasa Theory

Infants are a blank slate

Children are completely molded and formed by their early experiences with the adults around them

Children are not basically evil, but good

Jean-Jacque Rousseau - Maturation Theory

Children are noble savages who are naturally born with a moral sense of right and wrong and an innate ability for orderly, healthy growth

First child-centered approach

There are stages of development all children go through

Development is a process of maturation which is a naturally unfolding course of growth and development

Charles Darwin - Theory of Natural Selection

All animals are the descendants of a few common ancestors

Survival of the fittest is the determining factor in evolution

The development of children follows the same general plan as the evolution of the species

His careful observations resulted in the birth of the science of child study

Stanley Hall and Arnold Gesell - Evolutionary Theory

Child development is genetically determined and happens automatically

Founders of the normative approach of observing large groups of children to establish average or normal expectations

Hall was a student of Darwin’s

At the same time in France Binet developed the first IQ test giving the first operational definition of intelligence.  Hall & Gesell worked at Stanford.  Result: the Stanford-Binet IQ test which is still used today.

Sigmund Freud - Psychoanalytic Theory

Theory of personality development and care explaining why we experience life as adults the way we do

Explained how infants and toddlers are unique individuals whose earliest experiences and relationships form the foundation for self-concept, self-esteem, and personality

With Freud, child development and care became a legitimate discipline

Symbiosis: there is no awareness that the baby is separate from the mother at birth (Id)

Gradually replaced by separation (ego) and individuation (superego)

• Id - present at birth - source of our wants need and desires
• Ego - develops in early infancy - self-concept, self-esteem
• Superego - begins to develop in infancy - conscience or value system of right and wrong