22 - Normal emotional and behavioural development in childhood

Question 1

What are factors affecting development in childhood?

Answer 1

• Physical
• Cognitive
• Communication
• Emotional
• Social
• Moral
• Identity
• Gender role
• Sexuality
• Drivers
  o Innate biological drive
  o Learning theory – conditioning and social learning
  o Cognitive development theories
  o Psychoanalytic

Question 2

What is the Id, Ego and Superego?

Answer 2

o Id – centre of libido drive
o Ego – conscious element of personality
o Superego – centre of conscience and morality

Question 3

What are the stages of Freud’s psychosexual stages?

Answer 3

o Development through stages – oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital

Question 4

What is Erikson’s psychosocial theory?

Answer 4

o Development associated with managing common cultural demands placed on children
o Child progresses through a sequences of tasks/dilemmas
o Resolving each task develops a particular aspect of that individual’s personality

Question 5

What is Bowlby’s theory of attachment?

Answer 5

o Humans are born with a repertoire of built-in, instinctive behaviours that elicit caregiving from others
o Parents have instinctive behaviours in response to these
o Problems in parental response leads to development of abnormal attachment associated with later mental health problems

Question 6

What is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

Answer 6

o Four stages of development
o During each stage, children adapt to the world and assimilate new knowledge into available schemas
o As new information is learned, schemas are adapted

Question 7

What does Piaget suggest occurs during infancy (0-2 years)

Answer 7

• Sensorimotor stage
• Problem solving by manipulation of objects
• Differentiation of self from object
• Understanding cause and effect
• Development of object permanence (things exist even if you can’t see them)

Question 8

What does Erikson suggest occurs during infancy?

Answer 8

• Trust vs mistrust phase

* Requires parents to be responsive to needs in a predictable way

Question 9

What does freud suggest occurs during the infancy stage?

Answer 9

• Oral stage
• Orally directed pleasure impulses
• Mouth sucking, biting and swallowing

Question 10

What changes occur with gender identity during infancy?

Answer 10

• Early differences appear in type of play

Question 11

What does Piaget suggest occurs during early childhood (age 2-7)

Answer 11

• Pre-operational phase
• Ability to use language to represent objects
• Remains ego-centric
• Inability to focus on more than one dimension of a problem
• Animism – inanimate objects think and feel like people

Question 12

What does Erikson suggest occurs during early childhood (age 2-7)

Answer 12

• Autonomy vs shame/doubt
• Children developing a sense of self require care givers to provide a safe framework to explore this
• Initiative vs guilt
• Exploring the world by experiment requires parents who can support this safely

Question 13

What does Freud suggest occurs during early childhood (age 2-7)

Answer 13

• Anal
• Emphasis on toilet training and pleasure/gratification
• Phallic
• Awareness and interest in genitals – possible masturbation
• Oedipal conflict – boys release mother is a sexual object

Question 14

What changes occur with gender identity during early childhood?

Answer 14

• Able to label genders

* Development of gender stability

Question 15

What changes occur with moral development during early childhood?

Answer 15

• Wrongness of an act purely measured by its consequences

Question 16

What does Piaget suggest occurs during later childhood (age 7-12)

Answer 16

• Concrete operational
• Use of logic to solve concrete problems
• Classification of objects according to several features

Question 17

What does Erikson suggest occurs during later childhood (age 7-12)

Answer 17

• Industry vs inferiority

* Children need to develop skills and engage in meaningful work

Question 18

What does freud suggest occurs during later childhood (age 7-12)

Answer 18

• Latent

* Sexual urges sublimated into sports and hobbies

Question 19

What changes occur with moral development during later childhood?

Answer 19

• Wrongness of an act judged by the damage caused and the intent
• Rules are rigid and absolute rather than part of the negotiated social contract

Question 20

What does Piaget suggest occurs during adolescence? (12-18)

Answer 20

• Formal operational
• Use of logic for abstract problems
• Understanding consequences of actions in the future
• Concept of relativistic factors – behaviour influenced by situational factors

Question 21

What does Erikson suggest occurs during adolescence? (12-18)

Answer 21

• Group identity vs alienation

* Achieving a group identity and sense of belonging

Question 22

What does Freud suggest occurs during adolescence? (12-18)

Answer 22

• Genital
• Physical changes reawaken repressed needs
• Sexual feelings directed towards others to gain sexual gratification

Question 23

What changes occur with moral development during adolescence?

Answer 23

• Rules are seen as useful social conventions

* Intent becomes primary criterion to evaluate actions

Question 24

What changes occur with emotional development during adolescence?

Answer 24

• More complex regulation
• Meta-awareness – feeling guilty about being angry
• Self presentation strategies to manage impressions

Question 25

What are the clinical implications of infancy?

Answer 25

• Importance of attachment in parents

Question 26

What are the clinical importance of early childhood?

Answer 26

• Learning important concepts about self

* Importance of supported experiences in learning initiative, sense of mastery and self worth

Question 27

What are the clinical importance of later childhood?

Answer 27

• Developing ability to regulate own emotions, face challenges more independently

Question 28

What are the clinical importance of adolescence?

Answer 28

• Period of risk taking
• Development of long lasting relationships
• Increased influence of peers