At approximately 12 years old, a child faces puberty and enters what Freud classes as The Genital Stage. The focus returns to the genitals but this time in relation to others. There is now an interest in relationships and exploring sexuality.
When a child is unable to resolve the conflicts that occur at any of these stages, fixation can occur. “If needs are not met in a satisfactory way or if the individual’s conscience or superego cannot deal with impulses and drives to love and to hate, then complex character traits emerge” (Errington and Murdin, 2006). For example, oral fixation may result in an adult displaying pessimism, sarcasm or gullibility, whilst phallic fixation may result in recklessness or fear of commitment.
Freud, like many who begin a movement, now receives much criticism. One area of weakness is the limited scope of his research, as his therapy work mainly focused upon upper middle class women. Another popularly criticised aspect of Freud’s work is the emphasis on sexuality as, in his view, everything seems to stem from expression or repression of the sex drive (Boeree, 2006).
Despite criticism, Freud’s methods underpin the commonly held belief that childhood experiences are hugely important to personality development. In practical terms, those working with children today place great importance on ensuring that a childhood contains opportunities to develop, to learn the difference between right and wrong, and to learn to appropriately act upon or repress urges.
Behaviour therapy is defined as “A collection of psychotherapeutic techniques aimed at altering maladaptive or unwanted behaviour patterns, especially through the application of principles of conditioning or learning.” (Colman, 2006). The main influencers of this theory were Pavlov, Watson and Skinner.
Ivan Pavlov, later to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his research into the digestive system, observed that “…dogs would salivate upon seeing their keeper, apparently in anticipation of being fed.” (Strickland ed., 2001, p.478). Pavlov extended his experiment and rang a bell immediately before food was served to the dogs. Eventually, the dogs would salivate upon the bell ringing, even if no food was then served. This led Pavlov to develop an understanding of conditioned responses and unconditioned reflexes.
Pavlov also discovered the existence of generalisation where stimuli are concerned. He found that a stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus would still produce a response in the dog, albeit less pronounced. He then tested the dogs’ ability to differentiate between conflicting stimuli and found this resulted in neurosis amongst the dogs (Strickland ed. 2001).
Criticisms did exist around whether, as Pavlov believed, the behaviour observed in dogs could be replicated in humans. However, it is interesting to note that contemporary criticism mainly surrounds the former Soviet Union’s integration of Pavlov’s work with human psychiatry (Cohen, 1990).
The modern-day usefulness of Pavlov’s theories is demonstrated in several areas. One such practical application, which has been very helpful to parents and teachers, is that used by Jo Frost (Supernanny, 2008). In her show, Frost builds upon the conditioning work of Pavlov and other behaviourists to assist in cases where children are displaying unwanted behaviour. Through the use of consistently applied parental authority, the children are given boundaries relating to acceptable behaviour. Boundaries are reinforced by rewarding behaviour that is desirable and punishing that which is not.
The main methods of reward that Frost uses are ‘star charts’ and interaction with, or attention from, parents. Children are given stickers to put on their charts and, when a certain number is reached, a treat of some nature is given. Frost continually stresses to parents that giving their child attention when they behave badly will merely reinforce that undesirable behaviour. Her belief is that a child should be placed in relative isolation and ignored when misbehaving. This has resulted in thousands of UK parents adopting her ‘naughty step’ technique (Supernanny Team, 2007), which involves placing the child in isolation for one minute per year of their age.
Supernanny is now a long-running television series in the UK and evidence from the programme and the accompanying Supernanny Team forum suggest that results are resoundingly successful. One obstacle to the continuation of these methods being televised may come in the form of the UN’s committee on the rights of the child (CRC), who state that children’s privacy is being invaded by shows such as Supernanny and that they are being portrayed in a terrible light (Bowcott, 2008).
Pavlov’s work has also been instrumental in the treatment of phobias. Phobias were found to be acquired through classic conditioning and maintained by the effects of negative reinforcement. A person would develop a phobia by coming to associate traumatic stimuli with the phobic object. Negative reinforcement would be the rapid reduction of anxiety which follows escape from a phobic situation.
This understanding of how phobias are created and sustained has allowed for treatment methods such as exposure therapy and cognitive therapy to be formed. Exposure therapy involves repeated and prolonged confrontation with the feared stimuli until the discomfort is reduced, whilst cognitive therapy identifies and repairs faulty styles of thinking by verbal or behavioural means (Donohoe and Ricketts, 2006).
Social Learning theory, as applied to the development of children, is a model made popular by Albert Bandura. Mytton (2006, p.268) explains that “…children learn through observation of significant people in their lives. For example, they learn through imitating their parents’ behaviour, and through rewards for behaviour. The child tends to learn from its parents and other significant people both helpful and unhelpful cognitive patterns and underlying assumptions.”
Bandura believed that complex patterns of behaviour could be learned without a long period of learning by the use of shaping strategies. This involved tasks being broken down into small units and a reward being given following the completion of each unit. The modern-day application of this theory is used in many areas when teaching children new tasks or subjects, trainers at dog-obedience classes and when corporate training is delivered in the workplace.
Bandura also set out to prove that aggression, like any other response, could be learned through imitation. An experiment (now known as the bobo doll experiment) was devised using two groups of children, with one group being shown non-aggressive play and the other group being shown play involving aggressive behaviour towards a large, inflated doll. It transpired that those children who observed the aggressive behaviour were much more likely to then show aggression to the doll during their play. The experiment was repeated using two new groups of children but this time the experimenter was displayed on film as opposed to being in the room. It was found that the same level of aggressive behaviour was displayed by the children regardless of whether the experimenter was observed demonstrating aggression on film or in the same room. (Bandura et al, 1961).
The bobo doll experiment influences a wide range of carers today, including parents, teachers, social workers and child psychologists, in understanding that a child who witnesses violence (whether first-hand or through the medium of television) is likely to act out what is seen. It also proves without doubt that social learning does exist and is played out regularly.
This essay has examined three theories applied to child development and has highlighted a main proponent of each field. What has been demonstrated is that, to varying degrees, all three models have provided the basis for the development of practical, everyday techniques or more advanced theories. Whether it is Freud’s illumination of developmental stages, Pavlov’s demystification of phobias or Bandura’s confirmation of the importance of social modelling, there exists a rich and highly useful legacy.
Reference List
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