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Learning and Psychoanalytic Theory


Theories in child development are sets of assumptions about why children act the way they do as well as why and how they change over time. Many of the theories argue whether a child’s development is shaped by nature (biological) or nurture (environment). Two influential theorists on child development, Sigmund Freud and Ivan Pavlov, had very distinct theories on child development. As we take a closer look at each theorist we may find some similarities and differences between each theory.
Ivan Pavlov is known for creating the roots of the learning theory. He objectively studied an important feature of mind—body operation: stimuli that would not normally provoke an observable physiological reaction may do so when they become linked, in the mind, with other stimuli that are able to produce the reaction spontaneously (Cunningham 2001). These circumstances would involve the pairing of the stimulus with another stimulus that produces a particular response naturally. After repeated pairings, the new stimulus produces the same response naturally. The response to the new stimulus is “conditional” on the previous pairing of the two stimuli. This is known as classical conditioning (Schickedanz 1993). Pavlov experimented with classical conditioning by using a dog. Like humans, dogs salivate in the presence of food (Cunningham 2001). In Pavlov’s experiment, a bell was added whenever the dog was feed. After several pairing, the dog was able to salivate at the sound of the bell without the presence of food (Schickedanz 1993). In his finding, Pavlov, showed that under certain circumstances an animal can learn a new physiological response to a stimulus in the environment (Schickedanz 1993).
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory differs from Pavlov’s learning theory. Freud believed that a child’s development was based on biological components of the personality or instincts. Freud believed that humans are...