This assignment will describe and evaluate two theories in developmental psychology. Developmental psychology is the scientific study of changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Firstly looking at Piaget’s Theory, and then followed by Kohlberg, there will be an evaluation of the similarities and differences between the two. It will provide evidence of how Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s theories both suffer from the same criticisms as they both use dilemmas with a particular criteria of a child and culture. The theory only considers a child’s beliefs not its actual behaviour.
What happens when you out good people in an evil place? Effect on children Bandura et al (1961) – Bobo Doll Study. This experiment was originally carried out to examine the effect of witnessing aggression, on young children , but can be applied to the topic of this presentation, as the children were placed in a situation where they witnessed violent, evil, behaviour. The experiment involved 72 young children (between the ages of 3 and 5 years), split into 8 groups. 1.
Outline social factors that may influence gender roles. (8 marks) Bandura’s social learning theory suggests gender roles are learnt through observation of ‘social agents’ such as parents, peers and teachers as well as the media. This theory is based on the principles of operant conditioning with children being rewarded for behaving in their own gender and being punished for behaving inappropriately. An example of this is if a young boy is playing with dolls, he may be told off and explained to that it is wrong, likewise, a girl playing with cars and guns will told of or shouted at in the same way. Social agents model the appropriate gender specific behaviours; children observe these behaviours and learn the consequences for behaving inappropriately through vicarious reinforcement.
Social learning theory (SLT) suggests that behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation of “models”. SLT explains gender role by saying children learn their gender role primarily through vicarious reinforcement. Children are positively reinforced for behaving in gender-appropriate ways (i.e. a girl playing with a doll) and are punished for behaving in gender-inappropriate ways (i.e. a boy playing with a doll).
To further understand a how a crime can be committed by a young child, Albert Bandura’s theory that humans can learn without reinforcement called “modeling” is a good explanation. Bandura defines modeling as “people copying what they see others do” (p.42). The results we see in a young child’s behavior are resulted from biological development, as well. First, let’s explore two critical parts of a 6 year old child’s brain; the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is the part of the brain divided in three major areas controlling expression and regulation of emotion.
Group 1- bullies, group 2- bully-victims, group 3- victims, and group 4- pro-social children. Reliable measures used to identify these groups were done by peer reports and teachers ratings. Both teachers and peer reports used due process when measuring each child’s propensity for the group they were nominated for. The ‘peer reports’ method consisted of explaining samples of behaviors for each group of children then conducting one on one interviews with them asking specific questions related to their opinions of who would fall into each group of bullying and why. The ‘teachers reports’ method consisted of a questionnaire with a four point and five point scale to rate behaviors demonstrated by the children in the sample group.
Despite the difficulties of detecting it in children, tests that can screen for symptoms exist. The ambiguous symptoms of depression in children contributed to the development of the CDI. The CDI is a paper-and-pencil self-report measure containing 27 items. The CDI facilitates the assessment of behavioral, cognitive and affective signs of depression in children, ages seven through 17. The CDI is used to provide assessment of the presence of depressive symptoms and measure the severity of depression.
It will then briefly describe Piaget’s theory by providing an overview of the four stages of cognitive development which include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational, before presenting two of the most common criticisms of his theory. Finally the essay will conclude with a brief summary of the points discussed. Prior to the development of his theory, Piaget worked for Albert Binet, a psychologist who was working to test the intelligence of both adults and children. During this time Piaget’s role was to conduct tests on children. His interest in children’s cognitive processes developed when he started to notice that children of similar ages made the same kinds of mistakes on test questions.
The major areas of development include biological, cognitive and social and emotional development. Both of these psychologists were concerned with the study of understanding the area of cognitive development specifically in children and were considered to be constructivists. Constructivism is the theory in which “learners actively construct their own knowledge based upon the things they know now and have known in the past” (TFL resources, 2006). This essay will seek to compare and contrast the theories of psychologists Piaget and Vygotsky and will critically look at their theories to judge which aspects are appropriate for the long term. Jean Piaget focused his research on studying children and observing their thought processes.
Unit 16 - P5 Understanding Safeguarding of children and young people (for those working in the adult sector) Policies, procedures and practiced in place for safe working with children include Children Acts 1989 and 2004 which discuss protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development, both directly linked with the safe working of children and young people. There are four types of ‘child abuse’. They are defined in the UK Government guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010’ (1.33 – 1.36) as follows: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual abuse, and Neglect. Behaviours indicating possible concern with regards to safeguarding children are as follows; Physical abuse - bruises to the eyes, mouth, or ears, fingertip bruising (grasp mark), bruises of different ages in the same place. Outline bruises (hand prints, belts or shoes).