Have you ever wondered where the terms "terrible twos’’ and
"identity crisis" come from?
Did you know that the notion that children are different from adults, and require
special care, is only about 200 years old?
Did you know we can trace most of our modern ideas about children to just two
renowned thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries?
These are just a few of the fascinating aspects of the field of "human
development": the science that studies how we learn and develop psychologically,
from birth to the end of life. To a large extent, the study of human development
is the study of child development, because the most significant changes take
place from infancy through adolescence. This very young science not only enables
us to understand children and help them develop optimally, but also gives us
profound insights into who we are as adults.
In Theories of Human Development, Professor Malcolm W. Watson
introduces you to the six theories that have had perhaps the greatest influence
on this field. You will meet the people who formulated each theory, become familiar
with their philosophical backgrounds and the historical contexts in which they
worked, and study the specific processes of human development that each theory
describes.
Along the way, you will evaluate the strength and weaknesses of each theory.
How do these six great theories complement or contradict one another? What do
they tell us, as a whole, about human development?
Six Theories of How We Become Who We Are
The six major theories have had a pervasive impact on the way we, both scientists
and the general public, see ourselves. They are:
Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory.
The lectures discuss this theory, the earliest of the
six, including such concepts as the Oedipus Complex
and Freud’s five stages of psycho-sexual development.
Although now widely disputed, Freudian thinking is deeply
imbedded in our culture and constantly influences our
view of human nature.
Erik Erikson’s Psycho-Social Theory. This is the theory
that gave rise to the term "identity crisis." Erikson was the first
to propose that the "stages" of human development spanned our entire
lives, not just childhood. His ideas heavily influenced the study of personality
development, especially in adolescence and adulthood.
John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth’s Integrated Attachment Theory.
This was the first theory to focus primarily on the formation of parent-child
relationships. It explains the connection between relationships that occur early
in our lives and those that happen later, including romantic ones. Attachment
theory has generated thousands of scientific studies, and has led to changes
in many childcare policies, such as those allowing parents to stay with their
children in hospitals.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. This theory
modified traditional learning theory developed by such behaviorists as B. F.
Skinner, which was based on stimulus-response relationships. It considered learning
to be no different among infants, children, adults, or even animals. Bandura’s
approach is influential in such areas as the effect of media violence on children,
and the treatment of problem behaviors and disorders.
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory. Piaget’s
influence created a revolution in human development theory. He proposed the
existence of four major stages, or "periods," during which children
and adolescents master the ability to use symbols and to reason in abstract
ways. This has been the most influential of the six major theories. In the 1970s
and 1980s, it completely dominated the study of child development.
Lev Vygotsky’s Cognitive-Mediation Theory. Alone among
the major theorists, Vygotsky believed that learning came first, and caused
development. He theorized that learning is a social process in which teachers,
adults, and other children form supportive "scaffolding" on which
each child can gradually master new skills. Vygotsky’s views have had
a large impact on educators.
Early Theorists: Locke, Rousseau, and even Darwin
To give you the best understanding of these theories, this course also explores
the general history of the study of child development. It touches on the work
of other important researchers, such as John Watson of Johns Hopkins University,
who developed behaviorism, and Arnold Gesell of Yale, from whose work sprang
such well-worn phrases as "just going through a stage" and "the
terrible twos."
Professor Watson also discusses the era of observational research on children,
which marked the beginnings of child study as a true science. This period was
pioneered by scientists who began publishing detailed accounts of the development
of their own children. These early "baby biographers" included Alfred
Binet, who first developed intelligence testing in France, and even Charles
Darwin.
You may be struck not only by how much we have learned about child development,
but also by how much our attitudes toward children have changed. Until the beginning
of the 19th century, there was no interest in child study and, in fact, no concern
for children. Such factors as poverty and high infant mortality created an atmosphere
in which children were barely tolerated, or used for labor.
In Paris in 1750, 33 percent of all newborns were left in foundling homes or
on doorsteps; most died. In England, boys and girls as young as four were often
sent to work in mines.
You will see how attitudes toward children gradually
improved, due mostly to the efforts of physicians and
religious leaders. And you will appreciate the tremendous
contribution that two renowned philosophers, John Locke
(1632–1704) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778),
have made to the field of child development. Their ideas
about children—whether they are inherently good
or bad, or whether they actively shape their environments
or passively react to stimuli—still form much
of the basis of our modern theories.
The lessons of this course are not simply about learning, behavior, and relationships
in youth, but at any age. Taken as a whole, they provide our best answers to
the questions of human nature—how we learn, adapt, and become who we are
at every stage in life.
Should I Buy Audio or Video?
The DVD version of this course contains hundreds of on-screen texts, as well as more than 90 images, primarily portraits, to enhance your learning experience. It works well in any format.