Lesson 2: Theories and Perspectives in Child Development.

Introduction
A theory is an organized group of principles that is used to explain an aspect of child
development. The child development theory refers to ideas of pioneers in the field about how children
grow, including their physical, cognitive, and emotional development. These pioneers were physicians,
psychologists, and other scientists.

Many theories of child development emphasize different things that may influence a person's
development. It is nature versus nurture. One group of theories gives emphasis on biological processes
(the maturationist) and the other group gives emphasis on the environment (the environmentalist).

THINK
Nature Vs. Nurture.
There are many interpretations of how children develop based on certain theories of development.
There has been a debate as to what influences development: nature (our genes) or nurture (the
environment). According to the developmental systems approach, there is a continuous interaction
between nature and nurture. This implies that the effects of the environment on an organism depend on
heredity-related characteristics of that person. This also implies that since a child's development can be
influenced by the environment, we can device interventions or programs to support a child's healthy
development. The challenge is to understand how, where, and when it is best to intervene.

Nature Nurture

Biological Psychoanalysis Cognitive Humanism Behaviorism

Approach Psychology
These theories This focuses on This focuses in the Maslow’s theory These theories
focus on how how innate drives innate mental emphasizes basic believe that all
genetics, of sex and structures physical needs. It behavior is
hormones, and aggression (perception, also believes that learned from
neurochemicals (nature) and schema, and society influence environment
can influence social upbringing memory) which a person’s self- through condition
behavior. during childhood are constantly concept. (stimulus-
(nurture) changed by the responses.)
influence environment.
behavior.

2.1 Maturation Theory by Arnold Gesell

Maturation Theory by Arnold Gesell (1925) In this theory, Gesell emphasized that children
develop individually, at their 2.1 Own pace, but that every child follows the same sequence. He said
there were two major forces that influenced development: environment and genetics. Genetics. affects
the rate of development, and the environment teaches children how to behave in a proper manner.
 While Gesell believed that the environment was important, he also believed that children
develop with the same sequence. However, when adults try to teach some things in advance or ahead of
schedule, it never works. Some might argue that Gesell may be wrong on this point. He, however,
believed that children will master tasks when their own inner urges push them to do so (genetics), and if
they are forced to learn things in advance, they may learn very little about it.

He emphasized sequential development and letting children tell you when they are ready to
learn things. For example, in his twin studies trying to speed up motor development in one of the twins,
the efforts bring negligible or very small differences.

He also believed that development is affected by personality and temperament, but there is still
that sequence which you cannot ush or skip.

He said we should measure growth in patterns of what the baby can do. For example, the vision
of babies starts with looking around aimlessly. Then, depending on the rate of development of the
babies, they will start looking at certain objects, until they are able to coordinate their eye movements
with their hand movements. Babies have their own schedules for feeding and sleeping and parents
should follow that. Babies learn things when they are ready. They follow the same sequence but at their
own rate, depending on their personalities and temperament.

Therefore, Gesell's philosophy of child-rearing says: you have to follow the child's cues, with the
child telling us when the time is right. Let the infant indicate when he/she is hungry, and the baby
should be fed until he/she is satisfied. Never wake up a baby because it is time to eat. Do not change the
baby's diaper at regular times of the day, but wait for the baby to cry to indicate that he/she needs to be
changed. This way, the child develops his/her own internal clock. Do not focus on what the baby ought
to be doing like siting or saying "mama." Just follow his/her cues without pushing, letting the child
develop on his/her own. This way, parents will learn to trust that their children indeed will develop on
their own, at their own pace. Gesell emphasized that it is not the parents who are shaping their
children- that it is an innate ability, and children have their own timetable. Therefore, adults should not
think that the child's development is all up to them, and that time should not be wasted. Adults should
trust and appreciate the wonder of growth, respect immaturity, and avoid always planning what is next
for the child.

2.2 The Bioecological Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977)

Urie Bronfenbrenner believed that a child is affected by everything in his/her environment. This
includes the varied systems of the environment and the interrelationships among the systems that
shape a child's development. The bioecological theory aims to highlight multiple layers of influence on
the child. It emphasizes both general age trends and individual development. It believes that heredity
and the environment act together to influence child development. In other words, it emphasizes both
nature and nurture. This applies to any of the developmental domains.

It is called bioecological theory because it describes how child development is influenced by a

child's biology, which interacts with influences from his/her surroundings (ecology). In this theory, the
child is embedded within a complex series of interacting layers that influence or affect development.
This model has five subsystems.
 The first system is the innermost microsystem. It consists of activities and interactions of the
child with his/her immediate surroundings or with the closest to the child, and one in which he/she has
direct contact with-parents and family at home, teachers and peers at school, or caregivers at daycare.
Relationships in the microsystem are bidirectional. The quality and kind of activities and interactions
here depend on the characteristics of the child and the characteristics of the adults (parents, teachers,
and others) around him/her. In other words, your reactions among the people in the microsystem affect
how they treat you. This is the most influential system of this theory.

The second system is the mesosystem. It includes connections or interactions between all the
microsystems related to the child. If for example, the parents are involved in school and exchange
experiences and information with the school, the development of the child in both settings can benefit.
Lessons from school can be carried over in the home, improving parent-child interaction, and knowing
what happens at home can improve teacher-child interaction. The mesosystem also includes other
features of the people in a child's immediate surroundings like their socioeconomic status. The
interactions in this system have an indirect impact on the child. If the elements of his/her microsystem
are working together, there is a positive influence on the child. If the different microsystems are working
against each other, there is a negative influence on the child.

The third system is the exosystem. This includes the social settings that do not contain the child
but still affect his/her experiences in his/her immediate settings. For examples, whether or not the. kind
of workplace a parent is in facilitates a special leave if one of the children gets sick; or the kind of social
network a parent has whether or not the parent has relatives or friends who give support to the parent,
and the like. Another example is when the child has no participation in certain decisions, like when a
parent gets promoted at work or when the parent loses his/her job. Even the kind of job a parent has
also affects the child, like it a father is in the navy, or if the parent is an overseas Filipino worker (OFW),
the child does not get to see this parent for months at a time. The child can become anxious when the
parent leaves and his/her anxiety can affect other areas of his/ her development. This can also affect the
quality of relationship of the child with that parent.

The fourth system is the macrosystem. This includes the cultural environment in which a person
lives in and all the other systems that affect the child. It includes cultural values, customs, traditions,
laws, resources, or the economy and the political system in a child's country. For example, when a
country has laws about paternity and maternity leave or childcare, this affects the life of the child. The
macrosystem can have a negative or a positive effect on the development the child. Consider the
development of a child growing up in a third world economy versus that of a child growing up in a first
world country.

The fifth and final system is the chronosystem. This is all about the continuous influence of time
on all other subsystems and their interactions. This is the defining characteristic of development. Time
influences child development in terms of physical, cognitive, and personality characteristics. Time also
influences developmental challenges and opportunities that affect children. For example, the arrival of a
new baby brother/sister has a different effect on a toddler who stays home most of the time and on a
school-aged child who has many other relationships and activities outside the home. Another example is
a major event in life like the S death of a parent. This affects a three-year-old differently from a
teenager.

Other events affect the child like growing up during the great depression, during a world war,
during a global pandemic, or even living through a natural disaster like a major earthquake, tsunami,
fire, or other event. The advancement of technology is part of the chronosystem of a child. This can
affect his/her learning styles and skills. This experience is different from a child who grew up 50 years
earlier.

In all subsystems, the presence of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs could affect the child's
development.
2.3 Biopsychosocial Model by George L. Engel and Jon Romano (1977)
In the olden days, there was a debate on what influences or shapes child development: nature (our
genetic makeup) or nurture (how we were raised). But now, we know that both nature and nurture have
an effect on child development. This idea of nature plus nurture is also called the biopsychosocial model.

The Biopsychosocial Model This relatively new theory, the biopsychosocial model, illustrates
that life span development is the product of the interaction between biological, psychological, and social
forces.

The biological forces-one's organs, physiology, and genetics--explain the role of genes (DNA)
and hormones in the health care of the individual. These include a person's physical health, genetic
vulnerabilities, disability, and IQ, which can be affected not just by being in a good environment where
there is an abundance of books that the parents read to the child, but also by nutrition that affects the
development of the brain.

The psychological forces are all about cognition, emotion, and motivation. These include a
person's coping skills, social skills, self-esteem, how we think, and the way we develop our ideas.

The social forces that affect development are a person's family, community. and society,
including school, peers, and work environment among others.

All these things shape a person as a human being. This implies that each person is unique. No
one has exactly the same biology, exactly the same psychology, nor exactly the same social influence.
Even people who grew up in the same family are usually very different. For example, being the firstborn
in the family brings a whole set of different experiences than being the middle child or being the
youngest. Firstborns tend to be more independent and youngest siblings tend to be more dependent,
while middle children tend to be more social, looking for attention. Consequently, even if children have
the same parents or grow up in the same house, their experiences can be different.

In this model, we can study the interconnections of different events in various stages in a
person's life. We can also see the effect of things like culture, religion socioeconomic status, traditions,
physical stature, birth order, health conditions school, peers, family, good and bad experiences in life,
and events, among others that can explain a person's current and future self-esteem, personality,
behavior reasoning, or thinking, among others. With this model, we can specify biological psychological,
and social factors that can shape a person's development. For example, how potty training, eating. or
joining a family reunion or other event can be a positive experience, a negative experience, or a scary
experience, and hoy this possibly has shaped a person's personality as he/she grew up.

Teachers (and parents) may have to assess all the factors that may be affecting the child and
how the child is impacting the environment. For example. when observing, take note of what the child is
being exposed to in the home school, neighborhood, community, or what is being shown in media.
What are these places teaching the child? How do these things affect a child's sense of belonging, self-
esteem, self-efficacy, and sense of safety. What if this child has a parent who is working abroad, is sick in
the hospital, or is now in jail? What if this child has a parent who is unhappy at work, or has just lost
his/her job, and consequently rejects his/her child when he/she comes home? What if this child moves
frequently from one country to another because of the kind of work of his/ her parents? What if this
child is starting to go to a new school again? Sometimes. family problems get in the way of a child's
school performance or his/her social life.

2.4 The Model of Probabilistic Epigenesis by Gilbert Gottlieb (1991)

This theory gives more emphasis on the levels within the individual. The term "epigenesis" refers to a
change in genetic expression as a result of environmental influences. In this theory, the products of
development are epigenetic, not just genetic.

This model describes how genetic activity, neural activity, child behavior, and the environment
are all bidirectionally related. It views development as a product of the interaction between biological
and environmental forces. It includes both the genetic origins of behavior and the direct influence of the
environment on the expression of these genes. In other words, the genetic potential of the child was
there at the beginning, but how the child develops depends on the environment he/ she is in. This also
means that the DNA interacts with tiny molecules found within cells, which can activate and deactivate
genes. This can be influenced by nutrition, chemical exposure, presence of medications, diseases, drugs,
or alcohol.

For example, identical twins originate from the same DNA. So how can they grow up to be so
different, even in traits that have a significant genetic component? Why can one twin get a heart attack
and have diabetes at age 25, while her sister is not sick of diabetes and can also run marathons?
Although nature vs. nurture can answer this, the root cause could be epigenesis. As the twins grow
older, even if they have the same genome, they have very different epigenome. This could affect the
way they grow up, grow old, or their susceptibility to disease.
 Even different social experiences can affect epigenesis. In an experiment with mice, it was found
that parental negligence can affect genes that help manage stress and can be blocked. This can be
transmitted to succeeding generations. Another experiment with rats that licked their pups very well
after birth showed that the pups grew up less stressed compared to pups of mother rats that did very
little licking. This implies biochemical changes affected the epigenesis of the pups. Therefore, genes can
be marked by experience.

When a child is born to a poor family, the child develops certain characteristics; we do not know
if this is caused by poverty or whether poor people have bad genes. Poor people are in a bad
environment or in an impoverished environment that creates that phenotype or that characteristic.
Another example is when there are pregnant mothers during a world war, a snowstorm, a pandemic, a
measles outbreak, or other disasters, whether or not the diseases might affect the infant in the womb,
the resulting stress of the mother as a result of the event can already affect the epigenome of the infant.
The baby can be born to become more anxious or more prone to auto-immune disease, metabolic
disease, mental health disease, or cancer.

This also means that the parents' experiences as a child or choices as adults can affect a child's
own epigenome. It can be noted, however, that this may not be permanent. Therefore, this can be
changed by having a balanced lifestyle with a healthy diet, exercise, and avoiding contaminants; this
may, in the long run, create a healthy genome. Even if we are born with a fixed set of genes, our layer of
epigenome is interactive and can be changed so that we can live a life with responsibility.