Every child grows and develops on their own timeline. Through the years, doctors, psychologists, sociologists, and many other professionals have worked to identify the common patterns amongst child development. They have defined child development as the process by which children grow and acquire skills in areas like physical, emotional, cognitive, and social. Child development is heavily influenced by parents, caregivers, and educators who play an active role in the child’s life. In order to best support healthy child development, it is important to know what constitutes healthy development and how to achieve it.
Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg are among the many people who have researched different areas of child development. Each of them have their own model to describe how one develops socially, cognitively, and morally. Understanding each of these models will help anyone who interacts with children know what may be going on with the child and how to help them.
Erikson’s 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development:
Erik Erikson was a psychologist who developed the theory of psychosocial development. He broke personality development into 8 stages that covered the entire lifespan. Erikson believed that personality developed in a series of stages and that social interactions and relationships play a role in development. During each stage, a person goes through a conflict that is focused on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. Each stage in life builds on the preceding stages and paves the way for future development.
The ultimate goal of Erikson’s stages is to develop a strong sense of self. This is achieved through mastering each of the stages’ conflicts. If one fails to effectively master each conflict, they risk not developing the skills needed to maintain a strong sense of self through their lifetime. When one does master the conflict, their competence in that area increases and it motivates behaviors and actions moving forward in life.
Age | Conflict | Goal | Outcome |
Infancy (birth-18 months) | Trust vs Mistrust | The goal is for an infant to develop trust with their caregiver(s). This is accomplished through their caregiver meeting the needs of the infant through food, love, warmth, safety, and nurturing. | Successfully mastering trust will result in the child feeling safe and secure in the world. Failing to master trust will result in a child who is fearful and believes the world is inconsistent and unpredictable. |
Early Childhood (2-3 years old) | Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt | The goal is for the child to begin to develop independence and personal skills. This is accomplished through allowing the child to make choices and gain control of their physical skills, such as potty training. | Success develops a child who is confident and secure in who they are. Failure develops a child with self-doubt and a sense of inadequacy. |
Preschool (3-5 years old) | Initiative vs Guilt | The goal is for the child to be more assertive, especially through social interactions by directing play. The child is working on taking control of their environment and beginning to foster a sense of purpose in life. | Success leads to a sense of purpose and confidence. Failure by trying to exert too much power leads to experiencing disapproval and a sense of guilt. |
School age (6-11 years old) | Industry vs Inferiority | The goal is for the child to develop a sense of pride in their abilities, both socially and academically. The child is encouraged and praised by their parents, teachers, and peers to help develop these feelings of success. | Success leads to confidence in their abilities to handle different tasks set out for them. Failure results in a child feeling insecure and doubting their abilities to be successful. |
Adolescence (12-18 years old) | Identity vs Role Confusion | The goal is for the adolescent to develop a sense of personal identity. The adolescent during this time is exploring their independence and, with encouragement from others, developing into the person they would like to become. | Success looks like one having a strong idea of who they are and the ability to stay true to self. Failure leads to identity confusion and a weak sense of self. |
Young Adulthood (19-40 years old) | Intimacy vs Isolation | The goal is to start forming intimate relationships with others. This includes friendships and romantic relationships. | Success here will be multiple long lasting and secure relationships. Failure looks like isolation and lack of social and emotional connections. |
Middle Adulthood (40-65 years old) | Generativity vs Stagnation | The goal is to create things in life that will outlast. This can be through children and/or career. | Success looks like feelings of accomplishment in life and feeling as though you have contributed to the world. Failure results in feelings of unproductiveness and lack of involvement in the world around them. |
Maturity (65 to death) | Ego Integrity vs Despair | The goal is to be able to reflect back on life and be happy with what has transpired. | Success is feeling happy with the life lived. Failure is feelings of regret for things that were or were not accomplished in life. |
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Model
Piaget was a psychologist who studied intelligence and learning in children. After observing children, especially his own niece and nephew, he came to the conclusion that children are like “little scientists” and are always learning. He also concluded that childrens’ minds are not just smaller versions of adult minds, but that knowledge and intelligence grows over time.
Piaget developed his theory of cognitive development which consists of 4 stages over the lifespan. He proposed that every child goes through each of these stages in the same order, but just at different rates. A child’s environment and genes each play a large role in how quickly a child goes through each stage and if one will ever complete all stages. It is important to note the ages given for each stage are an average range for when a child will go through the stage, not a firm set range.
Stage | Age | Goal |
Sensorimotor | Birth-2 years | Object permanence (the knowledge that an object still exists even if one cannot see it) is the overall goal of this stage. It is learned through exploration in play and the development of basic motor skills. Object permanence represents that the child has developed the ability to cognitive form a mental idea of an object. This shows that the child is able to take in information about the world, recall it, and label it. |
Preoperational | 2-7 years | Operations refers to a set of logical rules, which at this stage is not present. Instead the child is influenced by how things appear rather than logical reasoning. Imaginative play during this stage shows that a child is able to think about things symbolically and have a toy stand for something other than itself. Children are also able to begin to classify objects but may have difficulty when subjects belong to two or more categories at the same time (ex. A horse can be an animal, a pet, and a farm animal). |
Concrete Operational | 7-11 years | At this stage concrete operations (logical sets of rules) are actively being used. Children are beginning to understand the concept of conservation (things may change in appearance but still remain the same). They are also able to mentally manipulate information taught to them (i.e. using more mental math). This is the time when children begin to think less about themselves and integrate how others may think or feel in a situation. |
Formal Operational | Adolescence – adulthood | Formal operations mark the child’s ability to be able to think more abstractly and the capacity for higher-order reasoning. Formal operational thought is free of constraints and allows one to formulate thoughts and arguments quickly and without structure. This stage allows for hypothetical thinking with many possible solutions. Adolescents at this stage are able to reflect more on their thoughts (metacognition) and are aware of how their actions affect others. |
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Kohlberg was a psychologist who developed one of the best known theories regarding moral development. Moral development is the knowledge of right vs wrong and the reasoning that occurs to determine that. Kohlberg proposed that children develop morality over time and in different stages.
When determining moral development, Kohlberg would use a series of moral dilemmas. He looked into not only the determination of what was right or wrong, but also how the person’s thought processes got there. Through this, he was able to present that there are 3 levels of moral development, each with 2 stages. Understanding of these stages can help a parent guide their children as they develop their moral character.
Levels of Moral Development | Age | Stages |
Preconventional Morality | 0-9 years | Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Rules are mixed and absolute. One follows rules in order to avoid punishment |
Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange Children begin to take others’ points of view and make decisions based on what serves their individual needs best. Reciprocity is possible, if it serves the child’s own interest. | ||
Conventional Morality | Early Adol.-Adulthood | Stage 3: Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships Living up to social expectations and roles becomes most important. There is an emphasis on being nice and considerate of how their choices affect others. |
Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order The focus here is on maintaining social order. One is following the laws and rules and respecting authority. Society is considered as whole when making judgements. | ||
Postconventional Morality | Some adults; rare | Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights While rules and laws are still very important here, the person begins to believe that society as a group should agree on those standards. People value the differing values, beliefs, and opinions of others. |
Stage 6: Universal Principles This is the most abstract level of moral development that most people do not reach. It is based on universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. Individual internalized principles of justice over rule laws and rules. |
Understanding child development is the first step in understanding how and why a child is who they are and behaves how they do. The 3 different models presented here provide an overall look into the mental and cognitive development that occurs over the course of the lifespan. At Integrated Care Clinic we have trained professionals who can all expand on this knowledge and help parents or caregivers discover more ways in which they can understand and support their children.
