Explaining Childrens Behaviour - Essay Example

EXPLAINING CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOUR 2007 EXPLAINING CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOUR Introduction Explaining human behaviour is one the most intriguing and sophisticated tasks of psychological research. Numerous outstanding thinkers repeatedly attempted to understand the behaviour of other people or help individuals study their own behaviour. The quest continues up to now, and the most obvious outcome of the efforts is the fact that human behaviour is overwhelmingly complex, and there are only few areas that can be understood with an acceptable degree of accuracy. Therefore, each perspective that claimed to discover the determinants of human behaviour were subsequently found to have serious limitations and replaced by other theories, which in their turn proved limited too. Main Body According the psychoanalytical theory of Freud, a child goes through a series of psychosexual stages as he grows up. Each stage is dominated by the development of sensitivity in a particular erogenous or pleasure-giving zone of the body. Freud identifies five stages of psychosexual development: the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital. The oral phase starts from the moment of birth, when both needs and their fulfilment involve participation of child’s tongue, lips and teeth. Mouth is the first zone of body the child can control and due to this the most part of his sexual energy is focused on it. Later, when the child can control other parts of his body, a certain part of his energy still remains ‘cathected’ to his mouth. Therefore it is natural for a child to have a moderate interest to oral pleasures at this stage (Frager & Fadiman, 2000). As the child grows up new zones of pleasure appear. At age between two and four years the child is learning how to control the anal sphincter and bladder, they obtain much of his attention. The process of toilet training excites the child’s interest to self-discovery. Since parents interfere with elimination pleasures, the child develops ambivalent attitudes toward them. As children resolve the conflict between their needs for parental love and instinctual gratification they evolve lifelong attitudes toward cleanliness, orderliness, punctuality, submissiveness, and defiance (Bateman & Holmes, 1995). At the age of tree years the child enters the phallic stage of development: he focuses on his genitals. This phase is called phallic because the child starts to realize whether he has penis or not. At that point children understand the difference between two sexes. During phallic stage of development children treat their parents as a potential threat to fulfilment of their needs (Frager & Fadiman, 2000). This stage of development often leads to Oedipal complex in boys (they feel sexual love for the mother and rivalry to the father), and Electra complex in girls (they feel sexual love for the father and rivalry to the mother). Two other stages of development are less important to the development of the basic personality structure if compared with the earlier stages. The latent stage is characterized by relative calmness: this is the period of formation of Ego-structure, including such concepts as shame, disgust, moral values, etc. This is the period of preparation for puberty. The last stage of biological and psychological development is the genital phase. It occurs during puberty when the sexual energy (libido) goes back to genitals. Girls and boys finally understand their sexual difference and search for adequate ways of fulfilling their sexual needs (Bateman & Holmes, 1995). Each stage involves a unique conflict a child must cope with before passing over to the next stage of development. In case the conflict is not resolved it typically results in continuous frustration and mental discomfort which eventually becomes chronic and shapes the child’s behaviour. Unless the conflict is properly resolved further development will not occur normally. According to the psychoanalytic theory actual behaviour of a child is only the tip of the iceberg while the core determinants are hidden in the deep waters of unconscious (Bateman & Holmes, 1995). Consequently, the major task of the professional whom attempts to positively affect the child’s behaviour is to make the repressed unconscious conflicts conscious. Once the conflict enters the realm of conscious the child is empowered to effectively understand and deal with it. The origins of behaviourist perspective – another major theory successfully applied to explain human behaviour – can be traced back to John Watson (1878 – 1958) whom was the first formulate the principles of modern behaviourism. His definition of this approach was highly practical. Thus, Watson believed psychology should be a purely objective field of knowledge used to accurately predict and control human behaviour. Introspection and self-analysis are useless if applied to psychology and there is no difference between humans and animals. In fact, Watson neglected the concept of the conscious and unconscious as such (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002). Formulating his views Watson relied primarily on the Ivan Pavlov’s discovery of the mechanism of classical conditioning. Pavlov’s studies of dog’s digestion transformed the common understanding of learning and behaviour. The scientist carried out a series of experiments in order to test his initial conclusions. He provided a sound or light signal that was immediately followed by some food placed in the dog’s moth. The dog started to perceive the signal in conjunction with the food and after several repetitions the dog salivated immediately after the signal even without any food. This fact made Pavlov introduce a new psycho-physiological concept of a conditional stimulus in distinction to an unconditioned stimulus (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 170-171). Although Pavlov revealed the phenomenon of classical conditioning during experimental studies, which involved animals, the key principle of this process proved valid in human behaviour too. Watson described an example of the classical conditioning in human beings. Albert, an infant with a pet rat, was not afraid of it until once Watson banged a metal plate while the boy was reaching for his pet. Subsequently, Albert started to demonstrate fear of the rat (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 172). Another good example of the classical conditioning in human behaviour is the bell-and-pad technique that is often used to cope with bed-wetting in children. Two perforated metal sheets connected to a low-tension battery are placed under the bed sheet. When a child moistens the bed urine short-circuits the sheets, and the battery produces a laud alarm making the child wake up. After several alarms the child is able to wake up without the alarm: the sensation of a full bladder is finally connected to the necessity of waking up (Lattal & Chase, 2003). Skinner further elaborated on the behaviourist conception of behaviour by paying attention not only to stimuli resulting in certain patterns of behaviour, but also exploring the stimuli affecting the actor after performance. In a series of experiments involving rats and pigeons that were rewarded with food for pressing a lever in the Skinner box, the scientist observed that positive stimuli led to more frequent repetition of the act that caused them; he called such stimuli “reinforcers” (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 175-176). Skinner recognised situational influences as predominant factors that cause different reactions of children. The reactions largely depend upon the previous experience and genetic code of individual. Skinner also believed that analysis of specific mental states, which had been so popular in psychoanalytic theories and the concepts associated with such analysis were absolutely useless (Gross, 2005). The behaviourist perspective is based on the assumption that human behaviour depended exceptionally on the external stimuli: the child is given a certain stimulus, demonstrates certain reaction, and finds out if this reaction is correct or wrong, dependent upon its outcome (whether it is followed by reinforcer or not). In case the same stimulus is provided again in future the child usually reacts in the way that showed its effectiveness in the past. Therefore, children’s behaviour is shaped by the variety of stimuli available in the environment and the amount of reinforces for these stimuli. The most reliable way to explain any behaviour of a child is to analyse the situation in which such behaviour occurs more commonly and identify the stimulus and the reinforcer. The social learning theory is another influential approach in explaining children’s behaviour. Albert Bandura, the founder of this approach, was one of the first who experimentally proved that children were very capable of imitating other people’s behaviour. In one experiment Bandura demonstrated a film of an adult beating a rubber doll to a group of children. After watching the film, children who had been intentionally frustrated with broken promises prior to the demonstration were led to a room with the same doll. All of them imitated the previously observed model of behaviour kicking and punching the doll (Bandura, 1989). Bandura reasonably concluded that observing virtual violence on TV makes children’s behaviour in real life more aggressive in comparison to their ordinary behaviour. At the first glance it may seem that children will necessarily imitate any action of the movie hero, although it is far from being true. Children do not thoughtlessly duplicate all violent actions they observe in television programs. The probability of imitation partially depends upon inborn predisposition to violence, partially upon the presence of positive award, which is called reinforcement. The modified variant of Bandura’s experiment included two different endings to the film with Bobo doll. In the first scenario the adult received a positive award (like candy or soft drink) for his violent behaviour. In accord with the second scenario the adult on the contrary was punished for the same behaviour. Those children who saw the adult being punished would not beat the innocent doll knowing that such behaviour could be punished (Bandura, 1989). Bandura proved that imitation of any type of behaviour observed on TV depended upon several factors. When children observe that television heroes are awarded for their violent actions there is a better chance of imitating similar behavioural patterns in real life. Although presence of reinforcers suggests that the social learning theory has much in common with the traditional behaviourism the core idea of this approach is the assumption that children’s behaviour is shaped by the process of learning, i.e. acquiring various behavioural patterns (Frager & Fadiman, 2000). The most important property of human nature is cognition that helps man to utilize abstract thinking, adopt such difficult symbolic forms of communication as language, cognize the external world and determine behaviour depending upon different circumstances. The latter is perhaps the most essential difference between Bandura’s and Skinner’s views: presence of the circumstances implies the idea that even constant reinforcement of a behavioural pattern may not necessarily result in absolute acquisition of it (Bandura, 1989). The social learning theory postulates that behaviour is neither determined by only inward causes nor by only environmental influence, but by their dynamic interaction. In other words, children may choose behavioural patterns that normally help them successfully predict possible reactions of the environment. Therefore, children’s behaviour is the result of interaction between three components: personal or inward peculiarities and cognition, external stimuli and behaviour itself (Bandura, 1989). The humanistic perspective focused primarily upon human consciousness they considered to be the main determinant of behaviour. Carl Rogers, one of the founding fathers of this approach, argued that the fundamental of personality was psychological reality or the subjective experience according to which the reality is interpreted. Rogers’ view of human behaviour was highly rational. Rogers believes that an individual has the so-called ‘field of experience’ which comprises the whole range of experiences, both conscious and unconscious, available at the given moment. During the process of personality development, one portion of this field separates and transforms into the individual’s ‘self’. The construct of ‘self’ is the core of Rogers’ theory. The ‘self’ can be described as: “the organized, consistent, conceptual gestalt composed of perceptions of the characteristics of the ‘I’ or ‘me’ and the perceptions of the relationships of the ‘I’ or ‘me’ to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions” (Rogers, 1959: 192). The self-concept remains relatively stable in any situations and determines the behaviour via interaction with the external factors that are perceived as important for the self-concept. Theoretically, a child may develop optimally and avoid negative outcomes if he experiences only ‘unconditional positive regard’. The needs for positive regard from others and positive self-regard should match persons evaluation and there should be congruence between self and experience, with full psychological adjustment as a result. Therefore, this ideal human condition is embodied in the ‘fully functioning person’ that lives existentially, trusts her organism, expresses feelings freely, and acts independently. The ‘maladjusted person’ – defensive, feeling manipulated, and conforming – is the polar opposite of the fully functioning individual. Such person feels manipulated rather than free, and is conforming rather than creative (Rogers, 1961). From this perspective behaviour of a child is largely determined by the desire to achieve this positive regard. The main feature of cognitive approach in explaining behaviour is the principle of conscious information processing: people not simply receive information and react to it but also interpret it according to the prior experience. The basic principle of this approach is the assumption that a child assimilates certain facts/concepts from the environment and internalizes them according to his own cognitive structure. The cognitive perspective implies that development of cognitive mechanisms (such as memory, thinking, sensory abilities, etc) and language are the main tools of learning behaviour. Thus before the child can master a certain behavioural pattern he should master language that helps correctly perceive the world around him. This aspect constitutes perhaps the most dramatic distinction between the behaviourist and cognitive views of learning. Social determination of the process of learning (Vygotsky), emphasis on the internal processes of learning (Piaget), and the role of teachers in organization of learning process (Bruner) represent other important foci points that contribute to the distinction of the cognitive perspective. According to the cognitive theory a child’s behaviour can be explained only by exploring the child’s cognitive system and identifying the cognitions responsible for a certain behavioural reaction. This approach is perfectly illustrated by the cognitive therapy which effectively used to correct maladaptive behaviours such as substance abuse in children and adolescents. Cognitive therapy “is a system of psychotherapy that attempts to reduce excessive emotional reactions and self-defeating behaviour by modifying the faulty or erroneous thinking and maladaptive beliefs that underlie these reactions” (Beck et al. 1993: 21). This therapy focuses on functional analysis of substance abuse and identification of cognitions associated with substance abuse. In cognitive therapy, the therapist’s approach to focusing on cognitions is based on leading the child/adolescents through a series of questions, and the treatment is believed to reduce substance use by changing the patient’s way of thinking. Conclusion None of the major theories that have ever been used to explain children’s behaviour can be addressed as the dominant these days. Such situation probably indicates than human behaviour is an extremely complex and multilateral phenomenon, and none of the theories proposed up to date is comprehensive enough to explain it. However, each perspective contributed significantly to our understanding of behaviour. Thus, Freud lost himself in finding sexual reason of any human’s action simply neglecting the importance of situational factors in human’s behaviour. This main drawback of the psychoanalytical theory is also present though to a smaller extent in the works of his numerous followers such as Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson, Melanie Klein, and Alfred Adler. Psychoanalysis emphasized the process of struggle between conscious and unconscious (i.e. between social norms and the instinctual drives associated with sex and inborn aggression) and neglected the positive potential of human. But at the same time Freud was the first who explored the problem of unconscious as a determinant of behaviour. Ironically, one of the major reasons for criticism of the humanistic theory was overwhelming belief in positive potential of human nature. Although the humanistic perspective has had great influence on the development of modern psychology it really tends to neglect the negative sides of human’s nature. Extreme biologisation and primitivisation of human behaviour is the major drawback of behaviourism: behaviourists did not distinguish between humans and animals while the humanistic approach avoided this drawback highlighting uniqueness of the human condition. The cognitive perspective also avoids the pitfalls of behaviourism and seems to be one of the most credible approaches up to date: it underlies majority of pedagogical models that have been designed over the last several decades. However, absence of agreement concerning the inner processes that take place inside the child’s brain, coupled with absence of reliable methods to explore them is an essential drawback of the cognitive theories of learning. Although modern psychological science seeks to integrate the best features of different perspective in order to create an all-inclusive theory explaining children’s behaviour the progress has not been impressive up to now. However, while such theory may be of great benefit it is also difficult to argue that the phenomenon of children’s behaviour can not be effectively explained within the framework of the existing approaches. Versatile and often contradictory information coming from different perspectives is of great help for several reasons. Firstly, up to now there is no clear answer regarding what type of determinants dominates in each particular case, but it is already clear that they are likely to vary seriously from person to person. Therefore, versatile knowledge about the determinants and mechanisms of children’s behaviour will result in more informed choices to explain it in each particular case. Effectiveness of the existing interventions intended to produce certain change in behaviour of a child has been demonstrated repeatedly despite the fact that they often rely on absolutely different approaches in explaining behaviour. Thus, the Family Systems Therapy (FST) also referred to as Family Therapy and Couple and Family Therapy (Nichols & Schwartz, 1998), Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Adlerian Therapy rely primarily on the psychoanalytic perspective; numerous variations of the Cognitive Therapy (Beck et al. 1993) are based on the cognitive perspective; Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) is an off-spring of the humanistic psychology (Miller, 1996); and Behavioural Therapy employs the concepts and ideas of behaviourist perspective (Clark & Fairburn, 1997). However, each of these methods has been repeatedly confirmed to be effective in changing behavioural patterns in children and adolescents. This fact proves that every perspective that has emerged up to day is equally important in explaining children’s behaviour: there are no primary or secondary theories, and each of them contributed greatly to the current understanding of children’s behaviour. References Bandura, A. (1989). Social Cognitive Theory. 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Addictive Behaviors 61(6): 835-842. Nichols, M. P. & Schwartz, R. C. (1998). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, 4th edition. Allyn & Bacon Rogers, C. (1959). A Theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In: Koch, S. (ed.), Psychology. A study of science. Vol. III. Formulations of the Person and the Social Context. New York: McGraw Hill, 184-256. Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapists view of psychotherapy. London: Constable. Read More