Four Psychological Theories of Child Development

According to R. Murray Thomas, theories or models are ways of looking at the facts regarding a situation. They may reflect a particular world view. He suggests several standards to keep in mind when looking at various theories regarding the development of children. First, a theory is better if it most accurately reflects the actual world of children (Thomas, 1992, p. 17). Problems may develop with this standard if a theorist constructs a model based on only a few children or on children of a particular type.

Thomas says theories are better if they are stated in a way that any competent person could understand them. A theory is better if it can accurately predict the be

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his work is rich and interesting for any education professional who might encounter various ethnic groups. His work with Native Americans reveals thought-provoking contrasts in the areas of child-rearing, interesting reading for anyone who wishes to critically examine his own cultural beliefs. In a broad way, professionals may extend Erikson's concepts to working with children who are grappling with their life tasks. If they feel that they are competent, able to make choices, make things and do things, and extend themselves to others, it is more likely that they will do well in all aspects of living (Schickedanz, Schickedanz, Hansen, & Forsyth, 1993, p. 54). Personally, I find Erikson's work a credible extension of the theories of Freud, although somewhat lacking in the richness of the psychological inner life of the individual. He extends growth and development into the adult years which gives hope and understanding to persons working on their own developmental tasks or empathy with other adults in their world. A limitation that concerns me is there is no built-in remediation for children or adults, for that matter, who encounter difficulties with any particular stage. What if it becomes evident that a child is stuck fee
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Approximate Word count = 3179
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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