Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

e t h o l og i cal theory with soc i o - b i o l ogy (seefor ex a m p l e, Daw kins 1976 ).Murray Thomas (1996) proposes abio-electrical ‘model’ of child developmentwhich,he claims, explains children’sphysical development well,in terms of thebody’s physical structure but thisapproach fails to cover children’s emotionsand thoughts in any satisfactory way.The experience of young children bornwith immense physical problems, suchas cerebral palsy or Down’s syndrome,who have overcome many of theirapparent difficulties to go on to leadrich and exciting lives also refutes thisargument (see for example Grandin 1996).To some extent, recent gene and brainresearch, together with some thinkingfrom neuroscience may be revivingbiological theories but critics are awarethat there may be dangers in believinghuman development and learning to befixed, limited or immutable.Biological explanations of childhoodIn exploring the evolution of childhood,Bogin (1998) argues that there are soundevolutionary reasons for prolongedimmaturity, which include:- feeding(a child can be fed by any other memberof the group once weaned); the relativelylow cost of feeding a child compared witha fully grown adult; the fact that nurturingcan be done by other members of thespecies, so freeing the mother – childrenretain an infantile appearance, sostimulating nurturing responses;developmental ‘plasticity’ is possible –they can adapt to different or changingenvironments more readily. Bogin claimsthat these factors contribute to thesuperior survival rate of human offspringcompared with other animals.FREUD AND THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TRADITIONFre u d’s psyc h o a n a lytic theory is impo rt a ntto the field of early childhood be cause hewas one of the first to draw at te ntionto the ways in which babies’ and yo u n gc h i l d re n’s ‘inner live s’ and ex pe ri e n ce scould be shaping their deve l o p m e nt andl e a rn i n g. He pro posed diffe re nt levelsof consciousness in the mind, with theu n co n s c i o u s being a re ceptacle to whichhumans ‘s e n d’ kn owledge about aspe ctsof their lives of which they either do notneed or wa nt to remain co n s c i o u s. He alsos u g g e s ted that there are pre d e te rm i n e dstages in human ‘p s yc h o s ex u a ld eve l o p m e nt’ and that the mouth, a n u sand genitals are sensitive parts of the body– e rogenous zo n e s – which are succe s s i ve lyi nvo lve d. Freud argued that childre n’sc h i l d h ood and adult re l ationships witho t h e r s, and feelings about themselve sd e pend upon their ex pe ri e n ces duri n geach of these psyc h o s exual stages. Fre u d’s‘m od e l’ of child deve l o p m e nt was deri ve dm o re from his re f l e ctions on his adultp at i e nt s’ re co l l e ctions of childhoodex pe ri e n ces and was not based upo no b s e rvations of childre n . His daughte r,Anna Fre u d, took his wo rk on in this are a ,26 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S