Early Childhood Studies

A Social Science Perspective

Ewan Ingleby

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781441132277
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Studies: A Social Science Perspective explores key issues in early childhood studies from a variety of social science disciplines, including psychology, sociology, social policy and education. Each chapter considers a different social science discipline, identifying, analysing and critically assessing how that particular discipline enriches early years provision and research. User-friendly student features are included throughout, including:
- Icebreakers introduce the main chapter themes
- Objectives help readers to develop cognitive skills, moving from identifying to analysing to critically assessing
- Formative activities encourage practical application of the content
- Case-studies ground theory in practice
- Research activities support those looking to take their understanding further
- Self-assessment questions allow readers to test their knowledge
- Further reading references and web links provide ideas for further exploration An essential course companion for all Early Childhood Studies undergraduate students.

1

Psychology and Early Childhood Studies

Chapter outline

Introduction

Defining the discipline of psychology

Origins of psychology

The schools of psychology

Behaviourism

Humanism

Psychodynamic theory

Cognitive theory

Biological psychology

Applying psychology to early years

Psychological therapies and the early years

Learning outcomes

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

•identify what the term psychology means;

•analyse some of the ways that psychology can be used by early years practitioners;

•critically appraise some of the ways that psychology can be applied to early years.

This chapter develops your knowledge and understanding of selected psychological theories accounting for children’s growth and development. The material in the chapter explores the idea that an increased awareness of applied psychology enables children to achieve their full potential.

Introduction

This opening chapter of the book introduces you to the discipline of psychology and discusses how psychology can be applied to early years in order to improve practice. Each school of psychology has a different understanding of what constitutes the self. This understanding is outlined, analysed and critically appraised in order to explore how psychology can be applied to the early years. Throughout the chapter there are formative activities that reinforce learning in relation to the main psychological models that are of relevance for early years practitioners.

Defining the discipline of psychology

Reflective Activity 1.1

What is your understanding of the word psychology?

Feedback

Psychology is an academic discipline that studies a vast range of human and animal behaviour. Psychologists are not mind readers and they do not necessarily have access to our thoughts. They do not work solely with people who are mentally ill or people who are emotionally disturbed. These are common delusions and misinterpretations of the discipline.

‘Psychology’ is not as easy to define as it might initially appear. It is more than just a word. To a layperson an immediate reaction may be to associate psychology with ‘reading peoples’ minds’ or ‘analysing aspects of human behaviour’. A dictionary definition of psychology may give a precise explanation but this precision can disguise the complexity of the subject. An example of a dictionary definition is that psychology can be understood as being:

the scientific study of all forms of human and animal behaviour.

(Online Dictionary)

Psychology is relevant for early years practitioners because it gives explanations for children’s growth and development. This means that studying psychology enables you to increase your knowledge of key factors influencing children and families. Practitioners working with children and families may be able to increase their awareness of what influences the developing child and family life by considering the theories that have been generated by the discipline of psychology.

Origins of psychology

The word psychology is derived from two Greek words ‘psyche’, meaning mind and ‘logos’, meaning study so a literal translation of the discipline is ‘the study of the mind’. This means that psychology literally translates as the study of the mind. Malim and Birch (1998, p. 3) claim that the academic study of psychology began in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Wundt focused upon ‘introspection’, meaning observing and analysing the structure of conscious mental processes. It was the emphasis placed upon measurement and control of thinking processes that marked the separation of psychology from its parent discipline philosophy.

The rise of behaviourism

Malim and Birch (1998, p. 8) argue that by 1920 the usefulness of this method was questioned. John B. Watson was one of a number of theorists who believed that it was wrong to focus upon introspection because this approach to studying psychology is immeasurable and so it invalidated its scientific credentials. Consequently Watson dedicated himself to the study of what has become known as ‘behaviourism’, or human behaviour that is measurable and observable. Behaviourism remained the dominant force in psychology over the next 30 years, especially in the United States. The emphasis was placed upon identifying the external factors that produce changes in behaviour, learning or conditioning using a stimuli response model.

Competing perspectives

As with many philosophical and sociological perspectives, psychology is characterized by competing paradigms or models of thought, with theorists becoming grouped together according to which perspective they adopt. Malim and Birch (1998, p. 9) argue that an interesting reaction to behaviourism came in the form of the Gestalt school of psychology emerging in Austria and Germany in the 1920s popularized by psychologists such as Wolfgang Kohler (1927). This branch of psychology takes a holistic approach considering that the person is in totality greater and more complex than his or her individual characteristics. This in turn complicates a focus upon the external factors producing thoughts and behaviour.

Psychodynamic psychology

A further criticism of behaviourism developed through the twentieth century as a result of the legacy of Sigmund Freud, possibly the most famous psychologist of all. Malim and Birch (1998, p. 9) argue that Freud proposes that the mind is a combination of conscious and unconscious thoughts. If we accept that this is the case, Freud’s theory can be used to challenge behaviourism because it implies that human thought and behaviour is more complex than the behaviourist notion that external variables cause thought and behaviour.

Cognitive psychology

Alongside psychodynamic theory there emerged a further significant theory that places the emphasis upon thinking processes or cognition, in other words the ways in which we attain, retain and regain information. Within cognitive psychology an emphasis is placed on identifying what happens within the mind after a stimulus has been received. The mind is seen as being like an information processor, almost akin to a computer. Malim and Birch (1998, p. 25) explain this perspective by arguing that ‘human beings are seen as information processors who absorb information from the outside world, code and interpret it, store and retrieve it’. In a literal revolution of thought, thinking has come back full-circle and the initial criticism of introspection being unlikely to explain the complexity of human thought is asserted within this psychological theory.

Biological psychology

This view is reinforced by some of the current developments within psychology. The scientific advances of the 1990s and beyond in relation to identifying the genetic and hormonal composition of the human mind have generated enormous interest in the idea that thoughts and behaviour are determined by our biology. This may be considered to be a reductionist argument because it reduces complex thoughts and behaviour to a few variables such as hormones and genes. The ideas within biological psychology may prove to be yet another passing paradigm contributing to the on-going dialogue about the discipline of psychology that in turn will be criticized and revised.

From this initial discussion about what is meant by the word psychology we can ask a further question in relation to the nature of the human mind. ‘Is the human mind the same as the human brain?’

Reflective Activity 1.2

Do you think that the mind is the same as the brain? List three reasons why the mind might be regarded as being the same as the brain. Why might a different argument be developed that essentially argues that the mind is different to the brain?

Feedback

One answer to this question is that there is no definite answer. Philosophers have speculated for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years about what has come to be known as ‘the mind-brain problem’. Whether you focus upon the mind or the brain depends upon your fundamental understanding of how psychology should be studied. Many psychological perspectives such as behaviourism, humanism, psychodynamic and cognitive theories emphasize the importance of the mind. This is because each of these perspectives has a clear understanding or model of the mind. In contrast biological perspectives are more likely to place an emphasis upon the genes and hormones influencing the brain.

We can now look at exploring some of the psychological perspectives. This is a way of adding detail to our introductory explanations of what the subject area of psychology is. It is also a means of setting the scene before we look at how psychology can be applied to early years practice and Early Childhood Studies in particular.

The schools of psychology

Table 1.1 gives a summary of five major schools of psychology together with a brief description of their key features.

These schools of thought are especially useful to practitioners working with children and families because of the influence they have had in shaping the academic concerns of psychology. The practical application of this academic discipline appears to relate to much of the work that is undertaken with children and families. If you are working with children and families you will need to apply psychology through ‘modelling’ best practice and meeting the needs of children and families in an assertive manner. Knowledge and understanding of the competing perspectives in psychology can help you to achieve this ‘best practice’. The origins of the schools of thought go back to some of the earliest philosophical ideas to have influenced Western thought. The proposition that there are forces beyond the individual that shape social reality goes back to the ideas of the Greek philosopher Plato. This idea is central to behaviourism so the perspective has its intellectual origins in this classical thought. The notion that individuals interpret their social world as opposed to being ultimately shaped by this world goes back to the ideas of Aristotle (Audi, 1995). This philosophy is of central importance to humanism. In other words the genesis of the perspective’s dominant idea can be traced back to these early times. A summary of each of the key perspectives developing the definitions given in Table 1.1 follows. A definition of each of the key perspectives is given, key figures influencing the perspective are identified and central terms within each perspective are explained.

Behaviourism

Behaviourists emphasize the importance of external factors in producing thoughts within the human mind. A key behaviourist idea is that every individual enters the world as a ‘clean slate’. The surrounding environment is considered to be the ‘chalk’ etching its marks upon the ‘slate’ of the mind. This means that the individual enters the world without a fixed identity and that social factors are responsible for making the individual whosoever she/he becomes. The Jesuit notion of ‘giving me the boy and I’ll show you the man’ equates to this idea. This suggests that we become who we are as a result of factors beyond and outside individuals.

A number of psychologists have become famous members of the behaviourist school of thought. Burrhus Skinner, Edward Thorndike, John Watson and Ivan Pavlov have become synonymous with behaviourist psychology. All of these psychologists share in common the belief that external factors are of critical importance in producing thoughts and behaviour.

The terms ‘classical conditioning’ and ‘operant conditioning’ are particularly important within behaviourism. Classical conditioning is associated with the work of Ivan Pavlov. It has become associated with the ways whereby biological responses are regulated by external factors. This produces what has become phrased as a ‘conditioned response’ where a form of behaviour occurs in association with a particular stimulus. Operant conditioning is a term that has become associated with the work of Burrhus Skinner. It refers to the link that exists between positively affirming behaviour that reinforces a particular stimulus. To give a simple example, if a child responds favourably to a parental instruction the child is usually praised. This reinforcement of learning through praise is therefore a type of operant conditioning. In the following case study there is the exemplification of when children may experience classical and operant conditioning.

Case study

Sophie is 4 years old and she has just started school. She has been in the school for 1 month and she has already learned many of the school rules. She has noticed that when the school bell rings at 9 a.m. she has to line-up with all the other children and stand still with her arms by her side looking out for her class teacher Mrs Black. At first a number of the infants did not know what to do when the bell rang at the start of the school day. The sight of all the other children moving into line upset some of the infants as they felt afraid and anxious because they did not know what they were supposed to do. This association of the bell ringing and anxiety has gradually made the infants copy what the other older children do. Today when the bell rang at 9 a.m. nearly all of the infants copied the other older children so that they would not stand out and feel anxious. They got into line standing with their arms by their sides looking out for Mrs Black. They moved a little bit more than the other older children but their response to the bell ringing at 9 a.m. has become conditioned into acceptable behaviour. On Friday Sophie received a ‘star badge’ for her good work. She felt very pleased as she had to go onto the stage at assembly and receive her gold badge. Sophie remembered her parents’ words that in school she should always try her hardest.

Reflective Activity 1.3

What would interest behaviourist psychologists about Sophie?

Feedback

Behaviourist psychology is associated with classical and operant conditioning. A simple understanding of these two types of conditioning is that whereas classical conditioning is interested in how biological reactions are influenced by external factors, operant conditioning is concerned with how choices are influenced by external factors. The case study is relevant to both types of conditioning. The ‘fear’ and ‘anxiety’ produced by the external environment (or school) is a physical response that is generated by an external factor. The ‘learned response’ by Sophie to ‘try her hardest’ is an example of operant conditioning.

Humanism

Humanism does acknowledge the importance of environmental factors on the mind but it places an emphasis upon the individual interpretation of external factors. This means that as opposed to emphasizing the importance of external variables, attention is given to the importance of individuals interpreting social reality. Humanism can be associated with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and his ‘Copernican revolution’ of thought (Audi, 1995, p. 400). As...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Introduction
• 1 Psychology and Early Childhood Studies
• 2 Sociology and Early Childhood Studies
• 3 Social Policy and Early Childhood Studies
• 4 Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies
• 5 Enhancing Learning and Early Childhood Studies
• 6 Research Methods and Early Childhood Studies
• Conclusion
• Answers
• References
• Index