Rousseaus Theory of Natural Learning in Children

This theory is based upon Rousseau’s (1712- 1778) work he was a French philosopher. He believed that children learn naturally like an opening flower bud and are programmed to learn things at specific times; he also believed that what ever adults did children would also develop (nature). Rousseau thought children would develop regardless if there was a significant influence of an adult or environment or not. There were other psychologists like Fodor(1983) he believed that the development of mental concepts like space, number, time are ‘wired in’ to structures in the brain which are inborn which makes the adults role limited.

Naom Chomsky (1968) believed that children learned complex grammatical structures simply through hearing them being spoken. Chomsky thought that children’s brains have a structure in which allow their language to develop and that children develop new sentences and apply the rules of grammar to them rather than just copying those they have heard. This is often out of children by them making errors in a new situation e.

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g. ‘sheeps’ instead of ‘sheep’ this applies the common rule of adding an s to a plural.

This is the theory which is based upon that of Signum Freud (1856- 1939) who was also known as the father of psychoanalysis. Freud came up with the theory of personality which focuses on the unconscious mind. He sees the child passing through a series of pre-determined psychological stages as the personality develops, which are based upon the child’s level of physical maturation. These stages are called psycho sexual stages as they are part of the human drive to grow, feed, and reproduce.

Freud believed that we are all born with unconscious biological instincts, these must be learnt to control. Each one of the stages makes sure children mature and learn control. Oral stage: baby has drive to feed and engage in activities which involve the mouth and lips e. g. sucking, biting. Freud thought that how a child was weaned off breast or bottle would affect them and their future personality. Anal Stage: is when young children need to learn to control their muscles especially their anal muscles.

E. g. through potty training. The way in which they are trained is thought to have an effect on their future personality e. g. over strict training leads to a bossy or obsessive personality. Phallic stage: this relates to when children have sexual feelings towards their parents e. g. boys have sexual feelings towards their mother and wish that their fathers did not exist (Oedipus complex) girls also having sexual feelings but towards their fathers (Electra complex).

By the age of 5 or 6 years children had to learn to give up these feelings and to identify with the parent of the same sex. Freud thought how children managed this stage could have an impact on future relationships especially with opposite sex. Latency stage: this period covers middle childhood from about six years till puberty. It is a latent period as children are not ready to express their sexuality. Genital stage: this refers to the onset of puberty, when adolescents become more ready for sexual activity.