Child Development Theories and Examples

Freudian Processes

It is no accident that hypotheses suggested by Freud appear repeatedly in the section on emotional reorganizations. Psychoanalysis remains one of the most fertile sources of hypotheses about emotional development. Although researchers have generally neglected psychoanalytic ideas about emotional development, especially for the school-age child, a resurgence of interest is evident.
In fact, there are signs that a major conceptual breakthrough may be in progress. For years many scholars have been dissatisfied with Freud's model of the mind (Hartmann, 1939; Holt, 1976; Schafer, 1976). Repeatedly the suggestion has been made that the cognitive-developmental orientation might well provide the framework necessary to rebuild the psychoanalytic theory of the mind (Rapaport, 1951; Schimek 1975; Wolff, 1967). A group of neo-Freudians has been working to construct a position called "object relations" theory that makes significant steps toward integrating the cognitive-developmental and psychoanalytic orientations (for example, Kernberg, 1976; Winnicott, 1971). More recently, Feffer (1982) has suggested a recasting of the distortions of primary process in cognitive-developmental terms.
These integrations of psychoanalysis and cognitive development have already led to a large number of interesting empirical claims. For example, it has been hypothesized that mechanisms of defense follow a developmental progression (A. Freud, 1966; Fischer and Pipp, in press; Haan, 1977; Vaillant, 1977). Repression appears to first develop at age 3-4, which is the approximate age of emergence of the ability to relate representations. Several sophisticated mechanisms of defense, such as sublimation, suppression, and mature humor, do not seem to emerge until after age 11 or 12, when formal operations are beginning. These are only a few of the many interesting hypotheses in the literature about emotional development in school-age children.
Despite the easy access of such hypotheses, there have been few studies testing them. Mahler et al. (1975) assessed the development of mother-child relationships in infants and preschool children, which supported several object-relations hypotheses about the early development of self. With school-age children it is difficult to find any systematic research. Clearly, this is another promising direction.