Freud Bandura Childhood Development Theories Comparison

According to White, Hayes, & Livesey (2016), Freudian theory was one of the most influential theories of human development upon subsequent child development theorists. Freud believed that three fundamental structures influenced personality development from birth: the id, ego, and superego. The id was what infants were born with, the pleasure-seeking principle that enabled the infant to direct his or her attention to what gave the infant satisfaction (first the mouth, later the anus). The ego enabled the infant to assess socially determined influences and standards that enable or prevent the infant to satisfy his or her pleasures. This is the reality principle. Finally, the superego or conscience balances the primitive desires of the id against the moral influences the superego has internalized.

Freud viewed sexuality as the main driver of human development, beginning with infancy. However, one of the negatives of Freud’s theory is that it cannot be observed or tested. It also places an extremely strong emphasis on only one aspect of human experience. Later theorists, such as Albert Bandura, placed much greater emphasis on observable, versus internal behaviors, and also placed greater emphasis on later stages of childhood development, which were much easier for a researcher to test empirically. His theory of social modeling stressed that children modeled their behaviors on those whom they could observe (White et al. 2016). Children were more apt to model high-status individuals (the characteristics of the observer) while lower status individuals, like children, were more apt to change their behaviors, based on observation (White et al. 2016). Bandura also noted that when the consequences of modeling the behavior (both positive for doing so or negative for not doing so) were greater, then children and other lesser-status individuals were more apt to engage in modeling (White et al. 2016).

Bandura’s social learning theory and Freudian theory are not entirely incompatible, it should be noted. Freud also stresses that children model behaviors. One reason the superego plays such an important role in children’s development is that it enables children to model positive, socially acceptable behaviors, so they do not simply do whatever gives them pleasure, regardless of the consequences to others. Bandura’s theory, however, does not stress that repressing sexual impulses is the most important part of a child’s development. Rather it is modeling and shaping a variety of behaviors that enables a child to become an adult functioning in society. Depending on whether the child has positive or negative role models, the child may behave aggressively or kindly.

Freud rarely observed actual children. Rather he derived his theories from talking to adults, relying upon their memories and perceptions (White et al. 2016). This may be one reason why his theories seem to be particularly skewed in favor of emphasizing sexuality first and foremost, versus Bandura, who observed children interacting with one another in a variety of contexts. Bandura’s theory also places more emphasis on the child actively learning, and specific behaviors being reinforced indirectly as well as directly. For example, when a child observes one of his peers becoming popular with other children and being praised by adults for excelling in sports, the child wants to emulate that specific behavior, to gain social approval. Freud might interpret this behavior solely as a way of appearing sexually attractive to the opposite sex.