Conceptions about psychic development. The problem about the study of the psyche , taking into account its formation and development , as well as the conditions and determinants thereof, are of great importance, since it is directly related to the nature of psychic phenomena , with their essence, in relation to Which have raised questions about the role of the biological and the social, the role of the internal and the external.
Summary
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- 1 Biological conception of the psyche
- 1 Biological inheritance directly expressed
- 2 Maturation of the nervous system or preformism
- 2 Sociological conception of the psyche
- 1 Behaviorism
- 2 Environmentalism-culturalist
- 3 Theory of convergence or of the two factors
- 4 Theory of intellectual development
- 1 Psychopedagogical characteristics
- 5 Sources
Biologist Conception of the Psyche
Within the biologist conception of the psyche, two significant positions will be referred to:
- a) Biological inheritance directly expressed.
- b) The maturation of the nervous system or preformism.
Biological inheritance directly expressed
This current starts from the fact that biological inheritance determines the properties and psychic characteristics of the individual, which will be expressed directly from birth . Therefore, the psyche will have its own laws of development , given once and for all, based on the laws of heredity , which will inevitably determine the characteristics, possibilities and performance of the subject throughout his life and where the External conditions of the environment will not be able to exert any influence to modify them.
In this case, the relationship between education and psychic development is posed as follows: education acquires a secondary character, plays only an informative role and in no way formative. It is nothing more than the scenario that allows the individual to unfold those potentialities that he already has by inheritance.
Maturation of the nervous system or preformism
In essence, this position states that psychic development is determined by the maturation process of the nervous system, which follows a genetically established plan. As this maturation takes place, different psychological characteristics appear, new possibilities appear and the performance of the subjects changes.
At present the psychologists who support this position try to compare races , cultures , taking into account hereditary factors , which is clearly evidenced in some research with newborns .
This theory of preformism reduces all psychic development to growth, to the quantitative variation of the qualities already possessed, denying development as the emergence of new qualities.
In this case, these authors conceive the Education-Psychic Development relationship in the following way: teaching must lag behind development, as it emphasizes the need for the latter to follow a spontaneous course, that is, that educational action must wait for the opportune moment to take action.
Sociological conception of the psyche
This conception, which by its origins is related to English sensualism, in opposition to the previous one, considers that the child, at the moment of birth, is a “clean sheet”, and that under the influence of the external conditions in which it develops , all the psychic qualities of man appear in it, therefore, the determination of the psyche is environmental or social, hence its name.
Within it you can refer to two positions:
- a) Behaviorism.
- b) Culturalist environmentalism.
Behaviorism
This behavior is formed from the relationship that is established between a stimulus and the response that the individual makes to said stimulus, through conditioning, hence it relies on the stimulus-response scheme (E – R) to explain all the behaviors of the subject, explicitly stating that every response is conditioned, that is, that it is learned.
Hence, it is suggested that development is the reserve of behaviors acquired through learning , based on the formation of conditioned reflexes.
Therefore, the determining factor is the environment, which will inevitably shape the psyche of the individual. It completely discards the role of internal factors in human psychic development , be it these instincts , heredity, or nervous system, since it considers that the innate is irrelevant in said development.
On the other hand, it is considered that the laws of formation of the conditioned reflex are the same for man as for animals, so he sees the human and animal development the same, since he does not consider that there are qualitative differences, hence it is characterized this trend for carrying out a large amount of research on animals, the results of which are extrapolated directly to man.
An interesting aspect in this conception refers to the passive role that is given to man, which cannot modify the conditions in which he develops, he is only a product of them by adapting to them.
In this position, the relationship between education and psychic development is linked, that is, development is measured based on the number of habits and new behaviors that the individual acquires. Therefore, teaching and development coincide in all their points.
Environmentalism-culturalist
Although the representatives of this position coincide with behaviorism in which the psychic is determined by environmental factors, however, they do not start from the ER scheme, but instead are based on the action of the culture (or the cultural environment) in which they live the subject.
In this way, culture will determine (also fatally) the psychological characteristics of the individual: capacities, behaviors, ways of thinking, ideas, feelings, motivations.
In a similar way to the previous position, the representatives of this consider the identification of teaching-psychic development as a fact. Hence, they work from compensatory education and early stimulation of the individual’s development.
Theory of convergence or of the two factors
For this theory the process of psychic development is determined by the convergence of heredity and the environment, and at all times tries to make them compatible. Development occurs by the simultaneous influence of congenital tendencies and the environment. In development, inheritance provides the structure and education, the environment, triggers or develops it. As in a structure of the psyche.
However, in this case, heredity is conferred the determining role, while the environment is assigned only the role of the conditions that realize the hereditarily predetermined particularities of the psyche.
However, in this conception there is a new perspective of seeing the relationship between education and psychic development, in relation to the previous ones, since, in the first place, it combines the previous points of view, which apparently are opposite, which indicates that they are not as disparate or exclusive as they seemed, but they have something in common.
Second, it tries to see the two aspects that constitute psychic development in relation to each other. Therefore, a better role is attributed to education in the development of the child, although the determining role is given to biological maturation, and that is why education has a limit set from within to educational action , beyond from which it is not possible to advance at a certain time.
Among the three conceptions there are coinciding aspects, which it is good to highlight:
- In the biologist and sociologist (or environmentalist) conception a factor is unilateralized (inheritance or environment), while in that of the two factors, although it tries to harmonize them, it does not achieve it, since it takes sides, ultimately, by the biological factor.
- In all three conceptions, man is considered a passive being, dependent on heredity or environment. Nowhere is it reflected how qualitatively different there is between man and animals; development is conceived as evolution, as increase or decrease, as repetition, that is, its contradictory nature is not included.
Theory of intellectual development
The source of psychic development is the immanent organization and coordination of the actions of the subject, whose internalization leads to the emergence of the so-called reversible operations, whose system forms the structures of thought, which will be the mechanisms of intelligence, which will assure man the balance with the object through self-regulation.
Intellectual development is identified with the development of the subject’s thought, in which there is a successive transition from the most elementary stage (sensorimotor) to that of the formal operations of thought.
The most significant thing is that this transit occurs spontaneously and is subject to the coordination of operations and the tendencies of the operating structures to equilibrium. Therefore, psychic development sees it as something independent of education and teaching , in this case, the pedagogical process must follow development, so that the development of the child is presented as a process subject to natural laws, which takes place in A form of maturation, teaching understands it as a purely external use of the possibilities that arise in the development process.
It is considered that the indicator that there is a certain development is found in how the child thinks about a new task not known to him, not what the child knows, nor what he is capable of assimilating, therefore, it opposes teaching and development.
Psychopedagogical characteristics
The Socio-Historical-Cultural current recognizes the importance of personal growth in psychic development, both in the norm and in the deviation and declares that this growth occurs in the context of the system of social relations, in which that personality in formation is develops and takes into account the active role of the subject in their formation by stating that ultimately, development occurs from the accumulated individual experience that occurs, through how the subject lives the social situation. In this sense, the principle is shared that personal history is significant to understand the subject’s situation and to promote, in this, the process of personal development and necessary change. This very approach tells us that difficulties arise as a result of unfavorable living conditions and education. “These conditions lead to the limitation of sensory experience in children and their communication with those around them, and at the same time retard their intellectual development, as well as hinder the harmonious development of their personality.
