Chapter one provided a brief overview on child development, which included debated topics, theories and the various stages of development. The chapter was an introduction to readers that outlined the basic notions of child development and how they can be implemented while working with children. The field of development includes factors such as nature, nurture, existing conditions for the child and the child’s own traits. In order to understand and effectively work with children, the chapter emphasizes the importance of each factor and how they relate. Child development has been divided into three categories: physical development, cognitive development and social-emotional development. Although different, these domains are interconnected and …show more content…
nurture argument. Theorists have wondered how much of development is affected by genetics and the environment. Ultimately, nature and nurture intertwine to shape the lives of children. Nature may predispose children to certain behaviors if placed in specific environments, however the timing of the environmental exposure and the child’s natural tendencies also play a role. Theorists have also discussed the extent to which development is universal and how much of it is unique to individuals. There are consistencies that have been noted universally yet; theorists have observed variations in their competency in different tasks and way of life that may be contributed to genetics or the environment. Lastly, theorists debate about whether changes in development can be portrayed as qualitative where it involves dramatic changes or quantitative in which development is a steady progression. These debates have merits independently but require each other for a better understanding of child …show more content…
The biological theory refers to the focus of genetic factors that assist the child in adjusting to their environment. The theory highlights the importance of maturation of children’s bodies and their motor skills. The restriction of the biological theory however, is that it discounts the impact of children’s experiences. Behaviorism theory concentrates on children’s behavioral and emotional responses to changes in the environment. The argument against behaviorism is that it focuses on children’s visible behavior and ignores their thought process. The social learning theory interprets children’s beliefs and goals as affecting their behavior by what they learn when they observe others. In the psychodynamic theory, emphasis is on the interaction between internal conflict, early childhood experiences and the environment. Theorists focus on the personality development and how these early experiences play a role later in life. In cognitive-development theories, the concentration is on how the thinking process changes over time. Although it promotes adults to recognize children as curious minds trying to make sense of their environment, the theories lack clear stages that a child’s thought process goes through. Cognitive process theories similarly, also focus on thought process but more so on how people decipher information they see and hear. Sociocultural theories emphasize the affect of social
For ease of review in discussing the developmental theorists and their theories of human development I have subdivided each theorist into their respective schools of psychology. These schools include the psychoanalytic school, behavioral school, humanistic school, cognitive school, and the individual schools of psychology. Each developmental theorist holds their own unique ideas and theories about various components of human development. I will be discussing the contributions of each of these theorists.
Nature and Nurture is Theme number one in the Enduring Themes of Human Development. It helps psychologist’s come to many conclusions in terms of how children develop through time with their genetic material and their
Experts have devised a standard pattern of development for a healthy child in ideal conditions. But it is not possible that every child is born fit and gets the deserved conditions. Nature and nurture both equally contribute to the development of a child. Deficiencies in nurturing and/or abnormalities of nature may cause development not to follow the expected pattern. Natural factors are mainly personal, physical, emotional, etc. while nurturing is contributed by family, environment, culture, expectation, exposure, etc.
1. The nature vs. nurture question: “How much of any given characteristic, behavior, or pattern of development is determined by genetic influence and how much is the result of the myriad experience that occurs after conception.” I believe that a person cannot develop properly through only one of the influences. Chapter 1 deals with controversies of nature vs. nurture. Chapter 2, Leaning Theory that falls under the nature issues of capacities and limitations and the cognitive theory which falls under the nurture issue of cultural and how it affects behavior. Chapter 3, is Genetic code, which is nature, genetic influences. Chapter 4, Development and Birth is nurture, environment and embryo influence. Chapter 5, is both nature and nurture. Dealing with subjects of motor skills and physical growth. Chapter 6, is cognitive learning, which is nurture. Chapter 7, is Psychosocial dealing with falling under nature.
Even though nature and nurture is still being a hot topic, in the light of recent research, most of the people now believe that both play a significant role in development. Instead of separating and handling their contributions one by one, it is more realistic to adopt a holistic approach and understand how these forces work together to make us what we are.
Whether raised by parents properly or heavily influenced by the environment, many people debate whether an individual is mostly influenced by genetics or influenced by their environment. A person’s environment can have multiple influences, but the genes passed down by parents play a huge role in developing how their offspring will turn out to be. Being unable to properly test whether certain characteristics of a person come from genetics or the influences of the environment makes this theory very difficult to understand, thus making the topic of nature vs. nurture extremely controversial. The debates always show that nature and nurture contrast but then there may be evidence that suggest that the two are linked and a person is actually an enigma characterized by the mixture of predisposed genetics and environmental influences. The idea that nature and nurture are joined is great to oppose nativists, people on the nature side, and empiricists, people sided with nurture. As mentioned before, the topic is very intricate due to its general difficulty to test for external factors influen...
Nature versus nurture is one of the oldest and most studied debates in the history of psychology. This debate is about an individual’s genetic influences as opposed to the environmental influences on physical characteristics and intelligence (Rathus 197). Some think that genes determine an individual’s development and others think that it comes from how one was raised. My development was influenced by nature and nurture equally because I would not be myself if I did not get my ambition from my mother and my manners from my upbringing.
The study of children and their development is a new interdisciplinary field unifying research from sociology, anthropology, development psychology, law, and healthcare. Childhood studies emerged from the universal need to understand children’s development, their susceptibility to external factors, and what it means to be a child from the child 's perspective. Children differ depending on many factors, such as place, time, social status, religion, and tradition, and each of these aspects
Theories of child development have been researched and published over the years. These researches have been done by popular theorists four of whom are Piaget (1896 –1980), Vygotsky (1896 –1934), Ausubel (1918 –2008) and Kohlberg (1927 –1987). First and foremost let me define the term theory. A theory is a collection of related statements; the principal function of which is to summarize and explain observations. It is in a sense an invention designed to make sense of what we know or suspect. Developmental theory on the other hand is a systematic statement of principles and generalizations that provides a coherent framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow older. The writer in her essay will outline two theories of development Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget who spoke about the moral and cognitive development respectively.
The nature nurture debate explains the key process of explaining how a child grows, changes and develops. The nature nurture debate is a debate about the contributions of genetics and the environment on human development. ….
Do children follow the footsteps of their parents because of nurture or nature? This debate of whether kids develop traits is from their environment or guardian, is something that has been ongoing for years now. One of the most original arguments in psychology history is the Nature vs Nurture debate. While both nature and nurture play important roles in human development, each side of the argument indicates a theory that makes it hard to decide whether a person's development is predisposed in his DNA, or a majority of it is influenced by his or her life experiences and environment.
“Nurture could have an even greater effect than originally thought, according to a University of Manchester study that is set to shake up the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate” (Phys.com). A long debated question between professions is weather nature or nurture has more effect on the development of a human being. Nature being the genetic one is given through their birth, while nurture is the experiences and environment one is surrounded by throughout life. Although nature does have an affect on a humans development, nurture has a much greater effect.
Regarding our physical, psychological, and behavioral development, the two sources of stimulus are nature and nurture. Nature involves the inheritance of specific genes, shared by the view of Nativism, which believes that our brains are “hardwired” at birth. This means that we are predetermined at birth to be exactly what our brain has planned for us. The opposing force is nurture, which shares an empiricism view that a “blank slate” or Tabula Rasa theory is the indication that we develop mainly by the influences and experiences of environmental and social experiences. Interestingly, nurture has been expanded to include prenatal, parental, and peer experience as well as media, advertisement, and economic status. Due to modern research, we have found that neither force can account for full developmental responsibility. Donald Hebb, known psychologist, was once asked, “which, nature or nurture, contributes more to personality?" and in response asked, "Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width?". His statement supports the idea that both nature and nurture contribute to human development, and similarly, a rectangle’s width and length are essential for determining its area….. Having distinguished between nature and nurture, I would like to narrow the focus of biological development to the scientific approach of this
The child is a complex creature and, as such, has many needs that need to be met. Some of these essentials center on physical needs, whereas others involve emotional necessities. Over the course of the semester, I have encountered many interesting theories of child development, as well as numerous ways to create a classroom that is a center of learning—so many, in fact that it has been quite challenging trying to narrow the important takeaways down to only seven. However, it seems as though there are a few overarching themes that are essential to remember, and I will outline them below.
Child psychology is a science that gives parents a set of guidelines to which they can refer too if they are experiencing difficulties in raising their child. When a child is ten years old, social development and self-concept are two domains of development that mold a child into an adult. Robert Kail was a researcher who developed these four themes in child development. Two out of those four themes can relate to the two domains of social development and self-concept.