Child Development Concept - Term Paper Example

?Psychology Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 14th March, Introduction In the process ofgrowing up, people undergo different stages and these stages are common in everybody. As a result, a lot of scientists have studied child development and summarized these stages through use of different theories. This essay is going to analyze the behaviour of a young child and try to explain it through use of these different theories. Overview This study looked into the case of an 8 year old boy by the name of Jerry, who was playing in the park with his friends while his parents were watching him. Children undergo different stages of growth from childhood to adulthood and this is best explained by theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget. In our case, Jerry underwent different stages of growth so as to get to the age that he is at. These stages of development are explained below using different theories. a) Infancy stage: this is the first stage that a person undergoes and it is marked by babies placing anything into their mouths and in some cases it is referred to as the oral sensory stage. According to Erik Erikson, children in the infant stage are most concerned of visual contact and touch. According to Sigmund Freud, he describes this age as the time in which infants make use of the mouth especially in suckling for nourishment and pleasure. On the other hand, Jean Piaget explains the development of children through use of four distinct stages of cognitive development (Berk, 2010). According to his theorist, children develop a mental picture of their world and that all human beings undergo four stages of cognitive development. According to Piaget, children between the ages of 0 to 2 years are in a stage referred to as sensorimotor stage whereby they try to make out different objects in the world. In terms of cognitive development, this stage is reffered to as sensorimotor because children take objects and place them in their mouths. b) Early Childhood: According to many theorists this is a stage in the development of children that is grouped around the ages of 1.5 to 3 years. In this stage, children grow into becoming independent especially in speaking and toilet control as said by Erikson. According to Sigmund Freud, he describes this age as the time in which young children get to learn how to retain or eliminate faeces and they do this with pleasure. Many other researchers have explained this stage of life as being marked with creativity, self expression with a keen development on responsibility (Berk, 2010). In terms of language development, it is at this stage that children have fully developed their language skills. c) Play/Phallic age: In between the ages of 3 to 5 years, children develop relationship with family and try to copy the behaviours from adults around them. This stage is marked by exploration by children on their desires. However, Freud explains that this stage is children especially boys start to play with their genitals while they develop unconscious sexual feeling for their mothers. However, making use of Piaget’s model we get to know that it is within these stages that children become egocentric. Children who are young focus on themselves too much and many times they are selfish of giving out their play toys. d) School Age: This stage is mainly marked by children between the ages of 6 to 12 years and in some cases it is reffered as the latency stage. It is within this stage that children come up with the capability advancing through acquisition of new skills and knowledge while in some cases responsibility. It is at this stage that feelings of insufficiency and lowliness among peers tend to affect children as they grow up. These children now develop friendships and parents play a small role in their growth since they have no authority over their children. Freud concurs with Erikson that this stage children focus on school and making friends. e) Adolescence/The Genital stage: This stage is mainly marked by children between the ages of 12 to 18 years. It is at this stage that human development depends on what we do to ourselves or is done to us. In that we question values and morals that exist in the society and in some cases we withdraw from certain responsibilities. People who do not get through this stage successfully usually face confusion and insecurity. It is important to establish a philosophy within these stages. According to Freud, it is at this stage that adult focus on their genitals, but also on developing sexual relationships with members of the opposite sex. Freud ends his analysis on child development at the Adolescence stage however Erikson continues to analyse other stages of child growth (Sigelman, 2011). f) Young Adults: This stage is best represented by people in between the ages of 18 to 35 years and most of the people in these ages try to find love and more companions through marriages or friendships. Erikson explains that if we navigate this stage successfully we then experience deep intimacy. g) Middle Adulthood and Late Adulthood: These stages are exhibited by people of different ages in most cases it goes from 35 to 65 years for middle adulthood. While late adulthood is from the ages of 65 to death. People in the middle adulthood are occupied with creativity and meaningful work or issues surrounding the family (Berk, 2010). Building values within the family and transmitting culture are the most important tasks. In the late adulthood stage, Erikson talks of people reminiscing of their old days and asking themselves the question of what they achieved in their youthful days. In some cases, others find solace while others tend to wallow in self pity and sorrow due to despair and perceived failures. Jean Piaget’s theory: The above developmental stages are suggested by Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud. While they explain the different stages of human development, they are not quite descriptive on cognitive development as Piaget’s theory. Piaget underlines human development into four distinct stages namely: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational and Formal Operational. Piaget came up with these theories though use of natural observation in that the scientist would observe his own children or his neighbours’ children. As a result, these naturalist tendencies were explained under 4 stages of cognitive development. These stages are a must for all children to undergo and in the same sequence (Berk, 2010). In the process of undergoing the different stages of cognitive development, intellectual growth was viewed as an adaption to the current world. We adapt to the real world through assimilation, accommodation and equilibration as explained by Piaget. He talks of a 2 year old who sees a clown and bears that picture in the mind thus when he sees a bald person and laughs, he is corrected as that person being different from the clown. This process is known as accommodation and the whole process of acceptance is known as equilibration. When a child or a person adopts or gets new information from different schemas, equilibration occurs. Piaget’s contribution to developmental psychology was enormous since he came up with theory that children grow through discovering behaviours and learning schemas in the environment. Analysis People and children grow though different stages in life and these processes have been studied by different researchers. Most of these theories tested on physical and language development, interpersonal interactions, cognitive development and personality features. Psychologists Freud, Piaget and Erikson studied human beings behaviours through observations and came up with different theories on human development. For instance, Piaget explains that children think differently from adults and this assists in debunking the myth that adults are more competent than children. In the case of Jerry, we see that since he is an 8 year old, he will look upon and seek friendship among his peers (Beck, 2010). As a result, during the observation we notice that Jerry is more in tune with his friends and he enjoys the company of his a lot. This is in comparison to the attention he gives to adults and his parents. Piaget explains Concrete Operational stage in which Jerry falls under as one in which is marked by improved intelligence and reasoning (Berk, 2010). Other Psychologists such as Erikson and Freud explain Jerry age as a stage whereby he is more involved with schooling and forming bonds with children of their own gender. This stage is complicated since if a child feels has inadequacy and inferiority issues it might affect his self esteem in the future. Conclusion The process of human development is quite complex and marked with several stages that include changes in physical, interpersonal and cognitive developments. Jerry who is an 8-year old boy has undergone three changes so far from an infant into early childhood and play stages. The theories advanced by Freud, Piaget and Freud are a bit diverse but they do concur that children within the age groups of Jerry are predominantly involved in making friends. Moreover, they are involved in acquiring new skills and knowledge which they use in accomplishing different skills or work. Moreover, they are involved in building relationship with friends and people around the neighbourhood. Work Cited Berk, L. (2010). Exploring Lifespan Development. Chicago, IL: Allyn & Bacon. Print. Sigelman, C. & Rider, E. (2011). Life-Span Human Development. Chicago, IL: John Wiley and Sons. Print. Read More