Human Elaboration through the Lifespan - Assignment Example

Topic: Psychology Question Describe Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment and trace the development of attachment during the first two years This part of the paper will trace the development of the ethological development theory. The answer will try to look into the reality or the empirical evidence that supports the theory during the first two years of development. This will be arrived at by looking at the applicability of the theory in the normal life of a human being. According to the theory, attachment is the strong emotional bond that develops in the stages of development of the human being more so between the infant and the caregiver (Berk, 2007). The main reason that the attachment is developed is that the attachment leads to the creation of a feeling of security in the infant. The development of attachment of an infant to any object or person follows a predictable pattern. In the first half of first year during the development of the child, there is little attachment in the student to things that are around them (Thies & Travers et al., 2009). Most of the children are always indifferent to the objects and people that are around them during this stage of development (Gibson-Cline, 1983). However, as the infant progresses to the second year of the development there is a tendency of developing an attachment inclination to the objects and the people that are around him or her. The child has grown accustomed to the people that interact with him and he has associated them with something. In most of the instances, the attachment to the people arises because of the association of the child with security. During the first year of development, the child also has an inclination to work hard towards the attainment of the right approach to the life in the new environment. The bond at this stage can be created by use of some special sounds. During this stage, the baby can cry to have the attention of the parent or be fed (Berk, 2007). As the child develops in the life, he or she is more aware of the need to come up with the best approaches of handling the environment and the only way that the child attains this is by creating sounds and behaviour that will keep the adults drawn to it. The child is attached to the adults that are around it but it can also be attached to some of the inanimate objects. At this stage, the attachment is unconditional and the child has not developed any real attachment notions (Thies & Travers, 2001). However, as the child proceeds to the second year of development, the attachment to the things that are around him or her change. He is able to make real affectionate bonds with the people that are around him or her. The development of the cognitive and emotional capacities determines the new development to the attachments (Berk, 2007). The history of the consistent care that comes from the adults or even the constant attention from a pet determines the creation of the best relationships with the pet or person (Thies& Travers et al., 2009). This attachment is more detailed and the child now has the capacity to show care to the animal or the person that he or she is attached to (Beckett, 2002). The development of attachment in the second year also determines the pervasive nature of the attachment in the future (Gibson-Cline, 1983). This trend is best explained from the fact that in most of the research there is a tendency of sustained attachment attained during the first years of development. The inner bond that was created during this stage of development has a major imprint on the personality that the child develops when he grows up. Question 2 In addition to the cerebral cortex, which other parts of the brain make strides during early childhood? Identify the applicable brain structures and discuss their impact on development. The brain development takes place during pregnancy such that by the time that the child is born, the brain has over million brain cells. The brain cells are not well developed at this stage of life since they neuron pathways have to be allowed to adopt the necessary environmental fact that will make them effective in the end (Berk, 2007). The early stages of brain development are important since at these stages the brain is allowed to eliminate the excess neurons in the brain. The early stage of development is important since they have the integration of the environmental influences on the brain development. The environment is so important in the brain development since it does not affect the development of the brain in terms of the numbers but it also determines the way that the brain cells are wired. The elimination of excess neurons and synapses continues into the adolescent age (Berk, 2007). The early stages of the brain development are important in that it determines the reduction of the dene brain material. The reconfiguration of the brain after the initial stages of development is hard at the later stages of life. The medulla oblongata also develops in the early stages of life. The part of the brain is responsible for the memory (Thies & Travers et al., 2009). This area of the brain is normally not well developed in the early stages of life since the experiences of the child are minimal. It barely has the remembrance of the basic functions of the body such as eating which arise from the reflexes that one has. However, as the child develops, he has the capacity to take the activities that will be happening around him or her and save them in that area of the brain (Gibson-Cline, 1983). This means that the challenge that comes from the exposure to information and new ways of doing work will have a lasting impact on the development of the brain to make the brain mass less dense and more receptive to changes that in the earlier years. The pituitary gland does not develop so well until the attainment of adolescents. At this age, the glad is made in such a manner that it can secrete the growth hormones that affect the functionality of the brain (Thies& Travers et al., 2009). The development of the pituitary is not the same in all the people. Some people have high development rate for the gland such that they have early adolescence. The other people are not able to develop as fast as the other leading to the people that are known as late bloomers. The cortex is the largest part of the brain. It is mainly responsible for the memory (Gibson-Cline, 1983). It develops as the child keeps on gathering new information (Thies & Travers et al., 2009). The approach to parenting will definitely have a large impact on the development of the intellectual capacity of the child. The parents have to create the most enabling environment that will have a significant impact on the creation of a regular brain development. The parents can attain this by offering a challenging environment to their children (Thies & Travers, 2001). Question3 Explain the core knowledge perspective of cognitive development, noting research that both supports and challenges its assumptions. Describe the information processing view of cognitive development including its contributions and limitations. According to Piaget, the development of the cognition also increases to reflect the various influencing elements in the life of the person. One of the major issues that permeate the development of the child is the biological background of the child. The children that have a good biological background whereby they eat well and are well taken care of by the parents always show a different approach in the development (Steinberg, 2011). The cognitive development is mainly viewed as a continuous adaptive process that allows the child to attain a better relation with the external environment. The majority of the research indicates the pattern that the development of cognition in the child assumes (Thies& Travers, 2001). Piagetian approach to the cognitive development points out that are four stages in the development that are applicable in a universal scale (Berk, 2007). The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, which takes place between the 0-2 years. The stage marks the transformation of the sensors and the reflex patterns to approaches that are more flexible. The child is now capable of performing the same takes that are often carried out by the older children. The second stage of development is the preoperational stage. This stage takes the ages of 2-7 years. The stage has some unique aspects that mark out the development of the child and it provides the child with an avenue to present his or her personality, as it will develop in future. The stage is marked with rapid changes in the mental representation such as the make-believe play, language and art such as drawing. The changes in the above aspects are the initial indicator that the child has entered the preoperational stage in the development of cognition. As the age of the child progresses, the make-believe aspects develop in complexity. The drawings of the children in this stage of development change in a manner that they are more complex and they are no longer scribbles but they are complex images that manifest the stage of life that the child is in. in the third year of life there is a rapid development of the dual representation (Beckett, 2002). The children are capable of comparing the representations such as drawings and photos with the real life situations (Steinberg, 2011). However, in as much as the children are aware of the surroundings, they are not able to start any operations. This is mainly because the majority of the children at the second stage of cognitive development have an egocentric approach to all issues. They look at the issues according to what they think will help them (Berk, 2007). They are keen on what they think of situations in their lives such as the fact that they have the tendency of sticking to their opinions and they are unable to distinguish the opinion of other people from their own. The fact that the children are unable to distinguish the views of the other people from their opinions makes them have a high degree of concentration. They have the animalistic approach to thinking. The children often focus on the superficial aspects and irreversibility. This is a major deterrent to the development of the right approaches to education (Thies& Travers et al., 2009). Question 4 Describe the characteristics and signs of high-quality education in elementary school. Describe the U.S No Child Left Behind Act and discuss the pros and cons of high stake testing. The other stages in development are the concrete operational stage, which takes the 7-11 years of the development of the child. In this, stage the children are capable of taking the operations that are necessary for the schools (Steinberg, 2011). The children are cable to make transitive inference. At the ages that are above 11 years, the children are capable of indulging with the hypothetical based deductive reasoning. The children that are in this class in the final stage of development in which the operation is formal (Thies & Travers, 2001). However, the processes of development as proposed by Piaget are not purely acceptable. In some studies, the development has been challenged by the failure of the children to follow the laid out approach. In some cases, the children indicate development of abstractions mores so in the school going children albeit on a less developed scope compared to the adults and adolescents (Berk, 2007). However, the stages proposed by Piaget are important in the creation of the fundamental basis of the development of cognition in the children (Thies& Travers et al., 2009). The ideal class size in the ideal elementary school education has to be small and compact such that it includes all the people. On this kind of class, the children are capable of developing at attracting the attention of teacher. The children that learn in a small class size are capable of receiving the personalized attention of the teacher. In the normal lesson span, the teacher will be able to help some of the weak students with their class work on an individual capacity. This is all that the children call for in order for them to come up with the ideal conditions (Thies& Travers, 2001). The children in the small class size have less chances of acting out in a bid to catch the attention of the teacher (Beckett, 2002). This means that the teacher will have little indiscipline issues with such a child. Whenever the teacher is operating at an optimum class size of 18 children, the teacher has better control over the students. The attainment of class control is the first stage towards the attainment of the reception levels that one needs in the class setting (Steinberg, 2011). The use of the space in the small class size is also more improves that in the large class. The students will have the right approach to education if the class space is divided into activity centers (Steinberg, 2011). There are areas for reading, playing science and such aspects. This classification means that the children have association of some parts of the class with specific aspects (Berk, 2007). The use of the space has to be made in consideration of the major aspects of education that affect all the students. The space ought to be used in such a flexible manner that it suits the needs of the individual students and the entire class. Therefore, there is no rigid class space use manual. The creativity of the teacher determines the use of the classroom space to suit the needs of the class (Thies& Travers, 2001). The diversity of the class needs and the commonality of all the students have to be reflected. For instance in the classes, the children ought to have different access to the areas of their interest instead of forcing them to work with a schedule on occasions. The best elementary classes also have mechanisms that foster better interactions between the students and teachers, the students and the other students and teachers and parents (Berk, 2007). The curriculum ought to be designed in a manner that will make the education in these classes appealing to all the students (Thies& Travers et al., 2009). No child left act is a major step towards the addition of diversity in the education sector. The use of the act will lead to the increase of access to education by all the students. The classes will be designed to reflect the individual attributes of the children. The main limitation of high stake testing in education is that it leads to the creation of a large array of information that will most likely be shelved. The advantage of this approach is that it leads to the inclusion of the children aspects leading to a focus oriented education system (Steinberg, 2011). This means that the non-child left cat may end up being less implemented even though there will be information on the possible approaches that the government can use to improve the education aspect. Question 5 Describe age and sex differences in children’s adjustment to remarriage and entry into blended families. Describe the benefits and challenges of being reared as an only child. How does the development of the Chinese children compare to the U.S only children? In the contemporary American society, the incidences of second marriages are increasing owing to the high rate of divorce. It is a common scenario to find out that the parents that remarry have had a child or more from their previous marriages. The existence of children in the remarriages leads to presentation of new challenges some of which may be simmering under the surface while others are explicit (Berk, 2007). The issue of the child adjustment to the other family and the newly acquired brothers leads to the creation of major challenges to the parents of the children that have remarried. The pattern of the reactions that the children indicate depends largely on the gender and age of the children. In the event that the child in question is in the adolescents, there is likelihood that the children will set their boundaries. In most of the cases, the children will be openly hostile towards each other since they view each other as unwarranted additions to the family (Thies & Travers et al., 2009). The fact that the adolescents have had a long exposure to their parents may mean that the children will have hard time accepting the change. Younger children are generally more receptive to the stepsiblings compared to the older children. Gender differences are evident in all ages when it comes to the acceptance of the other siblings. The girls are hostile towards the new parent and the stepsiblings (Berk, 2007). On the contrary, the male children are more relaxed and would like to try understanding the other children. However, the boys will still attempt to stump their authority in the arrangement by placing clear boundaries that define the power that they have. The upbringing that results to a single child in a family leads to the development of lasting impacts on the child. The main benefit of being brought up as the only child is that the child will end up having all the attention from the parents. The parents will have a sense of possession and they tend to provide the child with all that he or she wants to have. This attention is good since most of the only children end up developing a sense of responsibility towards their parents in early stages (Berk, 2007). The major disadvantage of being the only child is that it may leads to too much attention and influence form the parent such that the child is incapable of making the decision on major aspects of his life on his own, they may become too dependent on the parent to the extent of failing to develop in all the aspects. The Chinese way of child upbringing focuses on the role of the child in the society. This is mainly because the option of having many children is out of question. The Chinese bring up their children with a plan that they have to follow (Beckett, 2002). Marriages are even planned in the nation. In America, the attachment of the parents to the child is not as explicit; the children generally have the option of making their own choices. References Beckett, C. (2002). Human growth and development. London: SAGE. Berk, L. E. (2007).Development through the lifespan. Boston, MA: AllynAnd Bacon. Gibson-Cline, J. (1983). Living, human development through lifespan. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. Steinberg, L. D. (2011). Lifespan development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Thies, K. M. & Travers, J. F. (2001).Human growth and development through the lifespan. Thorofare, NJ: Slack, Inc. Thies, K. M., Travers, J. F. &Thies, K. M. (2009).Growth and development through the lifespan. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones And Bartlett Publishers. Read More