Understanding the Child Psychology - Research Paper Example

 Child Psychology Psychology can be defined as the study of behaviour and mind through different methods which are not necessarily scientific methods. Scientific methods are basically careful study or observation of various aspects and then attempting to control various aspects so that they can be related to something else as a cause. Study of psychology through scientific methods revolves around study of various types of behaviour, attitudes, opinions and also measurement of the responses. These methods could be repeated over time to check results. An important aspect of psychology is that its knowledge and research is always under a process of revolution. For example it was initially thought that object permanence evolved at the age of eight months however, studies have shown that babies develop object permanence sooner (Brain and Mukherji 1-2). The scientific methods used can comprise of experiments such as testing for object permanence or they can be in the form of questionnaires asking people questions regarding the subject of interest. The less scientific methods used to study child psychology include observations, case studies or interviews. Historically it was thought that children were only the smaller versions of adults and did not differ from them a lot. However, Jean Piaget was the first to suggest that children actually think differently from adults and although it was a simple discovery, it was quite important in laying the foundations of child psychology (Cherry). The child psychology is the integrative study of social aspects of the child, culutural develhopment, socioeconomic context along with the internal thoughts of the child, internal factors such as genetics, personal characteristics and environmental factors as well. Social context of child psychology is also very important as relationships with friends and adults greatly effect the children and also how they learn new things, develop and think. Not only friends but family, schools and other social circles make an important part of the social context. The culture the child lives in is equally important as it sets principles, morals, customs, ways of livings and shared assumptions for the child. Not only in childhood, cultural context is an important part of development and influence throughout one’s lifespan. Culture also plays a critical role in defining the education levels of the child, relationship with the parents and also the type of child care that is provided. Social class is another important aspect of child psychology and development. Socioeconomic status revolves aorund various factors such as the academic status of people, amount of money earned, job positions and residential areas. Children who are raised in high socioeconomic status have the opportunity to receive greater amount of facilities and chances as compared to those children who are raised in lower socioeconomic status. The quality of nutrtion, education, extra-cirrcular activities, health care all are better as compared to the lower socioeconomic group. Hence, a clear difference in the psychological development and evolution can be observed between the two groups. It has to be remembered that the three contexts are interacting with each other and one cannot be observed or studied separately without the influence of the other (Cherry). Child psychology includes certain essential parts. These include genetics, environmental influences, prenatal development, social growth, personality development, language development, gender roles, cognitive development and sexual development. Nature vs nuture is an important theory in child psychology. It emphasizes on the extent to which the nature of the child that is the inherited characterisitics and the ‘nurture’ that is the environmental factors influence the child’s development. One of them cannot be tagged as the dominant factor as both of them are interlinked and affect each other. For example the birth weight of the infant is affected by the environmental factors such as smoking mother even during the prenatal period. Environment plays a key role in the evolution of child’s psychology. From the moment of conception, these factors become important for example the age and nutrition of the mother. It has been proved through researches that even before birth babies are affected by the sounds they hear. From birth babies are socialised that is they are in the constant supervision or surrounding of parents, family, school, friends and even other influences such as media. Some babies might be privated where they do not interact with people around them. They do not have any attachments around them from the start and they have no one to care from them from the start. This leaves the baby in a poor condition, unable to develop language, motor skills and other important milestones. This emphasizes the role of engaging the child with the world around them so that they can develop normally (Brain and Mukherji 18-20). Genetics also paly a crucial role in the psychological health outcomes of the baby. However, they too are linked to the environmental factors as proven through research that there is a possible interaction between the prenatal smoking and genetic risk factors which leads to aggressive behavior in the children, especially the girls. It has been seen that not all children with exposure to prenatal smoking develop behovioral problems rather only the children with trigegering influences such as a genetic factor have higher risk. Moreover, the interaction between prenatal smoking and genetic risk factors was isolated to females (Sam Houston State University). Babies’ brains are growing even after birth and neurons are under the process of development or making new connections. Brain growth is completed during the third to fourth year of life. Although brain growth is linked to genetics and biological basis, however environmental input is crucial for its development. Opportunities to explore, loving caring environment, nourishing and nurturing environment and loving interactions with parents are all important environmental factors in normal brain development (Brain and Mukherji 24). Psychological disorders are basically aberrations from the normal psychological development and behaviors or throughts. It can be defined as “a pattern of behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or physical symptoms shown by an individual” (Mash and Wolfe 11). These factors are further associated with expression of distress or fear by the child, display of disability along with the behavior of the child and the disability is associated with increased risk for further suffering or harm for the child such as leading to death or increased pain and disability or loss of freedom. Early chidhood maltreatment can lead to several possible outcomes such as eating disorders, mood disorders, conduct disorders or even normal adjustment of the child (Mash and Wolfe 13-14). An important part of the child’s psychological development is the role of parents in his/her development. Parents can influence the child’s development in three major manners. These include direct interation such as a mother praising a three year old for finishing his meal, a father threatening the child of punishment if he does not go to bed or a parent naming an unknown animal in a picutre book. These are some examples of direct interaction, which influence the development of the child. Emotional identification is the second method of parents’ interaction with the child where the child preceives the parents’ personality, talents, characters as his own and hence become of utmost importance. If a mother is afraid of storms, the daughter might assume that she is also afraid of storms. Hence, this is an important part of the child’s personality development. Family stories is the third mechanismby which the parents influence their child. Parents tell children stories about their relatives, about their accomplishments or discoveries and the child feels pride in being a part of such a family. The child also gets the implication that he must also be capable of achieving all this because he is biologically related to his family members (Kagan 164-166). These are some important parts of child’s pscyhology and parents play a cruical role in the psychological development. Child psychological is a complicated and vast area which is interlinked to various factors such as genetics, biological factors, environmental factors and even social factors. It has been shown through researches that child psychology is greatly affected by the influence of environment on the baby even before birth. Alcohol intake or smoking by the mother are important determinants of the child’s psychological as well as physical health. Even genetic factors have been linked to the environmental influence such as the role of prenatal smoking and association with genetic factors in the evolution of aggressive behaviors in girls. Child psychology is also assessed on other scales such as cognitive development, language, sexual development, gender roles and behavior assessment. It has been shown through observations and researches that the child needs communication and interactions from birth for normal development. Engaging with the world and the people is important for the child to acquire significant psychological, cognitive and language development milestones. Parents play a crucial role in the entire process as they not only introduce the child to the world and help him interact with his friends, family and school environment but also alter the child’s personality and though development. Mechanisms such as direct interactions, emotional identification and family stories are some of the methods by which the parents can have either a positive or a negative impact on the child. It can be concluded that nature and nuture are stongly interlinked and cannot be separated from one another. Ample amount of focus on both the areas is required for the healthy development of the child’s brain and psychological dimensions. Works Cited Brain, Christine and Penny Mukherji. Understanding child psychology. Cheltenham, U.K.: Nelson Thornes, 2005. Print. Cherry, Kendra. "Child Psychology: What Is Child Psychology?." About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Kagan, Jerome. "The Role of Parents in Children's Psychological Development." Pediatrics. 104.Supplement 1 (1999): 164-167. Print. Mash, Eric J., and David A. Wolfe. Abnormal child psychology. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2002. Print.. Sam Houston State University. "Genetics risk, prenatal smoking may predict behavioural problems." 23 Apr 2014. Science Daily. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Read More