Child Development Essay -- Psychology, Locke, Rousseau, Piaget, Watson

There have been many visionaries that have developed theoretical modelings which give a basic, general approach to thought the ways in which children develop. Doherty and Hughes (2009) recall that archean childhood progression is most commonly presented in terms of specific periods of time. Therefore, this tends to relate to the idea of fixed and particular(a) stages that are strongly linked with chronological age, moreover, providing a very specific ordering of change. The most frequently identified periods of education are prenatal, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, later childhood and adolescence. Generalised theories on child development came about in the 17th century, with John Lockes Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) forming a installation where a child was born as a blank slate. Contrastingly, Jean- Jacques Rousseaus Emile (1762) explored the idea that children were born with a sense of morality. These two theorists provide the origins of generalised dev elopment, convey that within these theories, children develop in the same way. However, using Gewirtz and Pelaez-Nogueras (1992) criteria for evaluating theories, generalised theories do not take account for individual differences that exist as children grow and develop. Thus, it could be suggested that these broad patterns are not likely to be very helpful.Behaviourism, on the other hand, asserts that development of the individual can be achieved through observation of, and experiences in, the environment. It stipulates that development has to be based on observations rather than speculations about cognitive processes, which are by their nature unobservable.One early proponent of this theory was John Watson, who, in 1913, published a paper ... ...t reflects slow and steady change over time, or it goes through distinctly defined stages. Arguably, development should be considered as be largely continuous but having certain stages characterised by milestone stages such as beginning to walk, where this new skill is clearly different from the childs previous abilities. The development within early childhood can be seen to be due to many factors that have several(prenominal) clear effects upon some aspect of their progression, such as diverse environments and social settings. Every child experiences a unique combination of genetic and environmental influences that show how children have their hold distinctive abilities, suggesting that generalised patterns are not very helpful indicators in considering the development of an individual child except as a loose framework within which to childs development can be monitored.