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

There have been many visionaries that have develop theoretical frameworks which give a basic, general approach to understanding the slipway in which kidren develop. Doherty and Hughes (2009) recall that early childhood progression is most commonly presented in terms of special(prenominal) periods of time. Therefore, this tends to relate to the idea of fixed and throttle stages that are strongly linked with chronological age, moreover, providing a very specific ordering of change. The most frequently identified periods of maturation are prenatal, early childhood 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 knowledge (1693) forming a foundation 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 cardinal theorists provide the origins of generalised development, meaning that within these theories, children develop in the alike way. However, using Gewirtz and Pelaez-Nogueras (1992) criteria for evaluating theories, generalised theories do non take account for mortal 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 single(a) groundwork be achieved through observation of, and experiences in, the environment. It stipulates that development has to be found on observations rather than speculations about cognitive processes, which are by their genius unobservable.One early proponent of this theory was John Watson, who, in 1913, create a paper ... ...t reflects slow and steady change over time, or it goes through distinctly defined stages. Arguably, development should be considered as being largely continuous but having certain stages characterised by milestone stages such(prenominal) as beginning to walk, where this new skill is piddlely different from the childs previous abilities. The development within early childhood can be seen to be due to many factors that have some clear effects upon some aspect of their progression, such as diverse environments and cordial settings. Every child experiences a unique combination of genetic and environmental influences that show how children have their own distinctive abilities, suggesting that generalised patterns are not very helpful indicators in considering the development of an individual child take away as a loose framework within which to childs development can be monitored.