Child Psychology, The Open University (2014)

b) “What is Child Psychology, The Open University (2014)” shows us some of the key theories in child psychology. ‘Piaget (1929, p.29), suggests that’ “learning is biologically driven”. Piaget’s theory connects with my own interests of observing child development because his theory shows that children develop through distinct milestones and these milestones occur in set orders throughout childhood which contribute to the child’s physical and mental development. I am interested to learn about the stages that occur during childhood and the complications that can occur in child development if milestones are not met. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development connects with the nature versus nurture debate. He thought that nature played a big role

I am interested in this debate because it helps us understand our development and all the key aspects that make up who we are. The debate also helps us understand why children behave the way they do. The debate helps us recognise whether a child is behaving in a certain way because of the environmental factors or whether it’s due to genetic factors. Feral children are an example of how extreme deprivation and environmental change can affect a child’s development physically and mentally. (online activity, week 5 activity 2, “Effects on social deprivation on development”). I am keen to learn how social deprivation can influence a child’s life and how it can have a major effect on the child’s language and social skills. I want to look at the underpinning reason why children are showing signs of social deprivation and find out about the main causes. The nature versus nurture debate can help us understand how important all these factors are and how without them there can be consequences which can affect a child’s

In the 1950’s a common phrase was “children should be seen and not heard” (pg.4), this shows us that children did not have many rights and were seen as irrelevant. The idea that childhood is seen as “socially constructed” helps us gain a clear understanding that childhood changes across time and place. Different society’s will have their own views on how children should be brought up. Childhood studies show us how different societies have different perspectives on what makes a child good and how you should raise a child. Gender, ethnicity, political, social and cultural factors all influence a child’s development. Seavey et al, (1975) carried out the ‘Baby X experiment’ (citied in Montgomery, 2016). The experiment shows us how society has a big impact on the way adults interacted with children. The experiment helped us understand that adults treated the babies in blue as boys and encouraged ‘their physical activity’. In contrast to this the babies that were in pink were thought to have been girls and the adults ‘tend to play with them in a less boisterous way’. This experiment shows us how adult’s perception on children has an impact on the way they are treated. Children’s rights help us acknowledge that all children regardless of their backgrounds should be seen as equal and have rights. There are three categories that the UNCRC can be split up in to, these are known as