An understanding of child development is essential, allowing us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood. Some of the major theories of child development are known as grand theories; they attempt to describe every aspect of development, often using a stage-based approach. Others are known as mini-theories; they instead focus only on a fairly limited aspect of development, such as cognitive or social growth. Cognitive development Definition: Cognitive development is the process of acquiring intelligence and increasingly advanced thought and problem-solving ability from infancy to adulthood. Theorists had different views as to the development …show more content…
After the first self-induced meal, the rat repeatedly touched the lever in order to get more food (smart rat!). To the hungry rodent, the sound of the dispenser became a reinforcer when it was first associated with feedings, and continued to be so, until after a while, researchers stopped providing food when the lever was pressed. Soon after that, the rat stopped touching the lever. Positive and Negative Reinforcers These can be both positive and negative, and both can be used to strengthen behaviour. Children and young people respond to verbal operant, taking advice, listening to warnings of others, obeying rules and laws given. Even if they haven’t experienced any negative consequences for disobeying, sometimes just the deterrent is enough to stop them from disobeying. When behaviour has been rewarded it is more likely that positive behaviour will be repeated quite happily as they feel that they are doing what is required. Children and young people are to some degree free to behave as they please, as long as they are willing to accept the consequences of their …show more content…
In the past behaviour was controlled from a negative perspective, which resulted in punishment. These days we tend to use positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviour. Although the results aren’t always instantaneous, it does provide children and young people with behavioural guidelines and, probably more important, it allows them to keep their