Child Development Psychology – A Vastly Unexplored Territory

In the realm of psychology, child development psychology has been vastly ignored by history. Until the early 20th century, children were viewed as tiny adults. No regard was paid to the development and growth of children from the time spanning birth to adulthood. Since it is so new, it is a largely unexplored realm and makes for an exciting psychological field to consider being a part of.

Although child development psychology has only been treated as a separate psychological entity for about 100 years, we have made great gains. We understand the effects of parenting and a child’s perceptions of what is good and bad. We are gaining headway on how to raise children into more psychologically balanced and developed adults. Also ,due to its new nature, there is a lot of controversy over the subject and major theories that have yet to be proven.

Theories of Child Development Psychology

There are two major popular contributors to the psychoanalytic theories of child development psychology. They are Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. Both have opposite views of what affects a child’s growth and what defines development. The theories don’t end with them, though, as there are other contributors to the topic whose input and influence are greatly valued. From Jean Piaget’s stage theory, Lev Vygotsky’s social contextualism, to Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, there is still a great unknown as to what truly accounts for psychological growth and development of a newborn to an adult.

This all collectively creates an exciting environment for a career at any level. It will help whether you simply want to help children as a counselor or you hope to perform research to prove or disprove major theories or even develop your own. Child development psychology is vastly unexplored and will lead for exciting new developments over the years to come. We are still trying to find the answers to questions that will lead us to a better understanding of our children and ourselves. For instance, do early experiences of a child have the great impact on development ? Or are experiences that happen later in the later stages of youth just as important? Or how about the age old dispute as to whether or not we are predisposed to traits through inheritance? Or if we are born as a “clean slate” and everything we turn out to be is a function of our environment? Then there’s the issue of continuity. As a child, do changes occur smoothly and over time or are there certain predetermined steps that we all must go through?  These issues, as well as many others, are still unknown. It will be up to child developmental psychology to provide us the answers over time.

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