Miss JS Jensen (24688665)
Basic Concepts of Child and Adolescent Development
The Goals of Child Psychology
Child Psychology The Goals of Child Psychology
• Tells you more about your own and children’s develop- • To describe changes that typically occur from conception
ment and you acquire a better understanding of others. until about 18 years of age.
• Does not justify the existence of a science important to • To explain what causes developmental changes.
know what the scientific contribution is and why we study
and research this field. • To predict what behaviour the child will manifest at a lat-
er stage in his/her life based on past and present characte-
• Ask questions like ‘is behaviour the result of nature (in- risticsP.
born characteristics) or nurture (the environment)?’ and
‘are certain behaviours more influence by either nature or • To improve well-being by preventing problems from dev-
nurture? eloping or by making positive changes in people’s lives.
Views on Children: A Historical Overview
Historical Views on Children They ate, worked, and slept at their machines.
Disease and infection created a situation where
• Children were seen as the property of their parents in mo- less than 50% of children reached age 5.
st ancient cultures could treat them how they wanted.
Abandonment was an immense problem.
• Atrocities against children → infanticide: Change in attitude towards children → John Locke.
Infanticide is the deliberate killing of children. • John Locke (1632 - 1704):
Committed often without condemnation.
John Locke was a British philosopher advocating
Usually happened when the baby was a female. for children’s rights.
Twins were victims due to cultural beliefs. Locke held the opinion that children’s environm-
Earliest findings infanticide were in Egypt. ents determines who and what they become.
Found that it occurred in SA over 5000 years ago. Known for his viewpoint that the mind of the child
is a tabula rasa on where experience is written →
• Cases of infanticide were reported soon after the arrival Latin for a ‘blank state’.
of the colonists in the 1650s → e.g. slave who had her child
Experiences then create the child’s personality.
killed was executed in Cape Town.
• Sub-Saharan Africa:
• Middles Ages (500 to 1500 AD):
One of the most common atrocities committed ag-
Plight of children continued.
ainst children here was slavery.
Childhood was largely ignored from the ages of 3
Capturing children raids and wars between tribes
to 4 → children were seen as miniature adults.
was common practice.
Responsibilities were initially restricted to chores
Slavery became a lucrative business between the
but the workload increased as they got older.
15th to 17th centuries.
• 17th Century Europe: African men, women, and children were captured
in large numbers and shipped to many countries.
Growth of the factory system created a big dem-
and for cheap labour children became slaves.
, Miss JS Jensen (24688665)
• The 20th Century: • Convention of the Rights of the Child in South Africa:
Children are seen as the property of the parent. Bound nations legally to accept responsibility for
Many countries → State is regarded as the upper children’s rights and created awareness that these
guardian of children removed from parental rights should be re-spected.
homes if conditions are deemed to be detrimental. Situation of children still remains of great concern
Principles such as ‘speak when spoken to’ and ‘ch- e.g. millions children still being forced into sexual
ildren are there to be seen and not heard’ were the abuse, prostitution, and pornography.
norm climate that is not conducive to speaking
Children’s Suffering in South Africa
out against injustices and abuse.
• Apartheid Era in South Africa (1948 - 1994): • South Africans’ voices against the circumstances in which
their children have to grow up in are heard daily.
Inequalities between black and white children.
• State of African and South African children has become
Schooling up to grade 10 was compulsory for whi-
an issue of international concern: “to be a child in South
te children but not for black children.
Africa is to walk a fragile path to adulthood” (UNICEF).
Health services for black children were inferior and
the result was higher disease and mortality rates. • Circumstances children face in South Africa:
One of the first goals set by the new democratic
government was to promote children’s rights and Crime, violence, and abuse.
obliterate racial discrimination. HIV/AIDS.
1996 → government endorsed the UN’s Convention Lack of social assistance.
on the Rights of the Child. Poor education.
First legally binding mechanism to incorporate the
full range of children’s rights and is supported by
the majority of the world’s countries.
Developmental Stages and Domains of Development
Advantages of Using the Stage Approach Middle childhood (ages 6 to start of puberty).
Adolescence (puberty to adulthood).
• Provides a good indication of:
• Definition of a ‘child’ → Constitution of South Africa:
When children are ready for school.
When children should be allowed to make their The legal definition of a child is a person under the
own decisions on important matters. age of 18 years generic term ‘child’ is used for
all ages from infancy to adolescence.
Whether a child’s development is below or above
the norm (average).
• Humans are complex beings and different characteristics
develop in different ways, at different tempos, and in diff-
• Some characteristics and skills are obvious boundaries
erent stages of their lives.
between stages may be very clearly drawn and accepted.
• It is necessary to distinguish between the various areas
• Some boundaries however are not as clearly demarcated
of development and study them separately without losing
and are arbitrary → individual and cultural differences are
sight of the whole.
to be considered.
• Developmental stages most psychologists agree on:
Division of Development into Different Areas
The prenatal stage (before birth). • Every individual functions as a whole take into account
that these different areas are interrelated and operate in
The neonatal stage (first 2 to 4 weeks + infancy).
interaction with one another.
Early childhood (ages 2 to 6).
, Miss JS Jensen (24688665)
• Physical development: Much of research data in psychology is based on
averages can forget every child is unique.
Changes in child’s body such as weight and height.
Way in which a person expresses his/her emotions
Development of the brain. is an integral part of who he/she is.
Effects of heredity, hormones and nutrition. Self: regarded as the core of the person’s person-
Motor development i.e. movement development. ality i.e. his/her most important characteristics.
Sitting, crawling, walking, grasping etc. Self-concept: person’s evaluation of him-/herself.
Identity: the way a person identifies him-/herself
• Cognitive development:
in relation to other individuals or social groups.
Children learning about their world. • Social development:
Perception, learning, and memory.
Decision-making, imagination, and creativity. Development of individual’s interaction and relat-
ionships with other people.
Language and intelligence (subdivision).
Influence of society and significant other persons
Intelligence is a narrower concept and refers only
on the individual.
to the ability to solve problems and adjust effecti-
vely to the environment. Attachment between caregiver and the child.
Expansion of the interpersonal relationships.
• Personality development:
Development of relations between the sexes.
Totality of a person’s psychological, social, moral, Moral development right and wrong.
and physical characteristics. Learning of religion and spirituality.
Unique to a specific individual.
Developmental Issues
Nature vs. Nurture 2. It encompasses a wide variety of behaviours therefore
it is relatively easy to find an example supporting either
• Nature: refers to biological determinants such as horm- viewpoint.
onal, neurological, and genetic factors.
e.g. motor development → regarded as behaviour
• Nurture: environmental factors such as the social (e.g. the that is genetically determined.
parenting style) and physical environment (e.g. poverty). e.g. socialisation → may be used as evidence that
behaviour is a product of the environment.
• Debate centres around the question of whether develop-
ment is the result of nature (biological and genetic factors) 3. Specific behaviour is often very difficult to prove.
or nuture (environmental influences).
e.g. child who is traumatised develops depression
3 reasons as to why the nature vs. nurture debate has continued:
but how can one prove that the depression was
caused by the trauma or if it would have not just
1. Debate is so heavily interwoven with arguments which developed anyway?
are not strictly scientific.
Many children are traumatised and never develop
Political and religious belief systems colour these depression while many others in a positive enviro-
arguments with results of emotion triumphing sci- nment do.
entific data. Cause-effect issue should always be kept in mind.
e.g. homosexuality → political and religious lead- Common mistake: if 2 factors, A and B, are linked
ers support the nurture approach whereas modern or co-ecist, it is not always easy to determine if A
scientists acknowledge the biological factors. caused B or if B caused A or is there is even a cau-
sal relationship at all.
, Miss JS Jensen (24688665)
• Most psychologists look at how nature and nurture fac- • Also acknowledge that the unique way in which children
tors contribute to specific behaviours, situations, and indi- emotionally and cognitively interpret and process their
viduals. experiences has a significant influence on development.
• The interaction between heredity and environment is of • 2 questions psychologists are still debating:
more importance than the respective contribution of each.
1. To what extent are children able to shape their en-
• The unique effect is acknowledged effect of this inter- vironment?
action on the individua will differ from person to person 2. Which factors are responsible for a child’s inter-
and situation to situation. pretation and processing of his/her own world?
• Not set formula to determine the respective effect of na- Universality and Cultural Context
ture or nurture on a particular person.
• Asks the following question: ‘do all children in the world
• Useful guideline in most cases:
follow universal developmental pathways or are there cl-
1. Heredity sets limits. ear differences along cultural lines?’.
2. Environment determines to what extent a specific • Universality: means existing worldwide i.e. characteris-
characteristic will develop between these limits. tics shared by everyone.
Continuity and Discontinuity • Child development was believed to follow the same pat-
terns of development worldwide → popular among young
• Asks the following question: ‘is human development con- psychologists who believed development is discontinuous.
tinuous (gradual and smooth like the growth of a tree) or
discontinuous (abrupt and occurring in distinct stages like • Most of psychology was developed in and by Western cu-
when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly)?’. ltures result was that the study of child development
meant the study of white middle-class American/Western
• Enough evidence to conclude that both views are correct children.
depending on the type of behaviour.
• Horizons of psychology began to expand researchers
e.g. way children learn to talk and express them- began to realise that the cultural context in which a person
selves as their vocab expands and their cognition develops cannot be discarded.
develops gives validity to continuity.
e.g. relatively sudden hormonal changes that lead • Culture: beliefs, norms, customs, and general way of life
to sexual maturation in adolescence shows that of a specific group of people that are passed on from gen-
discontinuity is also valid. eration to generation.
• A good guideline is that past and present behaviour is the • Context: the setting or specific environment in which dev-
best predictor of future behaviour but this does not imply elopment and behaviour occur.
that it is fully reliable.
• Culture influences development by ensuring that children
• Human behaviour is too complex and unique just to be acquire the appropriate:
represented in a rigid formula.
Cognitive
Passive and Active Involvement Communicative
Motivational
• Whether children have no part in their development are
Social-emotional or affective
at the mercy of their environment or whether they can play
Spiritual
an active role in their own development.
• Most psychologists agree that children can take an active attributes that will make them into competent adults who
role in their own development as well as acknowledging will contribution to their own survival and progress and
the influence of the environment. that of their people and society.
• Human development is therefore a cultural process is
understandable to see child development as the same.
