The Biological Theories Of Childhood Development

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Have you ever wondered how you learned to crawl and then walk? How about language? Child development theories explain all these types of questions. I learned that there are many different viewpoints and theories of childhood development. Education, culture, and religious views can affect a parent’s decision on how to raise their children. Child development refers to the process through which individuals regularly develop and develop from early stages through adulthood. Child development theories are used to describe a child’s change and growth over the course of their childhood (What are Some Theories of Child Development?). There have been many theories on how we develop throughout childhood. There is the biological perspective that looks …show more content…
Finally, there is the social perspective that focuses on how nature of childhood and its relationship to society as a whole. Theorists such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, G. Stanley Hall’s, and Erik Erikson have provided ways to understand childhood development. The biological perspective on childhood development first emerged at the dawn of the 20th century, motivated in part by Charles Darwin’s ground-breaking ideas regarding evolution (Kail & Zolner, 2015, pg. 3). Biological approach examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a physical point of view. As mentioned before the biological perspective on childhood development states that children’s cognitive abilities, motor functions, personality and physical traits will develop in accordance with a biological design (Kail & Zolner, 2015, pg. 3). Cognitive development – the specialization of mental processes (Kail & Zolner, 2015, pg. 504). Physical development - the continual transformation of what our body looks like (Kail & Zolner, 2015, pg. 503). Motor functions - movement that employees muscle-groups (Kail & Zolner, 2015, pg. …show more content…
His ideas were greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud, explored three aspects of identity: the ego identity (self), personal identity (the personal idiosyncrasies that distinguish a person from another, social/cultural identity (the collection of social roles a person might play) Erikson, E. H. (1950). Erikson classified human development into a series of discrete stages. There are eight stages of development in his theory, from infancy and childhood to adulthood (Erickson, E. (1958)). Erikson’s stages start with birth and end with death. What I have drawn from Erikson’s theory was that in every stage, a person must face a conflict that will either be successfully resolved in the correct stage or not. Depending on how the conflict 's is handled depends on if they have learned that basic virtue. Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages, however, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. Erikson eight stages uses psychological which is mind, social which is relationships, and put together is psychosocial. From my understanding Erikson’s Basically shows interested in how children socialize and this affects their sense of

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