It is very sad when a child is found at fault in the wake of an unspeakable death. Often enough blame is thrown around and the question ‘why’ wants to be answered immediately. It is often the duty of developmental psychologist to find reason in the wake of a tragedy. Using developmental psychology, characteristics can be identified to describe the child’s behavior based on the child’s age and stage in development. These developmental characteristics are used to provide explanation on why children are not found criminally responsible for the crimes committed. The following will explain concepts and theories developmental psychologist would use to explain why it is justified that young children are not responsible for criminal actions. This paper
…show more content…
One very important development is of the brain. The brain is the center functioning manager for the human body. It is in control of how humans sort out their thoughts, memories, sounds, sight, emotions and movements. During early childhood, the brain is accomplishing the previous vital functions through the development of the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. As a developmental psychologist, I would find the development of the prefrontal cortex is very important to the maturation of the child during early childhood. According to Berger, young children act impulsively when placed in situations where planned and thought out decisions take place because during this time in life the prefrontal cortex has not matured in development (2014). While the prefrontal cortex is concentrating on developing maturity in young children, the limbic system that is in control of memory, emotion and the reaction between the two, is developing as well (Berger, 2014). The structures within the limbic system are intertwined and rely on each other to create emotional memories. Since emotional memories in early childhood are sensitive they can negatively affect the thought process when like situations occur clouding the thought process from making sensible decisions (Berger, 2014). Therefore, during young child biosocial development, the immaturity of the prefrontal cortex and limbic system play an …show more content…
The cognitive argument greatly rest on the fact that children are not yet capable of processing information in a way to make logical decisions. Jean Piaget made several points to strengthen this claim. He articulated that during this stage of childhood development children are solely concerned with their current reality and cannot focus on future abstract thinking (Berger, 2014). This egocentric and centrational thought processing clouds young children from making rational choices while in their current situations. Contemporary developmental scientist constructed that children develop theories to explain what is going on around them called theory-theory. Stated by Berger, this construct called theory-theory comes from the need humans have to find explanation but it is not always made on truth (2014). This comes into play when young children make life altering decisions because although the decisions seemed based off of the logic around them, it is constructed from what a child see’s which at the age of six is limited and impressionable by their surroundings. Egocentrism, centration and theory-theory build the argument that early developing children lack the cognitive processing to make logical decisions. (Include part where cognition correlates to the maturity of the prefrontal
One very important development is of the brain. The brain is the center functioning manager for the human body. It is in control of how humans sort out their thoughts, memories, sounds, sight, emotions and movements. During early childhood, the brain is accomplishing the previous vital functions through the development of the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. As a developmental psychologist, I would find the development of the prefrontal cortex is very important to the maturation of the child during early childhood. According to Berger, young children act impulsively when placed in situations where planned and thought out decisions take place because during this time in life the prefrontal cortex has not matured in development (2014). While the prefrontal cortex is concentrating on developing maturity in young children, the limbic system that is in control of memory, emotion and the reaction between the two, is developing as well (Berger, 2014). The structures within the limbic system are intertwined and rely on each other to create emotional memories. Since emotional memories in early childhood are sensitive they can negatively affect the thought process when like situations occur clouding the thought process from making sensible decisions (Berger, 2014). Therefore, during young child biosocial development, the immaturity of the prefrontal cortex and limbic system play an …show more content…
The cognitive argument greatly rest on the fact that children are not yet capable of processing information in a way to make logical decisions. Jean Piaget made several points to strengthen this claim. He articulated that during this stage of childhood development children are solely concerned with their current reality and cannot focus on future abstract thinking (Berger, 2014). This egocentric and centrational thought processing clouds young children from making rational choices while in their current situations. Contemporary developmental scientist constructed that children develop theories to explain what is going on around them called theory-theory. Stated by Berger, this construct called theory-theory comes from the need humans have to find explanation but it is not always made on truth (2014). This comes into play when young children make life altering decisions because although the decisions seemed based off of the logic around them, it is constructed from what a child see’s which at the age of six is limited and impressionable by their surroundings. Egocentrism, centration and theory-theory build the argument that early developing children lack the cognitive processing to make logical decisions. (Include part where cognition correlates to the maturity of the prefrontal