Hello Mom! I hope you are having a good day at work. You are always so worried about how school is going, so I thought I would share some interesting information that I learned today in Child Psychology. We discussed some common theories and debates on how children develop. Since you always say I turned out so good because of your parenting skills, I figured you would love to hear about matters that actually influence child development; maybe it is not just you after all!
The most important concept, in my mind, is the nature versus nurture debate. I am sure you have heard at least some stories about this idea. The nature side of the argument is what you and my dad gave me, therefore, my hair or eyes, my personality, and even my intelligence. …show more content…
I already described to you what causes these changes, nature and nurture but this theory involves more information about the brain and how it influences change. Over time, you could obviously see that I can control my emotions and thoughts better than I did when I was 2 or 3. This is development of effortful attention. When I was two, I knew I was upset that you took my toy away so they only thing my brain knew to do was cry and I could not control my emotions enough to tell myself not to cry; but now if you were to take my phone away, I might be equally as upset, but now I can control my emotions and know that crying isn’t going to help anything. This is because my brain is actively making connections between goals in life and emotional reaction, improving the ability of effortful attention. Both genes and environment effect the mechanism of effortful attention. Genes influence the production of what are called neurotransmitters, the chemical involved in communication among brain cells. The environment or experiences the children encounters can change the wiring in the brain system that makes effortful thinking. Overall, in order to understand change, a person has to understand genes, brain structures, and the environment around
The most important concept, in my mind, is the nature versus nurture debate. I am sure you have heard at least some stories about this idea. The nature side of the argument is what you and my dad gave me, therefore, my hair or eyes, my personality, and even my intelligence. …show more content…
I already described to you what causes these changes, nature and nurture but this theory involves more information about the brain and how it influences change. Over time, you could obviously see that I can control my emotions and thoughts better than I did when I was 2 or 3. This is development of effortful attention. When I was two, I knew I was upset that you took my toy away so they only thing my brain knew to do was cry and I could not control my emotions enough to tell myself not to cry; but now if you were to take my phone away, I might be equally as upset, but now I can control my emotions and know that crying isn’t going to help anything. This is because my brain is actively making connections between goals in life and emotional reaction, improving the ability of effortful attention. Both genes and environment effect the mechanism of effortful attention. Genes influence the production of what are called neurotransmitters, the chemical involved in communication among brain cells. The environment or experiences the children encounters can change the wiring in the brain system that makes effortful thinking. Overall, in order to understand change, a person has to understand genes, brain structures, and the environment around