Write atleast Discuss1500 words on importance of child and adolescent psychology on development. Address the following: 1. Discuss how the study of child and adolescent development has changed over ti

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INTRODUCTION

There are numerous theories on cognitive development that indicate the event of an individual from infancy to adulthood. Many people imagined babies not being aware of their surroundings until they grasped the ability to communicate verbally, but this is not so as researchers have proven this belief in several studies. We are more prone to continually learn from the genetic and social factors right from birth, through infancy and into adulthood." As children mature into adults, individual hereditary and environment factors play a critical role as children get used to both the conditions that exist internally and externally. (Papalia, Olds, Wendkos, Duskin p12) people learn from both our environment and traits we inherit from our kins.

This paper focuses on examining the postulates of five different perspectives of popular theorists and the relationships between child development and adolescents, the importance of studying child and adolescent development and changes that have occurred in progress over the years.

1. The cognitive perspective

Piaget’s cognitive theory

Jean Piaget, a famous life scientist, formulated a philosophy that pays attention to the fact that children undergo four stages of development from birth until they are 15 years. He conducted this research on his own children and came up with a conclusion of how a child who is still developing perceives their environment. According to (Nation Master Encyclopedia 2fff5), Piaget’s theory is concerned with the growth of intelligence that means the ability to represent the world accurately and do logical operations in the world. (Marwaha, 2017,) “The mean IQ of children who had perceptual and cognitive egocentrism was quite higher than those who lacked them."

Vygotsky's social, cultural theory

Lev Vygotsky is a psychologist that proposed fundamental learning theory which has grown to become quite influential over the years, especially in the education field. Similar to Piaget, Lev argues that children have a higher chance of learning activities through hand-on experience environments (Esteban-Guitart, 2018). He also suggests that caregivers and peers had a responsibility in ensuring that high-order functions are developed. In his view, learning is an inherently social process that occurs through social interactions with others and helps the learner to understand the world better.

The information processing theory

This theory strongly believes that human beings are great processors of symbols. They tend to interpret symbols and know what they mean. The theory is concerned with the way people transfer information in different stages of their lives and solve given problems. Information flows starting from input (stimulus) which results to an output (response).

1. Learning perspective

Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory

This theory tends to explain cognition in terms of ecological and personal aspects and the interrelation between demeanours. Bandura argues that children learn particular behaviour from others through observation. For example, a child whose parent is quite religious and poor will always survive on the little they have to consume in the household. They will never steal from anyone. The child will reciprocate this behaviour in future. Based on Bandura's belief, the learner develops cognition as his/her environment goes hand in hand with personal lineaments and encounters.

The behaviorist child development theory

JB. Watson and B.F. Skinner are behaviorists who argue that learning occurs purely through reinforcement and association processes. The method focuses on how environmental situations affect behavior. The environment controls the behavior. This development is a result of a reaction towards punishment, rewards, stimuli and reinforcement. This child development theory does not consider internal feelings but focuses on how experiences shape us. This theory gave rise to two vital types of learning; classical and operant conditioning.

1. The psycho-analytic perspective

Erickson’s psychosocial theory

Among the several hypotheses of personality in psychological science, Erickson’s approach is one of the best recognized. This is because he believes that character springs up sequentially in 8 different levels. According to him, the personality of an individual is significantly influenced by society at large. The theory affects the social encounter across the whole lifetime. The individual hopefully overcomes, faces new challenging scenarios. It stipulates the basis of an individual developing to maturity.

Sigmund Freud’s analytical theory

According to him, behavior is encouraged by unconscious memories and feelings. The experiences a child goes through will later affect his/her mental well-being. However people will use the defense mechanism to evade bad experiences and anxiety and other emotional conflicts.

His psychosexual theory

He argues that when a child is born, he/she comes well equipped with sexual energy. The sexual energy is then satisfied in the various body parts as the child develops. This leads to personality development as behavior is controlled by some powerful urges that are unconscious most of the time

1. The Contextual perspective

Brofenbrenner’s bio ecological theory

According to this theorist, development in human beings occurs between an individual who is developing and the five surrounding, which interlock contextual systems of influences starting from microsystem to chronosystem.

1. The social biological perspective

Bowlby argues that human beings are products of adaptive processes, evolutions and are the core biological bases in which predisposition towards learning are considered very critical.

Similarities in the theories

The above theories highlight the development of personalities of individuals through their lifetime. They suggest that a person analyzes his or the environment, including people and learn. The cognition helps them live successful lives and leave a high impact on society. They exhaustively detonate the subsistence of mental conditions like desire, trust, encouragement and support. These theories can be employed in educational exercises and kinships.

The relevance of child and adolescent psychology on development

The interrelation among psychological development, physical growth and health have become more significant over several decades. It is significant to monitor how children and adolescents grow in their diverse environments and how much support they receive from family and friends. Through practical experiences, one's happy childhood would result in a satisfied adult, whereas those with unhappy childhoods are afraid of taking risks. It is therefore essential to take note of the environment in which one grows so as to ensure the person develops properly.

The famous thinkers came up with theories to help explore and explain the child development aspects. They have a critical influence on understanding how these kids grow, behave around others and think. Children change and thus pushing us to look into the factors that influence psychological growth.

Changes observed in the study of adolescent development

Over the past two decades, adolescent development has gone through a growth spurt. The new research has opened doors to complex views of multiple dimensions of fresh insights linked with the second decade of life (a period of hormonal change, emotional growth and self-exploration). Adolescence is now being viewed as that time in life where there are development challenges. Still, Biology affects the adjustment, behaviour and development of young people. Based on the mounting evidence, the community and caregivers are now able to intervene whenever problems arise among teenagers

The study of adolescence is an increasingly sophisticated science as a result of the new powerful and advanced research tools. The theories of today are now being accounted for by scientific evidence as compared to the past. There is also greater recognition that puberty can be understood without considering social-cultural contexts where young people develop. Teenagers no longer have to worry about the trauma and being in trouble as most people. Only a quarter of adolescents is at risk of experiencing severe issues in the past 50 years. Scientists appreciate the complex relationships between social contexts and biological. The more sophisticated adolescent study has become caused researchers to dig more into the matter as young development knowledge is limited.

CONCLUSION

The conventional attention of the theorists who researched human development was to attain, research and store the entropy accumulated during an individual's lifetime. These theorists believe that from birth, into maturity, individuals develop through the genes they inherited accompanied by the social influences from their environment.

REFERENCES

Shute, R. H., & Slee, P. T. (2015). Child development: Theories and critical perspectives. Routledge.

Esteban-Guitart, M. (2018). The biosocial foundation of the early Vygotsky: Educational psychology before the zone of proximal development. History of psychology, 21(4), 384.

Marwaha, S., Goswami, M., & Vashist, B. (2017). Prevalence of Principles of Piaget’s Theory Among 4-7-year-old Children and their Correlation with IQ. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR, 11(8), ZC111.

Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2007). Human development. McGraw-Hill.