Child Development: Milestones, Ages and Stages Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Their nutritional needs are different and their primary psychological concerns are also distinctive. In the context of childhood development, growth is defined as an irreversible constant increase in size, and development is defined as growth in psychomotor capacity. Both processes are highly dependent on genetic, nutritional, and environmental factors.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Freud’s Theory

Her focus is child injury prevention as well as the influence of culture on parenting in relationship to risky play and safety. Observational studies involve watching and recording the actions of participants. This may take place in the natural setting, such as observing children at play at a park, or behind a one-way glass while children are at play in a laboratory playroom. In general, observational studies have the strength of allowing the researcher to see how people behave rather than relying on self-report. What people do and what they say they do are often very different.

Like in the first stage, toddlers go through this stage responding to their caregivers. If caregivers encourage them to be independent and explore the world on their own, toddlers will grow up with a sense of self-efficacy. If the caregivers hover excessively or encourage dependence, these toddlers grow up with less confidence in their abilities. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model explains the direct and indirect influences on an individual’s development.

Early experiences are important, but children are remarkably resilient (able to overcome introduction of growth and development adversity). During the preschool years, children learn to assert themselves and speak up when they need something. Some children may state that they’re sad because a friend stole their toy. If this assertiveness is greeted with a positive reaction, they learn that taking initiative is helpful behavior.

Stage 5 — Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion

1. Let’s explore what theories are and introduce you to some major theories in child development.
2. Others, such as the behaviourists, Vygotsky, and information processing theorists, assume development is a more slow and gradual process known as continuous development.
3. When discussing children in this child development section we are referring to children up to the age of 12.
4. For decades, scholars have carried on the “nature/nurture” debate.
5. If, however, they notice that other children have met milestones that they haven’t, they may struggle with self-esteem.

Freud and Piaget present a series of stages that essentially end during adolescence. For Freud, we enter the genital stage in which much of our motivation is focused on sex and reproduction and this stage continues through adulthood. Piaget’s fourth stage, formal operational thought, begins in adolescence and continues through adulthood. Again, neither of these theories highlights developmental changes during adulthood.

ACE Recommendation for Human Growth and Development

Our efforts to understand the world around us lead us to develop new schema and to modify old ones. The use of positive reinforcement involves adding something to a situation in order to encourage a behaviour. For example, if I give a child a high five for cleaning a room, or compliment the job they have done they are more likely to do it again.

We make conscious choices in life and these choices focus on meeting certain social and cultural needs rather than purely biological ones. Humans are motivated, for instance, by the need to feel that the world is a trustworthy place, that we are capable individuals, that we can make a contribution to society, and that we have lived a meaningful life. We will look at how we change physically over time from conception through adolescence. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over the first 20 years or so of life. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence. Growth and development occur across the life stages and focuses on the physical, intellectual, emotional and social changes that humans go through.

Pavlov began to experiment with this concept of classical conditioning. He began to ring a bell, for instance, prior to introducing the food. While Freud and Erikson looked at what was going on in the mind, behaviorism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behavior as the proper subject matter of psychology.

Indigenous communities view child development as a journey that is closely bound by the natural and spiritual world and therefore the developing child is shaped by unique ways of knowing and teachings. It may seem strange to study a period of development you’re most likely in, but everything we’re about to cover you can use today! In addition to physical, cognitive, social, and emotional milestones, we’ll also discuss the impact of a child’s choices. Up to this point, most of a child’s environmental influences have been out of their control, but now, more and more “nurture” influences are of their own making, for better or worse.

What Are the Eight Stages of Human Development?

1. An important part of learning any science is having a basic knowledge of the techniques used in gathering information.
2. Genetics influences the speed and way in which people develop, though other factors, such as parenting, education, experiences, and socioeconomic factors, are also at play.
3. Think of theories as frameworks or guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that requires assembly.
4. Parents may respond differently with their first child than with their fourth.
5. Families from all 10 provinces and territories were included with the exception of families living on First Nations reserves, in extremely remote areas of Canada and full-time members the Canadian Armed Forces.

It provides the researcher with a blueprint or model to be used to help piece together various studies. Think of theories as frameworks or guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that requires assembly. The instructions can help one piece together smaller parts more easily than if trial and error are used. Let’s explore what theories are and introduce you to some major theories in child development. Canada has a long history of contributing to child development research. Cross-sectional research involves beginning with a sample that represents a cross-section of the population.