Child psychology is one of the many branches of psychology and one of the most frequently studied specialty areas. This particular branch focuses on the mind and behaviour of children from prenatal development through adolescence. Child psychology deals not only with how children grow physically, but with their mental, emotional and social development as well.
Self-esteem is a major key to success in life. The development of a positive self-concept or healthy self-esteem is extremely important to the happiness and success of children and teenagers. A positive parent-child relationship provides the framework and support for a child to develop a healthy respect and regard for self and for others. Children crave time with parents. It makes them feel special. Parents are encouraged to find time to spend playing with their kids on a regular basis. This should include one to one with each child and group time with all of the adults and kids in the home. If you are a single parent or have an only child, occasionally invite family or friends over to play. ……….Child Psychology
CHILD PSYCHOLOGY & CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Developmental change may occur as a result of genetically-controlled processes known as maturation, or as a result of environmental factors and learning, but most commonly involves an interaction between the two. The optimal development of children is considered vital to society and so it is important to understand the social, cognitive, emotional, and educational development of children. The basic mechanisms or causes of developmental change are genetic factors and environmental factors. Genetic factors are responsible for cellular changes like overall growth, changes in proportion of body and brain parts, and the maturation of aspects of function such as vision and dietary needs. Genetic-environmental correlations are circumstances in which genetic factors make certain experiences more likely to occur. For example, in passive genetic-environmental correlation, a child is likely to experience a particular environment because his or her parents' genetic make-up makes them likely to choose or create such an environment. Piaget was a French speaking Swiss theorist who posited that children learn by actively constructing knowledge through hands-on experience. Psychologists have attempted to better understand these factors by using models. Developmental models are sometimes computational, but they do not need to be. Cognitive development is primarily concerned with the ways in which infants and children acquire, develop, and use internal mental capabilities such as problem solving, memory, and language. Modern cognitive development has integrated the considerations of cognitive psychology and the psychology of individual differences into the interpretation and modelling of development. Psychologists recognize that child psychology is unique and complex, but many differ in terms of the unique perspective they take when approaching development. Wundt's research utilized a school of thought known as structuralism, which involved describing the structures that compose the mind. Some of the major contexts that we need to consider in our analysis of child psychology include:
· The Social Context: Relationships with peers and adults have an effect on how children think, learn and develop. Families, schools and peer groups all make up an important part of the social context.
· The Cultural Context: The culture a child lives in contributes a set of values, customs, shared assumptions and ways of living that influence development throughout the lifespan. Culture may play a role in how children relate to their parents, the type of education they receive and the type of child care that is provided.
· The Socioeconomic Context: Social class can also play a major role in child development. Socioeconomic status (often abbreviated as SES), is based upon a number of different factors including how much education people have, how much money they earn, the job they hold and where they live. Children raised in households with a high socioeconomic status tend to have greater access to opportunities, while those from households with lower socioeconomic status may have less access to such things as health care, quality nutrition and education. Such factors can have a major impact on child psychology. Child psychology deals not only with how children grow physically, but with their mental, emotional and social development as well. Child psychology encompasses a wide range of topics, from the genetic influences on behavior to the social pressures on development. Developmental psychology, and especially the psychology of cognitive development, opens a special perspective for educational psychology. This is so because education and the psychology of cognitive development converge on a number of crucial assumptions. First, the psychology of cognitive development defines human cognitive competence at successive phases of development. Education aims to help students acquire knowledge and develop skills which are compatible with their understanding and problem-solving capabilities at different ages.
Educational psychology studies all these psychological basis of behaviour. It is only after successful study of educational psychology that a teacher can discharge his duties successfully. The teacher has to guide and counsel the students at every stage. Rousseau was of the opinion that a child is like a book whose every page has to be studied by the teacher. The impact of the saying is that the teacher should give educational and psychological guidance and counseling to the pupils. Educational psychology studies individual differences and suggests ways and means to provide education to all types of pupils. No two individuals are alike. Individuals differ physically and psychologically. Individual differences are caused due to differences in capacities and capabilities, potentialities and propensities, abilities and intelligence, attitudes and aptitudes, interests and sentiments, temperaments and traits, age and sex etc. It must be noted that individual differences are mainly caused by heredity and environment. Hence educational psychology studies all these areas.
Physical development in the form of stature and growth will occur for up to 20 years after a baby is born. As height as well as weight increases, a person's proportions will change as well. As a baby, most people have a relatively large head in proportion to their bodies, and this becomes less so as a baby grows. By the time they reach adulthood, most people have a relatively small head, with a long torso and long limbs.
Physical development is the process in which there is an improvement in certain attributes of the physical parts like coordination, control, movement and manipulation. By improvement I mean that there should be development in terms of their sizes and also in terms of their performance. The speed of physical development is most rapid in the months immediately after birth. After a rapid spurt for the first couple of years, growth is slow until puberty. There are are also many other factors that figure into a person's physical development Gross Motor Development is the area of physical development that most parents think of first - the child's general ability to move around and use the various parts of his body. Activities like rolling over; crawling, walking, running and jumping are gross motor skills. These skills usually involve using the entire body or several parts of the body at one time.
Emotional development should be started at an early age as soon as children start kindergarten and preschool so that their interaction with others will help develop them in both social and intellectual ways. From the age of 2 onward the child begins to test himself or herself and the boundaries that the world has put before them. This is standard child like behavior which is a good way to start the process of emotional development. Not all emotional development is done through interaction and children should be left to discover things on their own from time to time. Emotional development depends on the nature of situations or stimuli your baby is subjected to.The interaction style of the parent with the child has a significant role in this regard. A child shown much loving care and attention by the parent shows adequate emotional development. If the parents are themselves a source of stimulus of fear, then the child's emotional development will be affected.
No comments:
Post a Comment