For
centuries scientists and philosophers have studied on concepts of child and
development. There are mainly three paradigms in development; cognitive,
behavior and social aspects of it. When we try to understand how a child acts
and what is the meaning of development, first we have to define what is being
child? Child is defined as:
1.
Biologically,
a child is a human between the stages of birth and puberty. The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor,
otherwise known as a person younger than the age of
majority.
2.
Child may also describe a
relationship with a parent (such as sons and daughters of any age) or, metaphorically, an authority
figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion;
it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or
circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the
Sixties". [1]
So, what can we understand
from these dictionary definitions? We can assume that stages of child development
are universal. Approximately every child gets through from the same stages averagely
in the same age. It is for sure that, a child development depends on nature
features like heredity, maturation or genes. However, one thing that we can’t
assume is, every child in the same age group will have the same characteristics
and same level of maturation. Development also derives from nurture.
Environment, experience or learning has great influence on child development.
In the second definition of a child, it is directly related with nurture
concept. In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) states
behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational
learning. Children observe the people around them behaving in various
ways. [2] Likewise, in social learning theory environment has a huge
impact on the formation of the child’s evolution.
While child is developing, there is a
continuous process of learning. Learning can be defined as persistent change in
behavior. Fully comprehending of learning can be ensured by some questions like;
‘Which behavior has changed? , ‘How it changed?’ or ‘Is it a
quantitative/qualitative change?’.
However, nature and nurture are not the
only aspects that have an influence on development of a child. And all the
other perspectives form developmental systems. For example, think about twins.
Twins have the same genes and heredity, therefore nature is not a
discriminating factor for them. Also, assume that they grow up in the same
environment. Then, again nurture can’t be count as the distinctive factor. So,
what concept makes twins two different characterized person? In this point
Thelen&Smith notion the ‘Dynamic System’. In this system of development,
all layers of development interact with each other and individuals
self-regulate themselves according to their environment. It is not about the
cause and effect relationship, but it is about the individual’ active
participation in the evolutionary process. Instead of the Dynamic System,
Bronfenbrenner argued that individuals could be affect from the layers of development;
eventually they determine the way they develop themselves.
Furthermore, ‘Life-Span’ theory is about
life long learning and adaptation of individuals to their environment. Besides,
‘Action Theory’ cares about individuals being active in their social
surroundings. Plasticity and ontogeny of individuals are important factor in
this theory. Aside from, ‘Life-Course Theory’ sees human development as an
interpersonally relational process. The distinctive features of life-course
theory are associated with the link that Elder drwas between individual
development and the social relationships within which the person’s ontogeny is
dynamically collaborative.[3]
In addition to theories of development,
many concepts should be considered in order to understand how development
occurs and what concepts influence it’s occurrence.
References;
[3]Developmental Science, An Advanced
Textbook, Fifth Edition, Marc H. Bornstein, Michael E. Lamb
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