Question

critically discuss the theories and principles on middle and late childhood (biological, cognitive and socioemotional

Answer 1

Answer.

Child development focuses on the changes that take place in humans as they mature from birth to about age 17. Developmental psychologists have focused on different aspects of growth and development including physical growth, cognitive growth, and social- emotional development .

Different Theories of Child Development focus on one Dimension of development and/ or give varying causal explanations for the stage wise changes in children.

Throughout history, there have been many theories on how we develop throughout childhood. Some of the most recognized include the biological view, the cognitive theories and the sociocultural theories.

For instance, the biological theory proposes a stage theory of development where a normal progression in age is linked to development in the structural and functional complexity of the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Typically, a difference in early ( 2-4 years of age) and middle childhood( about 6-7 years of age) is studied in terms of the higher specialisation of functions between the two brain hemispheres. Thus middle age children are able to handle mathematical problems and abstract reasoning better than early children and this is explained by biologists as a result of greater brain development in middle to late childhood.

Akin to the biological theory is the cognitive viewpoint which focuses on the increased cognitive or mental functioning as the primary basis for age related changes. However, the cognitive viewpoint focuses on th single dimension of development of mental processes ranging from simple perceptions and attention processes to complex thinking, problem soclving, abstract reasoning and development of language. Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory remains a pioneering work in this area. According to Piaget, middle an late childhood is remarkably different from the previous periods as it isn’t during his period, that children’s thinking begins to show gretaer similarities with adult ( or complex) mental functioning. During middlechildhood, children lose some bit of their dependence on material objects ( what he called concrete operational stage) and slowly become capable of abstract thinking and show object permanence.

Sociocultural oriented psychologists like Erik Erikson also created a stage theory of development, but they focus more on social relationships as a driving force in development and referto the developmental tasks as psychosocial stages. Erikson's theory is one of the most comprehensive and he postulated that middle children acquire a sense of autonomy and achievement if encouraged to initiate work on their own. However, an overprotective or very negligent and harsh caregiving may suppress their lack of confidence in themselves and eventually minimise their developing sense of independence or autonomy. Thus, instead of all the middle children developing in the universally same manner, the sociocultural theory of development focuses on the influence of social and cultural environment in shaping development form young to middle childhood. Lev Vygotsky's theory of development also focuses on social interactions as important in development. His theory views children in an apprentice role with parents mentoring them through developmental tasks.