Developmental Stages Paper

Childhood development and it 's implications to entire continents, nations, or more specifically, societies and cultures has gone through much research and development in the past decades. To illustrate, the research and development of childhood theories today involves theorists such as Jean Piaget (1920, e.g. child intellectual development) and Freud (1933, e.g. components of personality) to more recent theorists such as Lev Vygotsky (1934/1962, e.g. stages of cognitive development) and Urie Bronfenbrenner (1995, contextual development) (Sigelman & Rider, 2003). Specifically, the following paragraphs will focus and illustrate on how children develop during infancy and early childhood according to the social relationships and cultural context(s) of the child as an individual or group member.
According to (Sigelman & Rider, 2003), development is defined as the changes and adjustments that individuals experience from the time of conception till death. They established that age grades, age norms and the social clock influence the development of individuals (children) socially. To illustrate, age grades are socially classified age groups which include pre-assigned statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities. Next, age norms refers to the society 's permitted and prohibited behaviours individuals ' should and should not do according to one 's age. Last, social clock refers to a sense of what and when things have to be done according to one 's age norms (Sigelman & Rider, 2003). As society evolves parallel to as time progresses, the context in time becomes very important to understand the social environment. In addition, Valsiner (1988) denotes that social development functions hand-in-hand with the cultural environment. Thus, as we understand the developmental process of the infancy and early childhood stage we must consider two factors such as the social environment and the cultural context of the child as an individual as we answer the developmental questions

References: Aimin, W. & Guiying, R. (2004). A Comparative Study of Self-Concept in Chinese and American Children. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 18(5), 294-299. Retrieved August 11, 2005 from PsycInfo database from World Wide Web: http://gateway.ut.ovid.com.ezproxy.otago.ac.nz/gw2/ovidweb.cgi Barker, R.G., Kounin, J. S. & Wright, H. F. (1943). Child behavior and development: A course of representative studies (pp. 621-636). New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill. viii, 652 pp. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss: Attachment (Vol. 1). London: The Hogarth Press. Devito, .J. A. (2003). Human communication: The basic course (9th ed.). New York: Allyn & Bacon. Drewery, W. & Bird, L. (2004). Human development in Aoteatoa: A journey through life (2nd ed.). Australia: McGraw-Hill. Mussen, P. H. (1973). The psychological development of the child (2nd ed.). USA: Prentice-Hall. Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. A. (2003). Life-Span: Human Development (4th ed.). USA: Wadworth/Thomson Learning. Stratton, P. (1988). Parents ' Conceptualisation of Children as the Organizer of Culturally Structured Environments. In Valsiner, J. (Eds.), Child Development Within Cultural Structured Enviroments: Parental Cognition and Adult –Child Interaction (Vol. 1) (pp. 5-29). USA: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Valsiner, J. (1988). Child Development Within Cultural Structured Enviroments: Parental Cognition and Adult –Child Interaction (Vol. 1). USA: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Van der Veer, R., & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1988). Early Childhood attachment and later problem solving: A Vygotskian perspective. In Valsiner, J. (Eds.), Child Development Within Cultural Structured Enviroments: Parental Cognition and Adult –Child Interaction (Vol. 1) (pp. 215-246). USA: Ablex Publishing Corporation.