The Importance Of Nature And Nurture On Child Development

His approach of studying the development of the human mind was a synthesis of ideas drawn from biology and philosophy. He looked at human beings as biological organisms who must adapt successively to their environment. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development revolutionized the study of children’s cognitive development and it has undergone some revisions over the years. It also provides a set of basic principles to guide our understanding of cognitive development that are found in most recent theories. Piaget believed that in order to adapt successively to our changing environment, we are always actively trying to make sense of our experiments.

Introduction Developmental psychology makes an attempt to comprehend the types and sources of advancement in children’s cognitive, social, and language acquisition skills. The pioneering work done by early child development theorists has had a significant influence on the field of psychology as we know it today. The child development theories put forward by both Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson have had substantial impacts on contemporary child psychology, early childhood education, and play therapy. In this essay, I aim to highlight the contribution of these two theorists in their study of various developmental stages, the differences and similarities in their theories, and their contributions to the theory and practice of play therapy. Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland in 1896.

Cognitive Development can be explained as the emergence of thought processes beginning from infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood. The aim of this essay is to focus on Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development. Jean Piaget is a Swiss developmental psychologist who is known for his epistemological studies. On the other hand, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist best known for his theory known as the Cultural-Historical theory. Both Vygotsky and Piaget were particularly interested in Cognitive Development in children.

The second theorist introduced is Vygotsky and his theory was influenced by Karl Marx’s proposal “that historical changes in society have significant impact on how people think and behave” (215). Piaget used a clinical method, in order to seek his theory of cognitive development. This allowed Piaget to understand how children and adolescents learn. On the other hand, Vygotsky used tangible items like stories, paper, and writing utensils to determine how the society would move forward. An educational difference from Vygotsky is that parents, teachers, and other adults has having an impact on how children learn and grow.

There are many different discussions on what has the biggest impact when it comes to human development and the make up of DNA. The two terms that describe the makeup of DNA the best is Nature, and Nurture. When discussing Nature vs Nurture, the biggest question that will come up is which term will have the greatest effect on your behavior. By this question, it means will it be the genetic, or the environmental factors that will have the greatest influence on a person 's DNA. It is true that both Nature and Nurture play very important roles when discussing human development, but as you get more in debt between the two, you will realize which one plays the biggest role.

Introduction It is very important to study about the development of the human. Because it provides framework to think about human growth, their mental development, and the most important one, ‘their learning’. As a teacher it is very important to study about these theories. Because it have a close relationship with the development of the students and their learning behavior (Michael, 2012) . So, in this assignment I am going to talk about the four major developmental theories which focused on the development of the human.

As human beings we come to this world with a certain characteristic or nature that lays a foundation for the environment to work on as we are growing up. As human beings, throughout life we are exposed to different things in our environment, and our nature starts to change as a result of trying to adapt to the environment. Hence, my argument that nurture having a bigger impact on behavior than nature comes from an evolutionary idea of environmental selection. Evolution tells us that every organism faces environmental pressure or a selection pressure, and in order to survive organisms need to be able to adapt. An individual even though born with a certain nature, will most probably have a change in nature at some point in their life time due to environmental pressures.

While genetics play a major role in psychology, experiences are often the primary factor in the development of one’s personality. Nurture, a person’s surroundings and experiences, often determines his outlook on life and how he reacts to certain situations. (120 Myers and DeWall) This develops the set of behaviors and ideas, which combined, are called a personality. Nurture is the focus of developmental psychology, which is the branch of psychology dealing with the physical, social, and cognitive development as a person progresses through life. (120 Myers and DeWall) Sometimes, specific instances and events can leave an impression on a person for life.

Nature and nurture is a psychological debate that has been going on for many years and it questions whether our genes or our environment have a greater impact on how we develop, grow and act the way we do. When you are born you don’t have certain preferences or traits, it is as you grow up that you develop into a unique individual. There are many people that argue on the side of nurture meaning the way you are raised and the environment you are in and how that impacts you as a person and who you become and also that your personality develops as you grow. However others argue that your life is controlled by the nature side of things where it’s entirely your genetic makeup that makes you who you are. Zimbardo and Milgram would be two well known people who would support the idea that our environment is critical in who we become.

To begin with, nature is defined by our genetic makeup that is primarily shaped by a person’s temperament, intelligence and personality characteristics. For example, being yourself, or being who you are. If you believe you were already born with a personality, then you take the side of nature. On the other hand, the nurture theory shows how behaviors are taught and influenced by their environment. For example, if you believe that your personality is based on your influences by your parents, siblings or when you were a child then you believe in nurture.