Child Psychology 1

Child Psychology

Child Psychology is a specialized branch and one the most frequently studied areas of

Psychology. Child Psychology focuses on the behavior and development of children from their

birth to adolescence. This document briefly discusses the different contexts of child psychology,

how these contextual dimensions interrelate, observational methods, the thinking and

psychological process of children, how it differs from those of adults, and a few of the child

developmental theories that describe a child’s emotional, mental and social development process.

The Ultimate Goal of Child Psychology

Child psychology mainly studies the mental and cognitive processes and other factors that

combine to give meaning to how a child reacts and use that information to improve parenting,

health, education, mental hygiene and other areas devoted to child benefits. Child psychology

thus enables us to understand the behavior of children. To understand the child behavior we,

therefore, need to consider the child and his or her environment as an arrangement of correlating

variables. Viewing behavior, or in fact any set of data in its entirety, in context has been labeled

by many analysts as a field (Einstein, 1933; Kohler, 1925; Lewin, 1954).

Child Development under the Different Contexts

child’s growth and development depends on the environmental as well as personal variables that

make up the context. For example, the personal variables for a class of kindergarten children may

include their genders, age, nature and upbringing; whereas the environmental variables may

include the aspects of the surrounding in which the adult and children interact, such as the
Child Psychology 2

physical characteristics of the classroom (Parke & Gauvain, 2009; Fishbein, 1984). At later

stages in a child’s life these environmental factors have a much larger scope and includes factors

such as social interactions, gatherings and the culture in which (s)he lives. All these factors

eventually have a great influence on how a child grows.

The following major factors need to be considered for the study of child psychology:

Social Context

The most important part of social context includes family, friend, school, and teachers.

Interactions with all these people have a significant effect on how a child thinks and nurtures.

Cultural Context

The culture in which a child lives shapes up the values and beliefs which give a special

meaning to the observable elements of behavior, customs and artifacts. Beneath these values and

beliefs lie the foundational idea that are called shared assumptions. These assumptions influence

the behavior of children and play a great role in developing their perception.

Socioeconomic Context

The socioeconomic level of people is influenced by many factors including their family

background, education, job status, and their nationality. Children rose in families with a high

socioeconomic status with good health care, quality education and nutrition have greater access

to opportunities than those rose in families with lower socioeconomic status. Such factors also

play a major role in child psychology (Schaffer, 2003).

One must remember that these three contextual dimensions are constantly interacting and

therefore a kid with fewer opportunities due to lower socioeconomic level may have good social

relationships and strong cultural values which may affirm his development.

Observational Methods

To study the child behavior we need information which is obtained from many sources by

systematically observing the child behavior and how they react and respond in a particular

situation. Parents, teachers, relatives and any other person’s observation and/or direct interaction

or interview with a child can provide detailed information in this regard. Tests of personality,

intelligence, and other experiments have also proved useful in understanding the children. This

information is very helpful in solving the child problems that are faced up in our everyday lives

(Pellegrini, 2004).

Thinking and Reasoning

According to Warren, thinking is a conceptional activity, started by some problem, involving

some error and it ultimately leads to a solution or conclusion of the problem. As thinking starts

with some problem, children have to exercise their mind and think in order to reach to a solution

to the problems they’re facing at any given time. However, a child’s thinking is quite different

from that of an adult person (Sharma & Sharma, 2006). Following are the distinguishing

characteristics of a child’s thinking and reasoning:

1.A child’s thought are generally more gross and subtle as they contribute to the process

of development of concepts in a child.

2.Compared to adults, a child’s concepts are more ambiguous and indistinct, and the

clarity of concepts increases with the child’s mental development.

3.A child’s concepts are more indefinite, and they become definite as (s)he advances in

mental development.

4.A child’s concepts are simpler. At the age of 27 months a child begins to understand the

concept of man & knows that both male and female are human beings. At the age of 42 months a

child has the concept of fruits and vegetables and can differentiate them from one another.

5.A child looks at everything in it’s entirety as a whole, in other words he does not have

the knowledge of individual components or parts forming the whole. He thus perceives

everything as a whole and first forms the concept of the whole and later on that of the part.

6.Compared to adults, many concepts of a child are wrong. He develops right concepts by

means of education. Adults should tell them the mere truth so that they don’t form the false

concepts that later lead to maladjustment. So proper education and training is necessary for the

development of child’s thinking (Sharma & Sharma, 2006).

The Middle Childhood Period

During middle childhood, children increasingly take part in wider social contexts that exercise

significant influences on their behavior pattern and development. When a child starts going to a

school, (s)he experiences new things and meets new people which promote the development of
Child Psychology 5

his/her interpersonal & intellectual competencies (Harwood, Miller & Vasta, 2008). According to

Erikson (1968), a “sense of industry” or a sense of cooperation & mutuality in social interactions

during school time and outside home, is critical to healthy development of a child. Conversely, if

a child fails to develop such skills, Erikson stated that a “sense of inferiority” would originate

that could have a negative effect and could hinder a child’s psychological growth and

interpersonal well-being.

Child Development Theories

The child development process that occurs from birth to adolescence was not given much

attention throughout the history. During early years of the study of psychology children were

simply viewed as the smaller versions of adults (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 1998).

The child development theories can be classified into two categories: The theories that

describe every aspect of the development process are called Grand Theories; others that focus on

limited or individual aspects of development such as social and mental growth are known as

Mini Theories (Slee & Shute, 2003). In the following paragraphs a few child development

theories proposed by different researchers and theorists are briefly discussed.

Sigmund Freud

He proposed theories that signified the importance of events and experiences during

childhood and focused on mental disorders rather than normal functioning. Freud describes the

child development as a series of “psychosexual stages”. Satisfaction of libidinal desire is

involved in each stage which later serves a great role in adult personality. If any stage is not

successfully completed by a child, it would later influence his/her behavior and adult personality.
Child Psychology 6

Erik Erikson

Erikson’s theory is also based on different stages, but his theory covered not only child

growth but the human growth throughout the entire life. Erikson described that each stage of the

developmental process involves overcoming a conflict. For example instituting a sense of

personal identity during the period of immaturity (or adolescence). Success or failure in

addressing the conflict would have an impact on development process (Erikson, 1968).

Cognitive Child Development Theories - Jean Piaget

This theory is also called the cognitive child development theory. It emphasizes the

positive and free will aspects of human behavior. According to Jean Piaget, children can be seen

as “little scientists” who develop their knowledge through thought, experience and their

understanding of the world.

Behavioral Child Development Theories

Behavioral theories are environmentally based i.e. a child’s development is influenced by

his/her environment. These theories deal with the observable behaviors alone. Therefore,

punishments, reward, love, hatred and reinforcement all are considered to shape a child’s

behavior.

Social Child Development Theories

The social development of a child has gone through a lot of research. The two well-

known and earliest theories under this head include that of John Bowlby and Albert Bandura.
Child Psychology 7

Bowlby stated that the relationships at the initial stages of childhood with parents and

caregivers have a significant influence over child development and they regulate the social

interactions and relationships throughout the entire human life.

Albert Bandura’s theory is known as Social Learning Theory. According to this theory

children learn from their environment by observing the actions of other people to gain new

knowledge and develop new skills. The difference between Social Learning and Behavioral

theories is that the Social Learning theory takes the effect of both external reinforcement (such as

punishment, reward, stimuli etc.) and intrinsic reinforcement (such as satisfaction,

accomplishment and sense of pride). Whereas the behavioral theories hold the view that external

reinforcement was the only way of making people learn new things.

Final Thoughts

As discussed above, some of the well-known thinkers have proposed theories to explain

different views of child development and psychology. Today’s contemporary psychologists

realize that child psychology is complex and off times a variety of views and unique perspectives

are put forward to better understand the different aspects of child development, behavior and

thoughts (Balter & LeMonda, 2003).

References

Parke, R. D., & Gauvain, M. (2009). Child psychology: A contemporary viewpoint. (7th ed.).

New York: McGraw-Hill.

Balter, L., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2003). Child psychology: A handbook of contemporary

issues. (1 ed.). Psychology Press.

Sharma, R. N., & Sharma, R. (2006). Child psychology. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

Schaffer, H. R. (2003). Introducing child psychology. (1st ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Bjorklund, D. F., Pellegrini A. D. (1998). Applied child study: A developmental approach. (3rd

ed.). Mahwah, New Jersey London: Psychology Press.

Fishbein, H. D. (1984). The psychology of infancy and childhood: Evolutionary and cross-

cultural perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Hoch, J., Pellegrini, A. D., & Symons, F. J. (2004). Observing children in their natural worlds:

A methodological primer. (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Psychology Press.

Crandell, T., Crandell, C., & Zanden, J. V. (2008). Human development. (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Harwood, R., Miller, S. A., & Vasta, R. (2008). Child psychology: Development in a changing

society. (5th ed.). Wiley.

Slee, P., & Shute, R. (2003). Child development: Thinking about theories. Hodder Arnold

Publishers.