CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

Child Psychology and Child Development



Abstract

Child psychologists are concerned with children's developments and the diverse range of issues from an infant's motor skills development to the observation of intellectual functioning in the young children. The study of child psychology is important in order to address the different issues and aspects of a child's development through gaining a better understanding regarding their mental processes and cognition. The children's psychology is also considered important as it shapes a child's personality as he or she grows up, along with doing their behavioral and emotional modeling. It defines what path a child will take in his life and what kind of individual he will turn out to be.

Child Psychology and Child Development

Introduction

Child psychology establishes the fundamentals of the human development. It is the scientific study of the ways in which children learn and get affected by their environment and how it comes to shape their cognition, emotions, and behavior. Not only does the developmental psychology define all the ways that a person changes in it also defines what ways we remain the same, as well.

Initially, the developmental psychology was concerned with children only. However, now the field has stretched out, and comprises of psychology of adolescents and lately, the entire human life span. The field of developmental psychology studies the changes in a child across a diverse range of topics. These topics include psycho-physiological and physical processes, conceptual and moral understanding, problem-solving abilities, language acquisition, and formation of identity (Sharma, 2007).

The developmental psychologists examine key issues like how children are psychologically different from adults and their lack of experience, which shapes their cognitive frames. Along with that they also study issues such as the gradual knowledge accumulation through which the development occurs (Balter & Tamis-LeMonda, 1999). It encompasses the shifting of thinking stages and the study of children's innate knowledge and experiential learning. Another topic studied by the developmental psychology is how children's development is determined by the environmental context or the child's cognition.

The child psychology impacts several applied fields, like child psychopathology, educational psychology, and forensic developmental psychology. It accompanies numerous other fundamental fields of research in psychology such as cognitive and comparative psychology (Sharma, 2007).

Discussion

Upon children's interaction with the environment, their personal schemes undergo modification, combination, and are reorganized for the formation of multifaceted cognitive frames and structures. Upon their maturity, these cognitive structures help in the development of sophisticated modes of thinking. This has an impact on the children's interaction with the environment. For instance, children develop schemes through which they notice the similarities in different objects i.e. a comparison scheme; and a separate scheme through which they notice differences i.e. a contrast scheme. Progressively, they coordinate and combine them into one cognitive structure, which allows them to contrast and compare objects simultaneously (Cook & Cook, 2005).

When a child encounters a new object they use their cognitive structure for developing a comprehensive understanding for it. This helps in the determination of the nature of ...