Child Development Analysis Essays - Behaviorism, Childhood

Child Development Analysis How to rev kids up to do what you ask, is the sample to be discussed. Discussion The author, Hoffman introduces two experts, the magazines parenting columnist Lynn and clinical psychologist, Phelan, to advise two families, the Ashworths, father Nigel and his three young children, Ben, one, Georgia, age three, and Liam, age five; the second family consists of Angela, a single parent and her twelve year old daughter, Nina. Parent/child interactions in regards to learning and embedding lifeskills and routines are addressed. 1. The article does not introduce research findings or mention the role of research. Phelan and Lynn support two parenting skills, acknowledgement of the childs good behaviour and the use of natural consequences technique. Suggested research to support these findings. My hypothesis for research could be: would praise and consequences (reinforcement) work to increase a childs compliance? Research required to support these generic findings would entail the test or measure of the same families or families with similar features i.e. socio-economic, cultural, age, sex, temperament, personalities, genetic make -up several times over a period of time, this longitudinal study might find correlations. The strong positive correlations can tell how consistent or inconsistent the childrens behaviour is on compliance as well as on parental behaviour. Experimental research gives more control and faster results however this method cannot provide findings to a broad range of family types. The questionaire and interview methods would yield the most control and allow for personal observations. Improved accuracy could be obtained with home visits. Also, I could observe a control group for even better understanding of the interplay between parent and child interactio ns. Extensive research is required to adequately support the findings. There are many variables: chores, routines, temperament, family dynamics, peer groups, other key players (piano teacher), social ecology aspects, just to list a few that can affect the family. 2. Advice in article compared to Course Reader and text The advice given in the article is broad. The course material concurred with the experts two recommendations of praising good behaviour and natural consequences. I did not find any direct discussion of natural consequences,from the dialogue on conditioning and reinforcement (Bee,18)I inferred this advice to be part of this method. Evidence to support parental discipline was found in the text on page 3, Bee informs the reader that the childs ...temperamental patterns...can be and are modified by the parents style of caregiving. Our academic materials make specific reference to identified situations and circumstances i.e. Bee gives an example on page 260, ...he (Patterson) emphasizes that what happens in a given family, for a particular child, is a joint product of the childs own temperament or response tendencies, the parents discipline skills, the parents.., that is, Bee wants the student to understand from this description that generalizations often are over simplifications. The background assumptions and stance on basic issues of these two recommendations can be seen to have been influenced by the major contemporary developmental psychology theories: psycho-analytical, cognitive, social, learning, ecological. Current schools of child development believe children are born with certain inherent genetic traits i.e. temperament but are affected by their circles of influences, especially their parents behaviour and their relationship. These advisors, quite likely, are trained in the current schools of child development. Their advice is general, the article short on details, but it is conceptually based on current frameworks of child development psychology. For example, in the cognitive developmental theories of Piaget and Erikson, children are directly affected by their (key people) parents actions and (adaptation) purposefully change their behaviours to comply (Bee, 22, 182). Freud, in his influential theory of the stages of personality provides the groundi ng for discussions in the science of developmental psychology. Other theorists, as well have synthesized ideas that begin with the child as an active player in her growth and development moving through her life making choices, allowing influences or not. Research in these and other fields of child development support the articles advice. According to Bowlbys theory of attachment, praise good behaviour, would increase attachment to the childs parents (Bee, 306). Vygotskys psycho-social theory, zone of proximal development, provides a base too for the advice, the child is interpreted as directly influenced through his parents activities