Child Psychology Notes

Child psychology

Define child psychology

• Part of developmental psychology and is the scientific study of the thinking and behavior of individuals from the pre-natal period through to adulthood.

• Research in this field focuses on development, including maturational changes which happen as children grow older and those that come about through experiences within the social and cultural world.

• Development can be divided into various inter-related areas and although some research such as the case study of Genie looked at many of these areas, including physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional and social development, other studies focus on specific areas such as the work of Mary Ainsworth which focused specifically on socio-emotional development, and in particular, attachment between mothers and infants.

• Child psychologists are interest typical development; that is the expected changes that occur in the majority of children with a specific society/culture but also in atypical development, where children may be experiencing global or specific deficits or delays or may be especially advanced in comparisons with other children of their age and culture.

• Many different research methodologies are employed from naturalistic observations of children in familiar settings or more structured observations where specific behaviours are elicited for observation through placing the children in standardized conditions. These sorts of studies may only provide a snapshot in time however and since child psychology is about change, psychologists often like to revisit the same children many times to make comparisons, within a longitudinal design.

• Research in child psychology has been pivotal in altering our perception of children and their role in society and in bringing about changes to the law and policies affecting their rights and wellbeing.

Terms and definitions

Attachment

• Shaffer, (1993) defines attachment as an intense, reciprocal, emotional bond between two persons (infant and caregiver) characterised by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity (closeness).

• Attachment is a gradual process which takes place over the first 9 months or so of life. By this time the majority of infants and their caregivers will have formed intense and reciprocal emotional bonds which can endure over a lifetime.

• The nature of the attachment will be dependent upon interaction, parenting style and the child’s own temperament. A secure attachment will be characterised by certain behaviours from the child including seeking proximity of the attachment figure, social referencing, safe base behaviour, stranger fear and separation anxiety.

• The process is deemed to be important in providing a prototype for future relationships or as Bowlby says an ‘internal working model’ of how people should behave with one another and if a child does not develop an attachment within the first three years, this is thought by some to lead to irreparable damage to the child’s socio-emotional development, although research suggests this claim may be over-stated

Deprivation

• Deprivation refers to bond disruption which occurs when an attachment bond has been formed but is subsequently broken.

• This could occur when separation is temporary but frequent, repeated and prolonged, semi-permanent as in the relocation of a parent following divorce, or permanent as in the death of a parent or abandonment.

• Bowlby argued that when an infant is unable to experience warm, intimate and most importantly continuous relationships they will have an increased risk of socio-emotional and behavioural disorders in later life.

• These could include such severe outcomes as anaclitic depression and withdrawal, juvenile delinquency, affectionless psychopathy, developmental retardation and even developmental dwarfism.

• Many studies have been conducted looking the effects of deprivation for example in institutionalised children in orphanages and care homes who have been removed from their families.

Define what is meant by privation

• Privation is a term coined by Rutter (1981) meaning a complete failure to develop an attachment to anyone. This is distinct from the situation whereby an attachment has been formed but broken, causing bond disruption, (deprivation).

• Research suggests that the effects of privation may be more severe and pervasive than deprivation including failure to reach cognitive and language milestones and social and emotional problems such as affectionless psychopathy, which may lead to exploitation of others and a failure to experience guilt or remorse.

• Case studies of children who have been neglected or abused have conflicting findings about whether the effects of privation are reversible as following rehabilitation, Genie never developed age-appropriate language skills or social behaviour, while the Koluchova twins went onto complete their education, get married and have their own children.

• Alternative studies of privation have included monitoring the progress of children raised in very poor orphanages and children’s home such as those in Romania, however it is often hard in these circumstances to draw conclusions about whether any subsequent deficits and delays on the children’s development is a results of emotional privation or of lack of intellectual stimulation.

Evolution

• Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection describes the process by which successive generations change over time. These changes may affect how a species looks and behaves. These differences are caused by genes, unit of inheritance which biologically shape the way an organism develops.

• Any physical features or behaviours which help the organism to survive and to find a suitable mate will be genetically passed onto any offspring, whereas features which inhibit survival or reproduction will be less likely to be apparent in successive generations as the organisms that carry these features will be less likely to survive, find mates and reproduce, and therefore...

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