QUESTION

Introduction (if you are doing structure 1- adapt for structure 2)

• Introduce briefly the broad topic of the assignment – tell your readers what it is about

• State what your assignment does –  (which questions does it focus on; name the topic of the questions, not (a) and (b)

Body

Your response to the two questions

Begin your response to each question with your position – i.e. a statement of how you have decided to answer the question

Example

Early life experiences and social development have a great influence on the adult person.

The rest of your answer has to support this point of view

• Use two (or more) theories to explain why early life experience and social development have a great influence
• Give a brief example from your reflections to support the theoretical points

Your answer MUST include the following:

• Comparison and contrast of two theories that are relevant to the question that you use to support your point of view stated in the topic sentence
• Give examples from your experience (take them from your weekly reflections) to elaborate on the points you make from the literature

**There is no correct answer.  After reading, you might decide to answer the question in the following way:

Example

Although early life experiences and social development greatly influence the adult person, xxx plays an equally important role in the development of the adult person  [the rest of your answer has to support this point of view]

Overall Conclusion (a third question)

How is developmental psychology relevant to nursing practice?

Other points

Using ‘I’

When you are writing about your reflection, use the first person – e.g.

Culture had a great impact on my development.  I grew up in an extended family where, as suggested by Vygotsky (ref), I was …[make a point about your experience that relates to a point about the influence of culture you have already written in your answer]

Headings

If it is helpful for you and for your reader to use headings, you can do so

SOLUTION

1.     Do early life experiences and social development impact on the adult person?

Yes, early life experiences and social development do have an impact on the adult person. This is evident from the fact that a child learns to respond with gestures such as hand movements and facial expressions from a very nascent age. (0-1 year).  Bonding with parents makes the baby feel secured and comfortable. This is also proven from the monkey experiments conducted by Harry Harlow who discovered that touch and closeness makes the monkey baby develop the belief system that security comes from the ability to bond with a parental figure. In the experiment Harlow had used two types of mother symbols one was a wired chair and other a chair with soft cloth. It was noticed by Harlow that the monkey baby felt more secured with the cloth chair. This phenomenon proves the fact that a child learns to respond with confidence or insecurity from the quality of early life relationship with parents. (Collins N. 1996).

                           i.          The various stages of child-parent attachment process are –

a)     Pre-attachment:

During this stage the babies use the natural bonding gestures such as hugging and kissing that are already inherent within them. The period of 6 weeks from birth is the pre-attachment stage.

b)     Indiscriminate attachment:

During this stage the babies are comfortable to bond with people other than their own parents such as relatives and family friends. This is because the baby cannot discriminate that attachment with mother/father could be different than attachment with other people such as relatives and family friends. The period of 6 weeks-7 months is the indiscriminate attachment stage.

c)     Specific attachment:

In the specific attachment stage the child can distinguish parent from other people. Hence, the baby will resist going near anyone other than the parent. This stage is during the period of 7 months to two years.

d)     Formation of reciprocal relationships

During the reciprocal relationship stage the child learns to live independently without the presence of parent. The child does not mind periods of longer absence but knows subconsciously about the kind of relationship that is being developed with the parent. This stage is during the period of 18 months to 2 years and above 2 years from birth.

The above information tells us that the child’s cognitive abilities are developed across a wide span of time that can be divided into four stages. Each stage is classified on the basis of the child’s age and the attention span offered by the parent towards the child.

From the above theory, it can also be derived that in cases when the parent response to bonding gestures of child such as touch and facial expressions are indifferent, the child may develop an indifferent attitude towards society during adulthood. (Bowlby J. 1988).

                         ii.          We can distinguish the type of attachments that the child develops into four categories and learn the baby’s responses to separation from parent and the resultant personality as an adult in all of the four categories.

a)      Secure Attachment

b)     Avoidant Attachment

c)     Resistant – Insecure Attachment

d)     Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment

(Ainsworth M. 1989).

2.     To what extent does culture impact on development?

Culture may partially impact the development of a child into a mature adult. In western cultures it is common to create an environment of independence for the child. Since infancy the baby is provided a separate room and thus adaptation to difficult situations such as living alone, starts at an early age. This also helps in making the child self-sufficient and self-reliable while dealing with social situations.

Eastern cultures may have a concern in this area because they pamper the child and at times block the development of cognitive abilities. In this culture, the parent is supported by the child during old age both financially and morally. It is a reverse cycle where the parent receives care and concern from the child, just like the child received care during infancy and teenage.  We cannot ascertain that in western family the child does not support parents to face the challenges of old age. Parent to Child & Child to Parent support is not a consistent characteristic with all families from the eastern culture but a scenario prevalent with most families. In such a culture, the families are more satisfied because every member shows concern for the other member. Father helps the son in developing his skill-sets and become a successful professional in the chosen field. Mother grooms the daughter by teaching her cooking and other chores that make her a good wife. This is almost like training the children to take up responsibilities in the future. Although families in western culture may or may not adopt this Parent to Child & Child to Parent support model, children from western families do turn independent. This happens due to the availability of immense resources in the country. Be it education, or career related decisions the western society is more civilized and gets better and more choices in every area of their life.

The down side to this is the increased dependence of western cultures on technology and a lack of human touch and compassion. On the contrary, the downside in eastern cultures is increased dependence of children on their parents and emotional imbalances. Emotional immaturity is big price that is paid by the Asian youngsters; on the other hand premature teenage pregnancy is also on a rise with the western youngsters. Thus, it can be derived from the above information that cultures do play a significant role in child development. The impact of cultures can be balanced by adopting best practices from western as well as eastern cultures. Dependency should be created only to address a need and it should not become an inherent characteristic of the child. Similarly, independence should only be given when the child becomes emotionally matured to make decisions and face the consequences of those decisions. (Klein, H., 2004).

3.     Does development occur through a sequence of psychological stages and tasks?

                           i.          Development occurs through a sequence of following psychological stages:

a)     Sensorimotor intelligence

Out of sight – Out of mind: A one year old child does not understand the concept of presence and absence of matter. In a situation where the mother plays a game in which she shows her face once and at the next moment covers her face with hands, the child does not understand what happens when the mother covers her face? The child cannot comprehend that matter can be absent in the same way it is present.

A-not-B error: There is another game to understand the cognitive development of a child: The child is shown a ball hidden under the blue handkerchief and then the ball is hidden under the red handkerchief. Then the child is asked to show where the ball is located. The child invariably points towards the blue handkerchief. This is because the child cannot distinguish between the previous and now.

Sensorimotor intelligence develops completely when the child attains the age of 2 years. (Merz, E. & Consedine, N. S. 2009)

b)     Pre-Operational:

The child conceives the presence of matter quantity and volume on the basis of observation and intuition. Reality is perceived the way it is shown. This stage takes place during the period of 2-7 years of age.

c)     Concrete Operational:

The child conceives the presence of matter quantity and volume on the basis of intellectual observation and the capacity of deductive reasoning develops. This stage takes place during the age of 7-11 years.

d)     Formal Operational

In this stage the child learns to understand the importance of situations and change the behavior accordingly. The ability to adopt the right behavior and conceive reality after deep thinking and analysis becomes the characteristic of the child. This stage takes place when the children attain the age of 11 years and above.

Thus it can be derived that child development occurs in stages. It is not possible to comprehend analytical thinking and deductive reasoning during infancy. These abilities are developed differently in different children. Every child is unique but if the child is exposed to one kind of training to adopt a specific skill set, the child will be more inclined to using those skills in most situations.  (Iverson, J.M., Meadows, 1998)

                         ii.          Development and Environment

Exposure to social situations is also necessary for the child’s development. This kind of development happens through peer pressure and team-work. This is more important because it could be dangerous to learn any skills in isolation. At the end of the day, every child should possess substantial emotional intelligence to relate with the peers, family, and spouse. Lack of social skills often leads to slow development and indifference in attitude towards colleagues. (Wood & Smith, 2001)

References

DONALDSON M (1984) Children’s Minds London Fontana

1. SATTERLY D (1987) “Piaget and Education” in R L Gregory (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the Mind Oxford, Oxford University Press
2. WOOD D (1998) How Children Think and Learn (2nd edition) Oxford; Blackwell Publishing.
3. 4.     Wood, K. C., Smith, H., (2001). Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology.
4. Iverson, J.M. & Meadow, S. (Eds.) (1998).  The nature and functions of gesture in children’s communication [New Directions for Child Development, no. 79].  San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
5. 6.     Merz, E.-M. & Consedine, N. S. (2009). Attachment security moderates the links between emotional and instrumental family support and wellbeing in later life. Attachment and Human Development
6. 7.     Klein, H. (2004). Chapter 9, Cognition in Natural Settings: The Cultural Lens model. In M. Kaplan ed., Cultural Ergonomics. Advances in human performance and cognitive engineering research.
7. 8.     Ainsworth, M. (1989). Attachments beyond infancy.  American Psychologist
8. Bowlby, J. (1988). Developmental psychiatry comes of age.  American Journal of

Psychiatry

Collins, N. (1996). Working models of attachment: Implications for explanations, emotion, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

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