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Developmental Theories

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Developmental Theories 1

Developmental Theories
Tammy Weston
Child and Adolescent Development
PSY 104
December, 20, 2014

Developmental Theories 2
There is nothing more amazing than the growth and development of a child. Several researchers have dedicated years to the study of child development to help us better understand this amazing time in their lives. Though there are many theorists and different branches of their theories, they are narrowed into three categories, maturationist, environmentalist, and constructivist. These three theories allow us to analyze childhood development and better understand how children grow and learn. Although there are many differences in these theories, there are also some similarities.
In this paper I will discuss how these theories relate and differ with regards to a child’s development. How do these theories help us understand our children and how they grow and learn? I will also discuss the importance of physical, emotional and cognitive development, to the overall development of a child and why it is imperative for us to not only understand how they develop but how we can help foster that growth.
A child begins to develop while in the mother’s womb. The genetics (the makeup) of the child are already in place. (Papalia, Olds, Feldman, 2008) The child inherits genes from both mother and father. Piaget was probably one of most influential cognitive theorists. Piaget was a constructivist which means basically that learning occurs from actions rather than as a result of actions. Cognition generally refers to any intellectual process within the human experience. These processes include attention the ability to focus, perception the individual interpretation, memory, thinking and problem solving. Constructivists or Cognitivists believe development is the ‘process by which individuals acquire a more sophisticated and

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