Child Development Theories

When the field of child development expanded during the mid-twentieth century and beyond, a variety of theories emerged. Theories help child psychologists and other helping professionals working with children explain and understand developmental processes.

For this assignment, review the contemporary theories. Write a 3-4-page well-developed paper in which you address the following. Because you will be describing a personal event or issue, it is appropriate to write in first person in your paper.

1. Briefly describe an event that you or someone you know experienced during childhood. The event could be divorce of parents, moving to a new neighborhood, learning to read or ride a bike, birth of a sibling, et cetera.

2. Choose two of the theories presented in the textbook and briefly summarize the main ideas of the theories. Theories to choose from may include:

Psychoanalytic Perspective.

Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory.

Piaget's Cognitive-Development Theory.

Information Processing.

Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory.

Ecological Systems Theory.

Dynamic Systems Perspective.

3. Apply the ideas from the two theories you summarized to explain the actions surrounding the event you described.

4. Describe how the theories helped you gain an understanding of child development.

5. Explain how longitudinal or cross-sectional approaches to research help us understand events and issues in child development.