1

Developmental Psychology-
Syllabus of Lifespan Development:
1. Meaning of Development, growth and maturation- Why is the study of lifespan development important?
Determinants- interaction of heredity and environment, context of development.
2. Infancy- motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development: Motor-milestones; cognitive-Piaget’s
Sensory Motor Stage; Socio-emotional development-emergence of attachment.
3. Childhood- motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development: Motor development; cognitive
development-Piaget’s Theory (Preoperational, Concrete and Formal Operation); emergence of self- gender,
emergence of peer relationships; moral development- Kohlberg’s perspective- pre-conventional morality.
4. Adolescence-physical changes, cognitive development, socio-emotional development; some major
concerns: Physical changes at puberty; Cognitive development-Piaget’s Formal Operation Stage; Socio-
emotional development-forming an identity, dealing with sexuality and gender; some major concerns-
delinquency, substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) and eating disorders-bulimia, anorexia.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

1. Milestones of motor development

Ans: A motor milestone is a fundamental motor skill whose attainment is associated with the acquisition of
later voluntary movements. The order in which an infant attains these milestones is relatively consistent,
although the timing differs between individuals; for example- sitting, standing etc with or without support.
Thus, Milestones are significant changes occurring at specific age/time.
2. The term growth.
Ans: Growth generally refers to quantitative changes in an organism, particularly growth in size and
structure/: Changes occur in the foetus after fertilisation in the womb. The changes can be divided into
two dimensions, i.e. quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative aspect is referred to as growth,
which are measurable, e.g. weight, size and shape/ physical change/physical development

3. The term development.

Ans: Development refers to the progressive series of an orderly coherent type towards the goal of
maturity. It refers to the development, both in the prenatal and post-natal period. It is a dynamic and
sequential change and it leads the human organism to maturation. It refers to qualitative changes.

Development is the pattern of progressive, orderly and predictable changes that begin at conception and
continue throughout life. It is influenced by interplay of biological, cognitive and socio-emotional processes.
Development due to genes inherited from parents, such as in height and weight, brain, heart and lungs
development point towards the role of biological processes. The role of cognitive processes in development
relate to mental activities associated with the processes of knowing and experiencing, such as thought,
perception, attention, problem-solving, etc. Socio-emotional processes that influence development refer to
changes in an individual’s interactions with other people, changes in emotions and in personality.
Life-span Perspective on Development: The study of development according to Life-span perspective includes
the following assumptions-
i. Development is life-long, that is, it takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old
age.
ii. The various processes of human development, that is, the biological, cognitive and socio-emotional are
interwoven in the development of a person throughout life-span.
iii. Development is multi-directional. Some dimensions or components of a given dimension of
development may increase while others show a decrease. For example, the experiences of adults may
make them wiser and guide their decisions. However with increase in age, one’s performance is likely
to decrease on tasks requiring speed, such as running.
 2
iv. Development is highly plastic, that is, within person, modifiability is found in psychological
development, though plasticity varies among individuals. This means, skills and abilities can be
improved or developed throughout the life-span.
v. Development is influenced by historic conditions. For example, the experience of 20 year olds who
lived through the freedom struggle in India would be different from the experiences of 20 year olds
today.
vi. Development is the concern of a number of disciplines- like Psychology, anthropology, sociology and
neuroscience, which study human development, each trying to provide answers to develop throughout
the life-span.
vii. An individual responds and acts in contexts which include what we inherited, the physical environment,
and social, historical and cultural contexts.
Importance of studying Development
The most intriguing idea ever advanced about children is that they give us a prototype of human evolution-
that by studying children we can unlock the mysteries of our species in general. Charles Darwin helped
introduce this idea in his book written in 1871, ‘The Descent of Man’. In the decades that followed, ‘the child
became the best natural laboratory for the study of evolution and the idea of development dominated the
science of man’. Most scientists eventually decided that child development is not a mini-play of evolution, but
most continue to believe that studying children and how they develop can tell us a lot about human beings in
general. This belief helped to spark a scientific field now known as ‘Developmental Psychology’-a field
devoted to the study of development, from conception through childhood and beyond.
Today Developmental Psychology has six major objectives:
i. To find out what are the common and characteristic changes in appearance, cognition, emotion,
behavior, interests and in goals from one developmental period to another.
ii. To find out when these changes occur.
iii. To find out what causes them.
iv. To find out how they influence behavior.
v. To find out whether they can or cannot be predicted.
vi. To find out whether they are individual or universal. (Reference- Hurlock)
vii. It prepares parents / teachers, before time.
viii. It helps to evaluate – milestones reached.
ix. Helps in proper personality development.
x. It is an urgent guide for a child’s proper exposure to his innate abilities.
xi. Good parenting

Besides the points given below, the following factors also point to the importance of studying
Development and Life Span:
i. During infancy, babyhood and childhood, development plays a major role in a child’s
personality; particularly, the experience of the first five to six years of life and the influence of
parents and near and dear ones play a tremendous role in the physical and mental development
of children. During this period, it is essential to guide the child properly for exposure of his
innate abilities and for judicious social and emotional development. Study of Development can
help us in this area.
ii. Enlightened environment is utterly necessary for the cognitive growth of the child. Good
parenting and healthy family atmosphere provides emotional stability to the child, fostering his
all-round personality. Childhood is the period where all the traits of personality start to grow
and if the foundation is defective, the child faces life long suffering.
iii. The frustration, anxieties, tension and inadequacies of childhood have serious impacts
throughout life. Hence, it is needless to say that more attention should be given to the proper
 3
growth and development of children. By studying the life span development, we get to know the
different changes which take place during infancy, childhood and adolescence.

Many of the disagreements regarding children’s development involve three major issues- Nature vs. Nurture,
Passivity vs. Activity, and Continuous vs. Discontinuous Development. Given below is each controversy in
some detail-
Interaction of Heredity and Environment OR, the Nature-Nurture Controversy:
(Reference- Morgan & King, NCERT, H.E. Garrett & Baron)
People differ with respect to intelligence, learning abilities, memory and other psychological characteristics.
Despite these variations we all remain members of the same species: we are all homo-sapiens. It is the
interaction of heredity and environment that causes us to be different from each other and yet at the same time,
more like each other.
Influence of Heredity:
i. We are what we are partly because of our inherited biological characteristics, our nature. Early
evidence of this can be seen in babies; they show several reflexes that have clearly been built into their
biological systems. Later on, children’s learning of their first words may be primed by another part of
their nature- a sort of inner clock for language development. This is suggested by the fact that certain
steps in language development seem to take place at similar ages around the world.
We inherit genetic codes from our parents, which are in every cell of our body. Our genetic codes are alike
in one important way: they contain the human genetic code. It is because of the human genetic code that a
fertilized egg grows into a human baby and cannot grow into an elephant or a mouse.
ii. Evolution, first hypothesized by Charles Darwin, involves three basic components: variation,
inheritance and selection. Variation refers to the fact that organisms belonging to a given species vary
in many different ways. Such variations are a part of life on our planet. Inheritance refers to the fact that
some of these variations can be passed from one generation to the next. Selection refers to the fact that
some variations give the individuals who possess them an edge in terms of reproduction. Together,
these inherited tendencies constitute our human nature and play an important role in shaping our
behavior. (Reference- Morgan & King, Baron, N.C.E.R.T)

iii. Genetic transmission is very complex. According to Pintner (1931), ‘a child’s abilities are determined
by his ancestors and all that the environment can do is to give the opportunity for the development of
his potentialities’. Several experimental findings also emphasize the importance of heredity in
individual differences. Pearson (1904) found a remarkable resemblance among members of the same
family in color of eyes, ratio of width and length of head and in physical traits. He noted that the
effect of heredity upon mental characteristics is the same as upon physical characteristics.
iv. Studies by Jencks, 1972 and Munsinger, 1978 prove that IQ’S of adopted children resemble those of
their biological parents more closely than that of their adoptive parents.
v. A long term study conducted by Plomin and his colleagues(1997) called ‘Colorado Adption Project’
illustrates the importance of Heredity in Intelligence. These researchers studied 245 children placed for
adoption by their mothers shortly after birth, until they were teenagers. Measures of the children’s
intelligence were obtained when they were 1,2,3,4,7,12 and 16 years old. Measures were also obtained
of their biological mothers’ intelligence and adoptive parents’ intelligence. A comparison group of
children who were living with their biological parents was also tested. Results showed that correlation
between adopted children’s intelligence and that of their biological parents increased over time, as did
the correlation between the intelligence of the control group (children living with their biological
parents) and that of their parents. In contrast, correlation between adopted children and that of their
adoptive parents decreased over time.
vi. Newman Freeman and Hollingzer, in their study titled ‘Twins: A study of Heredity and Environment’
show that IQ of identical twins raised apart correlate almost as highly as those raised together. This
study found only a difference of 5 points IQ. In yet another instance, studies of separated twins in three
different countries have found correlation between twins to range from 0.67 to 0.78. (Reference: H.E.
 4
Garrett). After all, most characteristics that we observe in humans are combinations of large number of
genes. The combinations produced by 80,000 or more genes account for a variety of characteristics and
behavior
vii. Studies on Family Histories also show the importance of heredity. The Galton-Darwin- Wedgewood
Family has contributed a number of eminent scientists. In the Bach family, out of 57 males traced
through 4 generations, 41 were musicians including the famous Johann Sebastian Bach.
viii. A famous study by Goddard (1912) also shows the importance of heredity. He studied the family line
of an American soldier Martin Kallikak (a pseudonym). Martin had children first by a tavern- girl and
later, through a legal marriage, by a good girl from a respectable family. Of the 480 descendants on the
illegitimate side, only 46 were reported normal as opposed to 143 who were retarded. Many of them
were criminal, alcoholics or promiscuous. However, the other branch of his family produced all normal
citizens. (Ref- Garett)
ix. Sandra Scarr (1992) believes that the environment parents provide for their children depends to some
extent on their own genetic disposition. For example, if the parents are intelligent and good readers,
they would provide books to their children to read and the likely outcome would be that their children
would become good readers who enjoy reading
x. Overall, heredity is more important in determining the physical traits like height and weight, color and
texture of hair and body strength.

Influence of Environment:
i. Though our genes play an important role in determining our behavior and personality, it is not possible
to possess all the characteristics made available to us by our genetic structure. A person’s genetic
heritage is known as genotype. However, not all of this genetic material is apparent or distinctly
identifiable in our observable characteristics. Phenotype is the way an individual’s genotype is
expressed in observable and measurable characteristics. Phenotypes include physical traits such as
height, weight, eye and skin color, and many of the psychological characteristics such as intelligence,
creativity and personality. These observable characteristics of an individual are the result of the
interaction between the person’s inherited traits and environment.
ii. Genes provide for a blueprint and timetable for the development of an individual. But genes do not
exist in isolation and development occurs within the context of an individual’s environment. For
example, a child whose genotype predisposes him to be introverted may become a little extroverted if
he is staying in an environment that promotes social interaction and extroversion. Or, conversely, an
individual with ‘short’ height genes will never be able to grow taller than average even if he is in a very
good nutritional environment. This shows that genes set the limit and within that limit the
environment influences development. ((Reference- N.C.E.R.T).
iii. Psychologist John Watson compares a child to hot metal on an anvil, waiting to be shaped by parents
and teachers (Morgan & King). Psychologists today agree that development is shaped by the interaction
of heredity and environment. Within this interaction our genetic endowment for many characteristics
provide us with a reaction range- that is, a range of possible levels that we may ultimately reach,
depending on the quality of our experience in the environment.
iv. The effect of changed environment upon mental traits-two studies concluded by Chicago University
group headed by Freedman (1925), and Stanford University group headed by Burks (1928) are
notable. Both these investigations emphasized the influence of home environment upon the
development of mental traits in children. Freedman agreed however, on the role of heredity too, in
shaping mental ability. But the Chicago group gave more emphasis to environment than to heredity.
v. Skeels(1938, 1966) has also done an important study on the effect of environment on Intelligence. He
removed 13 children, all about 2 years old, from impoverished orphanages and placed them in the care
of women living in an institution. After a few years he noticed that their IQ had increased by 29 points.
The IQ of those who remained in the orphanage decreased by 26 points. 25 years later, the 13 children
brought up in the enriched environment were doing very well in life; But those who had remained in the
orphange remained institutionalized, or were doing poorly in society.
 5
vi. It has been found that extremely poor rearing conditions are associated with low IQ and enriched
rearing and educational conditions are associated with high IQ (Ramey and Campbell, 1979). Poor
maternal nutrition or taking drugs and alcohol while pregnant can cause low IQ in babies.
vii. Flynn Effect- Performance in IQ tests has risen substantially around the world at all age levels in
recent decades. This phenomenon is called the ‘Flynn Effect’ after the psychologist who first reported it
(Flynn, 1987). This is due to better nutrition, increased urbanization, advent of TV, better education and
even exposure to computer games.
viii. According to Ramey and Ramey (1998), changes in IQ are likely to occur if- a) environmental
intervention begins early aqnd continues for a long time, b) learning programs are intense, c) children
receive new learning exposure from experts than from parents and d) there are environmental supports
like excellent schools, etc.
ix. Confluence theory by Zajonc- According to this theory, the first born in a family has a higher IQ than
the second born, who in turn has a higher IQ than the third born (Zajonc and Marcus, 1975). This is
because of stimulating and individual attention given to the first born than to the rest
x. Environment has an upper hand in the development of personality traits like sociability, amiability,
honesty, dominance, submission, introversion-extroversion, interests and several other socially
desirable or undesirable traits. The Passivity vs. Activity controversy revolves round how much of our
interaction with environment is spurred by us and how much by the environment. Some psychologists
picture us as fairly passive, doing what we do largely because of the environmental forces around us.
Watson for example has described the child as hot metal on an anvil. B.F.Skinner, an influential
psychologist, describes human behavior and development as a process of responding to rewards and
punishments in the environment. Jean Piaget on the other hand argued that people actively manipulate
the objects and events around them rather than submitting passively to the environment. We do not
merely copy or learn about reality as we develop. Instead, we construct our own ways of understanding
the world; psychologically speaking, we each invent our own reality.
Conclusion: The different factors of heredity and environment are so much interwoven and their influences are
so much related that it is practically impossible to segregate them and study their effects on behavior. Human
behavior is therefore undoubtedly the result of an interaction between genetically determined traits and
environmentally determined qualities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subdivisions of Life-Span as prevalent today (Reference- Hurlock)
i. Prenatal period: conception to birth.
ii. Infancy: birth to the end of second week.
iii. Babyhood: end of second week to end of second year.
iv. Early childhood: two to six years
v. Late Childhood: six to ten or twelve years.
vi. Puberty or Pre-adolescence: ten or twelve to thirteen or fourteen years.
vii. Adolescence: thirteen or fourteen years to eighteen years
viii. Early Adulthood: eighteen to forty years.
ix. Middle Age: forty to sixty years.
x. Old Age or senescence: sixty years to death

Context of Development:
Development does not take place in a vacuum. It is always embedded in a particular socio-cultural context.
Transition during one’s lifetime such as entering school, becoming an adolescent, finding jobs, marrying,
having children etc are all joint functions of the biological changes and changes in one’s environment. Urie
Bronfenbrenner’s contextual view of development emphasizes the role of environmental factors in the
development of an individual:
 6

Uri Bronfenbrenner’s contextual view of development emphasizes the role of environmental factors in the
development of an individual. The micro system is the immediate environment /setting in which the individual
lives. It is in these settings where the child directly interacts with social agents- the family, peer, teachers and
neighborhood.
The mesosystem consists of relations between these contexts. For instance, how a child’s parents relate to the
teachers, or how the parents view the adolescent’s friends, are experiences likely to influence an individual’s
relationship with others.
The exosystem includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they
influence the child’s experiences in the immediate context. For example, the transfer of father or mother may
cause tension among the parents which might affect their interactions with the child. Macrosystem includes
the culture in which the individual lives. Chronosystem involves events in the individual’s life course, and
socio-historical circumstances of the time such as divorce of parents or parents’ economic setback, and their
effects on the child. In an nutshell, Bronfenbrenner’s view is that a child’s development is significantly
affected by the complex world that envelops him/her. Research has shown that children in impoverished
environments lack experiences like going to the library or museum, and have parents who are ineffective as
role-models. As a result of these conditions, children are at a disadvantage and have difficulties in learning.
Durganand Sinha (1977) has presented an ecological model for understanding the development of children in
the Indian context. Ecology of the child could be viewed in terms of two concentric layers. The ‘upper and the
more visible layers’ consist of home, school, peer groups and so on. The most important ecological factors
influencing development of the child in the visible layer constitute of a) home, its conditions in terms of
 7
overcrowding, space available to each member, technological devices used etc, b) nature and quality of
schooling, facilities to which the child is exposed and c) nature of interactions and activities undertaken with
peer groups from childhood onwards. These factors do not operate independently but constantly interact with
one another. The ‘surrounding layers’ of the child’s ecology constantly influence the upper layer factors.
The elements of the surrounding layer of ecology constitute of the a) general geographical environment which
includes space and facilities for play and other activities outside the home like general congestion of locality
and density of population, b) institutional setting provided by caste, class and other factors and c) general
amenities available to the child like drinking water, electricity or means of entertainment. The visible and
surrounding layers interact with one another and may have different consequences for development in different
people. (Reference- N.C.E.R.T)

Infancy- motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development: Motor-milestones; cognitive-Piaget’s

Sensory Motor Stage; Socio-emotional development-emergence of attachment.
Here we will focus first on the Neonatal (newborn) period, the first four week after birth, a period of transition
from total dependency of prenatal life to a more independent, creative existence. It is a time when rhythms of
breathing, feeding, sleeping and elimination are established and when babies and parents make some critical
adaptations to one another. Next, we will consider the full span of infancy, a period that lasts from about 4
weeks to about 18 months, when language appears.
The Neonate: (Reference- N.C.E.R.T, Baron, Hurlock, and Morgan & King)
Size: At birth, the average infant weighs 7 ½ pounds and measures 19 ½ inches in length. Weight in relation to
height is less at birth, on the average, in the more active fetuses than in those who have been less active during
the latter part of the fetal period. Boys on the whole are slightly longer and heavier than girls.
Infantile features: The muscles of the new born infant are soft, small and uncontrolled. At the time of birth,
less development takes place in the muscles of the neck and legs than in those of the hands and arms. The
bones, like the muscles, are soft and flexible because they are composed chiefly of cartilage or gristle. The skin
is soft and often blotchy. The flesh is firm and elastic.
Physical Proportions: The newborn is not a miniature adult. The head is approximately one-fourth of the body
length. The cranial region, the area over the eyes is proportionally much larger than the rest of the head, while
the chin is proportionally much too small. The neck is too short and the skin covering it lies in thick folds or
creases. The abdomen is large and bulging and the arms and legs of the infant are much too short for the head
and trunk.
Physiological functions: Because of the undeveloped state of the autonomic nervous system at birth, the infant
is unable to maintain homeostasis. With birth cry the lungs are inflated and respiration begins. The respiration
rate initially ranges from 40 to 45 breathing movements per minutes. By the end of the first week of life, it
normally drops to approximately 35 per minute and is more stable than it was at first. Neonatal heartbeat is
more rapid than that of the adult; in a healthy infant, the temperature is higher and more variable than in the
adult. The hunger rhythm does not develop until several weeks after birth. The hunger demands of the newborn
are therefore irregular. Elimination of waste products begins a few hours after birth. Neonatal sleep is broken
by short waking periods which occur every two to three hours. Throughout the neonatal period there is a
general increase in bodily movements during sleep as well as during the time the infant is awake.
Generalized Responses: Some of the most common generalized responses in the neonatal period are visual
fixation on light, spontaneous eye-movements, shedding of tears, feeding responses such as tongue/cheek/lip
movement, sucking of the fingers, yawning, hiccupping, rhythmic mouthing movements, frowning and
wrinkling of the brow, turning and lifting the head, turning the trunk, body jerk, hands and arms movement,
prancing and kicking, and leg& foot movements. All these are uncoordinated, undefined and aimless. However
they are important because they are the basis from which skilled, highly-coordinated movements will develop
as a result of learning.
Reflexes: Most psychologists agree that neonates are born with abilities to perceive and respond to some parts
of their world, in an organized and effective way. For example, reflexes those are in place at birth permit the
neonate to grope, or ‘root’, to suck when an object is placed in its mouth and to swallow milk and other liquids.
 8
Reflexes are automatic, built-in Reponses to stimuli which are genetically-carried survival mechanisms,
considered the building blocks of subsequent motor development. Other inborn reflexes with obvious adaptive
value are breathing, blinking, coughing, sneezing, vomiting and withdrawing from painful stimuli. Another
class of reflexes is attributed to the immaturity of certain parts of the brain. One example is the Moro reflex:
When support is suddenly removed from the back of its head, the neonate will fling its arms to the side, extend
its fingers, and bring its arms inward in a sort of embracing movement. The Moro reflex and other reflexes in
this category normally disappear in early infancy, as the brain matures. If these reflexes persist for too long, it
may mean that there is a problem with the infant’s developing central nervous system.

Reflexes in the Newborn (source- Robert A. Baron)

Reflex Description
Blinking closes eyes in response to light
Rooting when cheek is touched or stroked, baby turns towards
  touch; moves lips and tongue to suck.
Sucking When nipple or other object is placed in mouth,
  baby sucks.
Tonic Neck When baby is placed on back with head turned to one
side, it stretches out arm and leg on side baby is
  facing
Moro it throws out arms and fans fingers, extends neck, and
cries in response to loud noise or sudden drop of
  head.
Babinski When baby's foot is stroked from heel to toe,
  toes fan out
Grasping when palms of hands are stroked, baby closes fingers
 (palmar
grasping effect) around the object in a strong grasp.
Stepping Baby makes stepping motions if held upright so one
  foot just touches a surface.

Neonates show perceptual abilities: they show positive reactions to certain sweet tastes and negative reactions
to certain sour, bitter or salty tastes.They turn their heads to avoid some strong odors; and they turn in the
direction of certain sounds, including human speech.
Regarding their visual abilities, they not only orient towards light but they can, under the right conditions,
actually follow a light or an object placed directly in their line of vision.
Under carefully arranged conditions, newborns can also learn via classical and instrumental conditioning. For
example, if they are allowed to suck a sweet liquid when they turn their heads to the right, they will increase
the frequency of their right turns; they will reverse their turns if the sweet liquid is given for left turns.
Neonates only a few days old have also been taught to turn their heads in response to one sound and not to
another. (Lipsitt, 1982).
Some findings of a study conducted by Meltzoff and Moore (1977) suggested that neonates are even capable of
imitation. The research showed that babies as young as 2 to 3 weeks can mimic certain adult behaviors, such as
facial expressions.
In the first few weeks of life outside the womb, glimmers of personality can be seen in the temperament which
babies display. For example, some babies are ‘difficult’ even in the first weeks after their birth. They may show
irregularities in their sleeping, feeding or elimination patterns. They may be easily distressed or irritable and
prone to cry. Evidence shows that ‘difficult child syndrome’ may lead to behavior disorders in later life.
Genetic and biological factors seem to influence such characteristics of temperament. This shows that babies
are not simply the products of what their parents do to them but, instead, babies begin life with certain
psychological characteristics of their own- an example of nature and nurture interplay.
Motor Development: Investigations have built up a rich fund of data on the ages at which certain motor
milestones are attained. At birth infants have limited capacity to move. This situation changes quickly and
within a few months they become quite mobile. Within 5 to ten months babies can sit and crawl; most begin to
 9
walk by the time they are 14 or 5 months old. Motor development proceeds from the head towards the limbs,
so that at first babies can hold up their heads, then lift their chest, then sit, and so on.
After the initial spurt of the first year, the rate of physical growth slows considerably; both boys and girls gain
about 2 to 3 inches, and 4 to 7 pounds per year. The rate accelerates during adolescence when both sexes
experience a ‘growth spurt’ lasting about two years. These outward changes are accompanied by important
inner ones too. For instance, the brain expands rapidly through the first 18 months of life, reaching more than
half of the adult brain-weight by the end of this period, and by the time the child is only 5 years old, the brain is
almost full-sized. During this period there is a rapid growth of dendrites and axons within the brain; and glial
cells- which supply nutrients to neurons, remove waste materials, and produce the myelin sheath that speeds
neural impulses- increase rapidly in number

Milestones of Locomotor Development

Reference- Robert A.Baron (Note: the ages shown are only averages.)
Age (in
months) Motor skills
Birth fetal posture
I month lift head
2 months lift chest
3 months reach and miss
4 months sit with support
5 months sit on lap, grasp object
sit in high chair, grasp dangling
6 months objects
6 1/2 months sit alone
8 months stand with help
  stand holding furniture
10 months creep on hands and knees
11 months climb stairs
  walk when led
  stand alone
12 months walk alone
Source: Schickedanz et al, 1998

Motor Development from Birth to 18 months

Throws ball
forward  
    Average
Walks alone  
 
 10
Stands alone  
 

Pat-a-cake  
  Motor development from
Neat princer   birth to 18 months. The line
(thumb vs.
forefinger)   gives the avergae age
  at which behavior appears.
Pulls up by   Although the sequence is
furniture   relatively fixed, the age at
  which babies show these behaviors
Crawls or creeps   varies considerabely.
  (Based on data from Bayley, 1969)
Sits alone steadily  
 
One-handed  
reaching  
 
Turns pack to side  
 
Hands
predominantly  
open  
 
Head erect &
steady  
 
Arms and legs  
thrust in play                    
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Age in months
The above figures show that though there is a fairly broad age range within which individual infants may reach
each milestone, the order in which the milestones are reached rarely differs. The same can be said of the steps
involved in learning to move one’s body around. The development of walking in particular, involves a
predictable series of milestones as shown in the first figure.
Prehension, the use of hands as tools, shows another predictable developmental sequence. It begins with
infants thrusting their hands in the direction of the target object, essentially ‘taking a swipe’ at the object. This
is followed by crude grasping involving only the palm of the hand. Then there is a sequence of increasingly
well- coordinated finger and thumb movements. Late in the first year, most infants can combine thumb and
finger action into a pincer motion that allows them to pick up a single chocolate chip from a tabletop.
Development of Perception:
The past two decades have seen an explosion of research on infant perception, particularly visual perception.
One example of such research is a study of depth perception conducted by Gibson and Walk (1960). To judge
whether children can read the perceptual cues that adults use to judge depth, these researchers used a visual-
cliff. It involved an apparent drop-off made safe by a clear glass cover. Despite the cover, Gibson and Walk
found that none of the 6 to 14 month-old-infants they tested would cross the ‘deep’ area to get to their mothers.
Yet all 36 of them eagerly crawled off to their mothers when the moms were stationed on the ‘shallow’ side.
This strongly suggests that even 6-month-old infants have depth perception.
In a clever extension of the visual-cliff experiment, Campos, Langer and Krowitz (1970) simply placed infants
too young to crawl on either the shallow or the deep side and then measured changes in their heart rates. Even
1 ½ month-old infants showed heart-rate increases when they were placed over the deep side. They were
evidently responding to depth cues.
 11
Investigators have traced significant developmental changes in face-watching. One-month-olds show only a
modest interest in real human faces; when they do focus on a face, they focus mostly on edges and points of
light-dark contrast. 2-month-olds, by contrast, spend more time looking at the interior of the face, especially
the eyes, than at the outer edges. Most researchers agree that by the fourth or fifth month, infants can
‘assemble’ parts of a face into a meaningful whole. By 5 months, for instance, babies can distinguish between
two dissimilar faces (Cohen et al. 1978).
Psychologists have also found that after infants have seen a visual stimulus several times, they spend less time
looking at it when it is presented again than they do looking at a new stimulus they have never seen before.
Studies based on this reasoning have found that newborns can distinguish between different colors (Adams,
1987), odors (Balogh & Porter, 1986), tastes (Granchrow, Steiner & Daher, 1983) and sounds (Morrongiello &
Clifton, 1984). Moreover, infants as young as 2 or 3 days old have been found to show differential patterns of
sucking in response to subtle difference in the sounds of human speech. One sound to which infants are
especially attentive is-not surprisingly- that of heir own names. By the time they are only a few months old,
they can tell the difference between their own name and other names-even the ones that have the same number
of syllables.
Newborns can tell the difference between the sounds of their own cry and that of another newborn infant.
Research by Dondi, Simion and Caltran (1999) indicates this finding that when awake and sleeping, infants
show greater responsiveness to the sound of another infant crying than to the sound of their own crying. The
strudy also shows that even at this tender age, infants show the foundations of important forms of social
behavior such as empathy..
Infants also show impressive abilities with respect to recognizing form or pattern. Although they cannot see
very clearly at birth (their vision is about 20/400, which means that they can
see an object 20 feet away only as clearly as an adult could see it at 400 feet), they show marked preferences
for patterns and contrasts in visual stimuli. In a now classis research on this topic, Fantz (1961) showed babies
6 months old a variety of visual patterns. By observing how long they looked at each, he determined that the
babies had a clear preference for patterned as opposed to plain targets and that they seemed to prefer the human
face over all other stimuli tested.

Cognitive Development:

Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development- Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is a stage theory- a type pf
theory suggesting that all human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of changes. Piaget called
his approach genetic epistemology. Epistemology is the study of the nature and acquisition of knowledge. His
approach was genetic in the sense that it focused on origins (genesis) and development. Piaget’s theory assumes-
often known as constructivism- that children are active thinkers who are constantly trying to construct more
accurate or advanced understanding of the world around them.(Note- learn all the boxes for the content, on pages
298, 299, 300 and 301 of Barren, for Piaget’s theory)
In Piaget’s view, intelligence is an adaptive process that involves interplay of biological maturation and interaction
with the environment. He views intellectual development as an evolution of cognitive processes such as
understanding the laws of nature, the principles of grammar and mathematical rules. Children construct their
knowledge of the world by interacting with it. Children build their knowledge through two basic processes-
Assimilation and Accommodation.
Assimilation involves the incorporation of new information or knowledge into the existing knowledge structures,
known as schemas.
The second process, Accommodation, involves modifications in existing knowledge structures (schemas) as a
result of exposure to new information or expertise. Piaget also spoke of equilibration-the tendency of the
developing child to stay ‘in balance’ intellectually by filling in gaps in knowledge and by restructuring beliefs
when they fail to test out against reality. According to Piaget the processes of assimilation, accommodation and
equilibration operate in different ways at different age levels.
 12
In Piaget’s view, children are constantly trying to make better and more accurate sense out of the complex world
around them. The following are the stages of cognitive development that Piaget has described.
Sensory Motor Stage-The first stage is the Sensory Motor Stage, which lasts from birth to 18-24 months. During
this period, infants gradually learn that there is a relationship between their actions and the external world. They
discover that they can manipulate objects and produce effects. They acquire a basic grasp of the concepts of cause
and effects, and they begin to experiment with various actions to see what effects they will produce. Throughout
this period infants seem to know the world only through motor activities and sensory impressions. They have not
yet learnt to use mental symbols or images to represent objects or events. For example, if an object is hidden from
view, four-months-olds will not attempt to search for it. For such infants, “out of sight” is truly “out of mind”. By
eight or nine months of age, they have acquired a basic idea of object permanence, that is, the idea that objects
continue to exist even when they are hidden from view.
Emotions of the Newborn: In view of the lack of coordination that characterizes the activities of the newborn
infant, it would be illogical to expect specific, identifiable emotions to be present at birth. Instead, emotional
reactions may be described as states of pleasantness and unpleasantness. The former is characterized by
relaxing of the body and the latter by a tensing of the body. The outstanding characteristic of the infant’s
emotional make-up is the complete absence of gradation of responses showing different degrees of intensity.
Whatever the stimulus, the resultant emotion is intense and sudden. (Reference-N.C.E.R.T)

Emotional and Social Development- The Beginning of Attachment (Ref- Baron, Morgan & King)):
Research on emotional development has documented that facial expressions appear within the first few months of
life (Izard, 1991). Infants as young as two months old demonstrate social smiling in response to human faces.
Evidently, smiling happens for different reasons at different ages. Some smiling is seen even in newborns, but
much of it seems automatic and hardly ‘emotional’. For example, babies break into grins during REM sleep in the
first few days after their birth. Other early smiles operate like reflexes, as when someone strokes the neonate’s lips
and he smiles. In the second month smiles can be brought on by events in the environment, particularly the sound
of a human voice or the sight of a human face. By the 3rd or 4th month, babies smile more for their mothers than for
an equally encouraging female stranger. By the beginning of their fifth month, most babies begin to combine
smiling with laughing. They show laughter by the time they are three or four months old. Other emotions such as
anger, sadness and surprise also appear quite early and are readily recognizable to adults. Some expressions appear
before others-for example, following medical inoculations, 2 month old infants show pain expressions more
frequently than anger expressions (Izard, Hembree & Huebner, 1987). A few months later however, they show
anger expressions more frequently than pain. These findings point out to an important fact: Emotional and
cognitive developments occur simultaneously, and there are many connections between them. Also, one of the
interpretations is that emotions like happiness and delight develop hand-in-hand with a child’s intellect. Some
investigators champion the perceptual-recognition hypothesis to account for smiling and laughing in infancy. They
argue that babies make sense of the world around them by forming mental representations or schemas of certain
kinds of objects. When they see an object and are able to match it to their schema (and thus ‘recognize’ it), the
result is pleasure which is signaled by a smile or a laugh.
As they grow older, infants also acquire increasing capacities to ‘read’ the emotional expressions of others. At thee
months they become upset when their mothers show an immobile facial expression (Tronick, 1989). By eight or
ten months, they actively seek information about other people’s feelings and begin to demonstrate growing
understanding of their own mental states and those of others. Thus, after a fall, one-year olds will often look at
their care-givers and, depending on their reaction, will cry or laugh- that is, they engage in social referencing
(Walden & Ogan, 1988). Finally, children also grow in ability to regulate their own emotional reactions and to
express their emotions to others. Growing evidence suggests that differences in temperament- that is, stable
individual differences in characteristic mood, activity level and emotional reactivity- are present very early in life,
perhaps at birth. Most experts agree that the key dimensions of temperament involve positive emotionality- the
extent to which an infant shows pleasure and is typically in a good, happy mood; distress-anger: the extent to
which an infant show distress and the emotion of anger; fear- the extent to which an infant shows fear in various
situations; and activity level- an infant’s overall level of activity or energy.
 13
Large individual differences occur in these dimensions. On the basis of such differences some researchers have
suggested that many infants can be divided into three basic categories. Easy children (about 40%) are infants who
are generally cheerful, adapt readily to new experiences, and quickly establish routines for many activities of daily
life. Difficult children (about 10%) are irregular in daily routines, are slow to accept new situations or experiences
and show negative reactions more than other infants. Slow-to-warm-up children (about 15%) are relatively inactive
and apathetic and show mild negative reactions when exposed to unexpected events or new situations. The
remaining 35% of infants cannot be readily classified under one of these headings.
Research suggests that these differences in temperament are only moderately stable early in life- from birth until
about 24 months. After that time however, they appear to be highly stable. Growing evidence suggests that
individual differences in temperament are at least partially genetic in origin. Individual differences in emotional
style have important implications for social development. For example, a higher proportion of difficult rather than
easy children experience behavioral problems in later life (Chess & Thomas, 1984). They find it more difficult to
adjust to school or form friendships. In addition, many high-reactive children demonstrate shyness as they grow
older. There is also growing evidence that some aspects of temperament can influence attachment- the kinds of
bonds infants form with their care-givers.
Newborns show more distress in response to the cry of another infant than to the sound of their own cries. This
responsiveness marks the beginning of empathy, that is, our ability to recognize the emotions of others, to
understand such feelings and to a degree, experience them ourselves. Our capacity for empathy increases during
the first two years of life. Infants as young as 18 months old attempt to do something comforting when another
child is distressed- for example, touching or patting that child. By the time they are two years old, they may offer
an object or go to seek adult help. At age four, most children can understand why others are upset and have a grasp
of the kinds of situations that can cause people emotional distress.; empathy serves as one important source of
prosocial behavior-actions designed to help another in some way that do not necessarily benefit the person who
performs them. Clearly, the development of empathy represents an important aspect of emotional and social
development.
In the infant’s way of ‘relating’ to parents and others, Jean Piaget saw signs of sensorimotor intelligence. Sigmund
Freud on the other hand, saw infancy, the oral stage, as a time when issues of dependency were being dealt with
and when physical satisfaction was derived from stimulation in the oral region of the body. Erik Erikson
meanwhile, argued that the mother-infant interaction is a context for the baby’s basic conflict between trust and
distrust of the world.

Attachment: By the time infants are 6 or 7 months old, they appear to have a strong emotional bond with the
persons who care for them (Ainsworth, 1973; Lamb, 1977). This strong affectional tie between infants and their
caregivers is known as attachment, and is the first form of love we experience towards others. Often parents or
caregivers have to leave their infants for some period of time. Infants’ reactions to such separations play a central
role in one way psychologists measure attachment. This is known as the strange situation test- a procedure for
studying attachment in which a caregiver leaves a child alone with a stranger for a few minutes and then returns.
This test is based on a theory proposed by Bowlby (1969), suggesting that attachment involves a balance between
infants’ tendencies to seek to be near to their caregivers and their willingness to explore new environments. The
quality of attachment, Bowlby contended, is revealed by the degree to which the infant behaves as if the caregiver,
when present, serves as a secure base of operations- provides comfort and reassurance; and by the effectiveness of
infant-caregiver interactions when the caregiver returns after a separation. Research using the strange-situation test
has found that infants differ on the quality or style of their attachment to their caregivers. Most of them show one
of the four distinct patterns of attachment. Most infants show secure attachment: they freely explore new
environments, touching base with their caregivers periodically to assure themselves that the caregivers are present
and will respond if needed. They may or may not cry on separation but if they do, it is because of the absence of
the caregivers; and when they return the infants actively seek contact with the caregivers and stop crying very
quickly.
Yet another, smaller group of infants show insecure/avoidant attachment. They do not cry when their caregiver
leaves, and they react to the stranger in much the same way as to their caregiver. When the caregiver returns they
typically avoid her or are slow to greet her.
 14
A third group of infants show a pattern known as insecure/ambivalent attachment. Before separation, these
infants seek contact with their caregiver. After she leaves and then returns however, they first seek her and then
resist or reject her offers of comfort-hence the term ambivalent.
A fourth pattern, containing elements of both avoidant and ambivalent patterns, is known as disorganized
attachment (or disoriented attachment). However, it is not clear that such a pattern exists and is distinct from the
others. Interestingly, the relative frequencies of the first three major patterns of attachment, differs across cultures-
reflecting contrasting approaches to child-rearing practices in these cultures. For instance, the rate of
insecure/avoidant attachment is relatively high in Germany, perhaps reflecting the fact that German parents often
emphasize independence.
Many factors influence attachment and the form it takes. One factor that was assumed to play a central role is
maternal sensitivity- a caregiver’s alertness to infant signals, appropriate and prompt responses to these, flexibility
of attention and behavior, appropriate level of control over the infant and so on. However, recent evidence suggests
that maternal sensitivity may actually play a somewhat smaller role in determining infants’ attachment, and that the
other factors such as infants’ temperament, may actually be more important.
A growing body of evidence suggests that differences in patterns of attachment have effects that persist beyond
infancy. During childhood, youngsters who are securely attached to their caregivers are more sociable, better at
solving some kinds of problems, more tolerant of frustration and more flexible and persistent across situations than
children who are insecurely attached. They also seem to experience fewer behavioral problems during later
childhood (Fagot & Kavanagh, 1990).
Some findings suggest that differences in attachment style in infancy may have strong effects on the kinds of
relationships individuals form when they are adults. People who were avoidantly attached to their caregivers as
infants for example, seem to worry constantly about losing their romantic partners; they did not trust their
caregivers as infants, and they do not trust their partners or spouses as adults. Similarly, people who showed
ambivalent attachment as infants seem to be ambivalent about romantic relationships too. They want them, but
they also fear them as they perceive their partners as distant and unloving. In contrast, people who were securely
attached to their caregivers as infants seek closeness in their adult relationships and are comfortable with having to
depend on their partners (Shaver & Hazan, 1994).
According to Erik Erikson (1968), the first year of life is the key time for the development of attachment. It
represents the stage of developing trust or mistrust. A sense of trust is built on a feeling of physical comfort which
builds an expectation of the world as a secure and good place. An infant’s sense of trust is developed by responsive
and sensitive parenting. If parents are sensitive and caring, the infants are likely to develop a secure attachment. On
the other hand, if parents are insensitive and show harshly critical behavior towards the child, then it can lead to
feelings of self-doubt in the child.
Bowlby and his colleagues set out in the 1940’s and 1950’s to study the consequences of early mother-child
separation by observing children in institutions. The children they saw had been separated from their mothers quite
early and lived in nurseries and hospitals where no stable mother-substitute was available. They described these
youngsters as unable to relate to people, afraid to explore or play, and generally morose. From these and other
clinical observations, Bowlby concluded that it is essential for mental health that the infant and young child should
experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother/caregiver, in which both find satisfaction
and enjoyment.
Other researchers studied attachment in a more structured way and concluded that:
i. Initially, the infant develops an attraction to social objects in general and to humans in particular; the
baby shows proximity-maintaining behavior like crying, clinging etc that serve to keep humans nearby.
ii. Next, the baby distinguishes familiar from unfamiliar people and the primary caretaker (usually the
mother) from other familiar people; then proximity-maintaining behaviors begin to be aimed more
directly at familiar persons, particularly at the primary caretakers.
iii. By the second half of the first year, most infants develop a true attachment to the primary caretaker;
they recognize that person and direct proximity-maintaining behavior towards that person and not
towards others.
 15
iv. By the first birthday, the attachment is so strong that children react negatively to separation from the
primary caretaker; they grow fearful and tearful, for example, when their parents leave them with a
sitter.
A study by Lamb (1976) indicated that in non-threatening situations, such as play involving the mother, father
and infant alone, the infant shows equal attachment to both parents; but when a stranger enters the room, the
infant shows stronger attachment to the mother. Interestingly, several studies suggest that children in day-care,
that is whose parents are working and therefore leave them in day-care centers- may keep more physically
distant from their mothers than do youngsters whose mothers stay at home.
The view held by some theorists on why attachment happens is that infants become attached to the adults who
care for them because these adults are associated with feeding-as feeding reduces the primary drive of hunger.
However, Ethologists, that is, scientists who study living things in their natural habitat, offer a different theory.
They point out that in many species of animals, infants become imprinted on a mother figure-clinging,
following closely, or showing other behavior that resembles attachment in human infants.

An additional factor that seems to play a key role in attachment is close physical contact between infants and their
caregivers. Such contact- known as contact comfort- involves the hugging, cuddling, and caressing infants receive
from their caregivers/parents, and it seems to be an essential ingredient in attachment.
Researcher Harry Harlow (1958) has done work that sheds light on this issue. He studies monkeys. Te rearing
conditions designed by Harlow for his baby-monkeys involved surrogate mothers, that is, artificial stand-ins for the
monkeys’ real mothers. Each monkey was equipped with a surrogate mother. One was a cylinder made of wire and
mesh with a block of wood as its head; the other was a block of wood covered with sponge rubber and then terry-
cloth. Behind each ‘mother’ was a light bulb that provided radiant heat for the infants. For one group of babies, the
‘wire mother’ had a nursing bottle placed at the center. For a second group of babies, the ‘cloth-mother’ had the
nursing bottle. When observed with both ‘mothers’ present, monkeys spent almost all the time with the ‘cloth-
mother’, regardless of which mother fed them.
Harlow’s research has also shown that monkeys reared with ‘cloth mothers; react very differently when frightened
than do monkeys reared with ‘wire mothers’. For example, when placed in a strange test room, together with their
‘mothers’, the cloth-reared monkeys clung tightly to their ‘moms’. The ‘wire’ reared monkeys in contrast, made
little effort to go tot heir ‘mothers’. Instead, they threw themselves on the floor, cried, grimaced, or huddled against
the wall, rocking back and forth. Evidently, the cloth-fed monkeys had developed a strong attachment to their
surrogate mothers, but the wire-reared monkeys had not. The wire-fed group also showed strange and occasionally
self-destructive behavior.
Further research by the Harlow group also showed that many of the adverse effects of parent-deprivation are
reversible. In one study (Suomi et al, 1974), monkeys that had been isolated for 6 months and had begun showing
strange behaviors like self-destructive tendencies, were given therapy. The therapists were 3-month old normal,
energetic, sociable female monkeys. Six months of living with these peer ‘therapists’ resultd in major
improvements in the behavior of the socially deprived misfits, and another six months led to virtually complete
recovery.
The Harlow studies make some important points about attachment and adaptation:
i. They show a situation where attachment was not merely due to feeding. In the surrogate-mother
research, the monkeys’ attachment did not depend upon which mother ‘fed’ them. This casts doubt on
the idea that attachment is caused by hunger reduction.
ii. The studies seem to reveal a basic need for contact with a soft, warm surface; Harlow called this a need
for contact comfort.
iii. The studies suggest that contact comfort may operate like a releaser. With contact comfort, attachments
were formed; without it, attachments were not formed.
iv. The research suggests that many of the ill-effects of being reared without parents may sometimes be
reversed, or prevented by close peer relationships.

These effects occur among human babies as well. For example, 2 or 3 year old children
 16
placed in a strange room play for longer periods of time without becoming distressed when they have a security
blanket present than when it is absent (Passman & Weisberg, 1975). In fact, they play almost as long as they do
when their mother is in the room. This shows that gentle hugs, caresses and cuddling infants obtain from their
mothers/caregivers may play a role in the formation of attachment.

One very moving case study indicates that peer attachments in human beings, too, may help make up for the
absence of parents (Anna Freud,1951). In World War II, 6 Jewish infants, orphaned when their parents were killed
in gas chambers, formed a close attachment to one another in the concentration camp where they were kept. After
the war, Anna Freud and Sophie Dann brought the children, by then 3 to 4 years old, to Bulldogs Bank, England,
for care. When the 6 orphans arrived at Bulldogs Bank, England, in 1945, they were an unruly, but close-knot
gang. Less than a year later, they had become better socialized and more approachable, but they still remained
closely attached to one another. This close attachment may be one of the strengths that helped them adjust, cope
with their stressful circumstances, and develop into normally functioning adults.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Childhood- motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development: Motor development; cognitive development-
Piaget’s Theory (Preoperational, Concrete and Formal Operation); emergence of self- gender, emergence of peer
relationships; moral development- Kohlberg’s perspective- pre-conventional morality.
Motor Development: The child’s growth slows down during early childhood as compared to infancy. The child
develops physically, gains height and weight, learns to walk, runs, jumps and plays with a ball. Socially, the
child’s world expands from the parents to the family and adults near home and at school. The child also begins to
acquire the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, that is, he develops a sense of morality. During childhood, children have
increased physical capacities, can perform tasks independently, can set goals, and meet adult expectations. The
increasing maturation of the brain along with opportunities to experience the world, contribute to development of
children’s cognitive abilities.
Physical development: Early development follows two principles- a) development proceeds cephalocaudally, that
is, from the cephalic or head region to the caudal or tail region. Children gain control over the upper part of the
body before they gain control over the lower part; b) growth proceeds from the center of the body and moves
towards the extremities or more distal regions- the proximodistal trend that is, children gain control over their
torso before their extremities. These changes are a result of a maturing nervous system.
During middle and late childhood years, children increase significantly in size and strength; increase in weight is
mainly due to the increase in the size of the skeletal and muscular systems, as well as size of some body organs.
Motor Development: Gross motor skills during the early childhood years involve the use of arms and legs, and
moving around with confidence and more purposefully in the environment. Fine motor skills- finger dexterity and
eye-hand coordination improve substantially during early childhood. During these years the child’s preference for
left or right hand also develops.
Given below in the table are the major accomplishments in Gross and Fine Motor Skills:
Age Gross Motor Skills Fine Motor skills
3 Hopping, jumping, Build blocks, pick objects with forefinger &
years running thumb
     
4
years Climb up and downstairs Fit jigsaw puzzle precisely.
with one foot on each
  step.  
     
5years Run hard, enjoy races. Hand, arm and body all coordinate with eye-
    Movement.

Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Stages of Intellectual Development

 17
Pre-Operational stage- The period between the ages of 2 and 7 was labeled by Piaget as the Pre-operational stage.
By this label he meant that these years are preliminary to the development of truly logical operations. ‘Operation’
is a term given to any flexible mental action that can be combined with another to solve problems. Younger
children do not have flexible logical operations. Their thinking suffers from irreversibility, and their judgments are
thus dominated by perceptual appearances.
At this stage, children also seem to develop a primitive identity concept- that is, an idea that characteristics of an
object do not change just because it has been moved to a new location. The primitive identity concept is an
important milestone as it enters into the way children think about their gender identity. The identity concept also
seems to be a necessary step on the way to conservation, a defining feature of the next major Piagetian stage,
concrete operations.
Piaget suggests that sometime between the ages of 18 to 24 months, toddlers acquire the ability to form mental
images of objects and events that are not present, that is, capability for representational thoughts. Early in the
preoperational stage, reasoning is not truly deductive (it does not proceed from the general to the particular) nor is
it truly inductive (it does not proceed from the particular to the general). Instead, very young children show
transductive reasoning: that is, they reason from the particular to the particular, often in ways that are influenced
by their desires. (Morgan & King)
As children grow and are approximately between 4 and 7 years of age, they want answers to all their questions
like: Why is the sky blue? How do trees grow? Piaget called this the stage of intuitive thought. Another feature of
thought during preoperational stage is characterized by children having a tendency for centration, that is, focusing
on a single characteristic or feature for understanding an event. For example, a child may insist on drinking a ‘big
glass of juice’ preferring a tall narrow glass to a broad one, even though both might be holding the same amount of
juice. (N.C.E.R.T)
At the same time, language develops and they begin to think in terms of verbal symbols or words. During the
preoperational stage, which lasts until about seven, children are capable of many actions. For instance, they
demonstrate symbolic play, in which they pretend that one object is another- a pencil, say, is a rocket or a wooden
block is a frog. Such play is marked by the shifts that afford unique insights into how children’s cognitive abilities
change during this period. One is decentration, in which children gradually begin to make others rather than
themselves the recipients of their playful actions- for example, they begin to feed their dolls or dress them.
The second step is decontextualization. Objects are made to substitute for each other, as when a child pretends that
a twig is a spoon. The third change involves integration-combining play actions into increasingly complex
sequences. (Ref- Baron)
While the thought processes of preoperational children are more advanced than those in the preceding stage, Piaget
emphasized that these children are still immature in several respects. True, they can use mental symbols; but their
thinking remains somewhat inflexible, illogical, fragmented and tied to specific contents. One way in which the
thinking of preoperational children is immature involves what Piaget termed ‘egocentrism’, that is, children’s
inability to understand that others may perceive the world differently than they do. It means an inability to take the
point of view of another person. Preoperational children also display animism, the belief that inanimate objects
which have certain characteristics of living things (such as motion) are, in fact, alive. They think all things are
living, like themselves. They attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects.
Children in the preoperational stage also seem to lack understanding of relational terms such as lighter, larger, or
softer. Further, they lack seriation- the ability to arrange objects in order along some dimension. Finally, and most
important, they lack a grasp of what Piaget terms the principle of conservation, that is, knowledge that certain
physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though the outward appearance of the object is altered.
They also do not understand cause-effect relationships very well. They tend to see unrelated events and objects as
causally related to one another. In fact, they believe that every event has a clearly identifiable cause, and thus they
often fail to recognize the operation of chance and luck (Weisz, 1983)
Stage of Concrete Operations (Later Childhood): The elementary school years 6 through 12 in a child’s life are
sometimes referred to as the latency period. The term comes from Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which holds that
important conflicts, particularly sexual conflicts, are submerged during this period. The intellectual tools that
children develop in this period were labeled ‘concrete operations’ by Piaget. The stage involves a major advance
in the power of the child’s reasoning. This stage marks the emergence of logical thoughts- By the time they are 6
 18
or 7 years old, (or perhaps even earlier) most children can solve simple problems. According to Piaget, a child’s
mastery of conversation marks the beginning of this third stage. Their mental actions now show reversibility that
is, the fact that many physical changes can be undone by a reversal of the original action. This means for example,
that they recognize that the length of a particular stick will remain fixed so long as nothing is added or taken away
from it. Their reversible operations also help them to understand, for the first time in their lives, that subtraction
reverses and compensates for addition and that multiplication inverts and compensates for division. In this way, a
variety of mental activities are seen in relation to one another. Thus, children gain understanding of relational
terms and seriations. During this stage which lasts until about the age of 7 years, many important skills emerge.
Children who have reached this stage also begin to engage in, what Piaget describes as logical thought. With the
advent of these skills, children’s awareness of the ways the world is organized begins to increase. They understand
not only conservation of length but conservation of other physical entities like mass, number and area.
The concrete-operational child organizes the world by using hierarchies. In these hierarchies, a given ‘thing’ can
fall somewhere on more than one dimension at the same time. Imagine that we have a picture of 7 people in a
group, 2 adults and 5 children. If the picture is shown to 4-year-olds and 9-year-olds and they are asked, “Are there
more children or more people?” the 9-year-olds will say, ‘More people’, while the 4-year-olds will say ‘More
children’. This difference in answer is because we are asking children to think about two dimensions in a
hierarchy. One dimension is people vs. non-people and another dimension is children vs. adults. The 4-year-olds,
being preoperational, can focus on only one dimension at a time. Because our question mentioned children first,
the 4-year-olds used the child vs. adult dimension. However, the 9-year-olds recognized that both children and
adults fall on the ‘people’ end of the people vs. non-people dimension regardless of their position on the child vs.
adult dimension. The older children answered correctly because their flexible operations allow them to think in
terms of a hierarchy involving two dimensions, one broader than the other. (Reference- Morgan & King)
Even this advanced level of thought however, has its limitations. The operations are concrete in the sense that they
are tied to the real world of objects and events. The children can think clearly about things that are real, but not
very clearly about more hypothetical propositions such as, ‘Suppose that people were hatched from eggs’. It is also
hard for the concrete-operational child to grasp the broad meaning of abstract concepts such as ‘freedom’,
‘integrity’ or ‘truth’. However, the growing cognitive abilities of children facilitate the acquisition of language.
The stage of Formal Operations: Dealing with abstractions as well as reality.
At about the age of 12, Piaget suggested, most children enter the final stage of cognitive development- the stage of
formal operations. During this period, major features of adult thought make their appearance. While children in
the earlier stage of concrete operations can think logically, they can do so only about concrete events and objects.
In contrast, those who have reached the stage of formal operations, can think abstractly; they can deal not only
with the real or concrete, but with possibilities-events or relationships that do not exist, but can be imagined.
During this final stage, children become capable of what Piaget terms, hypothetico-deductive reasoning. This
involves the ability to generate hypothesis and think logically about symbols, ideas and propositions. They can still
think about the way things are, but they become much more skilled about how things might be if certain changes
took place.
Hypothetical and abstract thinking make sophisticated deduction and induction possible. Deduction is reasoning
from abstract, general principles to specific hypothesis that follows from these principles. Inductive thinking is the
complementary process of observing a number of specific events or instances and inferring an abstract, general
principle to explain those instances. The two processes can be seen in the adolescents’ reasoning about nature,
science and even social problems.
Children at the stage of formal operations also become capable of engaging in interpropositional thinking/logic
that is, thinking in which they seek to test the validity of several propositions. This ability to use interpropositional
logic really involves judging the formal relationships among propositions.
Another formal-operational skill that emerges at this stage is the adolescent’s ability for reflective thinking- the
process of evaluating or testing his own reasoning. Reflective thinking allows the formal-operational person to be
his/her own critic, to evaluate a process/idea/solution from the perspective of an outsider and to find errors or weak
spots in it. Reflective thinking can also make the adolescent a powerful experimenter and problem solver because
it involves the ability to think through a umber of possible strategies or ‘experiments’ and to decide which one will
yield the most information.
 19
While the thinking of older children or adolescents closely approaches that of adults, however, Piaget believed that
it still falls short of the adult level. Older children, and especially adolescents, often use their new powers of
reasoning to construct sweeping theories about human relationships, ethics or political systems. The reasoning
behind such views may be logical, but the theories are often false, because the young persons who construct them
do not have enough experience or information to do a more sophisticated job.
One final but crucial point- even though people who have reached the stage of formal operations are capable of
engaging in advanced forms of thought, there is no guarantee that they will actually do so. Such thinking requires
lots of cognitive effort, so it is not surprising that adolescents and adults too, often slip back into less advanced
modes of thought.
Yet another theory, the socio-cultural proposed by Lev Vygotsky (1987) placed much larger emphasis on the
roles of social factors and language, especially among school-aged children. He suggested that cognitive growth
occurs in an interpersonal, social context in which children are moved beyond their level of actual development
(what they are capable of doing unassisted) and towards their level of potential development (what they are capable
of achieving with assistance from older and wiser tutors). He termed the difference between these two levels the
zone of proximal development.

Early Childhood:
Language development:
The steps involved in acquiring language look quite similar in children from variety of cultures.
Noam Chomsky(1968) proposed that there are universal grammatical rules used by all children everywhere,
stimulated by an inborn language-acquisition device.
Recent evidence (Braine,1976) indicates that children may not really use the same underlying grammar rules
all over the world.
Vocabulary development seems to be a fairly smooth and continuous process. In English-speaking cultures, the
infant’s first legitimate English word usually appears around the time of the first birthday. By the age of 2 the
vocabulary has usually expanded to about 50 words; and by the age of 3, it consists of about 1,000 words. By
their 6th birthdays, most children can use between 8,000 and 14, 000 words (Carey, 1978).
Little children as young as 12 to 18 months old, generally use a single word as a sentence (holophrase).
Theorists like B.F.Skinner have argued that children learn language by trying various combinations of sounds
and being rewarded
Others like Piaget have argued that children create their own language by constructing their own rules and
revising them as needed. Yet, it is also hard to deny that children are active builders of their own language.

Six Stages in Children's Syntactic

Development
Stage of
Development Nature of Development Sample Utterances
The word is combined with
Sentence-like word nonverbal Mommy'.
(12 to 18 months) cues (gestures & inflections) Mommy'!
    Mommy'?
     
Modifiers are joined to topic words "Pretty baby"
Modification to (declarative)
(18 months to 2 form declarative , question, negative "Where daddy"?
years) & (question)
  imperative structures. "No play" (negative)
     
Structure Both a subject and a predicate are "She's a pretty baby"
(2 to 3 years) included in the sentence types. "Where Daddy is"?
     
Operational changes Elements are added, embedded and "Read it, my book".
 20
(2 1/2 to 4 years permuted within sentences. "I can't play".
     
Categorization Word classes (nouns, verbs and "I would like some tea".
(3 i/2 to 7 years) prepositions) are subdivided. "Take me to the store".
     
Complex structural distinctions
Complex structure made, "Ask what time it is".
"He promised to help
(5 to 10 years) as with "ask-tell" and "promise". me".

Social development:
The process by which a child’s behavior and attitude are brought into harmony with that of the world is called
socialization.
Freud’s theory focuses mainly on child’s socialization with respect to parents during this period. He believed
that during anal stage key interactions center around toilet training. During phallic stage children find
satisfaction in stimulation of their sexual organs and are attracted to parents of opposite sex.
Erikson saw the second year of life and the toilet-training experience as a conflict between autonomy and
shame. During the next 3 or 4 years the child’s core conflict is between the urge to be industrious in school and
elsewhere, and the risk of feeling inferior.
Parent-child relationship: The child’s increasing physical prowess, intellectual power and language skill
transform the nature of parent-child relationship; the child becomes less compliant and less manageable than
before.
Parents who have been largely nurturers and caretakers of their children, become teachers and enforcers, active
agents of socialization.
A combination of general parental warmth and specific explanations for specific prohibitions seems to promote
effective discipline. Parental warmth seems to make the child eager to maintain the parent’s approval and
understand the parent’s’ reasons for prohibition.
Studies have shown that parental inconsistency and conflict are linked to maladjustment in children.
Baumrind’s study suggests that parenting that combines warmth with moderate restrictiveness and authoritative
style will foster independence and social maturity in children even as early as preschool years.
His research (1980) also indicates that identical parental styles may foster different behavior patterns in boys
and girls. Boys with punishing fathers seem to have difficulty in forming close interactions with peer; but girls
with such fathers are likely to be independent and self-reliant. (See parental vs. peer influence in later
childhood- notes given in later section)
Gender Identity-Sex roles:
Children of both sexes may initially adopt many traditionally feminine and maternal behavior patterns. But by
the age of 4 or 5, boys have already begun to show traditional male types of behavior.
At around the same age, girls intensify the feminine sex-typing of their play.
Children pick up sex-typed behavior through observational learning, and cognitive development.
Before the age 4 or 5, most children do not understand the principle of identity-that is, they do not recognize
that certain characteristics of objects remain fixed even when the appearance of the object changes. In the same
way, young children do not recognize that one of their own key characteristics-their gender identity-remains
fixed even though their appearance changes. Evidently, cognitive development and observational learning both
contribute to sex-typed behavior. In addition, a broad range of environmental influences can be identified. For
generations, parents have tended to treat girls and boys differently, differentially rewarding them for ‘sex-
appropriate’ behavior (Rheingold & Cook, 1975).
Rewarding for sex-appropriate behavior and sex-typing found in books or on TV also contribute to sex-typed
behavior. In addition to these cognitive and environmental factors, there seem also to be biological causes for
sex-role development. This is illustrated by Money and Ehrhardt’s (1972) study of ‘androgenized’ girls.
Money and Ehrhardt found 25 girls, aged 4 through 16, who had been exposed to high levels of androgen-like
hormone (progestin) as fetuses. It turned out to have some powerful ‘masculinizing’ effects on the fetuses. For
example, some girls were born with male-like genitals. These physical effects were corrected surgically, and
 21
the girls grew up looking female. However, they were psychologically different from the other girls. They were
for example, considered tomboys, were more likely than other girls to be involved in vigorous, competitive
activities, to prefer functional clothing over fashionable dresses, and to prefer male-type toys like miniature
trucks and guns. They tended to be indifferent to dolls unlike other girls, and later, turned indifferent to human
infants. They preferred to choose careers over marriage in contrast to other girls who said that marriage was
their most important long-range goal.
It is at about age 3 or 4 that children begin to prefer playmates of the same gender; this may be a preliminary
step on the way to the stable sense of gender-identity which emerges at age 4 or 5.
Reference from Baron on Gender-Idenity:-
Gender is a complex term which relates to a given society’s belief about the traits and behavior supposedly
characteristic of males and females. Thus the concept of gender incorporates what psychologists term gender
stereotypes-beliefs, often exaggerated, about traits possessed by males and females and differences between
them and gender roles- expectations concerning the roles males and females should fill and the ways they
should behave. By the age of four children have a clear idea of gender-identity and gender stability.
However, they are less certain about gender consistency. Gender Identity refers to understanding of the fact
that one is male or female. Gender Stability refers to children’s understanding that gender is stable over time.
Gender Consistency refers to children’s understanding that their gender will not change even if they adopted
the behavior, dress or hairstyle of the other gender. Recently, Ruble and her colleagues have proposed (1998-
1999) that complete understanding of one’s sexual identity involves all the three components mentioned above,
and centers around a biologically based categorical distinction between males and females; they term this
understanding sex-category constancy (SCC), and the SCC concept emphasizes the fact that one’s gender is,
ultimately, linked to one’s biological sex. Sex-Category Constancy refers to the complete understanding of
one’s sexual identity, centering on a biologically based categorical distinction between males and females.
The first step on the path towards a grasp of sex-category constancy is children’s recognition that they belong
to one sex or the other- that they are boys or girls. Gender identity is established quite early in life; by the time
they are two, many children have learnt to label themselves appropriately and consistently. At this time
however, they are uncertain as to whether they will always remain boys or girls. Understanding of gender
stability is usually in place by the time children are four. It is not until they are 6 or 7 that children acquire
gender consistency. Additional evidence suggests that these shifts towards understanding of gender stem, at
least partly, from the child’s growing understanding of why an individual’s gender will normally remain stable
throughout life. In a recent study on this issue, Szkrybalo and Ruble (1999) asked children ranging from four to
eight years of age a series of questions about their identity as a boy or a girl. After answering each question,
children were asked why they had answered as they did. Their responses were intriguing. When preschoolers
answered correctly (e.g., indicated that their sex would not change), they explained such gender stability
largely in terms of gender norms: They and others would remain male or female because they would continue
to behave like a male or a female. Older children in contrast, made increasing reference to the fact that people
cannot change their gender because one’s sex is an unchanging biologically determined characteristic. These
findings suggest that children’s growing appreciation of sex-category constancy is based, at least partly, on
increasingly sophisticated forms of reasoning.
Questions are often asked as to how children acquire knowledge about sex-category constancy. Several
contrasting explanations have been offered. One of these, the social learning theory, emphasizes the role of
learning-e specially the impact of modeling and operant conditioning. According to this theory, children are
rewarded for behaving in accordance with gender stereotypes and gender roles- for behaving as girls and boys
are expected to behave. Further, because children have a tendency to imitate models they perceive as being
similar to themselves, they tend to adopt the behaviors shown by the same-sex parents (e.g. Bandura, 1986;
Baron, 1970).
A second view of gender development, cognitive development theory, suggests that children’s increasing
understanding of gender is just one reflection of their steady cognitive growth. For instance, below the age of
two, children lack a clear concept of self, so they cannot identify themselves consistently as a boy or a girl.
Once they acquire a concept of self, they can do this and begin to show gender constancy. Later, as they
acquire increasing ability to classify things as belonging to specific categories, they begin to form an idea of
 22
gender stability: They realize they belong to one category and will not shift to the other. The social learning
theory therefore suggests that children first imitate the behavior of same-sex models and then develop sexual
identity. The cognitive theory on the other hand suggests that children first develop their gender identity and
then adopt behaviors consistent with this identity.
A third, highly influential view known as gender schema theory has been proposed by Bem (1984, 1989). Bem
noted that knowledge of one’s sex or gender is far more important than knowledge that one has blue or brown
eyes, or even that one belongs to a particular race or religious group. This reasoning led her to propose that
children acquire gender schemas- cognitive frameworks reflecting children’s experiences with their society’s
beliefs about the attributes of males and females, such as instruction from their parents, observation of how
males and females typically behave, and so on.
Once a gender-schema forms, it influences children’s processing of many kinds of social information (Martin
& Little, 1990). For example, children with firmly established gender-schemas tend to categorize the behavior
of others as either masculine or feminine.
Peers and Play:
As children grow their relationship with parents is increasingly rivaled by their relationship with peers.
Initially children indulge in solitary play. Their own individual play runs an independent course even if other
children are present.
Solitary play is eventually replace by parallel play in which children use similar materials such as pail or toy-
shovel and engage in similar activity like digging sand. However they hardly interact with others and their own
individual play runs a parallel course.
By age 3 most children show cooperative play, a form that involves direct child-to-child interaction and
requires some complementary role taking. Examples of such role-taking may be found in the ‘pretend’ games
that children use to explore such mysteries as adult-relationships (for example, games of ‘Mommy & Daddy’).
At this age children begin showing a special faithfulness to one another child when they choose friends or
playmates. Prior to age 3, children’s choices of play mates and friends may change almost randomly from day
to day. It is at about age 3 or 4 that children begin to prefer playmates of the same gender; this may be a
preliminary step on the way to the stable sense of gender-identity which emerges at age 4 or 5.
Aggression:
In early childhood, boys and girls face an important new task that is, learning to express unpleasant feelings in
socially acceptable ways.
Studies show that aggressive behavior across many cultures is more common among boys than among girls.
It is also more common in early childhood than later. Bandura’s study on model imitation (1963) involving
children and bobo dolls shows that the specific forms of aggression that children choose may have much to do
with what they have learned, often through observation. In this study, they had arranged for 5-year-olds to
observe models attacking on an inflated ‘Bobo doll’. Another group of 5-year-olds did not see the models
attack the dolls. Children in both groups were then made to feel frustrated. Each child was allowed to start
playing with some attractive toys, only to be interrupted and taken to a room that contained a ‘Bobo doll’ and
other toys. Children in both groups reacted with aggressive behavior, but the children in the observational-
learning group focused their aggression on the ‘bob doll’ much more than did the other children.
Aggressive behavior may also be fostered by direct reinforcement or reward. In many settings where children
play, the aggressive children often triumph over others and have easier access to toys.
Prosocial behavior:
Preschoolers can be aggressive, but they can also be touchingly helpful and generous and comforting. Such
behavior is called prosocial. It is often seen in the same children who tend to be aggressive. Some have argued
that these children are motivated to be involved with other children, and whether the involvement is aggressive
or prosocial will depend upon the situation.
According to Hoffman (1976) children pass through 4 predictable stages in the development of the empathy
that makes prosocial behavior possible.
In the first stage, infants have trouble differentiating self from others. Their behavior is often triggered by, and
often looks like the strong emotional display of others. They often laugh when others laugh or cry when others
cry.
 23
After the first year children gradually develop a sense of self as different from others. This is the 2 stage.
nd

Their egocentric thinking though, leads them to help the other person in ways that they themselves would want
to be helped. So, a boy whose mother is upset may bring her his favorite blanket or teddy bear.
In the 3rd stage children recognize that a distressed person may have feelings and needs that are different from
their own. Their efforts to help are aimed now at figuring out what the distressed person really needs even if
they are different from their personal preference. During this stage which lasts through early childhood,
children are limited to empathy for others who show specific expressions of emotion. Their empathy is
situation-specific.
It is only in the fourth stage that children learn to relate one expression of distress to another and to be
concerned for the general condition of others. It is only in the 4th stage that children are likely to empathize
with and seek to help, say, an unpopular child who seems generally morose or withdrawn. Children’s level of
development seems to influence their competence at empathy and prosocial behavior; but whether they actually
try to show such behavior, may depend heavily on their learning. There is good evidence that children can
learn helping behavior by imitating models; this is particularly effective of the models express happiness about
their prosocial behavior.
Adjustment problems in early childhood:
Preschoolers have often a lively imagination that can go out of control. So, shadows on a wall for example, can
become ‘burglars’ or ‘ghosts’. There is therefore a perpetual tension between the rational and irrational uses
of imagination. The other problems mentioned most often in parent-surveys relate to their children’s
unsocialized use of physical and verbal powers. ‘Overactive’, ‘show-offs’ talks-too-much’ or ‘disobedient’ are
terms that appear often in these surveys.
Some of these problems become exaggerated enough in some children to require clinical intervention. Two
most common causes of clinical referral are unsocialized behavior and phobias. Speech problems are a third
major reason for clinic referral, especially in 2 to 5 –year age group. Clinical intervention may be required for
fears in children, speech problems, poor bearing or faulty brain functioning. Difficulty in producing language
sounds or other anxiety-laden circumstances in a child’s life can lead a youngster to stop speaking altogether, a
problem called elective mutism. Another problem, infantile autism, may not be actually identified until it shows
up in certain speech peculiarities in early childhood. It may, for example, be a tendency to repeat or ‘echo’
what another speaker has just said, rather than use speech for true communication. This condition is called
echolalia.
Later childhood: The elementary school years from 6 years to 12 in a child’s life are sometimes referred to
as the latency period.
Social development in later childhood:
A child even as old as 6 or 7 years will describe others in egocentric ways. Descriptions at this age focus on
concrete, observable characteristics of others, such as their physical appearance or outward behavior.
During the next few years, children begin to use more and more descriptive statements involving psychological
characteristics-statements that require some inference about the other person. For example, a boy may be
describes as having ‘no sense of humor’ or being very ‘dull’ or ‘cruel’ or ‘stupid’.
In the early preschool years children have momentary playmates but not ongoing, reciprocal friendships.
Sometime during ages 4 to 9, most children develop an ongoing friendship, or perhaps several. Their first
friendships tend to be self-serving; a friend is supposed to be someone who does ‘what I want’.
Later during elementary school years friendships become ongoing and reciprocal. Friends are seen as those
who ‘do things for each other’ (Selman, 1980). Friendships are almost exclusively boy-boy and girl-girl in
elementary school.
At the same time they are learning to organize themselves into groups. Groups have certain shared goals, rules
of conduct and a hierarchical structure. The structure resembles the organizational chart of a corporation. There
are leaders at the apex and followers at the lower levels; each individual member has some identifiable
relationship to other members.
A classic camp study by Sherif and others (1961) showed that group formation in preadolescents is stimulated
by the experience of living together, sharing pleasant experiences, cooperating in ventures that involve shared
goals and competing with other groups. When antagonism between competing groups of campers escalated to
 24
name-calling and insults, Sherif engineered ‘experimental crises’, such as mysterious shut-off of the water
supply. Forced by such adverse circumstances to work together, the competing groups combined forces and
engineered a solution. Afterwards, ill-will between the groups faded. The study by Sherif suggests that shared
adversity and joint problem-solving can stimulate group formation and reduce antagonism between groups.
Friendship generally refers to relationships involving strong affective/emotional ties between two persons. A
recent review of many studies indicates that children’s friendships (Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995) are marked
by the following characteristics:
 Friends have stronger affective ties to each other than they have to other peers.
 Friends cooperate with and help each other more than they do other peers.
 Friends may have conflicts with each other, but are more concerned with resolving such disputes than is
true with respect to other peers.
 Friends see themselves as equals, and engage in less intense competition and fewer attempts at
domination than is true for other peers.
 Friends are more similar to each other than to peers, and also express more mutual liking, closeness and
loyalty.
Friendships give children an opportunity to learn and practice social skills that are needed for effective
interpersonal relationships; growing evidence suggests that such skills play an important role in children’s
developing theory of mind (Watson et al, 1999). Friendships also contribute to emotional development, by
giving children opportunities to experience intense emotional bonds with persons other than their
caregivers and to express these feelings in their behavior.
Being bullied however, can have devastating effects on the child. Research findings indicate that being
victimized by bullies can produce anxiety, loneliness, depression and low self-esteem in children (Bolvin &
Hymel, 1997). Findings also indicate that those who have close friends are less likely to be bullied as it
prevents bullies from picking on these children. Friends therefore, play a protective role against bullies.
(Ref- Baron, Morgan & King)
Peer vs. Adult Influence: Peer approval becomes more important than parental approval during later
elementary school period, at least in many situations. Studies of other cultures show that these tendencies are
not inevitable in late childhood. Instead, they depend on their socializing experience. In the Soviet Union, for
example, peers are used throughout the school years as enforcers of adult norms. Peer monitors keep track of
how well each class mate adheres to these social norms, peer groups meet to decide how to punish children for
deviations from the adult-established standards or reward them for meeting the standards. Their group-
solidarity is in the service of goals that adults endorse.
To find out the impact that these socialization practices have on the Soviet children, Bronfenbrenner (1967)
asked a group of Soviet children and a group of American children to tell what they would do in response to
several dilemmas. The dilemmas pitted adult standards against peer standards. One, for example, asked the
youngsters whether they would go to a movie that their friends recommended but their parents disapproved of.
Some of the children in each group were told that their answers would later be shown to peers in their class.
Consequently, American children who thought their peers would see their answers were especially likely to
violate the adult norms; Soviet children, given the same instructions, were especially likely to follow the adult
norms.
Apparently, peers have a powerful impact in later childhood; but whether the impact works for or against adult
values and teachings will depend upon the previous socialization of children.
In 1998, Judith Rich Harris published a book titled ‘The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn out the Way
They Do’. The main premise of this book was that parents matter less than we think, and peers matter more. It
is the peers, teachers and others outside home that exert major effects on the child’s development As evidence,
Harris points out to many studies indicating that identical twins reared in the same homes no more similar to
each other in personality and in other respects than are identical twins reared in different homes by different
parents. She suggests that any similarities between children of the same parents are not due to parents’
influence but due to genetic factors. In this context, Harris cites growing evidence that many traits such as
impulsivity, aggressiveness, thrill-seeking tendencies, neuroticism, intelligence, friendliness and shyness are
 25
due in part to genetic factors. So, even if children do resemble their parents in some respects, it is because of
their inherited tendencies, not because of the parents’ efforts at child rearing.
She points out that peers and friends influence children throughout their development and produce effects that
persist into adulthood; in contrast, parents’ influence occurs only within the home and dissipates as children
grow up. Some findings offer support for her view. For example, one research reveals that whether children are
raised by their parents or in day-care centers makes relatively little difference to their cognitive development,
behavior problems or self-esteem ( Harvey, 1999). On the other side of the coin, however, is a very large body
of findings suggesting that parents do indeed matter. Recent findings from a large-scale research program (the
NICHD Study of Early Child Care) suggest that mothers who care for their infants themselves show greater
sensitivity to their youngsters, while the youngsters in turn show more positive engagement with their mothers
than is true for children who receive non-maternal child care (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,
1999). These effects were small, but given that they were observed in a sample of more than 1200 children,
they do seem to be real. Similarly, studies of shyness indicate that although this trait is indeed influenced by
genetic factors, parents play a key role in determining whether and to what extent children actually become shy
(Kagan & Snidman, 1991). Shy children whose parents encourage them to try new things become less shy,
while those whose parents do not make this effort often become painfully shy and withdrawn. Taking the
example of excellent adjustment and achievement of children from many immigrant families in the U.S
(Fulgini, 998), experts attribute this feature to the impact of parents who emphasize the value of education,
stress on family-members’ obligation to one another and instill values promoting hard work and achievement.
Given below is a tabular form of Erikson’s Psychosocial development in early and late childhood:
Basic Conflict Optimum Outcome
Initiative vs. guilt Initiative adds to autonomy, the quality of doing things just to be doing them. A
(preschoolers) sense of guilt is often felt over things contemplated or actually done. A
  favourable ratio of initiative to guilt results in a sense of purpose.
   
Industry vs. inferiority Children learn to win approval by doing things approved of in culture. In literate
(school children) societies they learn to read; in preliterate ones they learn the skills needed for
  survival. Failure in a task leads to a sense of inferiority. A favourable ratio of
  industry to work leads to a sense of competence & pleasure in work.

School Achievement:
Formal schooling in almost all countries begins around the age of 6 or 7. By that age, the major limitations of
preoperational thought have been left behind, language has matured to a point where a teacher can
communicate with children in groups, and the perceptual and motor skills needed for such activities as writing
with a pencil are in place. During the early school years, most children develop an array of basic skills. The
major mission of the school is to promote systematic learning. The teacher presents a general rule first, and the
children later figure out how the rule applies to concrete examples in real life (Scribner & Cole, 1981). A
question oft asked is, do children fare better with formal schooling or would they be about as well off if they
did all their learning informally, outside school? Comparisons between unschooled and schooled children show
that schooling has some strong positive effects. In one study (Stevenson, 1982), Peruvian first-graders were
compared to unschooled children of the same age-group and same social class, on 15 cognitive skills like
memory and classification, etc. The first-graders proved superior on every skill, suggesting that even a year or
so of schooling may make quite a difference in cognitive performance. Other studies suggest that in addition to
teaching specific cognitive skills, schools are particularly good at teaching general problem-solving techniques
(Fischer & Lazerson, 1984); such techniques as labeling the parts of a problem and constructing a general
solution rule can give the schooled youngster a real edge in tackling new and unfamiliar problems.
Several studies show that tutoring by peers a few years older than the children concerned produces significant
learning in the children and often in the tutor as well. Finally, recent research has shown that many children can
improve their school achievement by monitoring their own work, giving themselves periodic self-instructions
(for example, silently repeating, “go slowly, and think carefully about each answer”), and rewarding
themselves for reaching certain goals.
Adjustment problems in later childhood:
 26
School experience can be exhilarating for a child who ‘fits in’ academically and socially, but sheer misery for
those who do not.
Comparisons with peers become intense during elementary school years. Those who do not fare well develop a
newfound capacity for feelings of inferiority. This is particularly difficult for children who suffer from cultural-
familial mental retardation. Because their retarded functioning is not caused by any known physiological
disorder, their intellectual problems may not be noticed until they enter school.
For some children, the social demands of school are harder to satisfy than the academic demands. Often the
setting calls for impressing one’s peers and teacher. This may explain the commonly reported problem behaviors
of this age- ‘argues’, ‘brags’ or ‘shows off’. These problems are continuation of behaviors seen in preschool.
Self assertive behavior bordering on aggression, or self-consciousness bordering on to social withdrawal are
two behavioral problems that may require a clinical referral.
A problem known as school phobia is seen early in the school years. It is an extreme form of school anxiety
manifesting in say, vomiting or other physical reactions on the part of boys and girls when it is time for them to
go to school. Many psychologists now agree that the phobia is often a fear of separation from the parents rather
than a fear of school itself.
School phobias combined with generalized anxiety, sadness, or shyness can form an ongoing pattern called
internalizing problems. Aggressive behavior combined with other kinds of antisocial behavior and attitudes
can form an ongoing pattern called externalizing problems. This latter pattern poses the most serious threat to
long-term adult adjustment.
Two other common causes of clinical help or referral during later childhood are learning problems and
hyperactivity. The most frequent learning problem is dyslexia, or difficulty with reading. Other children are
said to have learning disabilities or specific developmental disorders. Such problems often accompany
hyperactivity. Youngsters with such problems are impulsive and overactive. In some settings, these children
are diagnosed as having attention-deficit disorder
Moral development across Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence:
Moral Development refers to the changes in the capacity to reason about the rightness or wrongness of various
actions that occur with age. While many different views of moral development have been proposed, the most
famous one is offered by Lawrence Kohlberg.
Building on Piaget’s early work (1932) which suggested that people pass through steps in the development of
their moral reasoning much as they pass through stages of cognitive development, Kohlberg (1976) and his
associates (Colby et al, 1983)
Kohlberg studied boys and men and suggested that human beings move through three distinct levels of moral
reasoning, each divided into two separate phases. In order to determine the stage of moral development
participants had reached, Kohlberg asked them to consider imaginary situations that raised moral dilemmas for
the person involved. Participants then indicated the course of action they would choose, and explained why.
According to Kohlberg, it is the explanations, not the decisions themselves, that are crucial, for it is the
reasoning displayed in these explanations that reveals individuals’ stage of moral development. One such
dilemma is as follows:
A man’s wife is ill with a special kind of cancer. There is a drug that may save her, but it is very expensive. The
pharmacist will sell it for 2000 dollars but the man has only 100 dollars. He asks the pharmacist to let him pay
part of the cost now and the rest later, but the pharmacist refuses. Being desperate, the man steals the drug.
Should he have done so?
The kind of reasoning (to the dilemma mentioned above) given by the children across various age-ranges
reflects several of the stages of moral reasoning described by Kohlberg:
The Pre-conventional level: At the first level of moral development, the pre-conventional level, children think
in ways that fall short of the customary moral concerns of society. Their reasoning is somewhat egocentric; it
focuses on the personal consequences of the individual’s behavior. The children judge morality largely in terms
of consequences: Actions that lead to rewards are perceived as good or acceptable; ones that lead to
punishments are seen as bad or unacceptable. For example, a child at this stage might say, “The man should not
steal the drug, because if he does, he will be punished.”
 27
The Conventional level: As children’s cognitive abilities increase, Kohlberg suggests, they enter a second
stage of moral development, the conventional level. Their reasoning fits what many societies consider to be
acceptable moral rules. Now they are aware of some of the complexities of social order and judge morality in
terms of what supports and preserves the laws and rules of their society. Thus, a child at this stage might
reason: “It is OK to steal the drug, because no one will think you are bad if you do so. If you don’t, and let your
wife die, you will never be able to look anyone in the eye again.”
The Post-conventional level: Finally, in adolescence or early adulthood many individuals enter the post-
conventional level, or principled level. At this stage, people judge morality in terms of abstract principles and
values that go beyond commonplace views of ethics and morality, rather than in terms of existing laws or rules
of society. Persons who attain this stage often believe that certain obligations and values transcend the laws of
society. The rules they follow are abstract and ethical, not concrete, and are based on inner conscience rather
than on external sources of authority. For example, a person at this stage of morality might argue for stealing
the drug as follows: “If the man does not steal the drug, he is putting property above human life; this makes no
sense. People could live together without private property, but a respect for human life is essential.” In contrast,
if they argue for not stealing the drug, they might reason: “If the man stole the drug he wouldn’t be blamed by
others, but he would probably blame himself, since he has violated his own standards of honesty and hurt
another person for his own gain.”
Kohlberg believes that everyone passes through the levels of moral reasoning in the same order, in part
because each level is more logically advanced than is its predecessor. However, Kohlberg also thinks that
most people fail to reach the post conventional level. The specifics of Kohlberg’s theory have changed quite
a lot in recent years (Colby et al 1983; Kohlberg, 1976), but the general framework outlined above remains
intact. It is important to note here that the level of a person’s moral thinking may not tell us much about what
actions that person will choose. Some researchers have tried to find out if there is any real connection
between how we think about a moral issue and what we will actually do. Studies have centered on the
question whether people’s level of moral reasoning can predict such behavior as cheating, campus activism,
fairness in distributing valued goods, and even abortion (e.g. Gilligan, 1977; Haan et al, 1968). Most of the
research has found some relationship between moral reasoning and behavior, but the relationships have often
been complex. For example, campus activism was found to be especially likely among college students who
had reached Kohlberg’s post-conventional level, as was expected, but it was also likely among students who
still reasoned at the pre-conventional level. Evidently, there are some connections between moral reasoning
and moral behavior, but the precise connection may vary from one individual or one situation to the next.
Given in the next page is a general overview of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Devlopment

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: An Overview

 
Level/Stage Description
Preconventional stage  
Punishment- and
Stage I Obedience orientation Morality judged in terms of consequences.
   
Naïve hedonistic
ge 2 orientation Morality judged in terms of what satisfies own needs or those of others.
 28
   
Conventional level  
Good boy-good girl Morality judged in terms of adherence to social rules or norms with respect to
ge 3 orientation personal acquaintances
 
Social order-maintaining
ge 4 orientation Morality judged in terms of social rules or laws applied universally, and not
  just to acquaintances.
Postconventional level  
ge 5 Legalistic orientation Morality judged in terms of human rights, which may transcend laws.
   
Universal ethical
ge 6 principle orientation Morality judged in terms of self-chosen ethical principles.

Some findings are consistent with Kohlberg’s views on moral development. Individuals, according to such
views, do generally seem to progress through the stages of moral reasoning described by Kohlberg, moving
from less sophisticated to increasingly sophisticated modes of thought. Other findings however, suggest that
Kohlberg’s theory might be providing valuable insights, but it requires major revisions in several respects.
Psychologist Carol Gilligan (1982) for example, criticized the theory on the grounds that it was biased against
women. She noted that many women do not base moral judgments on the principles of justice emphasized by
Kohlberg; rather, they base them on what she termed care-based principles: concerns over relationships, caring,
and the promotion of others’ welfare. She claimed that Kohlberg’s approach undervalued the moral maturity of
females. Other studies have found that while females do show a tendency to make more care-based judgments
than males, this occurs primarily for personal moral dilemmas they have experienced themselves, and does not
appear for other types of questions, including the oens used originally by Kohlberg (Wark & Krebs, 1996).
A second question often asked is, do people really show such consistence in their moral reasoning as they
move through a series of successive discrete stages? The answer appears to be a ‘no’. In one revealing study on
this issue, Wark &Krebs (1996) asked college students to respond to the moral dilemmas developed by
Kohlberg, and also to describe real-life dilemmas they had experienced or witnessed, mentioning additionally,
their moral reasoning for these real-life dilemmas. Results indicated that contrary to Kohlberg’s theory, 85% of
the participants showed little consistency across the various types of moral dilemmas.
Thirdly, in cross cultural studies carried out in many countries (Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico), it has sometimes
been found that the stages described by Kohlberg and the steady movement through them, do not appear in all
cultures. For example, the studies show that persons from tribal or rural village backgrounds are less likely to
reach Stage 5 reasoning than persons from more advantaged backgrounds (Nisan & Kohlberg, 1982). These
studies make it clear that cultural factors play an important role in shaping moral development.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adolescence-
Physical changes, cognitive development, socio-emotional development; some major concerns: Physical
changes at puberty; Cognitive development-Piaget’s Formal Operation Stage; Socio-emotional development-
forming an identity, dealing with sexuality and gender; some major concerns- delinquency, substance abuse
(drugs and alcohol) and eating disorders-bulimia, anorexia.

Physical changes: Technically, adolescence is the period from the beginning of sexual maturity (puberty) to
the completion of physical growth. In a physical sense, the events of puberty mark the transition from child to
adult. These events are triggered off by a signal from the region of the brain known as the hypothalamus. The
signal stimulates the pituitary gland, which sends extra growth hormone throughout the body. As a result, there
is a growth spurt and a shift in the balance of sex-linked hormones in boys and girls. During childhood, boys
and girls produce small, roughly equal amounts of androgen (male hormones) and estrogens (female
 29
hormones). At puberty, the pituitary, through its hormones, stirs the adrenal glands and testes of boys, and the
ovaries and adrenal glands of girls into action; sex-linked hormones are secreted into the blood stream.
Suddenly, boys have high levels of androgens, girls have high levels of estrogens, and dramatic sex differences
in bodily development begin.
Perhaps the earliest outward evidence that adolescence has started, is the growth spurt, when girls’ and boys’
growth rate doubles. Boys in their peak year, most often in their 14th year, grow from 3 to 5 inches in height.
Girls in their peak year, usually their 11th or 12th year, grow an average of 2 to 4 inches. Facial features, too,
often change during puberty. Characteristics associated with childhood, such as large eyes, a high forehead,
round cheeks and a small chin, give way to a more adult appearance.
A hallmark of adolescence is a cluster of key changes in the primary sexual characteristics. Most reproductive
organs gradually increase in size. For girls, these organs include the ovaries and uterus, while in boys these
organs include the penis, prostrate gland and seminal vesicules. Though ejaculation can occur in boys after
about one year of penis growth, another year will pass before sperm cells in the seminal fluid are concentrated
enough for real fertility. About 1 ½ years after the growth spurt has peaked, girls experience menarche, the
onset of menstruation. Initial menstrual periods are often irregular, and ovulation (the release of mature egg) is
unlikely for another year or so.
Along with the changes in the primary sexual characteristics, boys and girls show changes in the secondary
sexual characteristics- for example, body proportion, hair quality and distribution, voice and other physical
features not directly related to reproduction.
In may countries, the age at which boys and girls reach puberty has been dropping over the past several
generations. For example, in the mid-1800s, girls in the US reached menarche at about age 17; since then, this
average age has dropped by about 4 months per decade, and American girls now reach menarche at about 12 ½
.
Overall, growth now spurts a few years earlier than it did 100 years ago, perhaps because nutrition and health
care have improved and also because children are growing faster and healthier with each generation.
Cognitive Development during Adolescence:
Piaget’s stage of Formal Operations: Dealing with abstractions as well as reality.
At about the age of 12, Piaget suggested, most children enter the final stage of cognitive development- the stage of
formal operations. During this period, major features of adult thought make their appearance. While children in
the earlier stage of concrete operations can think logically, they can do so only about concrete events and objects.
In contrast, those who have reached the stage of formal operations, can think abstractly; they can deal not only
with the real or concrete, but with possibilities-events or relationships that do not exist, but can be imagined.
During this final stage, children become capable of what Piaget terms, hypothetico-deductive reasoning. This
involves the ability to generate hypothesis and think logically about symbols, ideas and propositions. They can still
think about the way things are, but they become much more skilled about how things might be if certain changes
took place.
Hypothetical and abstract thinking make sophisticated deduction and induction possible. Deduction is reasoning
from abstract, general principles to specific hypothesis that follows from these principles. Inductive thinking is the
complementary process of observing a number of specific events or instances and inferring an abstract, general
principle to explain those instances. The two processes can be seen in the adolescents’ reasoning about nature,
science and even social problems.
Children at the stage of formal operations also become capable of engaging in interpropositional thinking/logic
that is, thinking in which they seek to test the validity of several propositions. This ability to use inter-propositional
logic really involves judging the formal relationships among propositions.
Another formal-operational skill that emerges at this stage is the adolescent’s ability for reflective thinking- the
process of evaluating or testing his own reasoning. Reflective thinking allows the formal-operational person to be
his/her own critic, to evaluate a process/idea/solution from the perspective of an outsider and to find errors or weak
spots in it. Reflective thinking can also make the adolescent a powerful experimenter and problem solver because
it involves the ability to think through a umber of possible strategies or ‘experiments’ and to decide which one will
yield the most information.
 30
While the thinking of older children or adolescents closely approaches that of adults, however, Piaget believed that
it still falls short of the adult level. Older children, and especially adolescents, often use their new powers of
reasoning to construct sweeping theories about human relationships, ethics or political systems. The reasoning
behind such views may be logical, but the theories are often false, because the young persons who construct them
do not have enough experience or information to do a more sophisticated job.
One final but crucial point- even though people who have reached the stage of formal operations are capable of
engaging in advanced forms of thought, there is no guarantee that they will actually do so. Such thinking requires
lots of cognitive effort, so it is not surprising that adolescents often slip back into less advanced modes of thought.
Other Views on Cognitive Development during Adolescence:
Many studies indicate that only about 40% of adolescents can solve the kind of problems used by Piaget to test for
formal operational thinking (e.g. Stanovich, 1993). Moreover, if they show such logical thought, it may be
restricted to topics or types of problems with which they have had direct experience (Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995).
In addition, adolescents’ theory of mind-their understanding of how they and others think-continues to change and
develop. Younger children take a realist approach to knowledge-that is, they believe that knowledge is a property
of the real world and that there are definite facts or truths that can be acquired. In contrast, older children and pre-
adolescents become aware of the fact that experts often disagree; this leads them to develop a relativist approach,
which recognizes that different people may interpret the same information in contrasting ways.
Many a time, pre-adolescents go a bit farther, adopting a defended realism approach, which recognizes the
difference between facts and opinions. Yet they continue to believe that there is a set of facts about the world that
are completely true, and that differences in opinion stem from differences in available information.
Still later, adolescents come to realize that there is no secure basis for knowledge or for making decisions; at this
point, they adopt an approach described as dogmatism-skepticism, in which they alternate between blind faith in
some authority and doubting everything. Finally, some adolescents, at least, realize that while there are no absolute
truths, there are better or worse rasons for holding certain views-an approach described as post-skeptical
rationalism. This is the kind of thinking that democratic societies wish to encourage among their citizens.
Socio-emotional development in Adolescence-forming an identity, dealing with sexuality and
gender
Emotional Changes in Adolescence: It is widely believed that adolescents are wildly emotional-that they
experience huge swings in mood and turbulent outbursts of emotion. In several studies on this issue, large numbers
of teenagers wore beepers, and were signaled at random times throughout an entire week. When signaled, they
entered their thoughts and feelings in a diary. Results indicated that they did show more frequent and larger swings
in mood than those shown by older persons (e.g. Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984). Moreover, these swings
occurred very quickly, sometimes within only a few minutes.
It is often assumed that adolescence is a period of great stress and unhappiness. However, most adolescents report
feeling quite happy and self-confident, not unhappy or distressed (Diener & Diener, 1996). Again, contrary to
prevailing views, most teenagers report that they enjoy relatively good relations with their parents. They agree with
them on basic values, on future plans and many other matters (Bachman, 1987). There are some points of friction
of course. Teenagers often disagree with their parents about how they should spend their leisure time and how
much money they should have or spend; and to some extent parents and teenagers disagree about sexual behavior;
but on the whole, they get along better with parents than widely assumed.
Relationships are redefined during this period. Relationships with family members at this time involve
increasing independence for the adolescent and usually involve increased conflict too. Relationships with peers
may become more intimate and vital than they were in childhood. Finally, relationships with the opposite sex have
new overtones of sensuality.
Family & Parental Relationships: In relationships between parents and adolescents, a central theme is often
that of testing limits. Most teen-parent arguments concern the timings of rights and responsibilities (Hartup, 1983).
As they see themselves as adults, teenagers press for freedom and privileges of true adulthood. Also, the
emergence of formal operations and more advanced oral reasoning means that the adolescent can think of
reasonable alternatives to parental rules. Parents can therefore expect less automatic obedience and more
resistance. Some studies suggest that self-reliance, independence and social responsibility in teenagers are most
effectively promoted by parents who are flexible and encourage discussion-if the parents also hold their youngsters
 31
to clear, consistent standards (Baumrind, 1980). In most families, adolescent girls have to struggle much harder
than boys for their independence as more restrictions are placed on them than on the teenage boys. One of the
common reasons for teenage girls’ conflicts with parents is that parents don’t respect their maturity (Konopka,
1976)
Boys’ conflicts with their parents tend to involve more objective issues of authority and privilege, such as access to
the family car. The boy’s relationship with his mother and father appears to shift significantly around the time of
puberty. Research based on videotaped observations (Steinberg, 1979) documented some of these shifts. Just prior
to puberty, mothers and fathers seem to have about the same influence over their son’s behavior. With the advent
of puberty, boys act more assertively towards their mothers. As the mother-son tension persists, the father’s role
seems to shift to that of the mother’s ally. Fathers show increased efforts to restrain their sons’ assertiveness, but
only with partial success. With puberty completed, boys seem clearly more influential in family decision making
than they were prior to puberty.
However, it would be wrong to assume that parent-child relationships are uniformly poor or unsatisfying. Recent
surveys of personal values, political views, moral development and occupational choice indicate that high-school
students are likely to be influenced more in each of these areas by their parents than by their peers (e.g. Feather,
1980). According to many studies, most teenagers report that they enjoy relatively good relations with their
parents. They agree with them on basic values, on future plans and many other matters (Bachman, 1987). There are
some points of friction of course. Teenagers often disagree with their parents about how they should spend their
leisure time and how much money they should have or spend; and to some extent parents and teenagers disagree
about sexual behavior; but on the whole, they get along better with parents than widely assumed.
Growing evidence suggests that some broad patterns or styles of parenting have more beneficial effects on
teenagers than others. Two key dimensions seem to underlie differences in parenting styles. One has to do with
parental demandingness-the extent to which parents are strict or controlling. Parents high on this dimension seek
to control their children through status and power, and confront them, often angrily, when they do not meet the
parents’; expectations. A second dimension is that of parental responsiveness- the extent to which parents are
involved in and supportive of their children’s activities. Parents high on this dimension listen actively to their
children, respond to their requests, show warmth, and focus on their children’s concerns and interests during
conversations with them. Authoritarian parents are high in demandingness (controlling) and low in
responsiveness. Auhtoritative parents in contrast are high in both demandingness and responsiveness. Permissive
parents are high in responsiveness but low in demandingness: They are warm and responsive but they set no rules
or standards for their children and do not hold them accountable for their actions. Finally, rejecting/neglecting
parents are low in both responsiveness and demandingness-they do not seem to care about their children.
These contrasting styles have string and lasting effects. Growing evidence (e.g Baumrind, 1991) suggests that an
authoritative style may yield the most beneficial effects: Adolescents who parents adopt this approach are
generally competent, both socially and cognitively. They are confident yet friendly and cooperative, and they tend
to do well in school. In contrast, adolescents whose parents show a rejecting/neglecting style, tend to be lower on
both dimensions. Moreover, they often show unsettled patterns of behavior that can get them into serious trouble.
Children whose parents adopt an authoritarian style or a permissive style tend to fall in between. For most
adolescents though, the influence of family clearly interacts and competes with the strong influence of the peers.
Peer Relationships: Peer-group membership assumes more importance during adolescence than at any other
period of life, as peer groups can provide a refuge and source of support for youngsters in conflict with their
families. Moreover, being part of a clearly identified group can help answer the burning question, “Who am I?”
One study in fact, using beepers to contact adolescents at random times (Larson et al, 1977) found that they spend
more time talking with the peers than doing academic work, being with their families or being alone.
The structure of peer groups seems to change over the course of adolescence (Coleman, 1980; Dunphy, 1963). For
teens around the age of 13 or so, the peer group is usually a clique consisting of half a dozen or fewer youngster of
the same sex. During the high-school years, a number of adolescents belong to both unisex and mixed-sex group.
To sum up, most adolescents are part of extensive social networks consisting of many friends and acquaintances.
Girls tend to have somewhat larger network than boys, and these networks tend to become smaller and more
exclusive as adolescents grow older (Urberg et al, 1995) - a trend that continues throughout life.
 32
Another structural feature of the adolescent peer group that changes during adolescence is the dominance of
hierarchy (Hartup, 1983). In middle to later childhood, youngsters who are skillful in directing play and games
emerge as leaders. With the transition to early adolescence, the dominant youngsters are those with athletic and
social skills, and also those who show the physical signs of puberty. By later adolescence though, the leaders tend
to be those who are bright, creative and well-liked. Like peer group relationships, dating helps the young person
find a sense of identity-knowing what kind of persons you can attract helps you know what kind of a person you
are. Even as early as 1973, 45% of American girls and 59% of American boys had had intercourse before the age
of 20 (Sorenson, 1973).
One motive for forming friendship during adolescence seems to be the developing need to belong- the need to have
positive interactions within ongoing relationships. This need strengthens during early adolescence and leads many
preteens and teenagers to reject parental influence and identify with their peers, adopting their style of dressing and
speaking. Within a few years however, this tendency subsides and teenagers begin to conform less and less to their
peer group. Friendship and social success also play an important role in another key aspect of social development
during adolescence- the quest for personal identity. This quest for Personal Identity has been described in great
detail in the section below, giving also Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development.
Forming an identity, dealing with sexuality and gender:
Some theorists believe that the key developmental task for the adolescent is answering the question. “Who am I?”
In Erik Erikson’s developmental theory, the core conflict of adolescence is the tension between role confusion and
identity. Seeking identity involves searching for continuity and sameness in oneself-trying to get a clear sense of
what one’s skills and personal attributes are, to discover where one is headed for in life, and to believe that one can
count on recognition from ‘significant others’. The adolescent who forms a sense of identity gains two key
benefits, according to Erikson: 1) “A feeling of being at home in one’s body” and 2) “A sense of psychological
well being.”
Adolescents who fail to achieve a sense of identity may face confusion over what roles they can or should be
playing in life. They may delay any commitment to adult roles, a delay which Erikson calls a psychosocial
moratorium. This delay can result in a valuable period of information gathering or it can involve rebellion- an
attempt to do the opposite of what parents and others think is proper. Erikson called this rebellious pattern the
pursuit of negative identity.
Adolescents adopt many different strategies to resolve their own personal identity-crisis. They try out many
different roles- the good girl/boy, the rebel, the dutiful daughter/son, the athlete- and join many different social
groups. They consider many social selves-different kinds of persons they might potentially become. Out of these
experiences they gradually piece together a cognitive framework for understanding themselves-a self schema.
Once formed, this framework remains fairly constant and serves as a guide for adolescents in many contexts.
In searching for an identity, the adolescent also tackles the question,” What do I really believe in?”
With the development of formal operations, the adolescent can appreciate and cultivate abstract values and
principles. By blending abstract ideals with the information drawn from admired models in real life, the
adolescent can generate a broad array of possible roles. In the best of cases, this array narrows down by the
end of adolescence, and gives shape to a satisfying self-definition. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial
Development
  Basic Conflict Optimum Outcome
Basic Trust vs. basic
1 mistrust Trust is the faith that things will be 'all right'. It develops from good care provided
  (infant) by reliable others. A favorable ratio of trust to mistrust results in hope.
     
Autonomy vs. shame &
2 doubt Without a sense of self-control (autonomy), children feel shame & doubt. A
  (toddler) Favorable ratio of autonomy to shame results in self-direction with self-esteem.
     
3 Initiative vs. guilt Initiative adds to autonomy, the quality of doing things just to be doing them. A
  (preschoolers) Sense of guilt is often felt over things contemplated or actually done. A
    Favorable ratio of initiative to guilt results in a sense of purpose.
     
 33
4 Industry vs. inferiority Children learn to win approval by doing things approved of in culture. In literate
  (school children) societies they learn to read; in preliterate ones they learn the skills needed for
    Survival. Failure in a task leads to a sense of inferiority. A favorable ratio of
    Industry to work leads to a sense of competence & pleasure in work.
     
5 Identity vs. role confusion Identity refers to questions by adolescents like, 'who am I?' or 'What am I going to
  (adolescent) do with my life?' Difficult in answering these questions leads to role confusion.
    A favorable ratio of identity to role confusion leads to a sense of consistency.
     
6 Intimacy vs. isolation Here the task is to establish lasting and loving relationships with other people.
  (young adult) Love is the outcome of a favorable ratio of intimacy to isolation.
     
Generativity vs. stagnation
7 & self-absorption Generativity includes productivity & creativity, but here it refers primarily to
preparing the next generation for life in the culture. A favorable ratio of
  (middle adult) generativity
    to stagnation leads to a sense of care.
     
8 Ego Integrity vs. despair Ego-integrity, in part, refers to one's acceptance of one's life. In the closing
  (older person) Decades of one’s life, one may ask oneself if one’s life had any meaning.
    If one can answer ‘yes’, one attains a sense of integrity; if one answers ‘no’,
    One experiences despair.
Many psychologists other than Erikson have focused on the importance of forming a clear personal identity. For
instance, Marcia (1991) suggests that adolescents can be categorized in terms of whether they have explored
alternative selves and whether they have actually chosen one. These two dimensions yield four possible patterns:
adolescents who have gone through their identity crisis and made a commitment to one clear alternative (they are
described as showing identity achievement); adolescents who are still searching for an identity (identity
moratorium); adolescents who have chosen an identity suggested to them by their parents or other authority figures
(identity foreclosure); and adolescents who haven’t begun the process (identity diffusion). Marcia suggest that
resolving the identity crisis is an important aspect of development during adolescence, and that completing this
task helps individuals to plan their adult lives and, ultimately, to attain personal happiness.
Adolescents whose parents are immigrants or whose parents come from two different ethnic or cultural groups,
experience special problems in forming a clear identity. After all, such children must understand not merely one
culture and their place in it, but two cultures, which may differ in many respects. They cope with this situation by
various methods; one possibility is that they achieve separate identities in both cultures, they alternate between
these depending on the social situation; this is known as the alternation model. Another pattern is known as
identity fusion. Here, the children combine the different cultural identities into one. A third pattern is for such
adolescents to reject one of their cultural heritages and to identify entirely with the other. This pattern is especially
likely in children who recognize that adopting a social identity linked to one of the two cultures may lead to
discrimination against them- and therefore choose the toher.
Adjustment problems in Adolescence: Sexual Vulnerability/Eating Disorders/
Delinquency/Substance-Use Disorder/ Distortions in Thoughts
1. Sexual Vulnerability:
Adolescence is a period of real vulnerability, especially in the area of adolescent sexuality. Although sexual
activity has increased dramatically over the past decade or two, sex education has not. The consequence is a
million-plus teenage pregnancy a year in the U.S, of which about 400,000 end in abortion. In most of the
remaining cases, the result is a new teenage mother, and over 90% of these mothers choose to keep their babies.
This choice often sets in motion a cycle of educational and economic disadvantages, an increased likelihood of
child-abuse and an increased risk of psychological problems in both the mother and child (Clarke-Stewart & Koch,
1983). Compounded to this issue is the problem of sexual diseases that can cause a risk to the adolescents.
Illegal behavior among adolescents would include both status offences- acts that are illegal only for minors (for
example, truancy, running away from home and drinking), and more serious offences that would be illegal at any
 34
age (for example- assault, vandalism or illicit drug use). Studies have found that about 80% of American
adolescents admit to having committed at least one illegal act. About 20% of violent crimes re committed by
people under 18, and they do not necessarily come from lower-income families or minority-group families (Gold
& Petronio, 1980).
The beginning of adolescence can mean facing up to some very adult psychological problems. One of these is
depression, which is characterized by feelings of guilt, a loss of interest in activities, sleep problems and even
suicidal thoughts.
Another life-threatening disorder that surfaces in adolescence is anorexia nervosa, a form of self-starvation. Given
below are two of the most common Eating Disorders, described in detail:
2. Eating Disorders
i. These disorders entail disturbances in eating behavior that involve maladaptive and
unhealthy efforts to control body weight.
ii. These disorders often begin in childhood or adolescence, though these obviously occur
among adults.
iii. The adult forms of these disorders are classified separately in the DSM IV. In addition,
the trend in recent decades has been for these disturbing disorders to start at earlier and
earlier ages, as young as age 8.
iv. Two eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia have received the most
attention.

A. Anorexia Nervosa
i. This is an eating disorder involving intense fear of gaining weight coupled with refusal to
maintain normal body weight.
ii.Such people relentlessly pursue the goal of being thin, no matter what this does to their health.
iii.They often have distorted perceptions of their own bodies, believing they are heavier than they really
are.
iv.As a result of such fears and distorted perceptions, they starve themselves to the point where their
weight drops to dangerously low levels. A loss of 25% of original body weight is the usual criterion for
diagnosis of anorexia.
v.Anorexia Nervosa is more common in females than males.
vi.A near universal symptom of Anorexia Nervosa is Amenorrhea, that is, cessation of menstruation.
Causes of Anorexia Nervosa-
a. Many societies emphasize physical attractiveness for females far more than for males.
As a result, adolescent and young women feel the tremendous pressure to live up to the
images of beauty shown in the mass media- to be as thin as the models who are held up as
paragons of female desirability.
b. They think they will be viewed as unattractive if they are not thin. Though, interestingly,
research shows that men find rounded appearances more attractive.
c. That intense social pressure plays a role in Anorexia Nervosa, is suggested by the findings
of a recent study by Paxton and her colleagues (1999). These researchers found that
among 15 year old girls, the greater the pressure from their friends to be thin, the more
likely the twins were to be unhappy with their current body-figures and to be greatly
restricting their food intake.
d. One widely held view is that anorexia begins over one’s emerging sexuality. Self-
starvation suppresses most of the physical changes of puberty and may seem to provide
a measure of ‘protection’ against it. This suppression keeps the girls looking small, fragile
and childlike.
e. Some have argued that anorexia results from a fear of maturity in general, or from a desire
to remain ‘mom and dad’s little girl’.
 35
f. Normal dieting and preoccupation with slimness is almost universal among teenage girls,
particularly in western culture. Some argue however, that dieting gets out of hand in
some youngsters because of their desire for perfection and high achievement.
g. Another view is that with adolescence, a conflict over power and control emerges
between some adolescents and their parents, and that this conflict sometimes becomes
focused on eating habits; self-starvation may give the adolescent a form of control that
parents cannot take away.

Treatment of Anorexia-
1. One of the first steps in treatment is medical attention together with firm rules about
weight maintenance.
2. There must be consequences for rule violation; these consequences can take the form
of hospital admission or even forced or intravenous feeding.
3. Psychological approaches to treatment have included individual psychotherapy,
family therapy and instrumental conditioning methods.
4. Of the family therapy techniques, the most successful seem to be those that treat the
eating disorder as just one part of a larger family problem that needs attention.
5. Reasonably good success has been reported for treatment with instrumental
conditioning techniques. For example, making special privileges depend upon small,
regular increase in weight.
6. Despite some modest success, most who have worked with these youngsters view the
disorder as very difficult to treat and very likely to recur.

B. Bulimia Nervosa
a. This is an eating disorder in which individuals engage in recurrent episodes of binge
eating followed by some forms of purging.
b. In this disorder, individuals engage in recurrent episodes of binge eating- eating huge
amounts of food within short periods of time-followed by some kind of compensatory
behavior designed to prevent weight gain.
c. This can involve self-induced vomiting, the misuse of laxatives, fasting or exercise so
excessive, that it is potentially harmful to the person’s health.
d. Persons suffering from Bulimia Nervosa again, mainly young women- report purging
about 12 times a week, and may purge even more often than this.
e. This disorder is sometimes called the binge-purge syndrome. The struggle of bulimics
with their urge to eat leads over and over again, to cycles in which they stuff food in,
purge it out with vomiting and laxatives; and sometimes go on extreme diets.
f. Bulimia is hard to detect because the binging and purging are hidden; the victim’s public
eating habits are appropriate, and body shape and weight remain within normal limits.
Thus it is hard to know how widespread bulimia is.
g. Evidence indicates that it is more common among white females in their late teens to late
twenties. One study found that about 4% of students treated in a university-psychiatric
clinic had been diagnosed as having bulimia (Stangler and Printz, 1980)
h. Bulimia most often begins as a problem of overeating, usually in late adolescence. Fears of
losing control over eating and body weight lead to radical efforts to regain control by
extreme dieting or purging. Within a year or so, the binge-purge-diet cycle has begun.
i. At this time, the bulimic’s life can become almost completely dominated by thoughts of
food, worries about weight, and feelings of depression, shame and self-contempt.
j. This makes it hard for them to concentrate on school- work or to meet the daily demands
of their jobs. Their social relationships also suffer due to the extreme secrecy that shrouds
the bulimic’s life.
k. Causes of Bulimia-
 36
1. Social Causes- The‘Thin is beautiful’ ideal seems to play an important role in
bulimia.
2. The desire to be perfect in all respects, including those related to physical beauty,
also influences bulimics. Research findings indicate that women who are high on this
trait are at risk of developing bulimia, especially if they perceive themselves to be
overweight. In fact, like anorexics, even bulimics perceive themselves to be heavier
and more over-weight than they actually are.
3. This fact is illustrated clearly by a study conducted by Williamson, Cubic & Gleaves
(1993). These researchers asked three groups of young women- ones diagnosed as
having bulimia, ones diagnosed as having anorexia and ones who had no eating
disorder- to rate silhouettes of women ranging from very skinny to very obese. These
women were asked to select silhouettes that matched their own current body-size,
and rate the silhouettes that represented body size that they most preferred (their
ideal). The results showed that bulimics and anorexics rated their current body size
as larger then did the control participants, and both rated their ideal as smaller than
did controls.

4. Fortunately, it appears that the frequency of eating disorders tends to decrease with
age, at least for women. Men in contrast may be more at risk for such problems as
they get older.

5. Genetic Factors- Findings indicate that family history of bulimics usually includes
some impulse-control problems. It may be that bulimics inherit some susceptibility
to impulse-control problems; or perhaps such problems in their families make them
especially sensitive to concerns about self-control.

6. Many anorexics also have bulimic episodes of gorging and purging. A major
difference between anorexics and bulimics is that the latter manage to keep their
body-weight within normal limits, though at a great psychological cost.

3. Delinquency:
Problem of Delinquency in Adolescents:
A juvenile delinquent is a person between 15 to 18 years indulging in anti-social activities. The difference
between a delinquent and a criminal in not so much a difference in the degree of offence but the difference of
years between the two. A juvenile delinquent is a person of any sex who commits a crime irrespective of the
fact that he is apprehended or not, indulges in anti-social activities and creates danger to others.
There are three main differences between a delinquent and a criminal- 1. A criminal is an adult above 18 years
of age.2) Delinquency includes activities which may strictly speaking, not be illegal such as roaming on the
streets late at nights, being truant etc. A criminal mainly involves himself in illegal actions. 3) A delinquent’s
mischief lacks in utility as he does things that do not benefit him, like truancy. His actions are generally nor
pre-planned or organized but done with the intention of enjoying himself. A criminal on the other hand acts
with the intention of gaining something. He plans his moves with skill and his offences are of a habitual type.
A criminal is a person involved in acting out unlawful activities due to internal stress and pathological
distortions so that he can satisfy his own needs.
Causes of Delinquency- No single factor causes delinquency. There is either some kind of a personality
predisposition such as stubbornness, negativity, rebellion against authority etc, or there are environmental
conditions which cause anti-social behavior. No person is born a delinquent. It is only his circumstances that
make him one. Environmental factors can fall into two groups- a) Factors in the home such as lax discipline,
defective family relationship, low morals, lack of educated parents, etc. b) Factors outside the home such as
 37
living in slum areas where the crime rate is high, keeping wrong company or misusing leisure time. It has been
observed that low intelligence also causes delinquency.
There are many factors that pre-dispose a person into serious crime. Given below are a few causes-
i. Genetic factors- An extra X chromosome in men can cause very aggressive behavior bordering on to
criminality. Studies on family histories have shown that criminal behavior runs in families (eg. - Martin
Kallikak. However, many recent psychologists claim that delinquency is not inherited and it is therefore
unjustifies to blame heredity and genes for delinquent behavior.
ii. Economic causes- a. Poverty (feelings of desperation, hopelessness prompts criminal behavior)
b. unemployment (revenge at former bosses, frustration and poverty)
c. industrialization and urbanization ( working long hours, suffering exploitation, leads to frustration
and anger, causing behavior such as assaults, murders, prostitution, etc) cause criminality.
iii. Constitutional or psychological factors – Defective constitution or glandular systems can also be the
cause of delinquent behavior. Deformity which can give rise to feelings of inferiority can dispose one to
more aggression as a compensatory reaction for his inadequacies. This can lead to delinquency. Feeble-
mindedness, poor health, mental diseases, emotional disturbances, conspicuous handicaps like ugliness
can cause criminal behavior.
iv. Geographical causes- Tropical and hot countries have more crime. Incidence of rape is more common
in plains than in mountainous regions. Lacassagne formulated a calendar on the basis of seasonal
fluctuations in crime. According to his calendar, the maximum number of cases of infanticide take
place in the first four months of the year. Homicide ans fatal assaults generally occur in July, patricide
in January and October, rape of minors in May, July, August and rape of young women in December.
v. Political Causes- a. Corruption
b. loop-holes in law
c. inefficiency and immorality of the police and politicians can cause criminality.
vi. Social causes-a. Broken families (family disintegration, reduced control over family member)
b. absence of social control (individualistic societies, changing norms, each individual acting
according to his own free will)
c. use of alcohol (as a result, very little control over his actions)
d. communalism (people of different religious backgrounds stirring feelings against others and
encouraging people to indulge in criminal behavior).
e. Substance use risk factors: The increasing illegal use of drugs is motivating more and more young
people to commit crimes in order to obtain money for the illegal drugs. Additionally, juveniles are
far more likely to engage in destructive, harmful and illegal activities when using drugs.
Treatment of Delinquents-
1. Child Guidance Clinics- In general, a delinquent is handled in a Child Guidance clinic(CGC). The pioneer
in the development of CGC was Dr William Healy who organized a clinic in Chicago for the purpose of
studying the young offenders with a view to finding out the cause of their antisocial behavior. CGC is a social
agency whose main objective is to study and treat any child having undesirable traits. CGC workers feel that it
is the task of the society to re-educate the families of these children, so that this anti-social behavior does not
further develop into criminal behavior. For normal development of the child, he needs to have opportunities
which are conducive to his own mental and physical health, so as to develop into an integrated personality.
It is not always possible to provede such an environment and when a child is unable to cope with the demands
of society or scholastic expectations, he then tries to overcome his difficulty by showing certain behaviour
patterns which may be unhealthy and unacceptable. It is then that expert professional guidance is required.
A CGC ‘s main feature is team work. The child’s individual history as well as family history needs to be
explored.
There are four distinct fields of study involved- Medical, Psychological, Social and Educational aspects. The
CGC team includes experts in each of these fields. The most important person in the clinic is the psychiatrist
 38
who is a medical man. A psychologist is equally important as he administers clinical testing and psychological
measurements. The social worker helps to collect data from the home and school of the child and deals with
parents, conveying the progress made by the child from time to time.
The CGC is usually established in a hospital with a psychiatric ward or in an educational institution. Today the
work of the clinic is not merely therapeutic but also educational, social and preventive. Parents are also given
counseling today so as to continue the work that has been done by the clinic.
2. Release Therapy/ Play Therapy-- Children, especially very young children who are hostile and aggressive
towards parents and teachers may be allowed to express their pent-up emotions through such devices such as
puppet shows, playing with dolls, painting or drawing. The child is given a chance to take his emotions out on
a restricting adult through these effigies. He may smear paint, arrange to have a doll beaten up or have a child-
puppet beat up an older father or brother. Through such behaviour, the child may release emotional tension and
the therapist may gain valuable insight into the child’s motives.
3. Environmental techniques- Recreation, sports, support therapy (putting the delinquent under the care of the
probation officer), reassurance, vocational guidance- all are used when the counselor thinks they may be
useful.
4. Finger Painting- In this method, the child is given plain paper and some water colors. Using his fingers, he
is allowed to paint in any way desired. Once again, the purpose is to allow the child to give vent to his
repressed emotions and feelings.
5. Psychodrama- Here, the child is encouraged to participate in group dramas and try out different roles.
Often, the children find this a useful method of channeling their anger and frustration.

4. Drug and Substance Abuse:

According to DSM IV, substance abuse is a maladaptive pattern of substance use that results in repeated,
significant adverse effects.

Such disorders are further divided by DSM IV into two categories- 1. Substance induced disorder or impaired
functioning as a direct result of the physiological effects of the substance in question, and 2. Substance Use i.e,
repeated frequent use of substances resulting in harmful behavior or impairments in personal, social and
occupational functioning.

DSM III had earlier distinguished between 2 levels of substance misuse: Abuse and Dependence. Abuse is at a
milder level and involves some maladaptive use pattern-remaining intoxicated throughout the day and some
impairment in social or job functioning.
Dependence is a state of physical addiction which involves tolerance (increasing amounts of substance are needed
to achieve the desired effect) and withdrawal symptoms (when substance use is stopped or reduced, unpleasant
physical symptoms occur).

According to the book Baron, Substance Abuse is a maladaptive pattern of substance use that results in
repeated significant adverse effects and maladaptive behaviors: failure to meet obligations at work, in school, or at
home; repeated use of a psychoactive substance in hazardous ways; recurrent legal problems related to the
substance; and continued use of the substance despite its negative effects on social relationships.

Alcohol
The most frequently abused substance, more than half of all fatal accidents involve alcohol. The average life-
expectancy of people who abuse alcohol is more than 10 years shorter than that of people who do it.
 39
Causes of Alcoholism-

Social Causes-
1. High level of stress in teenagers.
2. Tendency to cope with problems in maladaptive ways.
3. Exposure to peers who smoke, drink or take drugs.
4. Low level of support from parents.
5. Positive expectancies about the effect of alcohol.
6. Need for personal power.
7. Alcohol permits people to act out their hostilities and sexual wishes.
8. Our culture has become dependent on alcohol as a social lubricant and a means of reducing tension. It is the
‘drug of choice’. According to Pliner and Cappell (1974), liquor has come to play an almost ritualistic role
in promoting gaiety and pleasant social interaction.
9. According to Horton (1943), the greater the insecurity level of the culture, the greater the amount of alcohol
consumption.
10. Bales (1946) outlines 3 cultural factors in determining alcoholism- a. degree of stress and inner tension
produced by culture, b. attitudes towards drinking fostered by culture and c. the degree to which culture
provides substitute means of satisfaction and other ways of coping with tension and anxiety.
11. Rapid social changes in traditional values and way of life sometimes causing social disintegration.
12. Religious sanctions and social customs, for example, the incidence of alcoholism among Moslems and
Mormons is minimal as their religious values prohibit use of alcohol. However, it is higher in French and
Irish people, as cultural approbation is higher there.
13. According to the Learning Model, addiction to any drug is not a disease but a central activity of the
individuals’s way of life. Proponents of this model put forward four arguments-
i. Addiction pattern varies according to cultural practices and the social environment. For
example, between 1790 and 1830, when the U.S frontier was expanding, drinking came to
symbolize masculine independence and toughness. As a result, alcoholism rates shot up.
According to the social learning model, when people do not learn how to drink moderately,
then they become alcoholics. Alcoholism is likely to occur in societies that forbid children to
drink but condone drunkenness in adults (as in Ireland), than in societies that teach children
to drink responsibly but condemn adult drunkenness (as in France).
ii. Total abstinence tends to increase addiction rather than reduce it. During the period of
prohibition in America,(1920-19330, there were increased rates of alcoholism as people
drank excessively when given the chance, especially after prohibition period was over.
iii. Not all addicts go through withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the drug. Many
people go through phases of heavy drinking, yet cut back to social drinking levels once their
environment changes, without the withdrawal symptoms.
iv. Addiction does not depend on drug alone, but also on the reason the person is taking it.
Having psychological problems is often the reason for drug abuse. In a study of American
children from Pre School, age 18 years, it was found that teenagers who abuse drugs were
the most maladjusted, impulsive and emotionally distressed people (Shedler, Block 1990).
This study found that drug abuse was a result of psychological maladjustment and other
related difficulties

i. Psychological Causes of Alcoholism-

1. Psychological Vulnerability- Is there an ‘alcoholic personality’- a type of character organization that
predisposes a given individual to the use of alcohol rather than to some other defensive pattern of coping
with stress? Alcoholics, in terms of pre-alcoholic personalities tend to be emotionally immature, to expect a
great deal of the world, to require an inordinate amount of praise, to react to failure with marked feelings of
hurt and inferiority, to have low frustration tolerance and to feel inadequate and unsure of their ability to
play expected male/female roles.
 40
2. Winokur (1970), Pratt (1972) and McClelland (1972) have viewed heavy drinking by some young men as an
attempt to prove their masculinity and achieve feelings of adequacy and competency.
3. Anti-social personality and depression are two clinical syndromes that have been commonly associated with
excessive later drinking.
4. Alcoholics show the following cluster of personality traits once their drinking pattern has been established-
low stress tolerance/ negative self image/ feelings of inadequacy/ isolation/ depression/ exaggerated use of
ego-defensive mechanisms especially denial, rationalization and projection.
5. Marital and other intimate relationships breaking- people drink then to escape from the feelings of hurt and
self-devaluation.
6. Curlee (1969) found that traumas which triggered alcoholism were related to a change or challenge in the
subject’s role as wife/ mother, in divorce, menopause or children leaving home.
7.Addiction does not depend on drug alone, but also on the reason the person is taking
it. Having psychological problems is often the reason for drug abuse. In a study of
American children from Pre School, age 18 years, it was found that teenagers who
abuse drugs were the most maladjusted, impulsive and emotionally distressed people
(Shedler, Block 1990). This study found that drug abuse was a result of
psychological maladjustment and other related difficulties

Biological Causes of Alcoholism-

1. Genetic- a). Alcoholism involves an inherited predisposotion (Cloninger, 1990). Researchers are trying to
identify the key genes or biological imbalances that might be involved in alcoholism. Type-I alcoholism
begins in adulthood and is not associated with genetic factors. But Type II alcoholism which begins in
adolesence and is linked with impulsivity, anti-social behavior and violent criminality does seem to have a
hereditary component. Type II alcoholics also have a lowered activity of the enzyme MAOB (Monoamine
Oxidase-B) in their blood cells compared with non alcoholics.Genes may also affect a person’s respose to
alcohol. In a 10 year old longitudinal study of 450 young men, half of them with alcoholic fathers, the men
who at age 20 had a low response to alcohol were at increased chances of becoming alcoholics within the
decade (Schuckit & Smith, 1996). Several studies have found that a certain gene which affects the function
of key Dopamine Receptors on brain cells, is more likely to be present in the DNA of alcoholics than the
non-alcoholics (Noble, 1991). Comparing alcohol rates among identical and fraternal twins have shown that
genetic factors play an important role in alcoholism, especially in women (Kendler, 1992).
2. Studies show that alcoholism tends to run in families. In a study of 259 hospitalized alcoholics, Winokur
(1970) found that slightly over 40% had a parent who was an alcoholic.
3. Goodwin & colleagues (1973) also compared the sons of biological parents adopted in infancy by non-
alcoholic parents, with those raised by their alcoholic parents. Both the adopted and non-adopted sons
evidenced later, high rates of alcoholism-25% and 17% respectively.

Effects of drinking and how it can be a major concern during adolescence.-

Alcoholism is a complex disorder that includes social and inter-personal issues. Alcohol is contained in beer, wine,
and hard liquor, and is a chemical compound known as ethyl alcohol or ethanol.
Alcohol acts on the central nervous system as a blocker of messages transmitted from one nerve cell to the next/
The typical symptoms of alcoholism include tolerance, withdrawal, disorientation to time, place and person,
hallucinations, delusions of suspicion, paranoid feelings, delusions of grandeur, disordered perception, irritability,
nausea and vomiting.
Overall effects of alcoholism: The use of alcohol impairs the affected person’s ability to achieve goals or fulfill
his personal and social responsibilities. It affects his inter-personal relationships. This disorder also affects the
person’s metabolism, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, bone marrow and endocrine system.
 41
Biologically repeated or continued use of alcohol can impair brain levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
According to Erikson, adolescents go through a phase called role confusion. So they experience confusion even
during social relationships.

Effects of heavy drinking in a gist: 1. alters the brain function. 2. reduces the level of pain killing endorphins, 3.
produces nerve damage, 4. shrinks the cerebral cortex, 5. wrecks the liver, 6. According to some researchers, these
changes then create biological dependence, an ability to metabolise alcohol, and psychological problems.

Treatment of Alcoholism
1. Detoxification-It is a medically supervised process aimed at removing the toxic effects of the substance
from the body. The initial focus is on detoxification or elimination of harmful alcoholic substances from the
body and treatment of withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms means –if a chronic alcoholic tries
to stop, he experiences withdrawal symptoms that indicate that cell metabolism has adopted itself to
the presence of alcohol in the blood stream. The symptoms of withdrawal include craving for alcohol,
tremors, perspiration, weakness, nausea, vomiting, fever, convulsions and hallucinations. Treatment
through detoxification also include a medical regimen for physical rehabilitation. Drugs like chlordicoxide
have revolutionized the treatment of withdrawal symptoms. Detoxification is usually followed by
psychosocial measures, including family counseling, and the use of resources in the community relating to
alcoholic’s social readjustment.
2. Aversion therapy- The Romans employed this technique by placing a live eel in a cup of wine; forced to
drink this unsavory cocktail, an alcoholic would feel disgusted and from then on be repelled by the wine.
Nowadays, for treatment, aversive stimulus, such as nausea producing drugs along with a very small amount
of drug/alcohol is given to the patient in several trials. This association produces aversion to addictive
substance-eg, Intramuscular injection of emetine-hydrochloride (an emetic), or taking Dissulpherim
(antabuse). Electric shocks can also be given. Aversion therapy is a classical conditioning approach.
3. Psychosocial measures-
a). Individual or group therapy- In these therapies the patient’s personality, emotions and inter-personal
problems and the possible causes of their indulgence in addiction are discussed in an attempt to resolve them.
The first step in group therapy is getting the alcoholic to concede that he has a drinking problem. Then he is
forced to face the problem and recognize the consequences. Sometimes his family is also invited to join the
group therapy meetings.
b). Mutual Social support- The patient is encouraged to join ex-patients’ groups. Members of such groups
have successful history of overcoming their addiction. An example of such a group is the Alcoholic
Anonymous- an organization started in 1935 by Dr Bob and Bill W. in Akron, Ohio. Today AA has grown to
over 10,000 groups with over a million members and established in many countries. By mutual help and
reassurance through participation in a group composed of others who have shared similar experiences, an
alcoholic acquires insight into his many problems, develops a new sense of purpose and more effective coping
techniques.
c). Sociotherapy- Measures are needed to alleviate the patient’s life situation. For example, the concept of
‘community reinforcement approach’ has developed, which focuses on helping drinkers achieve more
satisfactory adjustments in key areas of their lives, such as marriage, work and social relations.
4. Rehabilitation program- Recreational and occupational therapies are offered to engage patient’s mind, and
to keep them busy.
5. Relapse prevention and follow up- From time to time, this is done so that ex patient may not return to
alcoholism

Drug Abuse
Drugs are chemical compounds that change the functioning of biological systems. The conscious-altering drugs
are those that produce changes in consciousness. (Wallace & Fisher, 1987).
 42
The term drug abuse applies only in instances when people take drugs purely to change their moods; in which
they experience impaired behavior or social functioning as a result of doing so. (Wallace and Fisher, 1987).
Characteristics of Drug Abuse-
1. Dependence-Drug abusers ‘need’ the drug. They cannot function without it. There are two types of
dependence. Physiological dependence or the need based on organic factors like change in metabolism, and
Psychological dependence i.e, strong desires to continue using the drug even though it is not
physiologically addictive.
2. Tolerance- A physiological reaction in which the body requires larger and larger doses of a drug in order to
experience the same effects. In some cases, tolerance for one drug increases tolerance for another. This is
called cross-tolerance.

Causes of Drug Abuse-

1. Learning perspective- a). According to this perspective, people get a rewarding experience from
consumption of drug. The neural mechanics involved seems to
involve a forebrain structure called the nucleus accumbers(White, 1996). Many addictives trigger the release of
the neurotransmitter dopamine in this nucleus. The Nucleus accumbers plays a role in ‘good’ feelings. If release
of dopamine in this area is prevented, addictive drugs lose their reinforcing effects.
b). These substances reduce negative feelings like stress, anxiety and physical discomfort.
c) Withdrawal, i.e, the negative symptoms experienced when the drug is no longer consumed, may provide a
very powerful incentive to obtain the drug at any cost.
d). Endorphins are brain chemicals that may account for a number of mind0body phenomena. The stimulation
by drugs seem to cause the brain to produce more endorphins.

2. Social perspective- a). Peer pressure

b). Absence of social support groups during stressful times.
c). Take some points from social causes of alcoholism as well.
d). Addiction is associated with socio-cultural factors. For examplw, the Meo, a tribal
people inhabiting the mountains of several countries in S. E Asia, have a great dependence on opium, the reason
being that it is a major cash crop here.

3. Cognitive Perspective- According to this view, the cognitive processes controlling many aspects of
obtaining and consuming drugs may take on an automatic character. Drug use becomes quick and relatively
effortless, occurs without conscious intention, is difficult to inhibit and may take place in the absence of
conscious awareness.
4. Drugs are associated with relief from pain.
5. Personality causes-people who indulge in the following behavior, are likely to abuse drugs-
1. sensation seeking behavior
2. non-conformity and anti-social personality
3. sense of heightened stress
4. hyperactivity
5. emotionality and low frustration tolerance.
6. Lack of respect for social values.
7. Family background including physical and sexual abuse in childhood and inconsistent parental
behavior and expectations.

2. Neural Causes- Research teams have isolated and studied receptor sites for narcotic drugs in the brain. Such
receptor sites are specific nerve cells into which given psycho-active drugs result in the action of the drug
leading to addiction.
 43
3. Addiction associated with psych-pathology- In a comparison group of 45 young institutionalized male
addicts and a control group of non-addicts, Gilbert and Lombart (1967) found that the distinguishing features
between them were the adult psychopathic traits, depression, tension, insecurity, feelings of inadequacy,
difficulty in forming relationships and seeking thrills.

A person who has any three of the following nine criteria may qualify as a substance-abuser for addiction
(to any drug, including alcohol)-
a. Pre-occupation with the drug.
b. Unintentional overuse.
c. Tolerance.
d. Withdrawal.
e. Relief substance use.
f. Persistent desire or efforts to control drug use.
g. Impaired social or occupational performance.
h. Abandonment of important social/occupational/recreational activities.
i. Continued drug use despite related problems.

Classification of Drugs- Conscious Altering drugs

b. Depressants---i. Alcohol-a. steady drinkers/ b. binge drinkers
ii. Sedatives/barbiturates-a. tranquilizers /b. nonbarbiturates.

c. Stimulants (amphetamines)
d. Narcotics/Opiates- opium.
e. Psychadelics and Hallucinogens-(marijuana)

a. Depressants- Drugs that reduce both behavioral output and activity in the central nervous system, are called
depressants. Most common depressant is alcohol(in large doses). Steady alcohol consumption is influenced by
heredity and environment. Barbiturates are contained in sleeping pills and (muscle) relaxants; depress activity
in the CNS and reduce activation and alertness

b. Stimulants- Drugs that increase activity in the nervous system and produce feelings of energy and
activation.
The main stimulants are-
a). Amphetamines-Drugs that act as stimulants, increasing feelings of energy and activity.
b). Cocaine consumed by snorting, can also be swallowed usually in liquid form.
c). Crack-heated and chemically treated cocaine, can be smoked. Instantaneous effect; person gets high.
d). Caffeine and nicotine are other stimulants.

c. Opiates- opium, morphine, heroin and related synthetic drugs. Opiates produce lethargy and slowing of all
bodily functions. Induces dreamy, relaxed state and gives intense pleasure.

d. Psychedelics and Hallucinogens- psychedelics are drugs that alter sensory-

Perception and so may be considered ‘mind expanding’, e.g, marijuana. Hallucinogens generate sensory
perceptions for which there are no external stimuli, e.g, LSD.

Nicotine dependence
Nicotine dependence primarily refers to those people who want to stop smoking, but cannot. Nicotine is the
addictive substance found in tobacco.
There are three effects of nicotine on the nervous system-
i. stimulates the system by elevating blood pressure.
ii. Increases the heart-rate but has a calming effect as well.
 44
iii.
Temporarily increases concentration, recall and arousal and alertness.

Causes of Nicotine abuse-

1. Genetic- Studies of genes involved in dopamine transmission show that people of particular gene
characteristics called SLC6A3-9 are less likely to be smokers.
2. Psychological- peer pressure/ role model smoking/ watching parents indulge in smoking (observational
learning).

You may take more points from the causes of alcoholism.

3. Cognitive- Inaccurate perceptions about risks of smoking/cultural differences/personal relevance of
smoking risks.

Treatment of Drug addiction

(Heroin addiction is similar to that of alcoholism).
1. Aversion Therapy
2. Group techniques and related procedures esp. for cocaine and amphetamines
3. Treatment also involves building up the addict both physically and psychologically and helping him
through the withdrawal period.
4. For treatment of LSD, requires hospitalization. Psychotherapy may be effective in treating LSD addiction.

5. Distortions in Thoughts:
Many adolescents have an escalating sense of confusion about things around them; they feel that “things are
not real” or that they are actually outside of themselves. Distortions in thinking may develop into irrational
belief systems (delusions0 or into perceptual experiences that seem to be, but are not, real (hallucinations).
These and other problems can combine to form schizophrenia, a serious disorder.

6. Divorced, Parent-Absent & Blended Families:

Adolescents react to their parents’ divorce with fear, anxiety and guilt. They become angry at the remaining
parent, wondering what the parent had done to drive the other parent away. They also blame themselves,
concluding that the parent, who left the house, does not love them anymore. The more negative the feelings of
parents towards each other are the more likely is emotional harm to the adolescents (e.g. McCall, 1994). It has
been found that children whose parents are divorced seem to be significantly less likely to marry than those
whose parents are not divorced (Lemme, 1999) .
Adolescents living in parent-absent families face another set of problems. A growing percentage of children are
being born to unmarried mothers, and many of these youngsters do not even know their fathers. Research
findings suggest that the risks of growing in a parent-absent family include the following: increased risk for
delinquent (externalizing) behaviors, depression & anxiety, impaired cognitive and school performance and
difficulties in forming meaningful relationships, including stable romantic ones (e.g. Sommers et al, 1993). The
magnitude of these effects is greater when the mothers of the children are themselves little more than children.
Many teenagers find themselves in what are known as dysfunctional families- families that do not meet
children’s needs and which, in fact, may do them serious harm (Amato, 1990). Some dysfunctional families are
neglectful of or even mistreat children. Research findings indicate that children belonging to such families are
at increases risk for a wide range of problems such as drug-abuse and externalizing behaviors (e.g. stealing,
disobedience at home and at school, and overt aggression).
Even more disturbing form of maltreatment is sexual abuse. Common among adolescent victims of sexual
abuse are depression, withdrawal, running away and substance abuse (Morrow & Sorell, 1999).
Growing evidence suggests that certain ado9lescents are at high risk for being rejected by their peers and fro
engaging in various kinds of antisocial behavior. These adolescents are those who show high levels of
 45
aggression; who are disruptive or hyperactive and, especially, who show what has been termed, irritable-
inattentive behavior: they complain a lot, act like a baby and do not pay attention to others.
A recent research by Pope and Bierman (1999)- conducted on the basis of a longitudinal study of the behavior
of boys in grades 3 through 6 and then again 4 years later when these same boys were in grades 7 through 10-
revealed that withdrawn behavior and aggression by the boys in grades 3 to 6 predicted negative outcomes for
them in grades 7 to 10: rejection by their peers, victimization by others. In addition, aggression accompanied
by irritable-inattentive behaviors, and irritable-inattentive behaviors alone, predicted the boys’ tendencies to
engage in both confrontational antisocial activities (stealing, vandalism) and non-confrontational antisocial
behaviors (truancy, alcohol abuse).
In sum, certain personal characteristics on the part of pre-teenagers and adolescents contribute to poor
adjustment.

Certain Topics to be done as Independent Themes: - Piaget’s Cognitive Stages/

Kohlberg’s Moral Development (given earlier)/
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is a stage theory- a type pf theory suggesting that all human beings move
through an orderly and predictable series of changes. Piaget called his approach genetic epistemology.
Epistemology is the study of the nature and acquisition of knowledge. His approach was genetic in the sense that
it focused on origins (genesis) and development. Piaget’s theory assumes-often known as constructivism- that
children are active thinkers who are constantly trying to construct more accurate or advanced understanding of the
world around them
In Piaget’s view, intelligence is an adaptive process that involves interplay of biological maturation and interaction
with the environment. He views intellectual development as an evolution of cognitive processes such as
understanding the laws of nature, the principles of grammar and mathematical rules. Central to this theory is the
concept of constructivism-that children are active thinkers and are constantly trying to construct accurate or more
advanced understanding of the world by interacting with it using the processes of schemas and assimilation.
Children construct their knowledge of the world by interacting with it. Children build their knowledge through two
basic processes- Assimilation and Accommodation.
Assimilation involves the incorporation of new information or knowledge into the existing knowledge structures,
known as schemas.
The second process, Accommodation, involves modifications in existing knowledge structures (schemas) as a
result of exposure to new information or expertise. Piaget also spoke of equilibration-the tendency of the
developing child to stay ‘in balance’ intellectually by filling in gaps in knowledge and by restructuring beliefs
when they fail to test out against reality. According to Piaget the processes of assimilation, accommodation and
equilibration operate in different ways at different age levels.
In Piaget’s view, children are constantly trying to make better and more accurate sense out of the complex world
around them. The following are the stages of cognitive development that Piaget has described.
1. Sensory Motor Stage-The first stage is the Sensory Motor Stage, which lasts from birth to 18-24 months.
During this period, infants gradually learn that there is a relationship between their actions and the external world.
They discover that they can manipulate objects and produce effects. They acquire a basic grasp of the concepts of
cause and effects, and they begin to experiment with various actions to see what effects they will produce.
Throughout this period infants seem to know the world only through motor activities and sensory impressions.
They have not yet learnt to use mental symbols or images to represent objects or events. For example, if an object
is hidden from view, four-months-olds will not attempt to search for it. For such infants, “out of sight” is truly “out
of mind”. By eight or nine months of age, they have acquired a basic idea of object permanence, that is, the idea
that objects continue to exist even when they are hidden from view.
2. Pre-Operational stage- The period between the ages of 2 and 7 was labeled by Piaget as the Pre-operational
stage. By this label he meant that these years are preliminary to the development of truly logical operations.
 46
‘Operation’ is a term given to any flexible mental action that can be combined with another to solve problems.
Younger children do not have flexible logical operations. Their thinking suffers from irreversibility, and their
judgments are thus dominated by perceptual appearances.
At this stage, children also seem to develop a primitive identity concept- that is, an idea that characteristics of an
object do not change just because it has been moved to a new location. The primitive identity concept is an
important milestone as it enters into the way children think about their gender identity. The identity concept also
seems to be a necessary step on the way to conservation, a defining feature of the next major Piagetian stage,
concrete operations.
Piaget suggests that sometime between the ages of 18 to 24 months, toddlers acquire the ability to form mental
images of objects and events that are not present, that is, capability for representational thoughts. Early in the
preoperational stage, reasoning is not truly deductive (it does not proceed from the general to the particular) nor is
it truly inductive (it does not proceed from the particular to the general). Instead, very young children show
transductive reasoning: that is, they reason from the particular to the particular, often in ways that are influenced
by their desires. (Morgan & King)
As children grow and are approximately between 4 and 7 years of age, they want answers to all their questions
like: Why is the sky blue? How do trees grow? Piaget called this the stage of intuitive thought. Another feature of
thought during preoperational stage is characterized by children having a tendency for centration, that is, focusing
on a single characteristic or feature for understanding an event. For example, a child may insist on drinking a ‘big
glass of juice’ preferring a tall narrow glass to a broad one, even though both might be holding the same amount of
juice. (N.C.E.R.T)
At the same time, language develops and they begin to think in terms of verbal symbols or words. During the
preoperational stage, which lasts until about seven, children are capable of many actions. For instance, they
demonstrate symbolic play, in which they pretend that one object is another- a pencil, say, is a rocket or a wooden
block is a frog. Such play is marked by the shifts that afford unique insights into how children’s cognitive abilities
change during this period. One is decentration, in which children gradually begin to make others rather than
themselves the recipients of their playful actions- for example, they begin to feed their dolls or dress them.
The second step is decontextualization. Objects are made to substitute for each other, as when a child pretends that
a twig is a spoon. The third change involves integration-combining play actions into increasingly complex
sequences. (Ref- Baron)
While the thought processes of preoperational children are more advanced than those in the preceding stage, Piaget
emphasized that these children are still immature in several respects. True, they can use mental symbols; but their
thinking remains somewhat inflexible, illogical, fragmented and tied to specific contents. One way in which the
thinking of preoperational children is immature involves what Piaget termed ‘egocentrism’, that is, children’s
inability to understand that others may perceive the world differently than they do. It means an inability to take the
point of view of another person. Preoperational children also display animism, the belief that inanimate objects
which have certain characteristics of living things (such as motion) are, in fact, alive. They think all things are
living, like themselves. They attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects.
Children in the preoperational stage also seem to lack understanding of relational terms such as lighter, larger, or
softer. Further, they lack seriation- the ability to arrange objects in order along some dimension. Finally, and most
important, they lack a grasp of what Piaget terms the principle of conservation, that is, knowledge that certain
physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though the outward appearance of the object is altered.
They also do not understand cause-effect relationships very well. They tend to see unrelated events and objects as
causally related to one another. In fact, they believe that every event has a clearly identifiable cause, and thus they
often fail to recognize the operation of chance and luck (Weisz, 1983)
3. Stage of Concrete Operations (Later Childhood): The elementary school years 6 through 12 in a child’s life
are sometimes referred to as the latency period. The term comes from Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which holds
that important conflicts, particularly sexual conflicts, are submerged during this period. The intellectual tools that
children develop in this period were labeled ‘concrete operations’ by Piaget. The stage involves a major advance
in the power of the child’s reasoning. This stage marks the emergence of logical thoughts- By the time they are 6
or 7 years old, (or perhaps even earlier) most children can solve simple problems. According to Piaget, a child’s
mastery of conversation marks the beginning of this third stage. Their mental actions now show reversibility that
 47
is, the fact that many physical changes can be undone by a reversal of the original action. This means for example,
that they recognize that the length of a particular stick will remain fixed so long as nothing is added or taken away
from it. Their reversible operations also help them to understand, for the first time in their lives, that subtraction
reverses and compensates for addition and that multiplication inverts and compensates for division. In this way, a
variety of mental activities are seen in relation to one another. Thus, children gain understanding of relational
terms and seriations. During this stage which lasts until about the age of 7 years, many important skills emerge.
Children who have reached this stage also begin to engage in, what Piaget describes as logical thought. With the
advent of these skills, children’s awareness of the ways the world is organized begins to increase. They understand
not only conservation of length but conservation of other physical entities like mass, number and area.
The concrete-operational child organizes the world by using hierarchies. In these hierarchies, a given ‘thing’ can
fall somewhere on more than one dimension at the same time. Imagine that we have a picture of 7 people in a
group, 2 adults and 5 children. If the picture is shown to 4-year-olds and 9-year-olds and they are asked, “Are there
more children or more people?” the 9-year-olds will say, ‘More people’, while the 4-year-olds will say ‘More
children’. This difference in answer is because we are asking children to think about two dimensions in a
hierarchy. One dimension is people vs. non-people and another dimension is children vs. adults. The 4-year-olds,
being preoperational, can focus on only one dimension at a time. Because our question mentioned children first,
the 4-year-olds used the child vs. adult dimension. However, the 9-year-olds recognized that both children and
adults fall on the ‘people’ end of the people vs. non-people dimension regardless of their position on the child vs.
adult dimension. The older children answered correctly because their flexible operations allow them to think in
terms of a hierarchy involving two dimensions, one broader than the other.
Even this advanced level of thought however, has its limitations. The operations are concrete in the sense that they
are tied to the real world of objects and events. The children can think clearly about things that are real, but not
very clearly about more hypothetical propositions such as, ‘Suppose that people were hatched from eggs’. It is also
hard for the concrete-operational child to grasp the broad meaning of abstract concepts such as ‘freedom’,
‘integrity’ or ‘truth’. However, the growing cognitive abilities of children facilitate the acquisition of language.
In a nutshell, the following are the features of concrete stage:
a. Space and Causality: Children can now better understand spatial relationships. They have a clear
idea how far it is from one place to another and how long it will take to get there. The ability to use
maps and models and to communicate spatial information improves with age. Judgments about cause
and effects improve during middle childhood.
b. Categorization: The ability to categorize helps children to think logically. Categorization
includes seriation, transitive inference and class inclusion.
Transitive inference: this is the ability to recognize a relationship between two objects by knowing
the relationship between each of them and a third object. Class inclusion is the ability to see the
relationship between a whole and its parts.
c. Inductive and deductive Reasoning: According to Piaget, children in this stage use
inductive reasoning. Starting with observations about particular members of a class of
people, animals, objects or events, they then draw general conclusions about the class as a
whole. Deductive reasoning, according to Piaget, does not develop until adolescence.
Deductive reasoning starts with a general statement (premise) about a clas and applies it to
particular members of the class.

4. The stage of Formal Operations: Dealing with abstractions as well as reality.

At about the age of 12, Piaget suggested, most children enter the final stage of cognitive development- the stage of
formal operations. During this period, major features of adult thought make their appearance. While children in
the earlier stage of concrete operations can think logically, they can do so only about concrete events and objects.
In contrast, those who have reached the stage of formal operations, can think abstractly; they can deal not only
with the real or concrete, but with possibilities-events or relationships that do not exist, but can be imagined.
During this final stage, children become capable of what Piaget terms, hypothetico-deductive reasoning. This
involves the ability to generate hypothesis and think logically about symbols, ideas and propositions. They can still
 48
think about the way things are, but they become much more skilled about how things might be if certain changes
took place.
Hypothetical and abstract thinking make sophisticated deduction and induction possible. Deduction is reasoning
from abstract, general principles to specific hypothesis that follows from these principles. Inductive thinking is the
complementary process of observing a number of specific events or instances and inferring an abstract, general
principle to explain those instances. The two processes can be seen in the adolescents’ reasoning about nature,
science and even social problems.
Children at the stage of formal operations also become capable of engaging in interpropositional thinking/logic
that is, thinking in which they seek to test the validity of several propositions. This ability to use interpropositional
logic really involves judging the formal relationships among propositions.
Another formal-operational skill that emerges at this stage is the adolescent’s ability for reflective thinking- the
process of evaluating or testing his own reasoning. Reflective thinking allows the formal-operational person to be
his/her own critic, to evaluate a process/idea/solution from the perspective of an outsider and to find errors or weak
spots in it. Reflective thinking can also make the adolescent a powerful experimenter and problem solver because
it involves the ability to think through a umber of possible strategies or ‘experiments’ and to decide which one will
yield the most information.
While the thinking of older children or adolescents closely approaches that of adults, however, Piaget believed that
it still falls short of the adult level. Older children, and especially adolescents, often use their new powers of
reasoning to construct sweeping theories about human relationships, ethics or political systems. The reasoning
behind such views may be logical, but the theories are often false, because the young persons who construct them
do not have enough experience or information to do a more sophisticated job.
One final but crucial point- even though people who have reached the stage of formal operations are capable of
engaging in advanced forms of thought, there is no guarantee that they will actually do so. Such thinking requires
lots of cognitive effort, so it is not surprising that adolescents and adults too, often slip back into less advanced
modes of thought.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development
Erikson developed a theory of personality development with a focus on social adaptation. He considered each stage
as involving a crisis. He calls attention to the problems of social adaptation. With advancing age we face a wider
range of human relationships. The solution of problems faced during the eight psycho-social stages determines
adult development. His emphasis on social and cultural forces is crucial as it distinguishes him from Freud. He also
viewed development as a life-long process. In this process, ego identity is central. He believed that human
personality in principle develops according to steps pre-determined in the growing person’s readiness to be driven
toward, to be aware of, and to interact with a widening social radius.
Thus young people must generate for themselves some central perspective and direction that gives them a
meaningful sense of unity and purpose. Erik theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of
personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages.
Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole
lifespan.

One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity.1 Ego identity is the
conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly
changing due to new experience and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. In addition to ego
identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence also motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson’s
theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense
of mastery, which he sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality.2 If the stage is managed poorly, the
person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s
view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During
these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure. The first four stages in Eriksons’
theory occur during childhood; one takes place during adolescence and the final three occur during our adult years.
 49
Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust: The first stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development occurs
between birth and one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life. Because an infant is utterly dependent, the
development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers. If a child successfully develops
trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or
rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a
belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.

Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt: The second stage of Erikson's theory of
psychosocial development takes place during early childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of
personal control. During this time toddlers are learning to regulate their own bodies and to act in independent ways.

Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However, Erikson's reasoning was quite
different then that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning to control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control
and a sense of independence.Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences,
and clothing selection.Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who do not
are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt; they experience shame and may doubt their abilities to interact
effectively with the external world.

Psychosocial Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt: During the preschool years, between the ages 3 and 5, children
begin to assert their power and control over the world through directing play and other social interaction. They are now
acquiring many new physical and mental skills. Simultaneously, however, they must develop the capacity to control their
impulses, some of which lead to unacceptable behavior.

Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others. Those who fail to acquire these skills are
left with a sense of guilt, self-doubt and lack of initiative; they may become too inhibited.

Psychosocial Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority: This stage covers the early school years from approximately
age 6 to 11/12.Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and
abilities. They learn to make things, use tools, and acquire many of the skills necessary for adult life.

Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling of competence and belief in
their skills. Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents, teachers, or peers will doubt their ability to be
successful and will have low self-esteem.

Psychosocial Stage 5 - Identity vs. Role Confusion: During adolescence, children are exploring their
independence and developing a sense of self. In Erik Erikson’s developmental theory, the core conflict of
adolescence is the tension between role confusion and identity. Seeking identity involves searching for continuity
and sameness in oneself-trying to get a clear sense of what one’s skills and personal attributes are, to discover
where one is headed for in life, and to believe that one can count on recognition from ‘significant others’. The
adolescent who forms a sense of identity gains two key benefits, according to Erikson: 1) “A feeling of being at
home in one’s body” and 2) “A sense of psychological well being.”

Adolescents who fail to achieve a sense of identity may face confusion over what roles they can or should be
playing in life. They may delay any commitment to adult roles, a delay which Erikson calls a psychosocial
moratorium. This delay can result in a valuable period of information gathering or it can involve rebellion- an
attempt to do precisely the opposite of what parents and others think is proper and desirable. Erikson called this
rebellious pattern the pursuit of negative identity.
Adolescents adopt many different strategies to help them resolve their own personal identity-crisis. They try out
many different roles- the good girl/boy, the rebel. The dutiful daughter/son, the athlete, the supercool operator- and
join many different social groups. They consider many social selves-different kinds of persons they might
potentially become (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Out of these experiences they gradually piece together a cognitive
framework for understanding themselves-a self schema. Once formed, this framework remains fairly constant and
serves as a guide for adolescents in many contexts.
 50
In searching for an identity, the adolescent also tackles the question,” What do I really believe in?” With the
development of formal operations, the adolescent can appreciate and cultivate abstract values and principles. By
blending abstract ideals with the information drawn from admired models in real life, the adolescent can generate a
broad array of possible roles. In the best of cases, this array narrows down by the end of adolescence, and gives
shape to a satisfying self-definition. Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal
exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who
remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will insecure and confused about themselves and the future.

Psychosocial Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation: This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are
exploring personal relationships. Erikson believed it was vital that people develop close, committed relationships with
other people. Those who are successful at this step will develop relationships that are committed and secure.

Remember that each step builds on skills learned in previous steps. Erikson believed that a strong sense of personal
identity was important to developing intimate relationships. Studies have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of
self tend to have less committed relationships and are more likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness, and
depression.

Psychosocial Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation: During adulthood, we continue to build our lives, focusing
on our career and family.

Those who are successful during this phase will feel that they are contributing to the world by being active in their home
and community. Those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world.

Psychosocial Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair : This phase occurs during old age and is focused on reflecting
back on life.Those who are unsuccessful during this phase will feel that their life has been wasted and will experience
many regrets. The individual will be left with feelings of bitterness and despair.

Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity. Successfully completing this phase means
looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction. These individuals will attain wisdom, even when
confronting death.

Erikson’s eight Stages of Psychosocial Development- An Overview:

  Basic Conflict Optimum Outcome

Basic Trust vs. basic
1 mistrust Trust is the faith that things will be 'all right'. It develops from good care provided
  (infant) by reliable others. A favorable ratio of trust to mistrust results in hope.
     
 51
Autonomy vs. shame &
2 doubt Without a sense of self-control (autonomy), children feel shame & doubt. A
  (toddler) Favorable ratio of autonomy to shame results in self-direction with self-esteem.
     
3 Initiative vs. guilt Initiative adds to autonomy, the quality of doing things just to be doing them. A
  (preschoolers) Sense of guilt is often felt over things contemplated or actually done. A
    Favorable ratio of initiative to guilt results in a sense of purpose.
     
4 Industry vs. inferiority Children learn to win approval by doing things approved of in culture. In literate
  (school children) societies they learn to read; in preliterate ones they learn the skills needed for
    Survival. Failure in a task leads to a sense of inferiority. A favorable ratio of
    Industry to work leads to a sense of competence & pleasure in work.
     
5 Identity vs. role confusion Identity refers to questions by adolescents like, 'who am I?' or 'What am I going to
  (adolescent) do with my life?' Difficult in answering these questions leads to role confusion.
    A favorable ratio of identity to role confusion leads to a sense of consistency.
     
6 Intimacy vs. isolation Here the task is to establish lasting and loving relationships with other people.
  (young adult) Love is the outcome of a favorable ratio of intimacy to isolation.
     
Generativity vs. stagnation
7 & self-absorption Generativity includes productivity & creativity, but here it refers primarily to
preparing the next generation for life in the culture. A favorable ratio of
  (middle adult) generativity
    to stagnation leads to a sense of care.
     
8 Ego Integrity vs. despair Ego-integrity, in part, refers to one's acceptance of one's life. In the closing
  (older person) Decades of one’s life, one may ask oneself if one’s life had any meaning.
    If one can answer ‘yes’, one attains a sense of integrity; if one answers ‘no’,
    One experiences despair.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------