Development: Childhood To Adulthood
As the adult looks back to his childhood, hazy as it may be in many respects, two conclusions emerge. First, love is an essential ingredient in the parent-child relationship if the individual is to better his chances of good adjustment. Second, the child's development must be managed in an effective way. Children must not only be given opportunities, but they must be disciplined at times. Good upbringing does indeed involve some knowledge and planning as we try to get the individual off to'a good start. That is what this chapter is all about.
Human development follows an orderly process but not a smooth one. It demands an almost constant adjustment. The newborn infant comes with well-equipped sensory mechanisms for vision; hearing, and the other sensory "inputs" which tell the infant that he or she is seeing things in the world around and hearing what the parent is saying. Feeling the warmth or milk is also an input for the infant, as is some harsh voice which may bring about a startled response, which we can think of as "output." To be sure, sensory mechanisms develop toward being able to make finer and finer discriminations, just as the motor outputs need time to mature. These outputs include not only the waving of hands and kicking of feet but also those muscular responses involved in gurgling, laughing, and crying. The inputs and outputs are coordinated by the nervous system, which matures in a wellprogrammed manner.
The human personality is molded by both biological predispositions and the process of socialization, such as the friendliness or coldness of those caring for the infant's needs. These "outside influences" of socialization help mold personality from the beginning. Genetic differences playa large role in developing individual differences in personality, as well as in physical characteristics. The person learns what to do and what not do do as the process of socialization takes place. These agencies of socialization change as the individual matures. The family is the first setting for socialization, followed by the influences of friends, school, church, and later the occupational group.
No subject area of human behavior relates basic science to practical, everyday problems as frequently as does child psychology. Questions range from "Does the newborn infant have a personality?" to "Should the child be spanked?" "How should sex play among children be handled?" "How can the parent help the child get rid of those 'naughty' words?" "What should be done about the timid child?" These and dozens of other questions will be dealt with in this chapter, with answers provided from literally thousands of formal studies of children and from many practical writings. For the parent and for the teacher, knowing what to expect in the growing child is helpful in coping with most of these problems. For the student, much can be learned about human behavior by watching how children grow. Since most students eventually become parents, we shall talk about problems as parents face them.
