Case Study

Case Study

[Author]

[Institution]

Author Note

Case Study

Introduction

Child psychology is one of the most significant branches of psychology. It focuses on the growth and development of a child right from the early stages of his life till they enter the age of adolescence. In the present age, psychology realize that children are completely unique. Their mind works in a different manner than the minds of an adult. Hence they require their very onset of theories to govern them and make sense of the choices that they make in life ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"wCblVA9g","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Soto & Tackett, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Soto & Tackett, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":380,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/54C6TBIW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/54C6TBIW"],"itemData":{"id":380,"type":"article-journal","title":"Personality traits in childhood and adolescence: Structure, development, and outcomes","container-title":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","page":"358-362","volume":"24","issue":"5","author":[{"family":"Soto","given":"Christopher J."},{"family":"Tackett","given":"Jennifer L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Soto & Tackett, 2015). Thus, a psychologist’s approach and their opinion are entirely customized on the basis of the client being studied. Child psychologists, given the sensitive nature of their subject, take into account every experience that the child has and compare it to his psychology, his cognitive ability, the development of his gross motor skills and what not to ensure that a justified assessment of the child in question can be carried out ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"4we0lojx","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Jirout & Newcombe, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Jirout & Newcombe, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":381,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/AJVVIJQR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/AJVVIJQR"],"itemData":{"id":381,"type":"article-journal","title":"Building blocks for developing spatial skills: Evidence from a large, representative US sample","container-title":"Psychological science","page":"302-310","volume":"26","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Jirout","given":"Jamie J."},{"family":"Newcombe","given":"Nora S."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Jirout & Newcombe, 2015).

Case Study

For the purpose of this paper, the child being observed is a 5-year-old boy. He is an inquisitive little boy and his family hails primarily from Nigeria in West Africa. The family identified themselves as Yoruba Christians and moved to the country a few years prior to the birth of the subject. They expect their child to comply with their culture’s rules and values and should be respectful, polite, smart and obedient towards adults at all time.

Therefore, when the child first met the observer, he was shown to be a timid and shy boy. While he wasn’t hesitant to meet the stranger, it seems that he was curious and would to get to know her a bit more. According to Erik Erickson’s theory ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"sGjwavqr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Erickson & Thiessen, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Erickson & Thiessen, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":383,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/VNE3DCP3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/VNE3DCP3"],"itemData":{"id":383,"type":"article-journal","title":"Statistical learning of language: Theory, validity, and predictions of a statistical learning account of language acquisition","container-title":"Developmental Review","page":"66-108","volume":"37","author":[{"family":"Erickson","given":"Lucy C."},{"family":"Thiessen","given":"Erik D."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Erickson & Thiessen, 2015), the child is in a psychosocial stage of development i.e. initiative vs. guilt. It means that the little boy showed eagerness with wanting to meet new people. However, he was also anxious, especially about how he was going to be received. He is shown to be a fussy boy who is playing with his games when the observer arrives. He is able to form full sentences, which shows the boy’s symbolic thinking and great cognition and motor skills in line with his age. By the time the second interaction between the observer and the child, the child remembers the observer and is much more open to receiving her. He plays with her and even shares his toys with her. By the third time the observer and the subject are put together in a room, the boy enthusiastically greets the observer and rushes to tell her all about her day. He even obeys her when she reprimands him on his behavior. Analysis of the interaction showed Lawrence Kohlberg’s Pre-conventional stage ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"bgKpZLnn","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kohlberg, 1985)","plainCitation":"(Kohlberg, 1985)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":384,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/9G4E685T"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/9G4E685T"],"itemData":{"id":384,"type":"article-journal","title":"Kohlberg’s stages of moral development","container-title":"WC Crain, Theories of development","page":"118-136","author":[{"family":"Kohlberg","given":"Lawrence"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1985"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kohlberg, 1985), according to which the child was completely aware of the idea of punishment and would like to keep himself from being punished. The observer also calls the child by his first name during this visit, so that the child feels familiar to her and that he will be willing to cooperate as he does.

During the fourth meeting of the pair, the child shows high levels of familiarity with the observer and informs her that it is his birthday and asks her for a present for his birthday. The child is shown to be more comfortable and trusting of the observer, given how frequently she visits him. While going through a picture book, the child is rightly able to identify almost all the animals, which shows his fine cognition and motor skills. He has a little brother, with whom he is seen to mimic the observer’s actions and what she did with the book with him. This child is in the pre-operational stage of Piaget’s theory ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"cjPknkHR","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Piaget, 1976)","plainCitation":"(Piaget, 1976)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":385,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/6BEW53RX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/6BEW53RX"],"itemData":{"id":385,"type":"chapter","title":"Piaget’s theory","container-title":"Piaget and his school","publisher":"Springer","page":"11-23","author":[{"family":"Piaget","given":"Jean"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1976"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Piaget, 1976). During the last assessment the child is shown to be rather attached to his iPad and seen to even offers an insincere apology to his parents for hurting his little brother just so he could have his toy back. However, as soon as he has it in his possession, he pushes his brother on the floor, showing that he got what he wanted. These assessments were able to prove the fact that the child is developing in a normal manner psychological and is at the level of his peers in terms of his gross motor and cognitive skills.

There are a number of internal factors that influence a child’s growth, such as their personal characteristics, along with genetics. However, a child’s development involves a whole lot more than what arises from within an individual. The various factors that have a role to play in this regard, such as the relationships children have with their peers and other adults i.e. the social context, the culture the child is being exposed to as well as the socioeconomic conditions the child is being raised in. All three of these contexts constantly interact with one another and hence shape the opportunities the child is exposed to in future. Furthermore, it enriches the social associations with other people and at the same time give them a moral direction through cultural ties. This keeps imbalance at bay and allow them to grow into their own unique person with one of a kind characteristics ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"F8mxE9qd","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Piaget, 1976)","plainCitation":"(Piaget, 1976)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":385,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/6BEW53RX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/6BEW53RX"],"itemData":{"id":385,"type":"chapter","title":"Piaget’s theory","container-title":"Piaget and his school","publisher":"Springer","page":"11-23","author":[{"family":"Piaget","given":"Jean"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1976"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Piaget, 1976).

Conclusion

Understanding children is a huge undertaking. Not only is the field of psychology wide and deep but placing as child and his development in a certain sphere is nearly impossible. This is because of the given the number of factors that control their lives, as well as the influence these factors possess. A combination of these interactions defines the personalities of these children, labelling it as normal or otherwise. Thus, a solid understand of how children develop overtime, how they think and how his behaviour correlates with child personality development theories is ideal to possess a deeper understanding of their development and help them be the very best versions of themselves in the future ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Ab6eisgh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Jirout & Newcombe, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Jirout & Newcombe, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":381,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/AJVVIJQR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/5VyEEXyp/items/AJVVIJQR"],"itemData":{"id":381,"type":"article-journal","title":"Building blocks for developing spatial skills: Evidence from a large, representative US sample","container-title":"Psychological science","page":"302-310","volume":"26","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Jirout","given":"Jamie J."},{"family":"Newcombe","given":"Nora S."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Jirout & Newcombe, 2015).

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Erickson, L. C., & Thiessen, E. D. (2015). Statistical learning of language: Theory, validity, and predictions of a statistical learning account of language acquisition. Developmental Review, 37, 66–108.

Jirout, J. J., & Newcombe, N. S. (2015). Building blocks for developing spatial skills: Evidence from a large, representative US sample. Psychological Science, 26(3), 302–310.

Kohlberg, L. (1985). Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. WC Crain, Theories of Development, 118–136.

Piaget, J. (1976). Piaget’s theory. In Piaget and his school (pp. 11–23). Springer.

Soto, C. J., & Tackett, J. L. (2015). Personality traits in childhood and adolescence: Structure, development, and outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(5), 358–362.