Compare and Contrast the Views of the Early Researchers in Human Development with Those of the 20th Century

The development of humans has been a topic of research for many centuries. Early researchers all had various theories of the life span of humans, which lead other theorist later on coming up with their own. Human Development is a scientific study of psychological, emotional and social changes that occurs in humans over their life span. The old views consisted of the Tabla Rasa view by John Locke, Natural Selection view by Charles Darwin and the "father of the child study movement" G. Stanley Hall.

John Locke in his research came up with the concept of Tabla Rasa. This stated that the young child's mind is a 'blank slate' and they fill it with the experiences they go through in life. Some influences such as their family background or events that may have happen while in the womb can however affect the development of a human. Jean Piaget argues that we are born with a few reflexes which allows humans to survive the first few months and even years of life. These, Piaget states are our first mental structures which are neonatal and programmed into us genetically. Reviewing John Locke's theory, we cannot say that there is no influence by parents and teachers and they cannot mould the child they want. Erick Erikson in his second Psychosocial Stage stated that Children need to explore and experiment in order to make mistakes and learn from them. The parents are there to aid with the identifications of failures, protecting the child while allowing them to still be independent. Therefore John Locke's theory can be broken down by the influences of a child while in the womb. Piaget's theory shows that children have to know about these mental structures before they are born in the form of genetics then as they grow it evolves. Therefore the theory stating children are born as 'blank slates' has been counter acted by recent theories and continues to be a topic of discussion. This would lead to looking at development as a child adapts to their environment.

Charles Darwin an English naturalist believed that children survive due to adaption of their environment. He believed that it was those who had a combination of traits were able to adapt to their environment and therefore survive whatever was taking place. There has been an emerging consensus that states historical and cultural influences will influence how a child develops. This can be linked to Darwin's theory as he travelled to different areas to study how species reacted to their environment. Once a child is born they adapt to the language and culture of the people around them by what they see and how they are treated. Jean Piaget also spoke of this in his Sensory Motor stage where he stated that in the first couple of years children master their sensory and motor skills thereby enabling them to know various differences around them including themselves and the people and things around them. Sigmund

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