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Piaget's theory has been said to undervalue the influence that culture has on cognitive development. Piaget demonstrates that a child goes through several stages of cognitive development and come to conclusions on their own, however, a child's sociocultural environment plays an important part in their cognitive development.
Vygotsky, a Russian theorist, proposed the sociocultural theory of child development. During the 1920s–1930s, while Piaget was developing his own theory, Vygotsky was an active scholar and at that time his theory was said to be "recent" because it was translated out of Russian and began influencing Western thinking. [9]
Each child develops in a unique way; however, using norms helps in understanding these general patterns of development while recognizing the wide variation between individuals. One way to identify pervasive developmental disorders is if infants fail to meet the development milestones in time or at all.
The development of the human mind is complex and a debated subject, and may take place in a continuous or discontinuous fashion. [4] Continuous development, like the height of a child, is measurable and quantitative, while discontinuous development is qualitative, like hair or skin color, where those traits fall only under a few specific phenotypes. [5]
As the child learns to trust the world around them, they also acquire the virtue of hope. [11] Should parents fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's basic needs; a sense of mistrust will result. [20] Development of mistrust can later lead to feelings of frustration, suspicion, withdrawal, and a lack of confidence. [18]
The Maturational Theory of child development was introduced in 1925 [1] by Dr. Arnold Gesell, an American educator, pediatrician and clinical psychologist whose studies focused on "the course, the pattern and the rate of maturational growth in normal and exceptional children"(Gesell 1928). [2]
Contemporary research in child development actually repeats observations and observational methods summarized by Sully in Studies of Childhood, such as the mirror technique. Sigmund Freud developed the theory of psychosexual development, which indicates children must pass through several stages as they develop their cognitive skills. [11]
Parenting roles in child development have typically focused on the role of the mother. Recent literature, however, has looked toward the father as having an important role in child development. Affirming a role for fathers, studies have shown that children as young as 15 months benefit significantly from substantial engagement with their father.