The Principles of Developmental Psychology, Case Study Example

“A stage of development can be thought of as an organization of a child’s particular knowledge at a certain point in life and their behavior at a certain point in time. The movement to a new stage in development simply means that a qualitative reorganization has taken place based on previous knowledge and behavior learned. Piaget (1952) believed that a child’s thinking from the ages of 7 to 11 could be described as ‘concrete’ which is closely related to the nature of the objects in which they interact with on a regular basis.” (Baltes, 2009).

For the purposes of this project I interviewed a twelve year old female, born on March 29, 1998 in the southern region of Louisiana. Her name is Brooke. She is 4’2” and weighs 72 pounds. She was born to an American mother and an East Asian Indian father through marriage of who have been divorced for ten years to date. Brooke’s father is a chemical plant operator of seven years with a Process Technician Associate’s degree and her mother is a JD law student, first year, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies. Her socioeconomic class is middle class. She lives both with her mother and father with her father presently having domiciliary custody. Brooke tells me that she wants to live with her mother hence the parents are in a very nasty custody battle at present.

Brooke has an older sister named Whitley who is fourteen years old and very intelligent. Both children attend a Gifted and Talented School particularly for children with exceptional talents and highly inflated IQ’s. Both the children are A and B students and excel very well in school despite the stress of the year long custody battle.

From birth to age nine Brooke and her sister lived with their mother and were very happy and well-adjusted children. They grew up in a mortgaged home in a rural area in Louisiana and played happy games and did their homework regularly with their mother and sometimes Dad would pitch in and help out.

There was always dissention amongst the parents with regards to discipline and what actually was the line of discipline and what the mother legally named abuse to the children. Both children love their parents and have always respected them so. Brooke feels that it is abusive for her father to use ‘ill force to her when correcting her’ such as ‘head butting her until her head turns numb’. This can permanently scar a child physically and emotionally.

What appeared to be two well adapted children has escalated into two somewhat emotionally disturbed children being pulled in various directions by both parents who seem to love them but one parent who does not have great parenting skills.

A child is a product of his/her environment and can only mimic what he/she is taught throughout the stages of life. A child should not have vehement fear of one parent and should not be taught manipulation as a means of survival. If this is what they learn they will progress to the next stage that Piaget teaches without fully completing the previous stage in a healthy manner.

It is self-evident that cultural norms play huge roles on the growth and raising of children. When couples unite and marriage it is very difficult to make choices for their children and much harder when there are severe cultural difference involved. The people that are hurt the most are the children. They do not develop in a healthy manner to the next stage of life and become unhealthy and maladjusted adults, unfortunately.

References

Baltes, M. The Principles of Developmental Psychology: An Introduction to Child Development New York: Sage Publishing, 2009.

Piaget (2010) Piaget Retrieved April 22, 2010 from, http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm