Description
Imagine that you are working as a human service professional to evaluate the developmental progress of children. Today, you are working with two and three-year-old brothers whose mother was addicted to cocaine during the pregnancies, as well as over the last two years. The children play in your office and refuse to talk to you or even look at you. You decide that you need to conduct further research to determine the needs of each child.
Discuss which perspective(s) you would utilize to conceptualize the children’s current development and needs. Then, explore which type of research you feel would be most beneficial in gaining any additional information needed in your analysis. Discussion responses should be on topic, original, and contribute to the quality of the Discussion by making frequent informed references to course materials and Seminars. Remember to respond to at least two classmates with comments that forward the Discussion. Once you have posted your answer, offer suggestions or ask questions about your classmates' designs.
tables needed:
Perspective | Key Ideas about Human Behavior and Development | Major Proponents | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Psychodynamic | Behavior throughout life is motivated by inner, unconscious forces, stemming from childhood, over which we have little control. | Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson | This view might suggest that an adolescent who is overweight has a fixation in the oral stage of development. |
Behavioral | Development can be understood through studying observable behavior and environmental stimuli. | John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, Albert Bandura | In this perspective, an adolescent who is overweight might be seen as not being rewarded for good nutritional and exercise habits. |
Cognitive | Emphasis is on how changes or growth in the ways people know, understand, and think about the world affect behavior. | Jean Piaget | This view might suggest that an adolescent who is overweight hasn’t learned effective ways to stay at a healthy weight and doesn’t value good nutrition. |
Contextual | Behavior is determined by the relationship between individuals and their physical, cognitive, personality, and social worlds. | Lev Vygotsky, Uric Bronfenbrenner | In this perspective an adolescent may become overweight because of a family environment in which food and meals are unusually important and intertwined with family rituals. |
Evolutionary | Behavior is the result of genetic inheritance from our ancestors; traits and behavior that are adaptive for promoting the survival of our species have been inherited through natural selection. | Konrad Lorenz; influenced by early work of Charles Darwin | This view might suggest that an adolescent might have a genetic tendency toward obesity because extra fat helped his or her ancestors to survive in times of famine. |