Child psychology is one of the most popular disciplines to date, which allows improving the mechanisms of education. Scientists are actively studying it, because it can help raise a calm, healthy and happy child who will be happy to learn this world and be able to make it a little better.
What is related to this scientific field?
According to the notation accepted in the scientific community, child psychology is a branch of science aimed at studying the mental and spiritual development of a child from the moment he is born into adolescence (up to about 12 years). Immediately after birth, the child enters into its first social relations - begins to communicate with parents, in the first few months of life, it learns to distinguish between “friends” and “strangers”, use its emotions to achieve goals and forms its own worldview.
The next stage that every child needs to go through is interaction with peers. Certain social roles are formed in his head, and he begins to play some of them in certain processes. The first friendship, the first competition, the first joint games - children go through all these processes without fail. Scientists believe that most of the negative social attitudes of a person are formed precisely at this stage of life, in the future they only become stronger and become the cause of a large number of problems in adulthood.
The source of the formation of life values at the moment is considered to be the family and children's subculture, although many scientists recognize that virtual reality comes on their heels. Key questions of child psychology compel researchers to try to understand how computer games and the media can influence the spiritual development of a child, how to make this influence as positive as possible and enable a small person to make his conscious choice of a source for growth.
Child and adult psychology: how to get along together?
Unfortunately, most adults rarely think about the existence of child psychology, they bring up children in the old fashioned way, and most often they choose the methods that have been transmitted in the family from generation to generation. In some cases, such education brings positive results, but it happens that the child grows up as a complete egoist or a notorious person who is afraid to take an elementary step aimed at his own development.
Each person is individual, psychologists have long come to this opinion and argue that it is impossible to find two people with the same habits, principles and life values. Children in this case are no exception. Very often, twin parents are surprised at how much they are not alike in character. The formation of life principles occurs precisely in childhood, therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to the child in this period of time.
The main task of adults is to create a moral atmosphere around the child where he will feel as comfortable as possible, be able to develop his social interaction skills, master the existing behavioral norms and cultural characteristics not only of his nation, but also of others. The instructions here are useless, because the children copy the behavior of their parents, sometimes it even comes to gestures and facial expressions, which is why they have a huge responsibility for education.
Where does this discipline come from?
The foundations of child psychology can be traced in the writings of Aristotle, who is rightly considered the founder of this discipline, because it was he who first began to consider the soul as an entity that implements the biological functioning of the body. Discipline is obliged to study the causes of ontogenesis of the human psyche, various processes, activities of the child.
In the process of carrying out any activity (learning, playing, doing tasks at home), the child somehow comes into contact with psychology: he studies the customs and habits of other people, seeks contact with society, and forms his own picture of the world. At the same time, scientists of the XIX-XX centuries came to a consensus that it is impossible to consider the processes in which the child is involved as separate events, all of them are some or other signs of a holistic personality that is being formed in society.
What are the goals and objectives facing child psychology?
Despite the fact that this discipline is considered a private branch of general psychology, it has its own subject of research, and also has a number of goals. The tasks of child psychology are primarily attributed to the study of the principles by which the child’s mental development is carried out from the moment of his birth to the transition to adolescence.
Also, as the goal of the discipline, we can consider dividing this time period into several small units, which allow us to build a clear algorithm according to which the child is growing up. Scientists also have to find out why the child is moving from one stage of growing up to another, and it is quite difficult to identify the catalysts for these processes, since all children are brought up in completely different conditions.
At a certain age stage, the child has various mental functions that need a detailed study, since the algorithm for their manifestations is still not completely clear. Some problems of child psychology are associated with an incomplete understanding of what mental functions are the norm in a given period of a child’s life path. From here comes the difficulty associated with what in this case should be considered mental deviations.
Researchers pay special attention to the question of what potential opportunities a person can have in the most different periods of their life. If they manage to figure out how to achieve the development of one or another talent in the child, parents will be able to have a huge impact on the upbringing of children. Also, in child psychology, there is still no clear understanding of what should be considered the standard of maturity of a person; scientists all over the world have been trying to answer this question for several hundred years, but so far without success.
How do psychologists work with children?
Child psychology for parents often seems like a dark forest, sometimes they just don’t understand how to talk with their child in order to achieve mutual understanding. Specialists in this field take into account the specifics of individual mental development, observe the unity of activity and the psyche, try to perform their activities as objectively and aimed at developing the potential of an individual baby.
Psychologists use a whole range of methods to get answers to their questions. For example, organizational ones are used when it is necessary to study one or another aspect of the development of an individual or even a whole group of children. As tools here, a control slice, comparative exercises, as well as the longitudinal method are used. The combination of several practical components allows for a comprehensive psychological study.
Empirical methods are very popular in the scientific community; child psychology is largely developed thanks to them. The most popular is the observation, with which you can track the vast majority of the behavioral characteristics of the child. The main task here for the psychologist is to formulate a clear goal and a monitoring scheme. This also includes self-observation, as well as an experiment with which you can track all the changes that occur with the personality of the child.
Psychodiagnostic methods most often represent standardized tasks with which you can identify the current emotional and mental state of the child. This group of methods includes testing, conversations, sociometry, interviews, questionnaires, as well as analytical analysis of products of creativity or activity.
Child psychology is a pretty wide field for research and experimentation, which explains the use of projective methods. They are a combination of several practices that examine a person using polysemantic stimuli, which the child will need to interpret in his own way. These include Rorschach spots, Luscher technique, Peace test, apperception testing and many other practical exercises.
How does psychology help develop a child?
Child psychology for parents can be a real salvation, because with its help you can avoid trips to specialists and grow a successful, strong and mentally healthy person. Experts recommend not abusing parental authority and not trying to constantly make decisions for their children. “I know how best it is” - this phrase ruined a huge number of families, because it provokes aggression or passive behavior in a child, and the second in the future leads to low self-esteem and complete dependence in adulthood. It is much more relevant to formulate for a child the rules of behavior in the family and society, which he must adhere to.
Psychologists also advise you to learn how to talk with your children correctly. With praise or punishment, the child has the right to know why they caress him or scold him. You can’t say the phrase “You are bad” to the baby, then just such an attitude towards the outside world will settle in his head, and he will behave accordingly. Explain what exactly the child does wrong, talk with him about the consequences of actions, and then in the future he will analyze his own behavior.
Respect the opinion of your baby and be extremely honest and frank with him. According to leading psychologists, education should be carried out in a dialogue form, only in this case it is possible to achieve the personal growth of the child, as well as the active development of his consciousness and self-consciousness. It is important to be able to communicate with your child on an equal footing and give him the opportunity to be a full-fledged personality, able to make decisions independently.
Even if you do not understand anything in child psychology, the development of the child is your direct responsibility as a parent. Start small - gradually give the baby the right to choose, so you not only accustom him to independence, but also give you the opportunity to orient yourself and understand what is interesting to him. First food, then toys, then vital interests and more serious issues - gradually he himself will take everything under control.
Do not plan the life of your children, because you do not know what exactly they will like. Listen to his interests and support them, even if the child changes 8-10 sections a year - do not react too sharply, because he is trying to find himself. Find out the causes of all the problems that your children have, even though they may seem completely crazy to you. For children, every difficulty that arises is of great importance, remember this.
What if you can’t cope with your child?
Child psychology and pedagogy go hand in hand, because for raising a child it is necessary to understand how he perceives the world, what he feels in relation to others, and understand the psychological processes that are characteristic of a certain age. If children stop obeying, in no case should you resort to physical punishment, as this will not solve the problem. It is much more important to understand what the reason for disobedience is, on the basis of this it will be possible to take certain actions.
Quite often, a situation arises when parents want complete submission from their children so that they do not have their own opinions. The child can absolutely calmly go about their business and completely ignore the words of the mother and father. As a rule, this happens with children with a high level of intelligence. They prefer not to worry “about the little things”, they want to occupy a special position in the family, and parents oppose this. The most optimal solution is to give the child to perform complex tasks, and not allow him to wallow in the routine of everyday life.
Poor parents are the main problem in child psychology, they bring up children through their sleeves and very often make a mistake - they are constantly considered to be too small. It is necessary to talk with the child, given his skills of understanding and self-confidence. Until 6 years of age, concrete-shaped thinking is actively developing in children, which is why it will be much more effective to carry out certain types of activity with them, then the kids will be able to remember the sequence of actions and in the future they can act independently.
Another extreme is too obedient child. If the parent does not see how his child smiles, shows emotions, gets angry - this is an occasion to turn to a specialist, because otherwise you just can’t get the truth out of him. You can solve this problem by reminding him of how important it is to experience these emotions. Adults should be loyal to emotional manifestations, and remember that children never think about committing an evil act. Let the child throw out the negative, this will help him learn not to “lock up” and increase the level of trust between you.
What you need to know about the psychology of young children?
Childhood is rightfully considered the most important life period of a person, because it is then that a huge number of changes take place with him. The latter are investigated by child psychology, years make a child older and wiser, but how this happens is the answer to this scientific direction.
The most important feature of child psychology is the almost empty brain of a child who is ready to perceive absolutely everything around him. Children are not able to identify the relationship between various events and things, which is why they need to be taught to distinguish between falsehood and truth. Absolutely all adult people with whom the baby has been in active contact since he was born are perceived by him as an authority, he trusts them. Almost all of them in one way or another affect his consciousness, most actively the mother does it.
Child psychology takes as an axiom the fact that the child subconsciously copies the behavior of his parents and takes their strengths and weaknesses for granted. Children are very sensitive to the mental background and are able to decipher the information that comes to them in the subtext and context. That is why psychologists recommend when contacting a child to communicate with him, without using twofold formulations.
The inborn helplessness with which a child is born is its advantage and disadvantage at the same time. The model of behavior that he will subsequently choose for himself as the most acceptable, he will draw from his inner circle - from his family. Despite the fact that the children's brain is extremely plastic and prefers to forget everything bad, the development of the baby's mental processes should be carried out in the most comfortable environment.
What research is being done in this industry?
In child psychology, research plays a crucial role, it is with their help that the algorithm for working with a child is determined, which makes it possible to grow a real person out of him. The key task of modern scientists is to study the psyche of a child from all possible angles, and this must be done in the process of education. Constant monitoring of how children grow up allows for timely adjustment in the used pedagogical methods.
Modern researchers adhere to the theoretical principles of L. S. Vygotsky, who believed that learning has a huge impact on the mental development of children. That is why today child psychology is an attempt to form a pool of mental phenomena, based on the assumptions made by scientists earlier. Based on the experiments, ultra-modern methods of teaching, raising and studying children as full-fledged individuals appear.
How promising is this research area?
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Many questions of child psychology are related to the behavior of parents, however, scientists began to pay much attention to this relatively recently. This is due to the relative youth of this research area - officially it appeared only in the XIX century. Today, mothers and fathers play the most important role in education, so there is a large number of studies related to how to help adults adapt to the appearance of a child in the house and get used to their new status. In parallel with this, researchers every day open new questions in this industry that need to be answered, so this area will remain popular for a long time to come.