Describe the controversies in child development
What will be an ideal response?
The main controversies are (1) nature vs. nurture, (2) continuity vs. discontinuity, and
(3) active vs. passive. The nature vs. nurture controversy is not as much a controversy
as it is a debate. The issue is to delineate how much and what aspects of development
are due to genetic influences and which are due to environmental influences. The issue
of continuity or discontinuity concerns the orderliness and linearity of child
development. Continuity theories assume that development is steady, gradual, stagelike, and sequential. Discontinuity theories stress individual differences in development
and that development involves both gains and losses. The active vs. passive
controversy focuses on how big a role the child plays in her own development.
Theorists, such as Freud, seemed to think that development was something that
happened to children (passive) while Piaget stressed the active role children take in
their own cognitive development.
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