Introduction

The developmental perspective theory is an explanation of a person's life from birth to death.
This explanation addresses the main areas of the person's life like cognition, their social life, and

physical growth.

The developmental perspective theory explains how thoughts, feelings, and behavior transition in
a human's life. This theory tries to answer three main questions in the development process of a
person. The first question is whether nature or nurture is vital in a child's development; the
second question is whether humans develop in stages or continually. Lastly, developmental
perspective theory tries to answer if humans change their lives and what factors remain constant.

The Importance of a Child Development Perspective

It is integral to understand children's development perspective since it helps to appreciate the

developmental stages children pass through to adulthood. This development perspective
addresses different areas like social, educational, and physical growth. Understanding these
fronts assists people in knowing themselves. There are many issues people face when growing
up and having a child developmental perspective can assist in addressing some problems
individuals face when they are young.

For instance, knowledge of a child development perspective is critical in knowing why people
have different approaches on matters of morality. Though there are matters that have a clear
distinction between wrong and right, there are others that are not. People may have different
approaches to addressing morality issues, and conflicts can result in such situations. Therefore,
having a child development perspective can assist in understanding why individuals do what they
do.

Human Development: From the Womb to Infancy

A child's development begins in the womb. It, therefore, follows that if there is something wrong
in the womb, there could be significant problems for the child when they grow into a teenager or
an adult. These problems may involve low birth weight or cognition problems. Nevertheless, the
developmental perspective is integral in such situations to analyze a child's developmental
changes and comprehend their issues in later life.
At infancy, it is evident that children begin their journey in learning. Therefore, if this process is
impaired, it will result in significant problems when the child grows into adulthood. Habituation
is one such problem that can affect a child. Habituation involves reduced response to certain
stimuli due to excessive exposure to them. Infants should be exposed to new things to avoid
habituation. The early stages of a child starting from the womb need to be handled with care
since a simple mistake could be disastrous in the child's future.

Example:

The door-bell ringing can cause a new-born baby to get startled and start crying. This can happen
several times until they slowly get desensitized to the bell ringing. Eventually, even when the
bell rings they will not cry as they have slowly gotten accustomed to the noise.

In the developmental perspective childhood was identified by critical transitions in motor,

cognitive, and social development. These developments were observed as vital for children's
growth, and psychologists like Jean Piaget (Swiss) and Erik Erikson (German) took it upon
themselves to study these factors. Before their discovery, children were treated as young adults,
but specifically, Piaget identified that children's minds were different from adults. In their
respective studies, Piaget and Erikson observed that concepts like morality and behavior are
implemented in childhood; hence, they needed to understand how they affect children in their
adult lives. Each psychologist came up with a child development perspective to try and explain
their development in this period. According to Erikson human development takes place
according to a series of predetermined steps through which the person proceeds as he or she
becomes psychologically, biologically, and socially ready. The unfolding of these steps allows
the individual to participate in social life in increasingly wide-ranging and sophisticated ways.
The model assumes that the environment in which development takes place provides the
necessary resources and presents the necessary challenges at the proper times for the individual
to move through each step.