Studying the child's behavior and development.

Abstract

Studying the Child's Behavior and Development Teachers, social workers, physicians, parents and a variety of other people are interested in the psychological development of children because they desire a better understanding of children's behavior at all developmental levels. Anyone who is willing to spend an extended period of time reviewing the research findings as they relate to children's psychological development has an interesting and rewarding experience in store for him. On the other hand, the more casual student of this discipline may soon become confused in his offhand excursions into the literature, since a comprehensive understanding of child behavior cannot readily be secured by incidental reading or by snap-shot reference to magazine and newspaper articles that purport to "tell all." Students who have carefully examined the scientific literature dealing with children's behavior and psychological growth are aware that in this area a popularized book, or an article, customarily used like a cook book is of little value and may even result in more damage than good; for the rule-of-thumb recommendations found in such sources do not usually fit the case in question, and it would, indeed, be an unusual child who would patiently wait while an interested adult thumbed hastily to page 69 for the answer to an immediate problem. When adults consult books on child psychology as they would a book on the culinary arts, situations like the one shown in Figure 1 may arise. In the rearing and training of children the old axiom, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," seems especially applicable, for children's behavior and psychological growth are far too complex to be approached in such a piecemeal fashion.