Child Development and Socialization

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Child’s development and socialization depend on many things. The surrounding environment and communication with others play a significant role in the evolvement of values and understanding. Children are gatherers of information and will absorb most of the stimuli they contact.

The interactions that a child experiences are much more influential at a younger age, approximately 4 to 7 years old. Children are more observant and are mostly watching and making conclusions. When they observe others, they are able to see the attitude and behavior in perspective. The fact that all human beings are connected through social and family or individual ties is apparent. Thus, the repetition of behaviors and mimicking are observed in many instances. As a result, children observe and repeat the behavior of others (Hughes, 2011). The amount of knowledge is greater in a person who is 2 or even one year older and so, a younger child will watch others and strive towards such behavior.

The support provided by teachers and peers is an important aspect in the acquisition of new experiences. Participation in teams and extracurricular activities allows learning social behavior and norms of behavior. A question to consider in relation to this would be, what specifically a child looks for in their peers more—the interaction itself or the later personal understanding of what they have gained from the interaction? An important role in the learing process plays the social category of inductive inference. This is the process of generalizing specific rules and schemes from the observed behavior. In order to learn, a person must acquire knowledge about a certain concept and thus, develop a response to adequately deal with a situation.

Recognition and cognitive processing of information is learned through participation in various activities, and the more social interaction there is, the better a child will adjust to the environment. Children will often have more connection with children of their own age, as they are able to relate to common themes. The games that they participate in are better established because children do not have to pretend as much as adults. Adults are busy with the daily routine and provision of food and shelter and so, the attention they can pay to their children or the quality of the pretend-play may be less than that of a peer or sibling (Bukatko, 2011).

Philosophy and psychology have long tried to pinpoint the definitive and singular reasons for human behaviors and attitudes. There are very many common variables, but each individual is unique in the end. It is clear that people are very much connected to the social settings and so, they gain great knowledge and illustration of what people want in their life. This gives a person a closer look and comparison in regards to own personality and wants. Of course, sometimes, there is a negative nature of closeness and relation between people. But, an important point is that humans are social beings, and cooperation, together with mutual dependence and help are inevitable (Berk, 2009).

There are many examples of people being more successful through positive competition and unity of interests where one person does not let greed and egoism to overtake their existence. In child’s play, there is often competition and illustration of own skills. It is very much possible that elimination of positive competition and rivalry will halt the progress of evolution and there will be nothing new developing for humanity. Children will not want to take an extra step and effort to better themselves and the world around. It becomes clear that people will always compare themselves to their environment and others, which will lead to new efforts and imagination of each individual and the collective humanity.

Another confirmation that socialization is an important and needed part of the world is that it is present throughout animal kingdom. Often, animals compete for resources and power, which goes to show that all living organisms strive to evolve and develop new characteristics. The similarities between human behavior and the results that originate through observation show that children depend on each other for evolution. The force that finds advantageous uses through similar behavior is key to survival. Mimicking and repeating give rise to imagination and originality which are an inseparable part of any society. All the advances and incomparable characteristics of features between individuals and societies make the world as unique as it is.

But there are other factors except socialization that play a role. Individuality and genetics are the other side of any individual. Children are already born with a specific set of predispositions. There are some theories that try to prove the fact that the environment is the only influence a person needs, thus anyone can be made into whatever is desired. This still needs much testing, as there are other factors at play. Primarily, there are personal and biological factors. Genetic information is the first characteristic that comes in contact with the external world through inner impulses and memory. The outside environment is what causes a response and change in the person’s brain. It has been established that the surrounding conditions greatly shape the way a person behaves and thinks. Developmental psychology has explained that when children are being raised, every detail matters.

If they receive a specific amount of love, the type of people they spend time with and the sort of situations they find themselves in, are all factors that shape individuality (Rogers, 2013). Even before there is any social influence, all children who are born in the family receive unique and personal genetic information. The genes play a role in the way a person is, but the environment adds a much greater amount of information and external stimuli that shape and form individuality. Childs family can be thought of as separate from society, as the values and experiences are much different. People, who are close, create a unique environment where a child grows. There are positive and negative sides to the upbringing because children are affected by individuals who have a genetic relation to the child. Socialization in a public environment, by peers is much different, as there are a number of qualities that come together (Grotewell, 2008).

Life is an interconnected network where each individual is influenced by someone else. Sometimes, these influences are characteristic of a whole society and people are forced and pressured to do things they do not want to. In some instances, the pressure is indirect and by mere observation people feel that they have no choice but to conform to the majority, so that they do not stand out from the population. The people most affected by peer pressure are the younger generation, as they are very impressible and will learn from the actions of others.

References

Berk, L. (2009). Child Development. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Bukatko, D. (2011). Child development: A thematic approach. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Grotewell, P. (2008). Early childhood education: issues and developments. New York, NY: Nova Publishers.

Hughes, M. (2011). Emotional Intelligence in Action. San Fransisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

Rogers, A. (2013). Human behavior in the social environment. New York, NY: Routledge.

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Child Development and Socialization

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