Psychological scrutiny on material
Psychology is a broad field. It entails the study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting the way human beings behave. It can as well be viewed as the mental characteristics or attitude of a group or a person. Psychology is majorly categorized as clinical psychology, cognitive, developmental, neuropsychology, occupational psychology, forensics, health, and evolutionary psychology. The focus of this article is to scrutinize the chapter three and four of the book “Psychology in everyday life,” and give reaction to any of the topic discussed therein. Theorists in that particular Field will be acknowledged and give an insight of application in real life.
In chapter three of development through the lifespan, the topic of interest is on brain development. The topic is tackled exclusively gives an insight into how the development of the brain is stimulated to environment gender. Proper development of the brain has been demonstrated using rats with necessities and others in an enhanced environment. The existence of stimulus triggers mental agility while shutting the available links in mind. The work is very relevant in today’s life (Myers, 70-71). Through the research work of Field, it is known that children who are exposed to toys earlier, anything that keeps them busy tends to add weight fast, as well as communicate at an early stage.
Notable psychologists who did numerous works on brain development include Hellen Neville, who contributed immensely to cognitive neurosciences, brain potentiality, and development. She specialized in psychophysical, electrophysiological, and magnetic resonance imaging to study the event. Jean Piaget is as well iconic pioneer and contributor in the Field of cognitive development in children (Myers, 105-107). He engineered Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, explaining the development of children’s intellectuals. Other contributors include Sigmund Freud, Erikson’s, Ivan Pavlov, among others.
Chapter four talks about sex, gender, and sexuality. The most outstanding topic is on gender roles and how one knows whether male or female. This is because human sexuality itself binds humans to their ultimate superiority over the world hence a vital topic worth reviewing. Gender identity happens in the early stages of child development. Through the social learning theory, the children develop gender-linked behaviors either through being rewarded or punished for doing particular actions. Observing and imitation game among the children plays a critical role in children to identify with a specific gender (Myers, 106-107). Cultural learning of one’s gender is another mirror through which the children become to know of their sexuality. Gender typing encapsulates the social learning theory and gender schema theory, helps the children to identify themselves as either boys or girls.
The distinction of the gender roles during the development of a child is as well influenced through what he/she observes. The culture as well defines how a particular gender behaves or activities they can freely undertake. Various psychologist presents that gender roles vary according to one’s race, generation, geographical location, or the level of industrialization surrounding the child.
These numerous knowledge of gender identity and roles are tantamount in the development of a child. It has been a continuous cycle that is passed from generation to generation (Myers, 106-107). The key psychologists’ contributors Sandra Lipsitz Bem who developed the gender schema theory. Robert Stoller, Ropy Baumeister, Carols Tavis, John Money on culture as a means to gender identity among many theorists who contributed to gender identification and role work.
Work cited
Myers, DeWall, C.N (2017). Psychology in Everyday Life 4 edition. New York, NY: (70-71, 105-107). Worth Publishers.