Developmental Psychology

Submitted by LukiLeu on

This article describes the developmental stages of children and adolescents.

Emotional / Moral Development

Toddler < 6 years

  • The child is content when all basic needs are satisfied and everything is in order.
  • He cries when he is not comfortable.

Ameisli 6 - 8 years

  • The child perceives üvia feelings more than üvia words. The sensation of feeling is very pronounced.
  • The child strives for self-sufficiency: a love of adventure, enjoyment of physical activities, loose contacts with peers, recognition of rules and orders (authority-oriented), positive relationship with parents and leaders
  • It is proud of its own achievements.

Young Learners 9 - 12 years

  • The child has a positive attitude towards life, is enthusiastic and open to new things
  • He is increasingly aware of his feelings and learns to express them verbally.
  • He develops the ability to put himself in another person's shoes.
  • A pronounced sense of truth and justice is developed.
  • The need for acceptance and recognition among peers and leaders is present.
  • An identification with one's gender and its role-appropriate behavior takes place.
  • A sense of adventure is present.

Teens 13 - 16 years

  • The teen is in the period of strong feelings and emotions.
  • The feelings are unstable and often overtake the mind and will.
  • He no longer wants to be treated like a child.
  • He wants to experience the limit of the body. Sensory experiences are lived out intensely.
  • A self-reflection takes place (search for the self).
  • He often has outwardly a brusque, repulsive behavior, but inwardly a huge longing to be accepted and understood.
  • There is a cliquing that takes place.

Young adults 17 - 20 years

  • An emotional independence from parents and other adults is sought.

Cognitive Development

Toddler <6 years

  • Blick contact
  • 1. smile
  • Perpetition
  • First speaking

Ameisli 6 - 8 years

  • referring to himself
  • jumpy
  • lives in the moment
  • Exuberant imagination and fantasy - high creativity
  • can concentrate for about 20 - 30 minutes
  • Fairy tales and reality merge
  • Can reverse action in mind
  • Experiencing and thinking involves the whole child

Young learners 9 - 12 years

  • Thirst for knowledge, asks for details like cause and effect
  • Thinks vividly and concretely
  • Increase in reality-based, scientific thinking
  • Ready to learn areas of interest
  • Thinking about one's own dangers
  • True is what exists, what does not exist is not true

Teenie 13 - 16 years

  • can draw logical conclusions
  • sees connections
  • questions critically
  • Ability to be self-critical
  • Tending towards black - white - painting
  • True is what I see as true. I want to experience the truth itself / nachprüfen.

Faith Development

Toddler < 6 years

  • Everything the child experiences with and in its parents, it converts into basic religious experiences. It adopts the form and content of their faith without thinking about it.
  • The child inevitably forms an idea of God on the basis of its own sensory and emotional experiences.

Ameisli 6 - 8 years

  • Sündenbewusstsein noch ausgeprägt
  • Expressed concept of good and Böse - guilty conscience
  • Interested in heaven, angels, eternity, birth, ...
  • Miracles of Jesus and fairy tales are possible side by side
  • Careful of figurative language, they take it one on one
  • Child does not doubt the existence of God

Young Learners 9 - 12 years

  • Ability to be clear about God's love and forgiveness - Ability to make a clear decision for Jesus
  • Prefers true stories - identification with the hero
  • Careful of miracle stories
  • Often the child divides his life into a religious and everyday realm

Teen 13 - 16 years

  • critical questioning
  • examining and adopting or rejecting values
  • searching for one's own faith
  • "Do I want to be devout, even if the world is different?"
  • Often new yes to Jesus

Young adults 17 - 20 years

  • often crisis of faith among those raised religiously: Am I this way because I was raised this way, or do I want to be this way and live life accordingly?
  • Partial adoption of values and behaviors of parents / educators

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