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Article: Child Development, History of the Concept of
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
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Child Development, History of the Concept of
The notion that children "develop" seems an intuitive, obvious, and even self-evident idea. Children are born small, knowing the world in limited ways, with little or no understanding of other people as separate from themselves in body or mind, and no understanding of social relations or morality. They grow larger, learn about the physical and social worlds, join different cooperative social groups, and cultivate a more and more complex sense of right and wrong. Psychologists, teachers, and others who deal with children constantly invoke the term
development
as a way to understand the child's status and to rationalize practice. The language ...