This stage focuses on the debate between whether children are passive recipients of environmental influences or active participants in their own development. Most psychologists agree that while the environment plays a significant role, children also shape their development through their personal initiatives and unique interpretations of their experiences.
Simplify what the following stage means or focuses on in two sentences
1.5.3 Passive or Active Involvement?
The issue here is whether children have no part in their development and therefore
are at the mercy of their environment or whether they can play an active role in their own
development (Warner et al., 2017; Wollny, 2016). This is often called personal initiative.
To use John Locke's blank slate theory as an illustration: Is it only the environment that
writes on the slate, or do children also contribute, and can they even delete what the
environment has written?
The present situation is that most psychologists agree that although the influence
of the environment cannot be denied, children also take an active part in their own
development. For instance, consider how people's responses (an important environmental
factor in the development of a child) may differ towards an obnoxious versus a pleasant
child. Moreover, children who, regardless of continuous efforts by their parents and the
school, do not do their schoolwork, to a considerable extent shape their own future, as
do children who, often even without encouragement and role models, adhere to the
expectations and norms of society and achieve success.
Most psychologists acknowledge that the unique way in which children cognitively
and emotionally interpret and process their experiences has a significant influence on
their development. However, psychologists are still debating especially two questions in this regard: First, to what degree are children able to shape their own development?
Second, which factors are responsible for children's unique interpretation and processing
of their world? Further research is needed to provide answers to these questions.
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