Nature Vs Nurture Theories of Development
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Nature Vs. Nurture Theories of Development
NATURE:
G. Stanley Hall's Recapitulation Theory emphasizes that the changes which characterize the human life cycle today, are parallel to the changes that our species went through during evolution. Hall saw adolescence as a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. He felt that childhood was a time when the innate characteristics of humans were similar to those of animals. Whereas, he felt that adulthood was a time that distinguished humans from animals and raised them to a higher level. So, basically this theory suggests that adolescence is a period of transition from being animal-like to being human-like (civilized). Such a transition is parallel to the evolutionary change that took place as humans evolved from being prehistoric/ape-like beings, to being civilized human beings. Because of the many changes and the great amount of difficulty involved with such, Hall perceived adolescence as a very stressful and difficult time.
The main problem with Hall's theory is that he didn't have an accurate understanding of the process of human evolution...