What tawhat is the leading activity?

The types of activities that the child is engaged in are diverse: he draws with enthusiasm, sculpts, designs, learns to read, sing, count, makes something, helps, plays. And each of these species contributes to its development. Of particular importance is the so-called "leading activity", which dominates at each stage. The special role of this activity is explained by the contribution to the formation of the most important changes in the psyche, to preparation for the next age period, to changes in the personality of the child. Each age has its own leading activity.

The task of parents is to reasonably manage it, providing the most favorable conditions and prospects for the further harmonious development of the child.

INFANTITY (from 0 to 1 year)

- "Social smile" (i.e. a smile in a social situation) may appear at the beginning of the 2nd month of life

Vocalizations, the child hums, gurgles, babbles, vocalizes towards an adult, demonstrates motor reactions, revival

Starting from 2 months, one of the most important activities for a baby is communication with a close adult.

Sense of smell, taste, tactile sensitivity, hearing and vision develop intensively

During the entire first year, the child actively develops fine and gross motor skills: by 6 months, the child can grab objects, reach for toys that are interesting to him, shift the object from one hand to another, the baby can raise his head, roll over on his side and stomach from a lying position on the back.

From 9 to 12 months, crawling improves, the baby can pull himself up on his hands to get up, learn to stand with support; by 10 months the child can walk, holding on to a support with both hands and legs wide apart, by 12 months he learns to overcome a short distance without support

Leading activity

Emotional communication with mom, dad (or with an adult who replaces her).

How to develop

It is especially important to satisfy the child's need for affection, attention, benevolence: to love, babysit, mess around, kiss, amuse, stroke, hug, carry in your arms, cuddle to your chest, cherish, rock, cradle.

EARLY CHILDHOOD (from 1 year to 3 years)

Speech is actively developing, vocabulary is expanding, speaking in short sentences, words can have a “bizarre” form (generate new words)

Actively explores the world around him: he wants to touch everything, turn it around in his hands

Communication with relatives and familiar adults is emotionally colored: it shows joy, openness

Shy about a stranger, may not make contact for a long time, jealous of another child

They cannot hold their attention for a long time, are easily distracted, quickly forget about what is happening

Get tired quickly

Available toys: pyramids, cubes, balls, games for the development of fine motor skills

Leading activity

Subject-manipulative. Development of memory, attention, speech, thinking, perception.

How to develop

Involve in participation in household chores, observe nature together, teach manipulation with objects (use them for other purposes).

PRESCHOOL CHILDHOOD (ages 3 to 6)

In the child’s speech, the words appear: “I want”, “I don’t want”, “why?”, “I myself” (crisis of three years)

Possesses great curiosity, imagination

The child begins to think in the mind (correlates action and result)

An adult acts as a standard of behavior in various situations

Limited conception of time and space

The leading type of activity is a plot-role-playing game (models reality)

Developing design and drawing skills

Available toys/games: dolls, soft toys, building blocks, plasticine/paints/pencils

Leading activity

Role play, combining communication and objective activity

How to develop

Play with the child, come up with role-playing games and participate in them.

JUNIOR SCHOOL AGE (from 6 to 11 years old)

Intensive development of the intellectual and speech sphere

Development of voluntary attention and memory, orientation in the environment

The ability to act according to the model, according to the rules

Striving for self-affirmation and recognition from adults and peers

Actively masters communication skills, the ability to establish and maintain friendly contacts

Developing self-control skills

Role identification

Available games: board educational, mobile and electronic games

Leading activity

Operational and technical activities, mainly educational

How to develop

Spending time with a child, teaching him something, learning the alphabet, learning to write and count, read, retell. Help the child with the preparation of homework, answer his questions.

ADOLESCENT (11 to 14 years old)

The desire to communicate with peers (grouping)

- "Nihilism" in relation to adults (striving for leadership, release from the custody of relatives, frequent conflicts: provocative, defiant behavior)

Fatigue

Emotional lability

Puberty, increased interest in the opposite sex

Fixation on appearance (body, clothing, etc.)

Emancipation: the desire to imitate adults (experimentation)

It begins to form its own system of views and values, self-consciousness

Hobbies: modern youth alternative trends in fashion, art, music, cinematography, technology

Leading activity

Intimate-personal, emotional communication with peers

How to develop

Allow the child to communicate with peers, arrange holidays, joint trips, participate in performances, performances. Spend time in hobby groups.

HIGH SCHOOL AGE (14 to 17 years old)

Formation of life plans

Acceptance of one's own appearance, awareness of the features of one's body, creation of an image of oneself

Assimilation of the male or female role

Expanding range of social roles and interests

Looking to the future, building life plans and prospects

self-control, self-regulation

Eagerness for discussion

Hobbies: professional and moral definition in the outside world

Leading activity

Educational and professional in the process of which the worldview, professional interests, ideals are formed.

How to develop

To provide space for learning, to help in learning, to draw up one's own life plans, plans for choosing a professional activity, to look for means of their implementation.

A person goes through a complex path of mental development from birth to maturity. If we compare the mentality of a child in the first year of his life with the level of mental development that he reaches after five or six years of life, then we can notice not only a quantitative, but also a qualitative difference. For example, the memory of a small child is not only weaker or stronger than that of an older student, it is different for him. Young children, as a rule, memorize poems or words of a foreign language faster. However, this does not mean that the student's memory is worse. The requirements for the memory of a schoolchild are incomparably higher than the memory capabilities of a small child, and the easier memorization of words by young children is determined by the fact that at different stages of development the properties of memory manifest themselves differently and development itself is determined not only by quantitative changes, but first of all change in quality characteristics. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the process of development of the child's psyche has a stage-by-stage character. Each of the stages of development of the child's psyche is characterized as an independent stage of development. All stages differ from each other primarily in their qualitative rather than quantitative characteristics.

It should be immediately noted that there are a very large number of approaches to the problem of the development of the child's psyche. Moreover, in different approaches, different stages of development of the child's psyche are distinguished. For example, A.N. Leontiev distinguishes seven stages in the development of the child's psyche: a newborn child (up to 2 months); early infancy (up to 6 months); late infancy (from 6 to 12-14 months); preschool age (from 1 year to 3 years); preschool age (from 3 to 7 years old), primary school age (from 7 to 11-12 years old); adolescence and the beginning of adolescence (from 13-14 to 17-18 years). B. G. Ananiev also identifies 7 stages in human development from birth to adolescence: newborns (1-10 days); infant (10 days - 1 year); early childhood (1-2 years); the first period of childhood (3-7 years); the second period of childhood (8-12 years for boys, 8-11 years for girls); adolescence (12-16 years for boys, 12-15 years for girls); youth (17-21 years for men, 16-20 years for women).

As we can see, there are certain differences between these approaches. Let us consider the characteristics of the psychological content of the stages identified by A.N. Leontiev.

The first stage is the stage of the newborn (up to 2 months). What is typical for this stage? First of all, the fact that a child is born with relatively highly developed sense organs, organs of movement and a nervous system, the formation of which occurs in the prenatal period. The newborn has visual and auditory sensations, sensations of body position in space, olfactory, skin and taste sensations, as well as many elementary reflexes. The nervous system of the newborn, including the cerebral cortex, in general, is already fully anatomically designed. But the development of the microscopic structure of the cortex has not yet been completed, in particular, the myelination of the nerve fibers of the motor and sensory areas of the cortex is just beginning.

The way of life of a newborn differs little from his way of life in the prenatal period: at rest, the child retains its former embryonic position; sleep takes 4/5 of the time; the external activity of the child is largely focused on satisfying his needs for food; manual and moving movements are absent altogether. Nevertheless, the newborn stage is the first stage at which behavior begins to form in the form of simple acts, and most importantly, the sphere of sensations is especially intensively formed. There is an early differentiation of gustatory and olfactory sensations that are associated with the nutrition of the child. Skin sensations from the cheeks, lips, and mouth reach a high level of development. Visual perception of forms is initially absent, the child reacts only to large or bright moving objects. Simultaneously with this, the development of orienting reactions occurs, such as fading to the sound, and above all to the whisper of the mother.

At the age of three to four weeks, the child begins to prepare for the transition to the next, higher stage of development. At this time, a peculiar complex reaction appears, expressed in the general revival of the child in the presence of a person. This reaction among researchers has been called the "revive reaction". The development of this reaction begins with the fact that, in response to the approach of the speaking person, the child begins to smile and he develops a general positive direction, which is not yet differentiated. That is, the first signs of object perception begin to appear in the child.

Thus, the main characteristics of this stage are: myelination of nerve fibers; formation of the simplest behavioral acts and orienting reactions; the emergence of a reaction of "revival" ...

Early infancy (2 to 6 months). At this stage of mental development, the child begins to operate with objects and his perception is formed. It all starts with attempts to grab or feel an object with simultaneous visual fixation on this object, which leads to the formation of visual-tactile connections that underlie object perception. The child operates with objects most actively (with simultaneous visual fixation) at the age of five to six months, so it can be assumed that at this age there is a rapid development of the processes of perception. Moreover, by this time the child can already sit on his own, which provides him with further development of movements when reaching for objects. At the same time, the child begins to recognize people and things. Visual concentration and visual expectation develop.

Thus, the main feature of this stage is the development of actions with objects and processes of objective perception.

Late infancy (from 6 to 12-14 months). In the second half of the first year of life, the child masters new actions, which is associated with a change in his attitude to the world around him. At the seventh month of life, the child already has well-developed manual object movements. He can take an object, bring it to his mouth, push it away. In this case, the child can sit down on his own, roll over from his stomach to his back; he begins to crawl, rises, trying to cling to the surrounding objects. Thus, strengthening the musculoskeletal system leads to the development of the child's range of motion, which in turn is a prerequisite for an increase in the flow of information from the environment. All this leads to an increase in the independence of the child. His relationships with adults are increasingly acquiring the form of joint activity, in which the adult most often prepares the child's action, and the child performs the action itself. With the help of such interaction, it is already possible to establish communication with the child through objects. For example, an adult moves an object towards a child - the child takes it. The child moves the object away from himself - the adult removes it.

Consequently, the child's activity in a given period of development is no longer controlled by the perception of individual objects or their combination, but by a complex correlation of the child's own objective action and the adult's action. On this basis, the child begins to have the first comprehension of objects. In the course of the established “objective” contact, the child begins to form speech. He increasingly begins to respond with action to the word of an adult. Somewhat later, the child develops gestures addressed to an adult, while the child's actions are increasingly accompanied by sounds denoting something objective.

Another important difference of this age is that in the process of objective communication with an adult, a child becomes capable of non-impulsive imitation of adults. As a result, the child begins to imitate the adult more consciously, which indicates that the child has the opportunity to master socially developed methods of action. This, in turn, ensures the appearance at the end of this stage of specifically human motor operations with objects. During these operations, the thumb is opposed to the rest, which is typical only for humans. Gradually, the child begins to grasp and hold objects with his hand in an increasingly perfect way. By the end of the period, the child masters independent walking.

Thus, the main characteristics of this period are: a change in relations with the outside world on the basis of objective communication; comprehension of objects and the appearance of the first signs of speech; the appearance of non-impulsive imitation of adults and the development of specifically human motor operations with objects; learning to walk independently.

The pre-preschool age (from 1 to 3 years) is characterized by the emergence and initial development of a child's specifically human, social in nature activity and a form of conscious reflection of reality specific to a person. The essence of the main changes in the child's psyche during this period lies in the fact that the child masters a human relationship to the world of objects that directly surrounds him. Moreover, the knowledge of the properties of objects is carried out by the child through imitation of the actions of adults with them, i.e. cognition of objects occurs simultaneously with the comprehension of their functions. Mastering the functions of objects in a child occurs in two ways. On the one hand, this is the development of the simplest skills, such as the possession of a spoon, a cup, etc. Another form of mastering objects is manipulating them during the game.

The appearance of the game marks a new stage in the development of the child's psyche. He already learns the world not only when interacting with an adult, but also on his own.

On this basis, the child also masters words, which are also perceived by him primarily as denoting an object with its functions. At the same time, in the course of the game, speech increasingly becomes included in the activity, more and more often it begins to perform the function of not only designating objects, but also a means of communication. However, a distinctive feature of the child's games at this age in comparison with the next stage - the stage of preschool age - is the absence of an imaginary situation in the game. When manipulating objects, the child simply imitates the actions of adults without filling them with content, but in the process of playing, the child intensively develops perception, the ability to analyze and generalize, i.e. there is an intensive formation of mental functions. By the end of this stage, the child's activity is already evoked not only by a direct encounter with the object, but also by the intentions of the child himself. At this time, the child seeks to perform an ever larger range of known actions. The frequent appearance of the phrase "I myself" marks the beginning of a new stage in the development of the child's psyche.

Consequently, the main features of the child's mental development at this stage are in mastering the attitude inherent in a person to surrounding objects, in imitating the behavior of adults and in the formation of the basic functions of thinking.

Preschool age (from 3 to 7 years). The main difference of this age is the presence of a contradiction between the child's desire for actual mastery of the world of objects and the limitations of his capabilities. At this age, the child strives to do not what he can, but what he sees or hears. However, many actions are still inaccessible to him. This contradiction is resolved in the story game. Unlike the previous age period and the manipulation game, the story game is filled with content that reflects the real content of the copied action. If earlier the child only approached the mastery of specific human relations to objects, now objects for him appear as characterizing precisely human relations and the various functions of people. To master an object for a child means to take on a certain social role - the role of a person operating this object. Therefore, story games contribute to mastering the social relationships of the world of people. It is no coincidence that story games are often called role-playing games. The sources of games are the impressions of the child, everything that he sees or hears.

In the process of role-playing, the formation of creative imagination and the ability to arbitrarily control one's behavior takes place. Role-playing games also contribute to the development of perception, memorization, reproduction and speech.

Another important feature of this stage is the process of formation of the child's personality. During this process, the character traits of the child are laid. During this period, the child quite freely masters the basic norms and rules of behavior. This is facilitated not only by story games, but also by reading fairy tales, drawing, designing, etc. According to A. N. Leontiev, at the end of this stage of development of the psyche, the child strives to master socially significant activities. Thus, he begins to enter a new stage of his development, characterized by the performance of certain duties.

Junior school age (from 7 to 12 years). Entering school characterizes a new stage in the development of the child's psyche. Now his system of relations with the outside world is determined not only by relationships with adults, but by relationships with peers. In addition, he now has responsibilities to society. His future, his place in society depends on the fulfillment of these duties.

It should be noted that the child studied at the previous stages of his development, but only now does study appear to him as an independent activity. During the school years, learning activities begin to occupy a central place in a child's life. All major changes in mental development observed at this stage are primarily related to learning.

The main pattern of mental development at this stage is the mental development of the child. The school makes serious demands on the attention of the child, in connection with which there is a rapid development of arbitrary (controlled) attention, arbitrary purposeful observation. Education at school makes no less serious demands on the memory of the child. Now the child must not only memorize, he must memorize correctly, being active in mastering the educational material. In this regard, the productivity of the child's memory greatly increases, although during the first period of learning, memory retains a predominantly figurative, concrete character. Therefore, children literally memorize even the textual material that does not need to be learned by heart.

The thinking of children develops especially intensively at primary school age. If at the age of seven or eight years the child's thinking is concrete, based on visual images and ideas, then in the process of learning, his thinking acquires new features. It becomes more connected, coherent and logical. At the same time, a child at this age has a rapid development of speech, which is largely due to the mastery of written speech. He not only develops a more correct understanding of words, but he learns to use grammatical categories correctly.

In the process of learning, the child develops his personality. First of all, his interests change. Children's interests, due to the development of cognitive processes, are replaced by educational interests. Children show an increased interest in learning new material, especially in the primary grades. They listen with great interest to stories about animals, travel, etc.

The team plays an extremely important role in shaping the personality of the child. Having started to study at school, the child for the first time is faced with a situation where the peers around him are united by a certain goal and certain responsibilities are assigned to them. For the first time he encounters the concepts of "collective" and "collective responsibility". All the people who surrounded him earlier, including children in kindergarten, were not a team. The main socially significant unit for the child was the family.

Another feature of this period is that at its final stage there is a division of activity into "male" and "female". Boys are increasingly interested in men's activities, and girls in women's.

Thus, primary school age is characterized by the rapid development of all cognitive mental processes, the continuing formation of personality, and the acquisition of the first experience of adaptation in a team.

Adolescence and the beginning of adolescence (from 13-14 to 17-18 years old) is characterized by the continuation of education. At the same time, the child is increasingly included in the life of society. At this time, the orientation of the child, depending on gender, towards “male” and “female” activities is completed. Moreover, striving for self-realization, the child begins to show success in a particular type of activity, to express thoughts about the future profession.

At the same time, there is a further development of cognitive mental processes and the formation of personality. In the process of personality formation, the interests of the child change. They become more differentiated and persistent. Educational interests are no longer of paramount importance. The child begins to focus on "adult" life.

It should also be noted that the formation of personality during this period is influenced by the process of puberty. A young person has a rapid development of the body, the activity of individual organs (for example, the heart) undergoes certain changes. The sexual identification of a teenager is completed.

Under the influence of the whole complex of factors, a change in the psychological appearance of the child occurs. In the behavior of boys, masculine traits are more and more noticeable, and women's behavioral stereotypes are increasingly manifested in girls.

It should be noted that the development of the psyche does not end in adolescence. A certain dynamics of mental development is also noted at a later time. Therefore, in modern psychology, it is customary to distinguish two more periods: the acmeological period of development, or the period of adulthood, and the period of gerontogenesis.

In contact with

Topic 4. Development of the child's psyche

1. The concept of "development of the psyche".

2. Factors in the development of the child's psyche.

3. Development and training.

1. The concept of "development of the psyche"

The concept of “development”, characterized by qualitative changes, differs significantly from the concepts of “growth”, “maturation”, and “improvement”, which are often found both in everyday thinking and in scientific texts.

The development of the human psyche has all the properties of development as a category of philosophy, namely - irreversible nature of changes, their direction(i.e. the ability to accumulate changes) and regular character. Consequently, the development of the psyche is a natural change in mental processes over time, expressed in their quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations.

In order to fully understand the mental development of a person, it is necessary to consider the length of the distance over which it takes place. Depending on this, at least four series of changes can be distinguished: phylogenesis, ontogenesis, anthropogenesis and microgenesis.

Phylogenesis- the development of a species, the limiting time distance, including the emergence of life, the origin of species, their change, differentiation and continuity, i.e. all biological evolution, starting with the simplest and ending with man.

Ontogenesis- individual development of a person, which begins from the moment of conception and ends with the end of life. The prenatal phase (development of the embryo and fetus) occupies a special position due to the dependence of vital functions on the maternal organism.

Anthropogenesis- the development of mankind in all its aspects, including cultural, part of the phylogeny, starting with the emergence of Homo sapies and ending today.

microgenesis- actual genesis, the shortest time distance covering the "age" period during which short-term mental processes take place, as well as detailed sequences of actions (for example, the behavior of the subject when solving creative problems). For a developmental psychologist, it is important to find out the mechanism of transformation of microgenesis into ontogenesis, i.e. to understand what are the psychological conditions for the appearance of certain psychological neoplasms in people of the same age, profession, social class, etc.

In developmental psychology, there are also types of development. These include preformed type and unpreformed type development. A preformed type of development is a type when at the very beginning, both the stages that the organism will go through and the final result that it will achieve are set, fixed, fixed. An example is embryonic development. In the history of psychology there has been an attempt to represent mental development on the principle of embryonic development. This is the concept of S. Hall, in which mental development was considered as a brief repetition of the stages of mental development of animals and ancestors of modern man.

An unpreformed type of development is a development that is not predetermined in advance. This is the most common type of development on our planet. It includes the development of the Galaxy, the Earth, the process of biological evolution, the development of society, as well as the process of human mental development. Distinguishing between preformed and unpreformed types of development, L.S. Vygotsky attributed the mental development of the child to the second type.

To study the mental development of a person means to solve the problems of describing, explaining, predicting and correcting this development.

Description of development involves the presentation of numerous facts, phenomena, processes of mental development in its entirety (from the point of view of external behavior and internal experiences). Unfortunately, a lot of developmental psychology is at the level of description.

Explain development- means to identify the causes, factors and conditions that led to the changes in behavior and experience (the answer to the question “why did this happen”?). The explanation is based on a causal relationship scheme, which can be: 1) strictly unambiguous (which is extremely rare); 2) probabilistic (statistical, with varying degrees of deviation); 3) to be absent altogether; 4) single (which is extremely rare); 5) multiple (which usually takes place in the study of development).

Development Forecast is hypothetical in nature, since it is based on an explanation, on establishing links between the result that has occurred and possible causes (answers the question “what will this lead to”?). If this connection is established, then the fact of its existence allows us to consider that the totality of the identified causes will necessarily entail a consequence. This is the essence of the forecast.

Development Correction It is the management of the effect by changing the possible causes.

2. Factors in the development of the child's psyche

In psychology, many theories have been created that explain the mental development of the child and its origins in different ways. They can be combined into two large directions - biologization and sociologization.

In the biologization direction the child is regarded as a biological being, endowed by nature with certain abilities, character traits, forms of behavior, heredity determines the entire course of his development - and its pace, fast or slow, and its limit - whether the child is gifted, achieves a lot or turns out to be mediocrity. The environment in which the child is brought up becomes just a condition for such an initial predetermined development, as if manifesting what was given to the child before his birth.

Within the framework of the biologization direction, recapitulation theory(S. Hall), main idea which taken from embryology. The embryo (human embryo) during its intrauterine existence goes from a simple two-celled organism to a human being. In the monthly embryo, one can already recognize a representative of the type of vertebrates - it has a large head, gills and tail; at two months, it begins to take on a human appearance, fingers are outlined on its flipper-like limbs, the tail is shortened; by the end of 4 months, the features of a human face appear in the embryo.

E. Haeckel (Darwin's student) a law was formulated: ontogenesis (individual development) is an abbreviated repetition of phylogenesis (historical development).

Transferred to developmental psychology, the biogenetic law made it possible to present the development of the child's psyche as a repetition of the main stages of biological evolution and the stages of the cultural and historical development of mankind (S. Hall).

The opposite approach to the development of the child's psyche is observed in the sociological direction. Its origins are in the ideas of the 17th century philosopher John Locke. He believed that a child is born with a pure soul, like a white wax board (tabula rasa). On this board, the educator can write anything, and the child, not burdened by heredity, will grow up the way close adults want to see him.

Ideas about the unlimited possibilities of shaping the personality of a child have become quite widespread. Sociologising ideas were in tune with the ideology that prevailed in our country until the mid-80s, so they can be found in many pedagogical and psychological works of those years.

What is meant by biological and social factors of development at the present time?

The biological factor includes, first of all, heredity. There is no consensus on what exactly in the psyche of the child is genetically determined. Domestic psychologists believe that at least two points are inherited - temperament and the makings of abilities.

Hereditary inclinations give originality to the process of development of abilities, facilitating or hindering it. The development of abilities is greatly influenced by the child's own activity.

The biological factor, in addition to heredity, includes the features of the course of the prenatal period of a child's life and the birth process itself.

The second factor is the environment. The natural environment affects the mental development of the child indirectly - through the traditional types of labor activity in this natural area and culture, which determine the system of raising children. The social environment directly affects the development, in connection with which the environmental factor is often called social.

Psychology also raises the question of the relationship between biological and social factors influencing the child's mental development. William Stern put forward the principle of convergence of two factors. In his opinion, both factors are equally significant for the mental development of the child and determine its two lines. These lines of development intersect, i.e. convergence occurs (from the Latin - to approach, to converge). Modern ideas about the relationship between the biological and the social, adopted in domestic psychology, are mainly based on the provisions of L.S. Vygotsky.

L.S. Vygotsky emphasized the unity of hereditary and social elements in the process of development. Heredity is present in the development of all the child's mental functions, but it seems to have a different proportion. Elementary functions (beginning with sensations and perception) are more determined by heredity than higher ones (arbitrary memory, logical thinking, speech). Higher functions are a product of the cultural and historical development of a person, and hereditary inclinations here play the role of prerequisites, and not moments that determine mental development. The more complex the function, the longer the path of its ontogenetic development, the less the influence of heredity affects it.

The unity of hereditary and social influences is not a permanent unity given once and for all, but a differentiated unity that changes in the process of development itself. The mental development of a child is not determined by the mechanical addition of two factors. At each stage of development, in relation to each sign of development, it is necessary to establish a specific combination of biological and social moments, to study its dynamics.

3. Development and training

Social environment is a broad concept. This is the society in which the child grows up, its cultural traditions, the prevailing ideology, the level of development of science and art, the main religious movements. The system of upbringing and education of children adopted in it depends on the characteristics of the social and cultural development of society, starting with public and private educational institutions (kindergartens, schools, art houses, etc.) and ending with the specifics of family education. The social environment is also the immediate social environment that directly affects the development of the child's psyche: parents and other family members, kindergarten teachers, school teachers, etc.

Outside the social environment, the child cannot develop - cannot become a full-fledged personality. An example is the cases of "Mowgli children".

Children deprived of a social environment cannot fully develop. There is a concept in psychology "sensitive periods of development"- periods of greatest sensitivity to certain kinds of influences.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, during sensitive periods, certain influences affect the entire development process, causing profound changes in it. At other times the same conditions may be neutral; even their reverse influence on the course of development may appear. The sensitive period should coincide with the optimal training period. Therefore, it is important not to miss the sensitive period, to give the child what is needed for his full development at this time.

In the process of learning, the child is given social and historical experience. The question of whether training affects the development of the child, and if it does, then how, is one of the main ones in developmental psychology. Biologists do not attach much importance to learning. For them, the process of mental development - spontaneous process flowing according to its own special internal laws, and external influences cannot radically change this flow.

For psychologists who recognize the social factor of development, learning becomes a fundamentally important moment. Sociologists equate development and learning.

L.S. Vygotsky put forward the proposition about the leading role of education in mental development. The development of the psyche cannot be considered outside the social environment in which the assimilation of sign means takes place, and cannot be understood outside of education.

External mental functions are first formed in joint activities, cooperation, communication with other people and gradually move into the internal plan, they become internal mental processes of the child. As L.S. Vygotsky, “every function in the cultural development of a child appears on the stage twice, on two planes, first social, then psychological, first between people ... then inside the child.”

When the higher mental function is formed in the process of learning, the joint activity of a child with an adult, it is in "zone of proximal development". This concept is introduced by L.S. Vygotsky to designate the area of ​​not yet mature, but only maturing mental processes. When these processes are formed and turn out to be “yesterday of development”, they can be diagnosed using test tasks. By fixing how successfully the child copes with these tasks on his own, we determine current level of development. Potential possibilities of the child, i.e. the zone of his proximal development can be determined in joint activities, helping him complete a task that he still cannot cope with on his own (by asking leading questions; explaining the principle of the solution; starting to solve the problem and offering to continue, etc.). Children with the current level of development may have different potentialities.

Education should focus on the zone of proximal development. Training, according to L.S. Vygotsky, leads development. S.L. Rubinstein, clarifying the position of L.S. Vygotsky, suggests talking about unity of development and learning.

Education must correspond to the capabilities of the child at a certain level of his development, the realization of these capabilities in the course of training generates new opportunities for the next higher level. “The child does not develop and be brought up, but develops, being brought up and learning,” writes S.L. Rubinstein. This provision coincides with the provision on the development of the child in the process activities.

Tasks for independent work

1. Give examples of the influence of the environment on the development of the child's personality as a social being.

1. Development of the personality of the child / Per. from English. - M., 1987.

2. Elkonin D.B. Introduction to child psychology // Selected works. psychol. tr. - M., 1989.

3. Vygotsky L.S. Problems of the development of the psyche: Collected works: In 6 volumes - M., 1983. - V. 3.

4. Vygotsky L.S. Problems of the development of the psyche: Collected works: In 6 volumes - M., 1983.- V.4.

5. Leontiev A.N. On the theory of the development of the child's psyche // Reader in child psychology. - M.: IPP, 1996.

6. Elkonin D.B. Mental development in childhood. - M. - Voronezh: MPSI, 1997.


The development of the child's psyche is a complex, long, continuous process that occurs due to the influence of various factors. These are social and biological factors. In this article, we will consider in detail the features of the mental development of children at different age stages and talk about what parents should pay attention to.

How is the nervous system formed?

When a baby is born, the mass of his brain is about 1/8 of his body weight. By the first year of life, the brain will double in size, and by the age of three it will already be three times larger than at birth and will be 1/13 of body weight. From this it should be understood that after birth, the brain not only does not stop growing, but it continues to actively form. So, convolutions, small and large, grooves are formed. The cerebellum, weak from birth, is actively developing. The immaturity of the brain of a newborn, however, does not affect the system of unconditioned reflexes. Congenital skills not only help the baby to eat, contact with the outside world, but also allow them to form more complex forms of activity in the future. So, from a very early age, the baby will show an undifferentiated nature of reactions. However, the development of the nervous system in the first year of his life will be the fastest and most energetic.. Further, the pace of development will be slower, but will acquire a different character and will no longer be aimed at the formation and development of the reflex system, but at the development of mental skills.

Stages of the formation of the psyche

In medicine, there are several stages in the formation of the child's psyche. Let's talk about them in more detail:

  1. motor stage. It is characterized by the acquisition of new motor system skills. Suitable for the first year of a baby's life.
  2. sensory stage. It is a continuation of the motor and is typical for the age of up to 3 years. During this period, the movement of the child becomes more conscious, confident and purposeful. In addition, sensory motor skills become a kind of base for the formation of other, more complex, mental functions.
  3. affective stage. It lasts until the child's adolescence, almost 12 years. During this period, the child's activity will acquire a more individual character and strive for the constancy of individuality.
  4. idea stage. Typical for children 12-15 years old. During this period, abstract thinking appears, concepts and conclusions become more complicated, judgments become deeper. In the mind, children begin to make preliminary plans for actions.

In certain periods of a child's life, mental disorders are possible. They are due to the excessively rapid formation of not only mental, but also physical qualities, which can result in a strain on the activity of other life-supporting systems. Changes in the hormonal background are also the cause of violations. These are crises of 3 years and 12-14 years. Of course, the age limits of these stages are conditional and can only serve as an approximate guideline. But parents should be aware of possible disorders and during this period pay special attention to their children.

A continuous and very interesting process is the cognitive development of preschoolers. The baby begins to get acquainted with the world from the first moments after...

Periods of mental development

The stages of development of the psyche listed above are divided into periods of its development, which are characteristic of a particular age. Parents of newborns need to be aware of these periods and build on this knowledge in the future in raising children. If you do not injure the child, interfere with the development of his psyche, then you will help him grow into a confident and balanced person. Remember that any fears, complexes, nervous and psychological disorders come from childhood. Even the most inconspicuous and “unimportant” events in your opinion can form fear at the subconscious level or lay the foundation for one of the features of his character. We advise you to study in detail the information about the periods of development of the psyche in children and rely on it.
So, the periods of development of the psyche:

  • The period of infancy. In the first weeks and months of life, the child is absolutely helpless and any of his needs can only be met with the help of adults. The baby can hardly interact with the outside world, he sees and hears poorly for the first time after birth. During this period, parents are required to help the baby learn the skills of “communication” with his environment as quickly as possible. For this, it is important in the first year of life to engage in the development of fine and gross motor skills, to help shape the perception of colors, to study the forms of texture, the volume of objects to the touch. Properly selected toys and regular sensorimotor exercises will stimulate the further development of the senses. The baby cannot yet distinguish himself, like the rest, from the outside world. Nor can he experience any states other than natural ones, such as hunger or pain. He is unable to understand the causes, consequences, content of any emotions and actions. Therefore, parents of babies in the first year of life should not require their child to follow any rules in games. It makes no sense to explain to a baby who has just learned to crawl that you can’t take some objects or do some actions. The kid does not yet see the meaning of words, he only has access to the concepts of indications and names.
  • The period of early childhood. A certain independence begins to form during this period, which lasts from 1 to 3 years. The kid is already actively learning to walk, then run and jump, actively explores objects and begins to learn to speak meaningfully. But the range of possibilities of the baby is still very limited, and close relatives serve as a model of behavior. In order for the baby to start doing something on his own, he must first see how others do it. Together with mom and dad, he will be happy to study a variety of subjects and play different games. At the same time, without the involvement of adults, he will not engage in games himself. During early childhood, a small person makes important psychic discoveries. Thus, the purpose of objects is comprehended, the child begins to understand that things and actions have a meaning. And in order to comprehend this meaning, you need to learn how to manipulate objects correctly. But the most important aspect of the development of the psyche during this period is the process of the child's awareness of his "I". Gradually, he will begin to separate his own actions from the actions of adults, he will be able to "see" himself. Self-esteem, self-awareness will begin to form. And from here there will be a need for independence and failure to follow the instructions of adults. By the end of the period, a crisis of 3 years may appear, which we talked about above in the material.

  • Early childhood period. During this period, the child enters after overcoming the crisis of 3 years.     The kid already knows how to act autonomously, independently, he has a certain self-esteem. He moves well and already has a fairly developed speech, which allows the child at certain moments to feel “on a par” with adults. However, the kid intuitively understands that most of the actions of adults are not based on skills, but have a semantic meaning. That is, an adult does something not because he knows how to do it, but because he has some reason for it. Hence, the formation of the motivational-consumer sphere becomes the main task of this period. How can adults help in this matter? The answer is simple! If possible, play role-playing games with the baby every day. Remember that in early preschool age, the best way for a child to learn information is through play. This is how you can model the “adult world” and transfer some life situations into it, and then do it the other way around. By the way, the use of substitutes for real objects in games actively helps the development of abstract thinking and imagination. This feature of the development of the child's psyche is very important to take note of for those parents who like to buy all modern toys. Remember, for the development of the sign-symbolic function and imagination, it is better to give the baby, for example, a wooden block for playing "mobile phone" than a real phone.
  • The period of senior preschool age. In the period of preparation for school, the baby acquires new features of the psyche. He is already more independent from adults, independent, learning to take responsibility for his actions. At this time, there is a great need to communicate with other children of the same age. Children learn to understand certain principles and patterns in scientific experiments, they can form logical conclusions. In order to qualitatively prepare a child for school, parents need to teach him “good habits” and the ability to perceive information by ear. Habits include elementary rules of self-care, polite attitude towards others. At the same time, it is important not just to teach a child, for example, to help the elderly, but to explain the motivation and reason for such help. The perception of information by ear will help the development of memory and abstract thinking, which is very important for success in school.
  • Junior school age. Between the ages of 7 and 11, almost every child experiences dramatic changes in their lives. School discipline, the need to build relationships in a new team, less individual attention from teachers have a strong mental impact. It is during this period that parents should be as attentive as possible to the mood, feelings of the child, should give constant emotional support. During this period, the child looks differently at his own activities. He can already evaluate his own changes, “who he was” and “who he became”, the ability to plan begins to form.
  • Adolescence. At the age of 11-14, a critical age, according to most child psychologists, begins. At the same time, the child wants to “part” with childhood, that is, to feel more mature, but at the same time, does not want to receive more responsibility. The child is ready for "adult" actions, but childhood is still attractive with its "impunity". Unconscious, irresponsible acts in defiance of parents, constant violations of boundaries and prohibitions are typical for adolescents of this period. Depending on the behavior model that the parents choose, the child may begin to understand his place in this world, engage in self-awareness, or constantly fight against the system of prohibitions and defend his “I”. The emergence of new authorities among strangers should not scare off parents. It is in the family that a child can be helped to build the right system of motivations for him.

We advise parents to be very attentive to the mental state of children at any age, but also not to forget about themselves. Remember that the main mood in the house comes from adults, children only reflect the emotions they received.

Attention has been given the status of one of the most significant components of cognitive activity. This mental process allows people to choose an object...

Children with mental retardation

ZPR (mental retardation) at the physical level may not manifest itself, therefore, up to a certain age, parents are not even aware of such a diagnosis. However, problems with social adaptation and schooling should alert them. Only a specialist can diagnose ZPR, but parents can determine it by several characteristic features.

  • First, with attention disorders. The child is constantly distracted, cannot concentrate on a specific task, shows increased motor activity.
  • Secondly, with violations of perception, when it is difficult for him to determine long-familiar objects in a new perspective, setting. Or the child may not remember the names of people he sees often. There is also a lag in the development of forms of thinking, especially in building logical chains. This also includes problems with speech, underdevelopment of the lexical and grammatical side.

The diagnosis of mental retardation itself is not an obstacle to studying in general educational programs, however, it requires adjustment, taking into account the characteristics of the child's development.

4 0

The mental development of a child is a very complex, delicate and lengthy process, which is influenced by many factors. An idea of ​​how this or that stage goes will help you not only better understand your child, but also notice developmental delays in time and take appropriate measures.

The generally accepted periodization of the development of the child's psyche was developed by the Soviet psychologist Daniil Borisovich Elkonin. Even if you have never come across his works, this system is familiar to you: annotations to children's publications often indicate that this is a work "for preschool age" or "for younger students."

Elkonin's system describes the mental development of a child from infancy to 15 years old, although some of his works indicate the age of 17 years.

According to the scientist, the characteristics of each stage of development is determined by the leading activity of the child at a particular age, within which certain mental neoplasms appear.

1. Infancy

This stage covers the period from birth to a year. The leading activity of the baby is communication with significant figures, that is, adults. Mostly mom and dad. He learns to interact with others, express his desires and respond to stimuli in ways available to him - intonation, individual sounds, gestures, facial expressions. The main goal of cognitive activity is the knowledge of relationships.

The task of parents is to teach the baby to “communicate” with the outside world as soon as possible. Games for the development of large and fine motor skills, the formation of colors will help in this. Among toys, there must be objects of various colors, sizes, shapes, textures. Up to a year, the child does not experience any experiences other than natural ones: hunger, pain, cold, thirst, and is not able to learn the rules.

2. Early childhood

It lasts from 1 year to 3 years. Manipulative-objective activity acts as the leading one. The child discovers many objects around him and seeks to explore them as soon as possible - to taste, break, etc. He learns their names and makes the first attempts to take part in the conversation of adults.

Mental neoplasms are speech and visual-effective thinking, that is, in order to learn something, he needs to see how this action is performed by one of the elders. It is noteworthy that at first, on their own, without the participation of mom or dad, the child will not play.

Features of the early childhood stage:

  1. comprehension of the names and purpose of objects, mastering the correct manipulation of a particular object;
  2. mastering the established rules;
  3. the beginning of awareness of one's own "I";
  4. the beginning of the formation of self-esteem;
  5. the gradual separation of their actions from the actions of adults and the need for independence.

Early childhood often ends with the so-called crisis of 3 years, when the child sees pleasure in disobedience, becomes stubborn, literally rebels against established rules, sharp negative reactions appear more and more often, etc.

3. Preschool age

This stage begins at age 3 and ends at age 7. The leading activity among preschoolers is a game, more precisely, a plot-role-playing game, during which children learn relationships and consequences. The personal sphere of the psyche is actively developing. Age-related neoplasms are a need for social significance and activity.

The child knows how to move independently, his speech is understandable to adults and often he feels like a full participant in communication.

  1. He understands that all actions and deeds have a specific semantic load. When teaching, for example, the rules of hygiene, explain why this is necessary.
  2. The most effective way to learn information is through play, so role-playing games should be played every day. Games should not use real objects, but their substitutes - the simpler, the better for the development of abstract thinking.
  3. A preschooler experiences an urgent need to communicate with peers, learns to interact with them.

Toward the end of the stage, the child gradually gains independence, knows how to determine a cause-and-effect relationship, is able to take responsibility for his actions, and obeys the rules if he sees their reasonableness. He learns good habits, rules of politeness, norms of relationships with others, strives to be useful, willingly makes contact.

4. Junior school age

This stage lasts from 7 to 11 years and is associated with significant changes in the life and behavior of the child. He goes to school, and the game activity is replaced by the educational one. The intellectual and cognitive sphere is actively developing. Age mental neoplasms: arbitrariness, internal action plan, reflection and self-control.

What does it mean?

  • He is able to concentrate for a long time on a specific lesson: to sit quietly at a desk and listen to the teacher's explanations.
  • Knows how to plan, perform tasks in a certain sequence, for example, when doing homework.
  • He defines the boundaries of his knowledge and reveals the reason why, for example, he cannot solve the problem, what exactly is missing for this.
  • The child learns to control his actions, for example, first do homework, then go for a walk.
  • He experiences discomfort from the fact that an adult (teacher) cannot give the amount of attention in which he is used to receiving it at home.

A younger student can more or less accurately assess the changes that have taken place with his personality: what he knew before and what he can now, learns to build relationships in a new team, obey school discipline.

The main task of parents during this period is to emotionally support the child, carefully monitor his mood, feelings, help find new friends among classmates.

5. Adolescence

This is the “transitional age”, which lasts from 11 to 15 years and the onset of which all parents are waiting with horror. The leading activity is communication with peers, the desire to find one's place in the group, get its support and at the same time stand out from the crowd. The need-motivational sphere of the psyche is mainly developing. Mental neoplasms - self-esteem, the desire for "adulthood".

A teenager is torn between the desire to grow up as soon as possible and to maintain a certain impunity for as long as possible, to relieve himself of responsibility for his actions. He learns the system of relations between the sexes, tries to build his own, rebels against prohibitions and constantly breaks the rules, fiercely defends his point of view, looks for his place in the world and at the same time surprisingly easily falls under the influence of others.

Some guys, on the contrary, go headlong into their studies, their transitional age is, as it were, “transferred” to a later time, for example, they may well begin their rebellion even after graduation.

Parents face a difficult task - to find a common language with a teenager in order to protect him from rash acts.

6. Adolescence

Some psychologists distinguish another stage in the development of the psyche - this is adolescence, from 15 to 17 years. Educational and professional activity becomes the leader. The personal and cognitive spheres are developing. During this period, a teenager grows up sharply, his decisions become more balanced, he begins to think about the future, in particular, about choosing a profession.

It is difficult to grow up at any age - at 3 years old, and at 7, and at 15 years old. Parents should understand well the peculiarities of the mental development of their child and help him successfully overcome all age-related crises, direct the formation of his character and personality in the right direction.