Continuity Vs. Discontinuity
At the heart of the continuity versus discontinuity debate lies the question of whether development is solely and evenly continuous, or whether it is marked by age-specific periods. Developmentalists who advocate the continuous model describe development as a relatively smooth process, without sharp or distinct stages, through which an individual must pass. Meanwhile, supporters of the discontinuous model describe development as a series of discrete stages, each of which is characterized by at least one task that an individual must accomplish before progressing to the next stage. For example, Freud, in his stage model of psychosexual development, theorized that children systematically move through oral, anal, phallic, and latency stages before reaching mature adult sexuality in the genital stage.
Proponents of stage theories of development also suggest that individuals go through critical periods, which are times of increased and favored sensitivity to particular aspects of development. For example, early childhood (the first 5 years) is a critical period for language acquisition. Thus, most adults find it difficult or impossible to master a second language during their adult years while young children raised in bilingual homes normally learn second languages easily during childhood.
Continuity vs. Discontinuity - focuses on whether the same explanations (continuity) or different explanations (discontinuity) must be used over time to explain changes in people. Continuity approaches emphasise quantitative change; discontinuity approaches emphasise qualitative change
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
Continuous theory of development: development follows a smooth progression from infancy to adulthood, with a single quantitative dimension
Discontinuous (stage) theory of development: development occurs in stages, each qualitatively different from the one before
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
A third major issue in developmental psychology is that of...
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