gessel

• Arnold Gesell was interested in children’s biological maturation, and he developed a normative approach to researching child development.
• He observed large numbers of children to find the skills and abilities that most children had and his findings were used to establish norms or milestones for each developmental stage.
• He noticed that each child moved through the sequence at their own unique pace.
• Gesell believed that there are critical periods when certain experiences must occur if they are going to have an effect on later behaviour.
• Maturation- is the unfolding of an individual’s biological potential.
• Milestones- a significant stage or event in the development of something
• Developmental norms- establish typical levels of performance for the test’s target population.
• The pace that the individual develops through the sequence is influenced by innate factors, such as physical and mental development and genetics.
• He concluded that development was predetermined, and that the environment had little influence.
• If a child experiences delayed development, it is heredity rather than the result of the child’s environment and circumstances.
• Other theorists (such as Piaget and Bandura) would disagree with Gesell’s argument that intellectual development is not influenced by a child’s environment.
• Critics say that because his research is only based on a small number of white-middle class children it cannot be generalised to the rest of the population.
• The developmental milestones he established have been proven to be incorrect.