Human Development and Personality - Essay Example

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONALITY [Insert al Affiliation] How convincing is Harris case? Why or why not? Harris case is utterly convincing as he bases his argument on psychological theories. The author strives to explicate why parents have no role in development of a child’s personality by using the context-specific socialization theory. From the analysis, through research, the author proves that dyadic relationships are of little importance in development of a child’s personality since it is the inter- and intragroup processes that takes place during a child’s cognitive development that transmits culture and assists in environmental alteration of the child’s personality.

Although the author hardly uses any numerical evidence or statistical analysis, she supports her argument through an intricate explication of the aspect that the extensive disparities in parental behaviors have never derailed the cognitive development of the child. The group behavior theory and mob psychology aspects, from the social cognitive notion, further helps to prove the point that the external environment has a great impact on a child’s cognitive development since they develop their personalities from interrelating with the surrounding environment.

Since it is widely accepted that children identify themselves with the surrounding environment and scan through for traits of their preference, the author’s inclusion of this explanation in the article increases the believability of her argument. Regardless of how convincing is Harris, what might be alternative explanations for her reasoning? An alternative explanation for Harris’ assertion that a child’s personality is shaped by the inter- and intragroup process can also be the fact that during cognitive development, a child tries to create their own identity.

Adolescents obtain contentment by developing characteristics that are distinctive. These characteristics form their identity. Additionally, the children imagine that the behaviors portrayed by their peers are specific to their age and will easily adopt them whole ignoring those of their parents (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Namy & Woolf, 2015). This is hugely explicated in social psychology where children develop their unique personalities as they strive to counter the challenges in their surrounding. References Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. L., & Woolf, N. J. (2015).

Psychology: From inquiry to understanding.