PSY210H1 Lecture Notes - Industrial Revolution, Nonperson
Document Summary
Developmental psychology is about learning how individuals are different. The ancient view regarding children was that they saw children as slaves, property, or animals that had to be socialised and turned into people. They believed that children or young individuals could not be considered people. All these reason indicate that children cannot be held accountable for their actions and why we deny children legal and moral responsibility at such a age. We start as blank slates when we are born, waiting to be written upon. Hence in a sense we start from zero and eventually get to what we call a. With the advent of christianity, the status of children changed. Christianity described children being similar to what adam and eve were before they fell from grace (innocent, valuable, and pure). Christianity began to define children as sacred and vaulable beings. The view of john locke was that children are no differnet in kind from us but rather in degree.