Summarize differences between continuous and discontinuous development

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The continuous view of development holds that infants and preschoolers respond to the world in much the same way as adults do. The difference between the immature and the mature being is simply one of amount or complexity. Continuous development is a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with. The discontinuous view of development holds that children's thoughts, emotions, and behavior differ considerably from those of adults. Discontinuous development is a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times. Children move through a series of developmental steps, each with unique features, until they reach the highest level of functioning. Theories that accept the discontinuous perspective regard development as taking place in stages. In stage theories, development is much like climbing a staircase, with each step corresponding to a more mature, reorganized way of functioning. The stage concept assumes that children undergo periods of rapid transformation as they step up from one stage to the next, alternating with plateaus during which they stand solidly within a stage. In other words, change is fairly sudden rather than gradual and ongoing.