Personality Development

Abstract

The first three years of life, during which, as we have seen, the effects of early deprivation seem particularly hard to reverse, are an example of what the psychologist calls a critical period in human development. A critical period is, in fact, any stage in life during which the individual is most likely to benefit from certain kinds of learning experiences. If we are denied these experiences at the appropriate time, the learning concerned may be more difficult to achieve later on. In some instances, there may be a considerable gap in time between the critical period and the age at which the learning manifests itself. Thus children deprived of a warm and loving relationship with their care-givers in early life may find it more difficult to provide such a relationship for their own children in the future, as any veteran social worker who has watched the depressing cycle of aggressive and violent parenting styles pass from one generation to the next will readily confirm.