Need to response to classmate 150 words:
Children are not the only ones who are influenced by their environment including the people whom they are surrounded by. Adolescents, teenagers, grandparents, and adults are all impacted by their atmospheres. However, children within the ages of two to six lack not only the biological maturity of adults but also the experience based learning that comes along with aging. Each aspect of development-biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial-is not limited to the first two years of life but is a continual process, overlapping into each stage of a person's life. In this case study, the ruling that the 6 year old boy was innocent in this devastating death of his classmate can be supported by studying each of these developmental components.
The logic and reasoning behind all actions are both shaped and modified by biological brain development, particularly the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is responsible for organizing and evaluating ideas of actions (Berger, 2011, p. 215). "Young children are much less adept than adults at such social understanding and planning because the crucial functions of this part of the brain have not yet developed" (Berger, 2011, p. 215). A six year old cannot physically handle the discernment required to make decisions the way that adults can due to this shortage of physical brain growth compared to mature adults. This is not to say that a six year old completely lacks the ability to formulate and rationalize choices made, but it does however indicate that children younger than the age of seven are unable to cognize the lasting lifelong consequences their actions have on themselves and others. "Context is crucial: Stress can facilitate memory and cognitive growth if the inquiring adults are reassuring" (Berger, 2011, p. 218). Because of the family background of this particular six year old, stress is clearly a negative property in his life. As Berger (2011) states, "children whose early experience was highly stressful and who lacked nurturing caregivers may have impaired limbic systems" (p. 219).
The cognitive development of children proves that a child cannot construct felonious objectives and purposes at the young age of six years old. Vygotsky studied the aspect of social learning and determined that those in the early childhood stage are involved in guided participation with their mentors (Berger, 2011, p. 241). The mentors in this 6 year old's life are his parents and the Vygotsky's studies support the legal decision that was made in this case because guided participation reveals that children "learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations" (Berger, 2011, p. 241). Because both the grandfather and father were residing in prison at the time due to gun correlated violence, it can be drawn that the child watched his mentors take part in this kind of aggression and therefore deemed the action acceptable and even conventional.
Any aspect of development points to the fact that parental guidance and mentor influence enormously impacts the way in which children think about themselves, determine to be acceptable or unacceptable, and ultimately their actions. Psychosocial development also plays a massive role in the support of this legal ruling. Although it is still possible that a 6 year old submerged in a nurturing, caring, and healthy environment could have been the one to shoot his classmate in this heinous misconduct, the 19 year old was accurately charged with this crime because of the influence that he and his stolen gun had on the 6 year old. "Emotional regulation, moral development, and the emergence of antipathy are nowhere more apparent than in the way children learn to deal with their aggressive impulses" (Berger, 2011, p. 279). A child this young learns how to handle these hostile urges from his mentors, proving that the 19 year old who lived with the child in this case study is legally accountable for this terrible offense. "Remember that young children are not logical. Children confuse a lie and a wish because their minds are not yet logical..." (Berger, 2011, p. 281).
References
Berger, K. S. (2011). The developing person through the life span (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.