Domestic Violence and Developmental Psychology Essay

Domestic Violence and Developmental Psychology - Essay Example The Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System of the London Family Court Clinic Inc has published several research studies about domestic violence that take into account the perspectives of developmental psychology as a working framework. Baker, Jaffe, Ashbourne, and Carter published "An Early Childhood Educator's Handbook" with the title of "Children Exponed to Domestic Violence". Cunningham and Baker published a comprehensive study entitled "What About Me Seeking to Understand a Child's View on Violence in the Family". These works are very helpful to deal with the issue of domestic violence from the point of view of developmental psychology since they take a humanistic psychology standpoint. It is important to note that humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950's as the "third force" in Psychology (Association for Humanistic Psychology, 2001; Van Wagner, 2008b). The "first force" was behavioral psychology, and the "second force" was psychoanalysis. Now the "fourth force" seems to be transpersonal psychology or spiritual psychology (Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 2003). But the research studies by the London Family Court Clinic Inc mentioned above take a humanistic psychology standpoint when they undertake their developmental psychology approach on domestic violence. ... The name Humanistic Psychology was finally chosen to acknowledge indebtedness both to classical humanism of ancient Greece and to the great humanist scholars of the Renaissance. Humanistic psychology rejected the medical sickness model and embraced a growth and emancipation model of healing. These ideas were echoed in the radical psychiatry of R. D. Laing and the anti-psychiatry movements of David Cooper in the U.K., Thomas Szaz in the U.S.A., and Franco Basaglia in Italy." (2005, p. 2). In this sense, the point is to deal with psychology from the point of view of health, not of illness. On the other hand, developmental psychology is described in the following terms by Van Wagner: "Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development. () The scientific study of development is important not only to psychology, but also to sociology, education, and health care. Development does not just involve the biological and physical aspects of growth, but also the cognitive and social aspects associated with development throughout life." (2008a) (See also Hola.co.uk, 2006). The main issues of developmental psychology are enumerated as follows by Van Wagner: "Nature vs. Nurture () "Early Experience vs. Later Experience () "Continuity vs. Discontinuity () "Abnormal Behavior vs. Individual Differences (2008a). On the issue of domestic violence, the following terms are explained by Baker, Jaffe, Ashbourne, and Carter: "Domestic violence