TOWARD THE PROBLEM OF STAGES IN THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Abstract

The aim of the article is to argue about the naturalistic and evolutionary concept of mental development, especially in theoretical models that strongly defend a conception of  human mental development into stages, relating chronological age and intra and interindividual changes. Such theoretical models dichotomize child psychology in need-motivational and cognitive-intellectuals aspects. Intending to surpass this dichotomy Elkonin considers that human mental development is better understood as a dialectical movement between the assimilation, for the child, since its birth, of the objectives, reasons and norms of human relations  and for the acquisition and internalization of the sociocultural and historically evolved modes of action with objects, within a social group. This dialectical perspective of understanding the development allows: 1. to see the process of mental development as an ascending spiral, rather than linearly, 2. to explain the functional significance of the different periods of development, clarifying their transitional patterns and 3. it serves as an aid in resolving the question of the susceptibility of the various stages of child development to particular types of influence.