A child born at term with normal birth weight is a child that is expected to be healthy. Not given any type of gender or any particular racial background , the child is then put into a more general category. According to philosophers this is where the attempt to explain human development begins. "I imagine the minds of children as easily turned, this or that way, as water." This suggests that a child is easily influenced and can be influenced by environmental factors. Charles Darwin stated that the human species could be understood through observing a child's development. "The contents of children's minds on entering school" represented the first scientific work on child development. .
Psychologist John Watson had a some what similar view. Behaviorism was a term used to define his particular understanding of external influences. He believed that again children could be trained to be or do anything. To further explain his theory Watson performed an experiment which is famous today, known as "Little Albert. The experiment in observes the process of conditioning in which he explained that developmental changes are a result of learning. .
Nature versus nurture suggests that this normal newborn's development will encompass both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Basically, what is being said is that all children are naturally born to have tendencies throughout their development. Nature emphasizes not just focusing solely on the immediate family but rather the setting in which the child is developing. For the most part a child living in an environment where drugs are common, gangs are present, poverty is the norm, and a single parent home is not hard to come by. A child living in these conditions interpret things differently than the child living a totally opposite life style. On the other hand, if the child is growing up in a negative environment, but has some type of positive role model such as a parent or guardian the child has a great chance of overcoming this cycle.
