Psicologia do Desenvolvimento: há questões novas?

Psicologia desenvolvimental: questões persistentes

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to a critical analysis of some notions about childhood and the meaning of the study of development. Resorting to the work of Evelyn Thoman who, back in the eighties, has already examined and questioned some assumed notions, in her words, “myths”, that guide Developmental Psychology – the myths of the deficient neonate, of the additive competencies, of the infants’ emotional neutrality and of futurism – we reflect about their evolution and recurrence in the contemporary research and point out some directions that we have explored in our work and that we consider as promising for a criticism of those assumptions and for the redefinition of concepts such as social interaction, sociability, selectivity, bonds and peer culture.

Keywords: Developmental Psychology; childhood; social interaction; sociability; culture and play