The area of child psychology is one of the most significant and well studied of all the branches of psychology. It aims to help with achieving a greater understanding of the behavior of children through an understanding of their minds. It deals with children who range from the prenatal(出生前的)stage right up to the stage of adolescence.

The psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) has been credited with making a major breakthrough in this area when he put forward his idea that children were not actually less intelligent than adults, rather they just thought in a different way. Preciously the development of children right from birth through to adulthood was an area that was almost completely neglected. In fact very little work was done in this area. However, interest in this field has now developed to the point of being one of the most debated of all the areas of psychology.

Despite popular belief that factors such as genetics or personal characteristics are the only determining factors that influence a youth’s behavior, this is not in fact the case. In reality, development actually includes many more factors than those contained within an individual. Factors such as environment, which can include social relationships and the surrounding culture, also play important roles. Relationships with both peers and adults will no doubt affect how children think and learn, and therefore develop. These relationships can include those that are found not only within families but also in schools and peer groups.

Culturally speaking, this factor will contribute greatly to how children develop their personality concerning the values they end up holding (perhaps for a lifetime) as well as how they view such things as traditions and customs.

Nowadays, psychologists have agreed that a child’s psychology is both unique and highly complex. However, there are debates on many different points in this field and many viewpoints exist.

小题1:The word “neglected” underlined in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “______”.

A．ignored

B．destroyed

C．developed

D．explored小题2:What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Popular belief about child psychology.

B．The role families play in a child’s development.

C．Factors that affect a child’s development.

D．The importance of relationships to a child.小题3:The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.

A．introduce an important psychologist.

B．give a brief introduction to child psychology.

C．compare some of the areas of psychology.

D．explain the development in psychology.