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From the perspective of a parent, seeing your child develop can be both rewarding and challenging.  Hearing your child say his or her first word, or watching your child take their first steps are memories a parent will never forget. However, why should the development of infants and children be of interest from a psychological perspective?  What information can be gained from such study, and how can this information be used to benefit others?^[1]

Two of the key goals involved in the study of infant and child development focus on:

1. Describing change – many of the studies we will examine simply involve the first step in investigation, which is description. Arnold Gesell’s study on infant motor skills, for example.
2. Explaining change – Theories provide explanations for why we change over time. For example, Erikson offers an explanation about why a two-year-old might be temperamental.

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