... on development. Behaviourists stress the role of environment and the child's past history of reinforcements (i.e., perspective of stimulus-response relationship). Nativist theories stress the critical importance of biological factors of development (i.e., inborn 'preparedness). Both, constructivists (e.g., sensori-motor schemas) and social constructivists (i.e., socio-cultural scaffolding perspective) propose that development is a discontinuous rather than a continuous process. Although social constructivist agree with the general constructivist position of the role of both maturation and learning, but stress the social nature of development, emphasizing the influence of the cultural context on development. No one theory is completely 'right' or completely 'wrong'. Each theory has contributed widely to enhance our knowledge about child development. Together these theories give us a broad picture of early relationships. Perhaps the most pervasive view concerning long -term development has been that the child's early relationships experience predetermine the individual's future. For Freud, the first five years ...

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