Basic Facts, Principles and Theories of Human Development

 Basic Facts,  Principles, and Theories of Human Development

Key Concepts in Human Growth and Development

1. Growth - the quantitative changes  that take place within the organism

2. Development- the qualitative (orderly, progressive coherent) changes in the various aspects of the organism-the psycho-social, mental physical, and emotional.

3. Maturation – the gradual unfolding of the innate characteristics of an individual.

4. Heredity – the transmission of genetic characteristics from the parents to the offspring.

5. Environment – includes all the conditions inside and outside the organism that in any way influence behavior, growth and development.

6.  Learning – a relatively permanent change in the behavior of an individual which comes as a result of practice and experience.

7.  Significant others – are the persons that exert an influence on the growth and development of an individual.

8.  Behaviors – those activities (feelings, attitudes, mental processes, or events) of an organism that can be observed by another organism.

9.   Motivation –refers to the activating states directing a person toward the attainment of specific needs or goals.

10. Homeostasis – the tendency of the body’s system to maintain an optimal state or level of organic function.

Principles of Growth and Development

1.  Normative sequence – physical, motor, mental and social-emotional development takes place in a certain order even though speed varies from one individual to another.

2.    Differentiation and integration - global patterns of behavior are broken into the smallest ones, and the smallest ones are put together into larger ones.

3.  Developmental direction – growth and size and development of motor control take place in a cephalo-caudal or head-to-tail direction, motor control also taking a proximodistal or midline to extremities direction.

4.  Optimal tendency – the organism grows as though seeking a target to be reached by using any available resources.

5. Critical periods – at a certain limited time in its development, the organism is most able to make use of certain environments or experiences and most vulnerable to certain other environments and experiences.

6. Epigenesis – growth builds upon the organism that is already there, transforming it but preserving some continuity

7. Dynamic Interrelations – different measures of growth correlate imperfectly with each other, suggesting some general overall controlling factors and some independent controls.

8. Variations of rates and terminals – different measures of growth and different completed growth are shown by different tissues, by individuals, and by the two sexes.

10.  Growth is unique.

11.  There are less predictable patterns of development with increasing age.

12.  Development proceeds from general to specific responses.

13.  Each developmental phase has traits and characteristics of that phase.

14.  Development follows a pattern.

15.  Every individual normally passes through each major stage of development.

Direction of Development

1. Dependence to self-direction

2. Pleasure to reality

3. Ignorance to knowledge

4. Incompetence to competence

5. Diffused to articulated self-identity

6. Amoral to moral

Principles of Maturation

In addition to the principles of development, there are also principles of maturation.

1.   Principles of Directionality. Development governed by maturation has a clear directionality. In the case of fetal development, there are two directions: development proceeds from the head downward (cephalocaudal) and from the trunk outward (proximodistal). Thus the head and the trunk develop first, but the arms and legs develop before the feet because they are closer to the head.

2. Principles of Functional Asymmetry. Humans have a tendency to develop asymmetrically.  For example, handedness; everyone has a preferred side usually the right. We write with the hand on the preferred side, throw a ball with that hand, kick with the feet on that side, and so on. Accompanying such motor asymmetry is an equivalent neural asymmetry; if you are left-handed your right brain is more dominant.

3. Principles of Self-regulating Fluctuation. Development does not proceed at the same even pace along all fronts simultaneously. For example, the child does not usually begin talking extensively until he has learned to walk.

Educational Implications of Developmental Tasks

Knowledge of the principles of growth and development is important for three reasons: 

1. It helps us to know what to expect and when to expect it. Otherwise, there would be a tendency to expect too much or too little of a child at a given age.

2. It gives the adults information as to when to stimulate and when not to stimulate growth in the child. It gives a basis for planning the environmental encouragement that must be offered and the correct timing of this encouragement. For example, the child who is beginning to walk must be given the opportunity to practice walking and the necessary motivation.

3. It makes it possible for parents, teachers, and others who work with children to prepare the child ahead for the changes that will take place in his body, his interests, or his behavior.  While this psychological preparation will not eliminate the tensions that normally accompany adjustment, at least they would be minimized. A child who is prepared for what will be expected of him when he enters school, for example, makes better adjustments in school than a child who had no foreknowledge of what to expect.

Developmental Tasks

Robert Havighurst, a  well-known developmental psychologist, introduced social expectations for each stage of development,  labeled as developmental tasks. These are skills and patterns of behavior every cultural group expects to master or acquire at various ages during the life span. These tasks are physical, cultural, and psychological in nature. According to him, failure to attain the task associated with particular stage results in the unhappiness of the individual, disapproval by society, and difficulty with the later tasks. 

The concept of developmental tasks is important because it tells us what to teach at various stages of development.

Major Developmental Stages in Life Span 

Developmental Stage	Characteristics
1. Pre-natal (Conception to Birth)	Age when heredity endowments and sex are fixed and all body features, both external and internal are developed.
2. Infancy (Birth to 2 years)	Foundation age;  basic behavior patterns are organized and many ontogenetic maturational skills emerge; locomotion is established and rudimentary language developed; social attachments
Early Childhood (2 to 6 years) Late Childhood (6 to 12 years)	Pre-gang, exploratory, and questioning, when language and elementary reasoning are acquired and initial socialization is experienced; Sex typing; group play, ends with readiness for schooling Gang and creativity age when self-help skills, social skills, and play skills are developed.

5. Adolescence (puberty to 18 years)	Transition age from childhood to adulthood;  sex maturation and rapid physical development occur resulting to change in ways of feeling, thinking, and acting; attainment of the highest level of cognition; independence from parents, sexual relationship
6. Early Adulthood ( 18 to 40 years)	Age of adjustment to new patterns of life and new roles such as a spouse, parent, and breadwinner; career reaches the highest level
7. Middle Age ( 40 to retirement)	Transition age is when adjustments to initial physical and mental decline are experienced.
8. Old Age (retirement to death)	Retirement age;  increasingly rapid physical and mental decline is experienced; enjoy family achievements; dependency, widowhood, poor health

Theories of Child Development 

1. Behavioristic Theories 

   1.1     These theories are rooted in the philosophy of John Locke, who viewed children 

             arriving in the world as a blank slate. The slate would be written by

             education, which would consist of a series of rewards and punishments.

    1.2     Historically, behaviorists have believed that learning comes about because a 

              person receives a reward or reinforcement for an action or a correct response

              to a particular stimulus.

    1.3     Other behaviorists are called associationists and see learning as the result of   

              the association between events.

    1.4     Among the proponents of this theory are Skinner, Thorndike, Bandura, Walters

              , and Watson.

2. Nativistic Theory 2. 1 This theory believes that the child will learn given proper time to develop. The child’s outward behaviors indicate readiness. Hastening the process would be undesirable and detrimental, if not impossible. Among the proponents of this theory are Rousseau, Hall, Gesell, Pestalozzi, and Comenius. 3. Psychoanalytic Theories 3.1 Freudian Theory 3.1.1 Viewed children as having human sexual energy and believed that as they grow and develop, this energy was invested in different ways. 3.1.2 Three structures explain a personality, namely: the id (instinctive structure), ego (rational structure), and the superego (moral or ethical structure) 3.1.3 Children go through distinct development stages called psychosexual stages which reflect the development of gratification zones.

3.1.3.1   Oral stage (first year of life ) reflects the infant's need for

           gratification from the mouth.

3.1.3.2   Anal stage (second to the third year) reflects the toddler's need for

gratification from the rectal area.

3.1.3.3   Phallic stage (four and five years) reflects the preschooler’s 

gratification from the genitals.

3.1.3.4   Latency stage (middle years) is a repression of sexuality ending

during the preadolescence years.

3.1.3.5   Genital stage (beginning at puberty) adolescents develop an 

           awareness of their own sexuality and need for gratification.

3.2.     Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory

3.2.1     A person undergoes 8 psychosocial stages of development. In each stage of development, there is a crisis that needs to be resolved, positively or negatively, depending on the person’s experiences.

3.2.1.1 Basic trust vs. mistrust (Birth- 1 ½ years)

The new baby interacts with his parents. If the parents are reliable and consistent in their handling of the child, he comes to feel that he can rely on them, and trust them. In short, the kind of mothering, the individual receives will determine, whether trust or mistrust will develop.  

3.2.1.2 Autonomy vs. shame and doubt ( 1 ½ to 3 years)

The major issue is autonomy - the ability to do as one pleases and not to be pushed around by others. At the same time, he worries, about whether he is capable of doing the things he wants to do. If the child is ridiculed for his efforts to be independent, he may develop shame and doubt.

3.2.1.3 Initiative vs. guilt ( 3 – 5 ½ years) 

The child makes plans and works toward a goal. This is also known as the “ play age”. Children should be allowed to do things at their own pace and should be commended for their efforts. 

3.2.1.4 Industry vs. inferiority (5 ½ - 12 years)

Children industriously apply themselves to learning the skills that society requires of them. It is a period of ego growth as they become more sure of their abilities It is also a period in which feelings of inferiority are common.

3.2.1.5 Identity vs. Role Confusion (13 - 20 years)

Adolescents must develop an identity of their own, apart from their family identity. At the same time, they are faced with a rapidly changing physical appearance, and with the necessity to start making decisions that will determine the course of their lives.

If they do not feel at ease with their bodies, do not have a sense of where they are going, and do not feel accepted by the significant others in their lives, these are signs that they are experiencing an identity crisis.

3.2.1.6 Intimacy vs. Isolation (20 – 45 years)

The consequences of the adult’s attempt at reaching out to make contact with others may result in intimacy (a commitment – sexual emotional and moral – to other persons) or else in isolation from close personal relationships. If young adults engage in combative relationships with the same people they love, the feeling of isolation develops.

3.2.1.7 Generativity vs. self-absorption

At this stage, one’s life experiences may extend the focus of concern beyond oneself to family, society, or future generations. People who feel that they play a role in molding future generations, raising children, and are productive in their careers will resolve this crisis positively.

3.2.1.8 Integrity vs. despair (old age)

One looks back on what it has been about and ahead to the unknown death. If the person feels that time is running out on him, and he has not done what he wants to do in life, the feeling of despair is experienced. On the other hand, if the person feels happy with what he has achieved in life, he experiences ego integrity. 

4.    4. Interactionist Theories

Knowledge is created as children interact with their social and physical environment.

1. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

4.1.1     Sensorimotor  Period (Birth – 2 years)

The basic mode of operation is through the senses and muscles. Children learn their world by manipulating and exploring through the use of their bodies. Children engage in imaginative play and egocentric thinking.

  

2. Preoperational Period (2 - 7  years)

Piaget describes cognitive development during early childhood as the period of pre-operational thought. At this stage, children are highly perceptual, and thinking is egocentric and irreversible.

3.  Concrete operational stage (7 – 12 years). 

  Children began to think deductively and form concepts of space, and time, and categorize objects. Thinking becomes more logical and systematic. 

4. Formal operational stage (12 years onward)

Children are capable of hypothetical thinking and are able to solve problems and combine information from different sources.

5. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development 5.1 Level I. Preconventional Morality Judgments are based on external criteria. Standards of right or wrong are absolute and laid down by authority. Stage 1 – Punishment/obedience orientation Behavior is based on the desire to avoid physical punishment Stage 2 – Naïve, egoistic orientation. Actions are based on satisfying one’s personal needs. Level II. Conventional Morality Morality of conventional role conformity. Moral value resides in performing good or right roles, in maintaining the conventional order and expectancies of others. Stage 3 –– Good Child Morality Good behavior is that which pleases others; judgments are based on intentions. Stage 4 – Law and Order Orientation What is right is what the law says and the law is fixed. Level III. Post Conventional Morality Social and legal conventions are arbitrary. Moral values separate from group norms are defined. Stage 5- Contractual Legalistic Orientation Laws are arbitrary and changeable. For aspects of life not governed by laws, decisions are based on agreements and contracts. Stage 6- Conscience or Principle Orientation Judgments are based on fundamental and universal principles. These theories on growth and development follow the age- level approach and make use of developmental tasks. The age-level characteristics or norms were determined from a large number of children exhibiting a wide range of behavioral development all of whom were considered normal. The age-level characteristics refer to a typical child. However, keep in mind that age- levels overlap and proper restraint should be exercised in generalizing from these age level characteristics.