Psychology Chapter 4 Human Development

Development is the pattern of the progressive, orderly and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout the life.

Growth refers to increase in the size of body parts.

Maturation refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence.

Difference between growth, development and maturation: Growth is a quantitative change, development is a qualitative change. Growth is confined to limited period while development occurs throughout the life.

The main features of life-span perspective on development are as follows:

(i) Development is lifelong i.e., it takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old age. It includes both gains and losses, which interact in dynamic ways throughout the lifespan.

(ii) The various processes of human development i.e., biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional are interwoven in the development of a person throughout the life span.

(iii) Development is multi-directional. Some dimensions or components of a given dimension of development may increase, while others show decrement. For example, the experiences of adults may make them wiser and guide their decisions. However, with and increase in age, one’s performance is likely to decrease on tasks requiring speed, such as running.

(iv) Development is highly plastic, i.e., within person, modifiability is found in psychological development though plasticity varies among individuals.

(v) Development is the concern of a number of disciplines. Different disciplines like psychology, anthropology, sociology and neurosciences study human development, each trying to provide answers to development throughout the life-span.

Certain patterns of behaviour and certain skills are learned more easily and successfully during certain stages. These accomplishments of a person become the social expectations of that stage of development. They are known as developmental tasks. The newborns in their first week of life are able to indicate what direction a sound is coming from, can distinguish their mother’s voice from the voices of other women, and can initate simple gestures like tongue protrusion and mouth opening.

As the infant grows, the muscles and nervous system mature which lead to the development of finer skills. Basic physical skills include grasping, walking and running.

Newborns have also sensory capabilities. They can here immediately after birth. With development, proficiency at localising sound improves. Newborns respond to touch and can feel pain. Both smell and taste capacities are also present in the newborn.

The child during infancy experiences the world through senses and interactions with objects through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping.

Babies from birth are social creatures. An infant starts preferring familiar faces and responds to parent’s presence by cooing and gurgling. They become more mobile by 6 to 8 months of age and start showing a preference for their mother’s company. When frightened by a new face or when separated from their mother, they cry or show distress. On being remited with the parent or care giver they reciprocate with smiles.

The influence of such an environment may make the child a little extroverted. Sandra Scarr believes that the environment parents provides as for their children depends to some extent on their own genetic predisposition. For example, if parents are intelligent and are good readers they would provide their children with books to read, with the likely outcome that their children would become good readers who enjoy reading. A child’s own genotype such as being co-operative, and attentive is likely to result in teachers and parents giving more pleasant response as compared to children who are not cooperative or not attentive.

Besides these, children themselves choose certain environments based on their genotype. For example, because of their genotype, children may perform well in music or sports and they will seek and spend more time in environments, which will enable them to perform their musical skills.

Development is influenced by different socio-cultural factors. These are:

(i) The microsystem: It is the immediate environment or setting in which the individual lives. It is in these settings where the child directly interacts with social agents (such as family, peers, teachers and neighbourhood).

(ii) The mesosystem: It consists of relations between these contexts. For instance, how a child’s parents relate to the teachers, or how the parents view the adolescent’s friends are experiences, likely to influence an individual’s relationship’s with others.

(iii) The exosystem: It includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they influence the child’s experiences in the immediate context. For example, the transfer of father or mother may cause tension among the parents which might affect their interactions with the child or the general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries, medical care, means of entertainment, etc.

(iv) Macrosystem: It includes the culture in which the individual lives.

(v) Chronosystem: It involves events in the individual’s life course, and socio-historical circumstances of the time such as divorce of parents or parent’s economic setback, and their effect on the child.

The child’s ability to acquire the concept of object permanence enables him/her to use mental symbols to represent objects. However, the child at this stage lacks the ability that allows him/her do to mentally what was done physically before. The child gains the ability to mentally represent an object that is not physically present children or pre operational stage (between 2-7 years of age) draw designs, figures to represent people, trees, dogs, house etc. This ability of the child to engage in symbolic thought helps to expand his/her mental world. The progress in symbolic thought continues. At this stage children see the world only in terms of their own selves and are not able to appreciate other’s point of view. They think that all things are living. They attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects. Children of this stage also focus on a single characteristic or feature for understanding an event.

However, as the child grows and is approximately between 7 and 11 years of age they begin to think logically. They begin to focus on different characteristics and not focus on one aspect of the object. Thinking becomes more flexible, and now they can think about alternatives when solving problems, or mentally retrace their steps if required. The growing cognitive abilities of children facilitate the acquisition of language.

The close emotional bond of affection that develop between infants and their parents is called attachment. Human babies form an attachment with their parents or caregivers who consistently and appropriately reciprocate to their signals of love and affection. According to Erikson (1968), the first year of life is the key time for the development of attachment. It represents the stage of developing trust or mistrust. A sense of trust is built on a feeling of physical comfort which builds an expectation of the world as a secure and good place.

An infant’s sense of trust is developed by responsive and sensitive parenting. If the parents are sensitive, affectionate, and accepting, it provides the infant a strong base to explore the environment. Such infants are likely to develop a secune attachment. On the other hand, if the parents are insensitive and show dissatisfaction land find faults with the child, it can lead to creating feelings of self-doubt in the child.

Securely attached infants respond positively when picked up, move freely and play whereas insecurely attached infants feel anxious when separated and cry due to fear and get upset. Thus, a close interactive relationship with warm and affectionate adults is a child’s first step towards healthy development.

The stage of life that begins at the onset of puberty, when sexual maturity, or the ability to reproduce is attained, is termed as adolescence. It has been regarded as a period of rapid changes, both biologically and psychologically.

Egocentrism is self-focus. Adolescents develop a special kind of egocentrism. According to David Elkind, imaginary audience and personal fable are two components of adolescent’s egocentrism. Imaginary audience is adolescent’s belief that others are as preoccupied with them as they are about themselves. They imagine that, people are always noticing them and are observing each and every behaviour of their. The personal fable is part of adolescent’s egocentrism that involves their sense of uniqueness. Adolsecent’s sense of uniqueness makes them think that no one understands them or their feelings. For example, In adolescent girl thinks that none can sense the hurt she feels because of being betrayed by a friend. To retain their sense of personal uniqueness adolescents may weave stories filled with fantasy around them to create a world that is away from reality. Personal fables are often part of adolescent diaries.

The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several factors. The cultural background, family and social values, ethnic background, and socio-economic status all prevail upon the adolescent’s search for a place in society. Family relationship becomes less Important as the adolescent spends more time outside the home and develops a strong need for poor support and acceptance. Increased interactions with peer provide them with opportunities for refining their social skills and trying out different social behaviours. Peers and parents are dual forces having major influences on adolescents. Vocational commitment is another factor influencing adolescent identity formation.

The question “what are you going to be when you grow up ?”, requires the ability to think about the future and to be alert to set realistic and achievable goals. In some culture freedom is given to the young people to choose an occupation. Whereas in certain other cultures the option of making this choice is not given to the children. Here parents decision is likely to be accepted by the children. Career counselling in schools offers information regarding appraisal of the students for various courses and jobs and provides guidance in making a decision about career choices.

There are two major challenges faced by individuals on entry to adulthood. These are exploring the possibilities for living and developing a stable life structure.

Career and work: Earning a living, choosing an occupation, and developing a career are important themes for people in the twenties and thirties. Entering work is a challenging event. There are apprehensions regarding different adjustments, proving one’s competence,

Development occurs throughout the life. It includes both decline and growth.

Different types of development are cognitive, social, emotional and biological.

Socio-emotional process refers to the change in individual interaction with other people.

Full form of LSP is Life Span Perspective.

The actual genetic material is called genotype.

Phenotype is a way inidividual genotype is expressed.

Phenotype is measurable and expressable while genotype is not measurable.

Fine motor skills is the example of development.

Maturation refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence.

It is because of human genetic code that feed in human body.

Macro system includes that culture in which human lives.

The four systems are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem.

The period from conception to birth is called prenatal period.

Teratogens are environmental agents that cause deviations in normal development.

Drugs, infection, radiation and pollution.

It disappears in 3 to 4 month in a new born baby and developed by voluntary grasping.

Babinski is a kind of reflex in new born baby. When the bottom of the baby food is stroked the toes fan out.

Infant explores the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical experiences.

In egocentrism, children see the world only in terms of their ownselves and are able to appreciate other point of view.

It think that all things are living.

Menarche is the onset of menstruation in females.

Adolescent’s thought becomes more abstract, logical and idealistic; they become more capable of examining their own thoughts, other’s thoughts, and what others are thinking about them.

Imaginary audience and personal fable are two components of adolescent’s egocentrism.

Identity is who you are and what your values, commitments and beliefs are.

The primary task of an adolescent is to establish an identity separate from the parents.

Delinquency refers to a variety of behaviours, ranging from socially unacceptable behaviour, legal offences, to criminal acts.

Truancy, running away from home, stealing or burglary or acts of vandalism are some examples of delinquency.

UNDCP: The United Nations Drug Control Programme.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation.

Bulimia is a form of an eating disorder in which the individual follows a binge-and -purge eating pattern.

An adult is defined as someone who is responsible, mature, self-supporting, and well integrated into society.

In early adulthood, two major tasks are, exploring the possibilities for adult living and developing a stable life structure.

Development is influenced by an interplay of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional process.

Development is life long; i.e., it takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old age. It includes both gains and losses, which interact in dynamic ways throughout the life-span.

Development is highly plastic, i.e., within person, modifiability is found in psychological development, though plasticity varies among individuals. This means skills and abilities can be improved or developed throughout the life-span.

The experiences of 20 years olds who lived through the freedom struggle in India would be very different from the experiences of 20 years olds of today. The career orientation of school students today is very different from those students who were in schools 50 years ago.

Growth refers to an increase in the size of body parts or of the organism as a whole. It can be measured or quantified.

Evolution refers to species-specific changes. Evolution proceeds at a very slow pace.

Phenotypes include physical traits, such as height, weight, eye and skin colour, ear, hair, nose etc.

Intelligence, creativity and personality.

Phenotypic characteristics of an individual are the result of the interaction between the person’s inherited traits and the environment.

Bronfenbrenner’s view is that a child’s development is significantly affected by the complex world that envelops her/him. Whether it be the miniature of the conversions she or he has with her or his playmates, or the social and economic life circumstances into which she or he is born.

(i) Home, its conditions in terms of over crowding, space available to each member, toys, technological denies used, etc.

(ii) Nature of interactions and activities undertaken with peer groups from childhood onwards.

The elements of the surrounding layer of ecology constitute the

(i) general geographical environment,

(ii) institutional setting provided by caste, class, and other factors,

(iii) general amenities available to the child like drinking water, electricity, means of entertainment etc.

Some reflexes present in the newborn are coughing, blinking, and yawning.

It disappears between 3 and 6 months.

It disappears in 6 to 7 months (although reaction to loud noises is permanent).

Grasp is a major reflex in the newborn. When a finger or some other object is pressed against the baby’s palm, the baby’s fingers close around it.

Development from the cephalic or head region to the caudal or tail region in a child is termed as cephalocaudally.

A child may insist on drinking a big glass of juice, preferring a tall narrow glass to a short broad one, even though both might be holding the same amount of juice.

Object permanence is the understanding that objects and events continue to exist when they cannot directly be seen, heard or touched.

Centration is a stage belongs to preoperational stage of Piaget theory. It is focussed on single characteristic or feature for understanding an event. For example child may insist on drinking a big glass of juice preferring a tall narrow glass to a smart broad one.

Phenotype is the way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observable and measurable characteristics. Phenotypes included physical traits, such as height, weight, eye and skin colour, and many of the psychological characteristics such as intelligence, creativity, and personality. These observable characteristics of an individual are the result of the interaction between the persons inherited traits and the environment.

The exosystem includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they influence the child’s experiences in the immediate contact. For example, the transfer of father or mother may cause tension among the parents which might affect their interactions with the child or the general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries . medical care, means of entertainment, etc. It is different from chromosystem and macrosystem on the following grounds:

Chronosystem involves events in the individual life course and socio-historical circumstances of the time such as, divorce of parents or parent’s economic setback and their affect on the child.

Macrosystem includes the culture in which the individual lives.

The Bronfenbrenner's contextual view of development is based on four sytems.

(i) Microsystem: It is the immediate environment/setting in which the individuals lives. It is in these settings where the child directly interact with the social agents like family, peer, teachers and neighbourhood.

(ii) Mesosystem: Relations between teacher and parents or family and neighbourhood etc.

(iii) Exosystem: Events in the social settings where the child does not participate directly but influence the child experiences in the immediate context. For example the transfer of father or mother may effect the interaction with child.

(iv) Chronosystem: It involves the events socio-historical circumstances, divorce etc.

In nutshell the child development significantly affect by complex world.

According to piaget formal operational stage apears between the age of 11 and 15.

• During this stage adolescent thinking expand beyond actual concrete experiences.

• logical thinking appears which is called as hypothetical deductive reasoning.

Teratogens are environmental agents that cause deviation in normal development in an unborn child and that can lead to serious abnormalities or death. Common teratogens include drugs; infections, radiations and pollution. Intake of drugs (marijuana, heroin, cocaine, etc.), alcohol, tobacco, etc. by women during pregnancy may have harmful effects on the foetus and increase the frequency of congenital abnormalities radiations (such as X-rays), and certain chemicals near industrial areas can cause permanent changes in the genes. Environmental pollutants and toxic wastes like carbon monoxide, mercury and lead are also sources of danger to the unborn child.

According to Jean Piaget children actually construct their undersanding of the world. Information does not simply enters their mind from the environment. As child grows additional information is acquired and they adapt their thinking to include new ideas and this improves their undersanding of world.

Certain patterns of behaviour and certain skills are learned more easily and successfully during certain stages. These accomplishments of a person become the social expectations of that stage of development. They are known as developmental tasks. The newborns in their first week of life are able to indicate what direction a sound is coming from, can distinguish their mother’s voice from the voices of other women, and can imitate simple gestures like tongue protrusion and mouth opening.

As the infant grows, the muscles and nervous system mature which lead to the development of finer skills. Basic physical skills include grasping, walking and running.

Newborns have also sensory capabilities. They can here immediately after birth. With development, proficiency at localising sound improves. Newborns respond to touch and can feel pain. Both smell and taste capacities also present in the newborn.

The child during infancy experiences the world through senses and interactions with objects through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping.

Some of the major chalenges faced by adolescents are as follows:

(i) Delinquency: It refers to a variety of behaviours, ranging from specially unacceptable behaviour, legal offence to criminal acts. Truancy, running away from home, stealing or burglary or acts of vandalism are some of the examples. Adolescents with delinquency and behavioural problems tend to have a negative self-identity, decreased trust and low level of achievement. Delinquency is often associated with low parental support, inapropriate discipline, and family discord. Often adolescents from communities characterised by poverty, unemployment, and Having feelings of alienation from the middle class perform antisocial acts to gain attention and to be popular with their peers. However, most delinquent children do not remain delinquent forever. Change in their peer group, becoming more aware of their social responsibilities and developing feelings of the role models, breaking negative attitudes, and overcoming poor self-concept help in reduction of delinquent behaviour.

(ii) Substance abuse: Some adolescents take recourse to smoking and drugs as a way of coping with stress. This can interfere with the development of coping skills and responsible decision-making. Adolescents who are more vulnerable to drugs, alcohol, and nicotine use, are impulsive, aggressive, anxious, depressive, and unpredictable, have low self-esteem and low expectation for achievement. Drug use if continued long enough can lead to physiological dependency. Positive relationships with parents, peers, siblings, and adults play an important role in preventing drug abuse.

(iii) Eating disorders: Adolescent’s obsession with self living in fantasy world and peer companions lead to certain conditions where they become obsesed with their own bodies.

(a) Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation.

(b) Bulimia is another form of an eating disorder in which the individual follows a binge and purge eating pattern. The blumic goes on an eating beings, then purges by self induced vomiting or using a laxative at times alternating it with fasting. Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia are primarily female disorders more common in urban families.

(i) Eating disorders: Adolescents obsession with self-living in fantasy world and peer comparisons lead to certain conditions where they become obsessed with their own bodies.

(ii) Anorexia nervosa: It is an eating disorder that involves relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation. It is quite common to see adolescents eliminate certain foods from their diets or to eat slimming foods only. The media also projects thinness, as the most desirable image and copying such fashionable image of thinness leads to anorexia nervousa.

(iii) Bulimia: It is another form of an eating disorder in which the individual follows a binge-and -purge eating pattern. The blumic goes on an eating binge, then purges by self-induced vomiting or using a laxative at times alternating it with fasting. Anorexia neruousa and bulimia are primarily female disorders more common in urban families.

Major reflexes in the newborn:

B.

Biological, cognitive and socio-emotional processes.

D.

All of the above.

B.

development

A.

maturation

C.

a very slow pace

D.

50,000 years ago

B.

phenotype

C.

Microsystem

C.

Both (a) and (b)

D.

All of the above

B.

8 to 12 months

C.

Grasp reflex

A.

0-2 years

B.

Formal operational stage

A.

attachment

D.

All of the above

B.

4 years old

A.

Self-focus

C.

Centration

B.

Adolescence

C.

11—15 years