Unit : 1 Understanding Human Development

1.1 Concept of human development

 Refers to all the qualitative changes , which takes place in the
individuals.
 Continuous and progressive change, which takes place throughout the
life.
 Follow a specific pattern and an individual gets a unique personality
because of these changes.
 Include the changes in physical, motor, social, mental, emotional,
moral qualities as well as in the total personality of an individual.
 Heredity and environment are labeled as the determinants of human
development.
Con…

The two determinants of human development takes place

through two major processes named as maturation and learning.
Maturation: the process of unfolding of inherent potentiality of an
individual in an orderly manner.
Learning: the progressive changes in behavior of an individual,
which is caused by experiences (behaviorist view ), rationalization
(cognitive view ), imitation (constructivist view) or training
(pedagogical view).
Development is the progressive series of orderly and
coherent changes. - Hurlock
Development is the progressive change in an organism,
continuously directed towards a certain condition.-Drever
…con
Therefore development can be defined as “the progressive
series of changes, which occur because of the interaction between
maturation and experience principally determined by heredity and
environment of an individual”
1.2 Issues in human development

Human development is a process of unfolding of human

potentialities in a pre- specified pattern according to their level of
maturation and learning.
It is always directed towards the fuller development of their
potentialities .
The process of human development and the role of different
factors and their relative importance has always been a matter of
debate among the psychologists.
Since the emergence of this discipline has developed many hot
issues regarding this matters. Some of the main debated issues
related to development of human beings are presented below:
1.2.1 Nature vs. Nurture

Nature :refers to an organisms biological inheritance\

heredity , when he \ she got from his\ her parents and
ancestors.
Nurture :refers to the process of rearing and caring of
individual or environmental experiences.
It can be explained as an issue between hereditarianism and
environmentalism or nativism and empiricism.
Philosophers as plato supported that some idea are inborn.
On the other hand ,John lock argued that the child’s mind is
like a blank set of paper or blank slate.
 …Con

At the same time, the philosopher Rousseau argue that child

born freely and he gets chain everywhere in this way he
expressed his view on the favor of nature or hereditary traits
which a child gets by a birth. He says that traits of heredity
are more powerful than the cultural or environmental
factors.
J.B Watson states that “ give me a dozen of child. I’ll make
the different environment and create the different
personality such as: doctor, pilot, engineer, lawyer or even a
beggar. This statement is in the favor of the nurture theory.
 … con

 However, these days both followers of nature and nurture

accepted less or more role of each in the human
development.
1.2.2 Continuity vs. Discontinuity

 It is the issue in psychology, whether the development is

connected or disconnected ie. Whether the development
occurs like the flow of a river or steps of ladder.
 Developmental psychologists who give more importance to
experiences or nurture believe that development is a
continuous process.
 This debates actually has two components; gradual change
and connectedness of development. some developmental
changes are clearly gradual and cumulative like at first,
 …con

Child starts grasping the things, waving hands, responding

to the voice and afterward, the ability of a child to use
symbols gradually develops and involves the progress slowly
towards reading, number concepts and developmental
higher level thinking.
The developmentalists who believe in the role of nature as
a prime source of influence on development of an individual
advocate the idea of discontinuity in development. we can
take an example of growth of a butterfly from an egg to
adult.
 …con

 A butterfly develops in distinct stages of egg, larva, pupa

and adult. In this development process of a butterfly ,
every stage is quite different from other.
 The both perspectives related to development that is
either it is a continuous or it is a discontinuous process.
Thus, most psychologists at this present day favors that
the human development is both the continuity and
discontinuity process.
Stability vs change

 Development is a progressive series of changes that occur

as a result of the maturation and experience. There are
some potential of the traits which may remains constant
for over the life time such as: interest, attitudes,
behavioral patterns and so on.
 There are some other traits which are changeable along
with the changes in time , social environment and the
cultural context. For e.g.: body structure, shape and size,
experience, knowledge, information etc.
 …con

 The theory of natural selection and the survival of the

fittest provided by Charles Darwin also suggest the
changing nature of human development.
 The behaviorist model of human development presented
by J.B Watson, Pavlov and Skinner also presents the
change model of human development. Since the learning
environment of people differs, their nature of
development also differs.
 Thus ,stability vs. change remain as an issue among the
theorists of human development.
Approaches to human development

1. Behaviorist view: B. F Skinner

 B.F Skinner (1904- 1990) receive his doctorate from
Harvard University. After teaching for several years at the
universities of Minnesota he return to Harvard.
 Skinner developed an explanation of learning that stressed
the consequence of behavior. What happens after we do
something is all important. Reinforcement has proven to
be a powerful tool in the development, shaping, and
control of behavior, both in and out of the classroom.
 con…

Major publications
 The behavior of organizations (1938)
 Science and human behavior (1953)
 Verbal behavior (1957)
 The technology of teaching (1968)
 Beyond freedom and dignity (1971)
 About the behavior (1974)
 …con

 Behaviorist approach closely linked with the field of

philosophy empiricism. Empiricists believes what senses
are gateway of the knowledge and the child is tabula –rasa
\blank slate\ piece of white paper.
 In behaviorist view, an experiment is a supreme force\
major determinant fact of human development. If
carefully control the environment, it can be molded and
shaped the behavior towards the expected directions.
 …con

 Development is the external change in the behavior of an

individual. Past experiences and present environment of an
individuals plays an important role in formation of the behavior.
 Behaviorist believe that development is learned and often
changes according to environmental experiences. It follows that
rearranging experiences can change development.
 According to Skinner, development is a reservoir of learn
behavior. Organism learn behavior from their history or past
experiences, particularly those that were repeatedly
reinforced.
 …con

 Human development is not age specific or stage wise, it is

a situational. A particular behavior of an individual is
depend on specific environment\situation.
2. Psycho – analytical approach: Sigmund Freud

 Psychoanalytic approach to human development is a

perspective of human development popularized by
Sigmund Freud.(1856-1939)
 This approach believes that human behaviors are only the
overt characteristics of an individual. The main cause of
behavior lies in the potent inner forces of the human
beings.
 …con

Freud’s main Assumptions;

 Human as a energy system.
 Human personality development is determined by the
conflicts between desire of sex and aggression of an
individual and society.
 Mind is not all conscious, unconscious aspect of the mind
are significant.
 States of mind according to Sigmund Freud: unconscious
level, conscious level and pre – conscious level.
 …con

 Human behavior and feelings are powerfully affected by

the unconscious mind.
 Human behavior is motivated by two instinctual drives;
life instinct\sex and death instinct\ aggression (for driving
the human behavior)
 Human personality is made up of three parts; Id, Ego and
Super- ego.
 Human behavior and feelings as adults are rooted in our
childhood experiences.
 Three aspects of mind

 Conscious level:
It refers to the expression or an awareness of an
object of an personal moment. He has said one tenth part of
mind deals with the conscious experience. It may refer to
the variety of mental phenomena. Our conscious mind makes
a very small part of who we are. Aspects of mental life that
are currently at the level of awareness are conscious.
(Sarason and Sarson, 2005:62)
 …con

 Sub\ pre- conscious level

It is the storehouse of surface memory and
readily recallable though not conscious at the moment. It is
weak when it gets some forces from the outside , it comes
to the conscious level of mind. Information such as: our
telephone number, some childhood memories or the name of
our best childhood friend is stored in the pre- conscious
mind.
 …con

 Unconscious mind
Freud has used the term unconscious properly and
his whole system of psychoanalysis is based on unconscious.
It is the mental contents that can be brought to awareness
only with the great difficulty (sarason and sarason 2005:62).
It is the storehouse of buried thoughts, emotions, impulses,
irrational thoughts, desires and expectations etc.
Levels of personality

According to Freud , the personality of an individual is

made of three factors; id, ego and super-ego.
 Id
‘Id’ is the representative of the unconsciousness and the
storehouse of instinctive desires, thoughts, impulses which
are mainly sexual and aggressive in nature. Id is guided by
hedonism – ‘the principle of pleasure’. Mostly the Id is
unreality in nature and has not direct contact with the
reality. Thus , Id is blind and abnormal in the sense that it
 ...con

contains no social values and morality, It is related to an

“instinctive drive to cause or to produce.”
 Ego
Ego is the part of our conscious mind. It acts according
to the “ reality principle”. It is the part of the personality
which represents good sense, reason, logic, control memory
and judgement.
According to Freud, “ the Ego is that part of the id which
has been modified by the direct influence of the external
world”. The ego is like a slave to three harsh masters:
 …con

The id, the super-ego and the external world.

 Super –ego
It is the part of the personality that represents
conscience, morality, social standard, regulation and the
codes of society. It functions according to the “ moral
principles”. The super- ego is ideal rather than real and
severe representative of the reality. The super-ego works in
contradiction to the id. The super- ego controls out sense of
right and wrong and guilt. It helps us fit into society by
getting us to act in a socially acceptable ways.
Psychosexual stages of personality

 According to Freud the pleasures of the libido (sexual

desire) are focused on the different area of the body.
These stages are as follows:
1. Oral stage (birth to one year)
The sexual pleasure focuses around the mouth
ie. The major area of excitation is mouth. Early gratification
of sex occurs sucking of breast and thumb. The problematic
experience the child feels at this stage is weaning (act of
substituting other food for the mother’s milk in the diet).
 …con

2. Anal stage (one year to three years)

The sexual pleasure of the children is linked with their
excretion process. Children achieve pleasure by excreting and
retaining urine and feces. It is a joyful activity for them. Through
parent’s pressure the child has to learn to control anal
stimulation.
3.Phalic stage (three to six years)
Child’s sexual pleasure focuses on genital, the child discriminants
biological differences between sexes. At this stage, children
generally feel a strong but unconscious sexual attraction to the
 …con

Parents in the opposite sex. This is called the “ Oedipal

complex” in boys, and the “ Electra complex” in girls.
4. Latency stage (six to eleven years\ puberty)
It is the stage of a temporary dormancy in the interest
in the sexual gratification. At this stage, sexual gratification
is considered to be sublimated. The child expresses the
sexual behavior through constructive and creative works by
engaging in reading, writing and solving the mathematics
problems.
 …con

5. Genital stage (occurring in adolescence)

It is the period of normal adult sexual behavior. At
this stage, the children develop and engage in mature sexual
relationship. The children begin to express their interest
towards the person of the opposite sex.
Cognitive Approach : Piaget’s view

 Cognitive development describes change in mental

processes and abilities including how people think,
perceive, remember and learn. The main focus of
cognitive development is how a people acquire, process
and store the information in the mind.
 Cognitive development closely linked with field of
philosophy rationalism that believe reason is the source of
the knowledge.
Jean Piaget

Born- 1896 , Death- 1980 in Switzerland

Assumptions
 Human being come into the world with a few inborn
capabilities: sucking, listening, grasping, reaching etc. which all
subsequent learning and knowledge is based.
 Human is the information processor.
 Piaget believed that children are like “ little scientist “. They
actively try to explore and make sense of the world around
them through the two way processes: organization and
adaption.
 …con

 Cognitive development is a combined result of maturation

of the brain or nervous system and environment
experiences.
Cognitive process
Children are constructed their knowledge through
following process:
1 Schema
2. Assimilation
3. Organization
 …con

4. Equilibration
Schema
Schema are action or mental representation that organize
the knowledge. In other words schema is the concept or
mental map towards an object or stimulus. For example A
newly born infant sucks everything.
Assimilation
 Assimilation is the process of reacting with the environment with the
help of pre-existing schema. It is the process of fitting new experience in
the store of old knowledge. It can be defined as the application of
general schema to a particular situation. In this process original schema
does not changed.
 Accommodation
It is the process of modifying the pre-existing schema. Piaget defined it
as the modification of internal representation in order to accommodate
the changing knowledge of reality. So that the alternation of old schema
by in-cooperating new experience is called the accommodation.
 …con

Equilibration
It is the final stage of cognitive process. In this process a
person makes new balance by modifying the pre-existing
schema by the process of equilibration. People change their
cognitive process from one level to the another. For
equilibration, Assimilation and Accommodation are the
essential conditions.
Stages of cognitive development

Piaget proposed four distinct stages of cognitive development

and each of Piaget’s stages is age related and based on the ability
of an individual mental operation.
Piaget believed that later cognition of an individual is more
advanced than early cognition activities.
Stage I: Sensorimotor stage
 Birth to two years.
 Infants construct understanding of the world by co- ordinating
sensory experiences ( seeing and hearing with physical motor
experiences)
 …con

 In this stage, the infant begins to develop simple reflexes,

first habits, hand-eye co-ordination, object permanence
develops curiosity and creativity and trial and error
experiments.
Stage-II-The pre-operational stage:(2 to7 yrs)
In this stage, children begin to represent world with words,
images and drawings. Symbolic thought goes beyond simple
connections of sensory information and physical actions.
 …con

Some characteristic of this stage are:

 Intelligent is demonstrated through the use of symbol use
of mature language, memory’s imagination.
 Thinking is still non- logical.
 Thinking of child is egocentric.
 They have no knowledge about conservation of things.
 …con

Stage: III Concrete operational stage:(7 to 11 years)

In this stage, children are able to learn the different concepts
and things with the help of concrete materials. But, still their
thinking is not logical. Some of the features of this stage are:
 Operational thinking develops.
 Develops the ability to classify objects according to the several
features.
 Intelligent is demonstrated by logical and systematic
manipulation of symbols related to the concrete object.
 …con
Stage- IV Formal operational stage (11 to 15 years)
This is the fourth and the final stage of Piaget. Some characteristics
of this stage are:
 Child achieves the problem solving skills.
 Intelligence is demonstrated through the use of logic and abstract
thinking.
 Deductive reasoning, systematic planning , synthesizing,
summarizing, evaluation also develops.
 A child can think logically about the abstract things and
proposition and test hypothesis systematically.
Ecological contextual approach: Urie Bronfenbrenner

 The ecological contextual approach was developed by Urie

Bronfenbrenner (1917- 2005) , which primarily focus on
the social contexts in which children live and the people
who influence their development.
 Development is the production of children’s relationship
to their environment the features of their particular
society and culture , and the social institutions that affect
the beliefs and behavior of parents and caregivers. This is
often referred as the context.
 …con

 Five Environmental system

Ecological contextual approach consists of five layers
environmental system. Each layers of system create unique
developmental contexts.
1. Micro system
2. Meso system
3. Exo system
4. Macro system
5. Chrono system
 …con

1. Micro system
It refers to the environment in which an individual
lives. This system includes family members, peers, religious
communities, school, health services, neighborhood play
area, and others whom the individual has regular interaction
and direct contact with. Most of the child’s behavior,
cognitive structure and emotions are learned in the
microsystem.
 …con

2. Meso-System
The mesosystem is describing the relationship between two or
more microsystems, such as: interactions between the family and school,
relationship between the child’s peers and the family etc.
3. Exo-System
Exo System development but refers to institutions of the society,
where primarily involving the parents, that indirectly affect the child
development but doesn’t include them like: parents workplace, mass-
media, social welfare services etc.
This system impacts a child’s development influencing structures in the
microsystem.
 …con

4. Macro System
It is the larger cultural contexts in which individual lives. It
consists of beliefs, values, norms, ideology and socieo economic
status of the person\his family, his ethnicity\ race and country.
5. Chronosystem
The chronosystem reflects the cumulative experiences a
person has over the course of their life time. It includes historical
events, socio- cultural changes major transitions in life ( marriage,
divorce, new born baby, migration) and the generational forces.