Chapter-3

Growth and Development

Development is defined as the pattern of orderly and predictable changes that begin at
conception and continue throughout life. It is a process by which the individual grows and
changes throughout the lifecycle:

 It can be qualitative as well as quantitative in nature.

 Growth refers to an increase in the size of the body parts or of an organism as a whole.
 Growth is quantitative in nature lifespan perspective of development.
 Development is life-long which means that it takes place across all age groups
commencing from conception to old age.
 The various processes of human development,i.e biological, cognitive, and socio-
emotional are interlinked.
 Development is multi-directional as some components of a given dimension of
development may increase while others show a decrement.
 Development is highly plastic which means within the person, modifiability is found
within psychological development.
 Development is influenced by historical conditions. The career orientation of students
today has undergone a drastic change and it is not the same as it used to be 50 years
ago.
 Various disciplines like psychology, anthropology, and sociology study development, and
each tries to provide answers to development throughout the lifespan.
 Development is defined as the co-construction of biology, the environment, and the
Individual.

Influencing Development
 Genotype – An actual genetic material or a person’s genetic heritage.
 Phenotype– The way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observable and
measurable characteristics; they include physical traits like height, weight, and
psychological characteristics like creativity, and intelligence.
Development
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s contextual view of development focuses on the role of environmental
factors in the role of development of an individual:

 Microsystem: It is the immediate environment in which individual lives and a child here
directly interacts with the social agents.
 Mesosystem: It represents the fact that what happens in one ecosystem (family) is likely
to impact another ecosystem.
 Exosystem: It is defined as the social settings that a person may not experience first-
hand but that still influence development.
 Macrosystem: It includes the culture in which the individual lives. The macrosystems are
the subcultures and cultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are
embedded.
 Chronosystem: It comprises the events in the individual’s course of life and socio-
historical situations which influence their development.

Development Stages
Human life is categorized into 5 development stages. From the day the infant is born to old age.
Here are all the stages mentioned in the human development class 11 notes:

Infancy
Age Range

The age range of Infancy is 0-2 years old

Physical Development

 The newborns are governed by reflexes which are defined as automatic responses to
stimuli.
  Some of the reflexes include walking, yawning, blinking, etc.
 Children can hear immediately after birth and they respond well to touch and can hear
as well.

Cognitive Development

 Jean Piaget believed that children are like little scientists as they actively explore the
world around them and try to gain an understanding of the same.
 Children lack Object Permanence.

Socio-Emotional Development

 They prefer familiar faces are scared of strangers and form a close bond with their
caregivers called an attachment.
 Caregivers that are parents reciprocate love and affection to their offspring.

Childhood
Age Range

 Age Range of Childhood is 2-12 years

Physical Development

 Early Development follows principles of cephalocaudally and proximodistal.

 The brain and head grow more rapidly than any other part of the body.
 During middle and late childhood, an increase in weight is due to an increase in the size
of the skeletal and muscular systems.

Cognitive Development

 Children acquire Object Permanence.

 Language Development is one of the hallmarks of this period which is known as
symbolic thinking.
 Key concepts during this period are animism in which children attribute feelings to
inanimate objects and egocentrism in which children view the world from their point of
view only.

Socio-Emotional Development

 Crucial dimensions of the socio-emotional development of children are Self, Gender and
Moral Development.
 Parents and the Socialization process help in forming the self-image of a child.

Adolescence
Age Range
  The Age Range of adolescents is 12-19 years.

Physical Development

 Puberty marks the end of childhood and signifies the beginning of adolescence which is
characterized by dramatic physical changes in both growth rate and sexual
characteristics.
 Hormones released during puberty help in the development of primary and sexual
characteristics.
 Puberty in boys is characterized by an acceleration in growth, facial hair, and changes in
voice and height.
 Puberty in girls is marked by menarche which is the onset of menstruation, the rapid
growth of height, etc.

Cognitive Development

 Adolescent thinking becomes more systematic problem-solving, identifying possible

courses of action, understanding the causes and thus seeking solutions accordingly.
 Jean Piaget called this Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning.

Socio-Emotional Development

 As per David Elkind, Egocentrism prevails during Adolescence in the following manner

1. Personal Fable -Adolescents feel that nobody can understand their feelings.
2. Imaginary Audience –Adolescents believe that everyone is preoccupied with them and
hence, become self-conscious.

 Identity Formation also takes place during this stage

Adulthood
Age Range

 The Age Range of Adulthood is 20-60 years.

Physical Development

 Physical changes which happen during adulthood due to malnutrition are age spots,
wrinkling, yellowing of teeth, weight gain, etc.

Cognitive development

 Cognitive abilities decline during adulthood. A memory decline is more In tasks involving
long-term memory rather than short-term memory.

Socio-Emotional Development
  Marriage brings its own set of concerns like the number of children, and availability of
resources.
 A lot of adjustments have to be made in marriage keeping in mind each other’s likes,
dislikes, and preferences.
 Becoming a parent brings a huge transition and it is accompanied by love for the baby.
 Death of a Spouse during Adulthood has a strong emotional implication on the other
person.

Old Age
Age Range

 It starts at 60 years onwards.

Physical Development

 Deterioration in physical development happens like a decline in vision, hearing loss, and
changes in physical appearance like grey hair, wrinkles, etc.

Cognitive Development

 Greater memory decline is witnessed in old age in those tasks which involve long-term
memory.

Socio-Emotional Development

 In old age, fear of death is likely to occur because of chronic illnesses.

 Due to obsession with old memories, the generation gap and the death of a spouse,
people become more prone to depression and loneliness.
 There is a loss of energy and enthusiasm as well.

‘Environment of the child has a major role in the development of the child.’Support your
answer with examples.
Mesosystem, chronosystem, macrosystem, microsystem, and exosystem play a major role in
the overall development of a child as per Urie Bronfenbrenner’s contextual view.

Explain the cognitive changes which take place in a child.

Object permanence, egocentrism, animism, and symbolic thinking are the major cognitive
changes and developments which take place in a child

Explain the main features of the Life-Span Perspective on Development

The main features of the life-span perspective on development are that development is
lifelong, multi-directional and its various processes like socio-cognitive, and emotional
processes are interlinked.