Chapter 3

Human Development

Q1: What is development? Describe the main features of life span

perspectives on development?
Development is the process of progressive, orderly and predictable changes that begin at
conception and continue throughout life. Development is an interplay of biological,
cognitive and socio emotional processes.

• Developoment due to genes inherited from parents such as height, weight etc. -
Biological development
• Development related to mental activities like thinking, attention, problem solving
etc.- Cognitive development
• Development due to individual’s interaction with other people changes in emotion-
Socio emotional process

The life span perspective on development is:

1) Development is lifelong
2) Development is multi directional
3) Development is highly plastic
4) The various process of development, i.e., biological, socio-emotional, and cognitive
are interwoven in the development of a person
5) Development is influenced by historical conditions.
6) Development is a concern of many disciplines like anthropology, sociology,
neuroscience, etc.
7) An individual responds and acts on context, which includes what is inherited,
physical, social, historical, and cultural context.

2.Define Growth and maturation?

Growth: it refers to increase in the size of the body parts or of the organism as a whole

Maturation: It refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence and largely dictated
by the genetic blueprint which produce commonalities in our growth and development.
3. Define genotype and phenotype?
Genes provide a distinct blueprint and timetable for the development of an individual.

Genotype is the actual genetic material or a person’s genetic heritage

Phenotype is the way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observable and measurable

characteristics.

Q4: What are developmental tasks? Explain by giving suitable example?

Developmental tasks refer to physical and cognitive skills that a person must accomplish
during a particular age period to continue development. These accomplishments of a
person become the social expectation of that stage of development. They are known as
developmental tasks.

Q5: Explain the prenatal developmental stage:

• The period from conception to birth lasting around 40 weeks is the prenatal period
• Development during this stage is guided by genetic and environmental factors.
• Maternal characteristics like age, nutrition and emotional wellbeing influence
prenatal development
• Diseases like rubella, genital herpes and HIV can impact prenatal development.
• Teratogens such as drugs, infections, radiation and pollutants pose threat to
normal development.
• Consumption of substances like drugs, infections, radiation and pollutants pose
threats to normal development.
• Environmental pollutants like mercury and lead also endanger the unborn child.

Q6: What are teratogens?

• Teratogens are a serious threat to prenatal development. Teratogens are the
environmental agents that cause deviation in normal development that can lead to
serious abnormalities or death. common teratogens include drugs, infections,
radiation and pollutants.

Q7: Infancy stage:

• The period just after birth to 2 years is marked as infancy
• Brain development: the brain undergoes rapid development before and after birth.
At birth not all brain cells are present, but neural connections develop quickly.
• Newborn abilities: Newborn possess essential life functions like breathing,
sucking, swallowing and waste elimination. They can detect sound directions,
recognize their mother's voice and imitate simple gestures like tongue protrusion
and mouth opening.
• Motor development: Reflexes govern the movements of new Borns. These are
automatic, built-in responses to stimuli. They are genetically carried survival
mechanisms and are the building blocks of subsequent motor development. Some
reflexes like coughing, blinking and yawning present in the newborn continue
throughout life. Other reflexes like rooting, Moro, grasp and Babinski disappear as
the brain function matures and voluntary control over behavior starts developing.
• Sensory abilities:
• Infants can hear immediately after birth. They can recognize their mother's voice
after a few hours of birth.
• Newborns' vision is estimated to be lower than adult vision. By 6 months it
improves and by 1 year's vision is almost same as adults.
• Newborns respond to touch, and they can feel pain.
• Both smell and taste capacities are also present in the newborns.

• Cognitive development during infancy:

• According to jean Piaget children actively construct their understanding of the
world. Child's mind passes through a series of stages. Infant is in sensorimotor
stage.
• The child during infancy experiences the world through senses and interactions
with objects, Ie, through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing etc.
• The newborn lives in the present. If something is out of sight it is out of mind.
• According to jean Piaget, infant do not go beyond their immediate sensory
experience. They lack object permanence. (the awareness that the object
continues to exist when not perceived)
• By 8 months a child starts to pursue the object partially covered in his/her
presence.
• Vocalization begins with infants babbling, sometime between 3 to 6 months of
age.

• Socio-emotional development:
 • The close emotional bond of affection that develops between infants and their
parents is called attachment.
• An infant starts preferring familiar faces and responds to parents presence by
cooing and gurgling.
• According to Erik Ericson, 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 parents are insensitive and show dissatisfaction and find fault with the child, it
can create feeling of self-doubt in the child.

Q8: Childhood:

• Child growth slow down during early childhood compared to infancy

• Physically the child gains height and weight, learn to walk, run, jump and play
• Socially the child’s world expands from parents to family and adults at school and
home
• Children develop a sense of morality

Physical development

• Development proceeds cephalocaudally and Proximo distally

• Cephalocaudal development: control over upper body precedes lower body
control.
• Proximodistal development: growth proceeds from the center of body and moves
towards the extremities.
• As children grow older, they look slimmer due to body proportions changing.

Motor development

• Gross motor development involves arms, legs and moving confidently

• Fine motor skills like finger dexterity and eye hand coordination improve

Cognitive development:

• The child’s understanding of object permanence allows them to use mental

symbols to represent objects.
• Early childhood focuses on Jean Piaget’s preoperational thought stage
• Child gain the ability to mentally represent objects that are not physically present
 • Children engage in symbolic thoughts by drawing designs to represent objects
• Egocentrism : child see the world centered about themselves
• Children may exhibit animism. They attribute life like qualities to inanimate objects
• They are in intuitive thought stage. they seek answers to various questions
• Centration is a characteristic where children focus on a single feature for
understanding events
• Between 7 to 11 years, children enter the concrete operational stage.
• Concrete thoughts involve mental actions that are reversible and allow children to
think logically
• Concrete operational thoughts enable children to focus on different characteristics
• Thinking becomes more flexible, allowing children to consider different solutions to
problems

Socio emotional development

• Development in self, gender and moral understanding develops

• Children develop a sense of independence and initiative based on parental
responses
• According to Erikson, how parents respond to a child’s self-activities affects
whether the child develops a sense of initiative or guilt.
• Providing freedom for activities like cycling, running, answering their questions,
supports and encourages the child’s initiative
• If children are made to feel their questions are useless or their games are silly, they
may develop lasting feelings of guilt about their self-initiated activities
• Self-understanding evolves from physical characteristics to psychological and
social aspects (I am smart)
• Social comparison becomes prominent leading to individual identity establishment
• Moral development
• Child develops the understanding of difference between right and wrong actions
• children learn to distinguish morality through feeling of guilt, empathy and assisting
others in need

Q8: Challanges of adolescence

• It is the transitional phase between childhood and adulthood, typically starting at

puberty.
• Adolescence is commonly defined as the stage of life that begins at the onset of
puberty, when sexual maturity, or the ability to reproduce is attained.
 • It has been regarded as a period of rapid change, both biologically and
psychologically.

Physical Development :

• Puberty or sexual maturity signifies the beginning of adolescence, which is

characterized by dramatic physical changes in both, growth rate, and sexual
characteristics.
• It is part of a gradual process.
• The hormones released during puberty result in the development of primary and
secondary sexual characteristics.
• The primary sex characteristics include those directly related to reproduction and
the secondary sex characteristics include features or signs of achieving sexual
maturity.
• Pubertal changes in boys are marked by acceleration in growth, facial hair, and
changes in voice.
• In girls, rapid growth in height usually begins about two years before menarche, the
onset of menstruation.
• The growth spurt generally begins at 12 or 13 for boys and 10 or 11 for girls.
• Psychological changes: Around puberty adolescents show an increase in interest in
members of the opposite sex and in sexual matters and a new awareness of sexual
feelings develops.
• The development of sexual identity defines sexual orientation and guides sexual
behavior.

Cognitive development

• Adolescents experience significant cognitive changes as they enter formal

operational thought between the age of 11 to 15 according to Piaget.
• During this stage, their thinking becomes more abstract, logical and idealistic,
allowing them to analyze thoughts, understand others perspective and reflect on
social norms.
• they begin to think more in abstract terms and reason about them.
• adolescent thought is also idealistic.
• Adolescents begin to think about ideal characteristics for themselves and others
and compare themselves and others with these ideal standards.
• adolescent thinking becomes more systematic in solving problems . They think of
possible courses of action, and systematically seek solutions. Piaget called this
type of logical thinking — hypothetical deductive reasoning.
 • Moral thinking shows some flexibility as they question social norms.
• The adolescent recognizes alternative moral courses, explores options, and then
decides on a personal moral code.
• Adolescents also develop a special kind of egocentrism.
• According to David Elkind, imaginary audience and personal fable are two
components of adolescents’ 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 theirs. It makes them extremely self-
conscious.
• The personal fable involves their sense of uniqueness. Adolescents’ sense of
uniqueness makes them think that no one understands them or their feelings.

Forming an Identity :

▪ Identity is who you are and what your values, commitments and beliefs are.
▪ The primary task of adolescence is to establish an identity separate from the
parents.
▪ During adolescence a detachment process enables the individual to develop a
personalized set of beliefs that are uniquely her or his own.
▪ In achieving an identity, the adolescent could experience conflict with parents and
within herself or himself.
▪ Those adolescents who can cope with conflicting identities develop a new sense of
self.
▪ Adolescents who are not able to cope with this identity crisis are confused.
▪ “Identity confusion”, according to Erikson, can lead to individuals isolating
themselves from peers and family; or they may lose their identity in the crowd.
▪ Adolescents may desire independence but may also show a great deal of
dependence on their parents.
▪ Rapid fluctuations between self-confidence and insecurity are typical of this stage.
▪ The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several factors like
cultural background, family and societal values, ethnic background, and
socioeconomic status etc
▪ Family relationships become less important as the adolescent spends more time
outside the home and develops a strong need for peer support and acceptance.
▪ Increased interactions with peers provide them with opportunities for refining their
social skills and trying out different social behaviours.
• Vocational commitment is another factor influencing adolescent identity formation.
Some Major Concerns :
(Q: Adolescence is a vulnerable period explain?)
▪ During adolescence peer influence, new gained freedom, unresolved problems
may create difficulty.
▪ Conforming to peer pressure can be both positive and negative.
▪ Adolescents are often confronted with decisions regarding smoking, drugs,
alcohol, and breaking parental rules, etc.
▪ These decisions are taken without much regard to the effect they can have.
▪ Adolescents may face periods of uncertainty, loneliness, self-doubt, anxiety, and
concern about themselves and their future, they are also likely to experience
excitement, joy, and feelings of competence as they overcome the developmental
challenges.
Major challenges faced by adolescents
▪ Delinquency :
Delinquency refers to a variety of behaviours, ranging from socially unacceptable
behaviour, legal offences, to criminal acts like truancy, running away from home,
stealing or burglary or acts of vandalism. They tend to have a negative self-identity,
decreased trust, and low level of achievement. Delinquency is often associated
with low parental support, inappropriate discipline, and family discord, Change in
their peer group, becoming more aware of their social responsibilities and
developing feelings of self-worth, imitating positive behavior of the role models,
breaking negative attitudes, and overcoming poor self-concept help in reduction of
delinquent behaviour.
• Substance Abuse :
Adolescent years are especially vulnerable to smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.
Some adolescents do it as a way of coping with stress. This can interfere with the
development of coping skills and responsible decision-making. The reasons for
smoking and drug use are peer pressure ,the adolescents’ need to be accepted by
the group, or desire to act more like adults, or feel a need to escape the pressure of
school work or social activities. The addictive powers of nicotine make it difficult to
stop smoking. It has been found that 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.
• Eating Disorders :
 Anorexia nervosa 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.
Bulimia is another form of an eating disorder in which the individual follows a binge-
and-purge eating pattern. The bulimic goes on an eating binge, then purges by self-
induced vomiting or using a laxative at times alternating it with fasting.

Q 9: Adulthood

• An adult is someone who is responsible, mature, self-supporting, and well-

integrated into society.
• The assumption of adult roles is directed by an individual’s social context.
• The best time for some of the most important life events (i.e. marriage, job, having
children) might be different in different cultures, but within a culture there is
similarity in adult development.
• In early adulthood, two major tasks are exploring the possibilities for adult living and
developing a stable life structure.
• Career and Work: Earning a living, choosing an occupation, and developing a
career are crucial for people in their twenties and thirties. Entering work life is
challenging and involves apprehensions regarding different adjustments, proving
one’s competence, performance, dealing with competition, and coping with
expectations of the employers and oneself.
• Marriage, Parenthood, and Family: The adjustments in marriage relate to knowing
the other person if not known earlier, coping with each other’s likes, dislikes, tastes,
and choices. If both the partners are working, adjustments are required regarding
sharing and performing roles and responsibilities at home. Becoming a parent can
be a difficult and stressful transition in young adults, even though it is usually
accompanied by the feeling of love for the baby. Parenting is also affected by
situations like the number of children in the family, availability of social support,
and the happiness or unhappiness of the married couple.
• Death of a spouse or divorce creates a family structure in which a single parent
has to take up the responsibility of the children. women are increasingly seeking
employment outside the home.
• Physical changes during the Middle Ages are caused by maturational changes in
the body. All middle-aged people gradually deteriorate in some aspects of their
physical functioning such as decline in vision, sensitivity to glare, hearing loss and
changes in physical appearance
 • some cognitive abilities decline with age while others do not. Decline in memory is
more in tasks involving long-term memory than short-term memory. Memory tends
to show greater decline, while wisdom may improve with age.

Q10: Old age:

• Traditionally, the age of retirement was linked to old age.

• some of the challenges, which the aged have to cope with include retirement,
widowhood, illness, or death in the family.
• The image of old age is changing in certain ways.
• people who have crossed seventy years of age or so and are quite active, energetic,
and creative.
• They are competent and are therefore, valued by society in many walks of life.
• we have aged people in politics, literature, business, art and science.
• the experience of old age also depends on the socio-economic conditions,
availability of health care, attitude of people, expectations of society and the
available support system.
• successful ageing for much of our adult life focuses on how effective we are at
work, how loving our relationships are in our family, how good our friendships are,
how healthy we are, and how cognitively fit we are.
• Retirement from active vocational life is quite significant.
• Some people perceive retirement as a negative change. Others view it as a shift in
life with more time to pursue their own interests.
• Older adults also need to adjust to changes in the family structure and new roles
(grand parenting).
• Older adults may depend on their children for financial support and to overcome
their loneliness. This might trigger-off feelings of hopelessness and depression in
some people. I
• in old age feeling of loss of energy, and dwindling of health and financial assets,
lead to insecurity and dependency.
• The elderly tend to look towards others to lean on and to care for them.
• It is important to give the elderly a sense of security and belonging, a feeling that
people care for them.
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