HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT• Development. The systematic continuities and

changes in the individual that occur between conception to death.– Systematic—Orderly, patterned, and relatively

enduring– Continuities—Ways in which we remain the same or

continue over time

• Development. The scientific study of qualitative and quantitative changes that occur in people over time.– Qualitative—Change in kind or structure (i.e.,

intelligence, beliefs)– Quantitative—Cumulative and measurable changes

that occur (i.e., height, weight)

WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

• Humans are resilient.– Plasticity. The capacity for change in response to positive or

negative life experiences.

• People help shape their own development.– Bidirectional. Development is an interplay or symbiotic

relationship between the individual and his or her environment.

• Knowledge is useful.– For infants, stimulation enhances awareness which later leads to

curiosity and pursuit.

• Stress elevates when the environment is less predictable, manageable, and controllable.

HISTORY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

• Medieval times (6-15 Reformation (16th

century) century)– Preformationism Protestantism (Puritan– Harsh child practices doctrine)

• Enlightment (17th Scientific Age (18th

century) century)– John Locke Charles Darwin– Jean Rousseau

Ways of Looking at Development• Nature vs. Nurture

– Nature. The hereditary information we receive from our parents at the moment of conception determines our outcomes.

– Nurture. Complex forces of the physical and social world that children encounter in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, and communities.

• Organismic vs. Mechanistic– Organismic. Change is stimulated from within the organism.– Children are viewed as active, purposeful beings who make sense of their

world and determine their own learning (Active beings).– Mechanistic. Children’s development is compared to the workings of a

machine.– Change is stimulated by the environment, which shape the behavior of the

child (Passive beings).

• Continuous vs. Discontinuous– Continuous. A process that consists of gradually adding on more of the

same types of skills that were there to begin with. – Discontinuous. Process in which new ways of understanding and

responding to the world emerge at particular time periods.

SIGMUND FREUD

CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCIPLINE OF HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT

SIGMUND FREUD • All behavior is motivated, often by unconscious dynamics

• Freud’s theory of dreams emphasized the meaningfulness of dreams as manifestations of the unconscious mind

• Early childrearing experiences, especially in weaning, toilet training, and the role of the family in the handling of sexuality and aggression, are seen as significant factors in development

• Freud gave new hope to the treatment of psychopathology and changed social attitudes toward the neurotic and psychotic

• A major motivating force in human behavior is sexuality, including the idea of infantile sexuality

• Freud ascribes meaning to errors, forgettings, slips of the tongue, and other unintended behavior, believing that they are expressions of unconscious forces.

The Contributions of Erik Erikson

Erikson’s Epigenetic Theory of Psychosocial Development

• Basic Premise– Children seek to actively adapt and master their

environments

– Rather than id impulse being the driving force to development, ego resolution seeks expression through cultural socialization and crisis generation

– Ego identity development is a function of eight crises which are both necessary and essential for healthy outcomes

Behaviorism & Learning Theory

Behaviorism and Learning Theory

• Watson’s Ideology & Premise– Movement towards empiricism

– Human development is a function of an organism responding to it’s environment…Behavior is the outcome.

– Development is continuous, passive, and mechanistic

B. F. Skinner

• Human behavior is a function of learning habits rooted in operant learning conditioning (outcomes based on animal research)

• Inherent behavioral overtones are rooted in experiences which yield favorable outcomes.

• Behavioral outcomes can be manipulated by varying the consequence associated with the behavior (i.e., Reinforcer, Punisher)– Reinforcer. Any consequence of an act that increases the probability

that the act will occur

– Punisher. Any consequence of an act that suppresses that act or decreases the probability of occurrence.

Albert Bandura

Social Cognitive Theory

Albert Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory

• Somewhere lodged between the environmental stimuli and the individual’s response is the inherent capacity for thinking and reasoning.– Consequently, this differs us from animals and any

attempt to bridge the two outcomes is transductive reasoning.

• Learned behavioral outcomes are a function of modeling and learning through observation (Observational learning)– Children are active and continuous

Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism

• The course of development is bidirectional– Individual. Cognitive and physical abilities; beliefs and attitudes

– Behavior. Physical and verbal responses; social interaction

– Environment. Physical surrounding; family and community influences

Behavioral Outcomes

The Individual and his talents

The Environment

Jean Piaget

Cognitive Developmental Theory

PIAGET’S BIOLOGICAL PREMISE

• Individuals possess the unique capability to engage and respond to their environments and enhance their cognitive abilities through the process of assimilation and accommodation.

• Individuals are constantly striving to achieve a cognitive equilibrium or homeostatasis

Piaget’s Principles

• Schemes. A scheme is any action pattern for dealing with the environment, such as sucking, grasping, hitting, kicking, and looking.

• Organization. To implement a series of schemes to complete a certain task.

• Development is organismic, discontinuous, and active

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor Birth-2 years

• Preoperational 2-7 years

• Concrete Operational 7-11 years

• Formal Operational 11 years on

Piaget’s Stages• Sensorimotor. Babies organize their physical action

schemes, such as sucking, grasping, and hitting for dealing with the immediate world.

• Preoperational. Children learn to think—to use symbols and internal images—but their thinking is unsystematic and illogical. It is very different from that of adults.

• Concrete Operational. Children develop the capacity to think systematically, but only when they can refer to concrete objects and activities.

• Formal Operational. Young people develop the capacity to think systematically on a purely abstract and hypothetical plane.

Information Processing Theory

INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY

• Alternative view of cognitive theory

• Proposes that practice creates well organized cognitive schemes. Consequently, they demand less attention and become more automatic

• This theory focuses on the dimensions of memory, attention, and thinking

INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY DIVIDES THE MIND INTO:

• Sensory Register: The area of the mental system in which sights and sounds are held briefly before they decay or are transformed into working or short-term memory.

• Short-Term Memory: The conscious part of a mental system where we active work on a limited amount of information to ensure it is retained.

• Long-Term Memory: The part that contains our permanent knowledge base. Knowledge base is limitless.

The Basic Components of a Computer

• CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Responsible for computational functions

• RAM (Random Access Memory)– Responsible for accessing information which

is currently being used for data manipulation

• Hard Drive– Responsible for the long-term storage of vital

information

Mental Strategies

• In information processing, procedures that operate on and transform information, thereby increasing the efficiency and flexibility of thinking and the chances that information will be retained

– Organization. Memory strategy of grouping together related items. Taking notes

– Elaboration. Mental strategy of creating a relation between two or more items that are not members of the same category

– Rehearsal. Memory strategy for repeating information

Mental Strategies Continued

• By continuing these mental strategies, you develop greater organization of information and significantly increase knowledge retention.

• Failure to apply appropriate mental strategies reduces the amount of knowledge retained

Ethology (Evolutionary)

Discuss the “Ologies”SociologyEcologyEthology

Ethology (Evolutionary)

• Arnold Gesell’s Basic Premise– Human development is a function of pure

maturation. • Genetic predisposition becomes the determining

factor for developmental outcome

• Parents and other social factors are of little importance

• Human behaviors are a function of evolutionary principles

Ethology (Evolutionary), Cont.

• Natural Selection Process– Children are born preprogrammed to display certain

behaviors that will enable them to bond with their human family and inevitably survive.

• Infant’s cry to signal distress (e.g., ensuring basic needs are being met…even emotional attachment) (Bowlby, 1973)

• Infant’s ability to discriminate and determine a familiar face

– The course of development has both sensitive periods and critical periods

– Early years are optimal for development

Theory Development

• Develop at least three assumptions that guide your theory of development.

• Explain your theory as it pertains to infancy and early childhood.

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your theory. Implications for theory development.