Issues On Human Development PDF

Issues on Human Development INTRODUCTION Each of us has his/her own way of looking at our own and other people’s development. These paradigms of human development while obviously lacking in scholastic vigor, provide us with a conceptual framework for understanding ourselves and others. Scholar...

Issues on Human Development INTRODUCTION Each of us has his/her own way of looking at our own and other people’s development. These paradigms of human development while obviously lacking in scholastic vigor, provide us with a conceptual framework for understanding ourselves and others. Scholars have come up with their own models of human development. Back up by solid research, they take stand on issues on human development. THREE ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT  Nature versus Nurture  Continuity versus Discontinuity  Stability versus Change Nature versus Nurture The degree to which human behavior is determined by genetics/biology (nature) or learned through interacting with the environment (nurture) http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture- Nature  Behavior is caused by innate characteristics :The physiological/biological characteristics we are born with.  Behavior is therefore determined by biology.  Also a Determinist view- suggests all behavior is determined by hereditary factors: Inherited characteristics, or genetic make-up we are born with. http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture-  All possible behaviors are said to be present from conception.  Genes provide the blueprint for all behaviors; some present from birth, others pre-programmed to emerge with age.  Is a developmental approach: E.g. Piaget: children’s thought processes change at predetermined age-related stages changes in age are related to changes in behavior. http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture- Nurture  An individuals behavior is determined by the environment- the things people teach them, the things they observe, and because of the different situations they are in.  Also a determinist view- proposes all human behavior is the result of interactions with the environment. http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture- Nurture  Behaviorist theories are nurture theories: - Behavior is shaped by interactions with the environment.  Born an empty vessel- waiting to be filled up by experiences gained from environmental interaction.  No limit to what they can achieve: -Depends on quality of external influences and NOT genes.  The quality of the environment is KEY -You can become anything provided the http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture-  Nature Nurture Interaction  Behavior is often a result of the interaction between nature AND nurture.  An individual's characteristics may elicit particular responses in other people e.g. Temperament: how active, responsive or emotional an infant influences in part determines their caregivers responses. Gender: people tend to react differently to boys and girls due to expectations of masculine and feminine characteristics.  Aggression: Displaying aggressive behavior create particular responses from other people. http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture-  SUPPORTING APPROACHES & PERSPECTIVE Supporting Supporting Nature Nurture - Social (e.g. -Physiological Helping -Individual Differences Behavior) -Developmental -Behavioral http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture-  Continuity versus Discontinuity Continuity and discontinuity are two competing theories in developmental psychology that attempt to explain how people change through the course of their lives, where the continuity theory says that someone changes throughout their life along a smooth course while the discontinuity theory instead contends that people change abruptly. These changes can be described as a wide variety of someone's social and behavioral makeup, like their emotions, traditions, beliefs, habits, personality and so on. https://www.reference.com/education/continuity-versus-discontinuity-developmental- Furthermore, continuity and discontinuity disagree with one another in how they assess the changes that someone undergoes throughout the course of their life. The continuity theory examines the way someone changes in a quantitative and continuous respect. Discontinuity theory, on the other hand, looks at these changes through the lens of a qualitative analysis with an emphasis on the discontinuous nature of how someone changes. https://www.reference.com/education/continuity-versus-discontinuity-developmental- Is Child Development continuous or discontinuous? Not all psychologists, however, agree that development is a continuous process. Some view development as a discontinuous process. They believe development involves distinct and separate stages with different kinds of behavior occurring in each stage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ What is the theory of development? Developmental stage theories are theories that divide child development into distinct stages which are characterized by qualitative differences in behaviour. There are a number of different views about the way in which psychological and physical development proceed throughout the life span. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Stability versus Change  deals with the issue of whether or not personality traits present during infancy endure throughout the lifespan.  The stability-change debate describes the developmental psychology discussion about whether personality traits that are present in an individual at birth remain constant or change throughout the life span.  For example, does a naturally extroverted and talkative baby remain that way for their entire life? The stability vs. change debate is one of the fundamental questions in developmental psychology along with nature vs. nurture. Typically cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are used in research concerning stability vs. change. http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Stability-Change  Change Change Theorists- argue that personalities are modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, and acculturation.  Studies of children have often revealed impressive stability over time in aspects of development such as the attachment to their parents or in personality. However, there is evidence which suggests a contrary view, that change is both possible and indeed, is likely under appropriate conditions. https://prezi.com/nuahqipogaau/stability-  Sigmund Freud was one of the first psychologist to emphasize the critical nature of our early experiences for our later development. He believed that how we resolve our sexual and aggressive urges is strongly tied to the nature of our personality as adults. Psychoanalysts believe that personality traits developed in the first 5 years predict adult https://prezi.com/nuahqipogaau/stability- How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be anxious, overweight or asthmatic? How is it that some of us are prone to heart attacks, diabetes or high blood pressure? There's a list of conventional answers to these questions. We are the way we are because it's in our genes. We turn out the way we do because of our childhood experiences. Or our health and well- being stem from the lifestyle choices we make as adults. But there's another powerful source of influence you may not have considered: your life as a fetus. The nutrition you received in the womb; the pollutants, drugs and infections you were exposed to during gestation; your mother's health and state of mind while she was pregnant with you — all these factors This is the provocative contention of a field known as fetal origins, whose pioneers assert that the nine months of gestation constitute the most consequential period of our lives, permanently influencing the wiring of the brain and the functioning of organs such as the heart, liver and pancreas. In the literature on the subject, which has exploded over the past 10 years, you can find references to the fetal origins of cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergies, asthma, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, mental illness. At the farthest edge of fetal-origins research, scientists are Of course, no woman who is pregnant today can escape hearing the message that what she does affects her fetus. She hears it at doctor's appointments, sees it in the pregnancy guidebooks: Do eat this, don't drink that, be vigilant but never stressed. Expectant mothers could be forgiven for feeling that pregnancy is just a nine-month slog, full of guilt and devoid of pleasure, and this research threatened to add to the burden. Research on fetal origins is prompting a revolutionary shift in thinking about where human qualities come from and when they begin to develop. It's turning pregnancy into a scientific frontier: the National Institutes of Health embarked last year on a multidecade study that will examine its subjects before they're born. And it makes the womb a promising target for prevention, raising hopes of conquering public-health scourges like obesity and heart disease through interventions before birth.