HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Prepared by: Ms. Rachel Angelique Louella I. Cucio, MBA, MA, RPm

Basic Concepts Human Development

o The branch of psychology concerned with the study of progressive

behavioral changes in an individual from birth until maturity

o It deals with the study of physical, emotional, motor, cognitive and social
changes experienced by an individual all throughout his or her lifespan. (i.e.
pre-natal, infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood)

o The scientific study of how people grow and change over the course of a
lifetime.

o It examines change across a broad range topics including motor skills and
other psycho physiological processes including problem solving, moral
understanding, language acquisition, social personality and emotional
development, self-concept and identity formation.

o Originally the study is concerned more on infants and children, however it

expanded to include adolescence, adult development as well as ageing then
the entire lifespan

Growth - pertains to the quantitative change. An individual increases in height,

weight, and changes in proportion as he progresses toward maturity.

o It denotes a net increase in size or mass of the tissue.

o It is a change in size, in proportion, disappearance of old features and
acquisition of new ones.
o Structural and physiological changes (Crow & Crow, 1962)
o Involves body changes. The changes produced by growth are the subject of
measurement. They may be quantified.
o Growth does not continue throughout life. It stops when maturity has been
attained.

Development - pertains to the qualitative changes such as increase in skills and

complexity of function which results to specialization. It is a gradual and orderly
unfolding of the characteristics of the successive stages of growth. It is a
progressive series of change that occur as a result of maturation and experience.

o Development specify maturation of functions. It indicates acquisition of a

variety of skills for optimal functioning of the individual.
o Development means progressive series of changes that occur in an orderly
predictable pattern as a result of maturation and experience (Hurlock, 1959)
o Development is concerned with growth as well as those changes in
behavior which results from environmental situations (J.E. Anderson, 1950)
o Development is a wider and comprehensive term and refers to overall
changes in the individual. It is continues throughout life and is progressive.
o Changes in the quality or character rather than the quantitative aspects
comes in this domain.
o Development is a wider and comprehensive term and refers to the overall
changes in the individual.
o It continues throughout life and is progressive.
 Approaches in studying Human Growth & Development

Longitudinal Design
• Involves examining the developmental changes in relation to age.
• In this approach, a group of people is monitored over a period of
time
•
Cross-Sectional Design
• Involves observing different groups with different developmental
stages.

HEREDITY & ENVIRONMENT

Heredity - refers to the inherited physiological, emotional, intellectual and social

characteristics that make up the individual.
-traits you inherited from your parents
-genes

Environment - external force that influences the individual.

-life experiences make you the person you are right now
-the rearing style

LEARNING & MATURATION

Maturation

o It is a genetic process, in which it is natural and cannot be initiated or

affected by any human activity.
o is the unfolding of traits potentially present in the individual because
of his hereditary endowment.
o It is a process of development in which an individual matures or
reaches full functionality.
o Maturation does not necessarily happen along with aging or physical
growth, but is a part of growth and development.
o Inherited physiological, emotional, intellectual and social
characteristics that make up the individual
Learning

o A process through which one acquires knowledge, skills, awareness

and capabilities through experience
o Development that comes from exercise and effort
o Learning that comes through experience, knowledge and practice.
o External factors that influence the individual (environment)

Principles of 1. Early Foundations are Critical

Human Growth and - As a child develops, he or she adds to the skills already acquired and the
Development / new skills become the basis for further achievement and mastery of skills.
Significant facts - One stage of development lays the foundation for the next stage of
about growth and
development.
development
2. Maturation and learning plays an important role in development
Maturation is the unfolding of individual’s physiological potentials – common to
human race Variation is possible; there is a limit, there is a definite timetable
 Research studies have shown:
Brain attains mature size = around six to eight years
Feet, hands and nose = early adolescence
Heart, liver, digestive system = grow during adolescence.

3. Growth and Development follows an orderly pattern, which is predictable

The first important principle of human growth and development is that it
follows a specific pattern. According to Hurlock (1982), there is an orderly pattern
for physical, motor, speech, and intellectual development of an individual. She
mentioned that there are two laws of developmental direction: cephalocaudal law
and the proximodistal law. The first law pertains to the developmental pattern
from head to foot while the latter states that development spreads outward
from the center of the body to the extremities.
A specific pattern will be followed for all unless certain factors will prevent it.
Here’s an example by Hurlock which shows a pattern – babies creep and crawl
before they can learn how to walk

4. All individuals are different

Every person is biologically and genetically different even in the case of twins

5. Each phase of development has characteristic behavior.

Some traits develop more rapidly and can be determined easily compared to others

6. Each phase of development has hazards

Each period in life span is associated with certain developmental hazards. It is
important for care takers to determine these hazards

7. There are social expectations for every stage of development

Each one is expected to fulfill certain expectations.
Developmental tasks – patterns of behavior expected from an individual to master
or acquire at a particular age.

8. Many forms of “so-called “Problem Behaviors” are normal behaviors of the

age in which they occur.
Development has characteristic patterns of behavior. These patterns are marked by
periods of equilibrium and disequilibrium. According to Hurlock, an individual is
in the state of equilibrium if he can adapt easily to the environmental
demands which makes good personal and social adjustments. On the other
hand, if the individual is experiencing difficulty in adaptation and make poor
personal and social adjustment, he is undergoing the state of disequilibrium.

9. Every Individual normally passed through each major stage of

development.
Every individual will undergo each phase of development unless
environmental conditions prevent it. These stages include the following:
1. Babyhood
2. Early Childhood
3. Late Childhood
4. Puberty
5. Adolescence
6. Early Adulthood
7. Middle Adulthood
8. Late Adulthood
How Life Begins Fertilization - A process in sexual reproduction that involves the union of male (sperm) and
female (ovum) gametes (each with a single, haploid set of chromosomes) to produce
a diploid zygote.

Ovulation - A preliminary stage of development limited to the female sex cells. It is the
process of escape of one mature ovum during the menstrual cycle.

Stages of prenatal development:

1. Germinal stage: in the germinal stage, from conception to 2 weeks, the egg
is fertilized, and the zygote attaches itself to the uterine wall.
2. Embryonic stage: during the embryonic stage, from week 3 through week
8, all of the major systems, organs, and structures form.
3. The Fetal Stage: in the fetal stage, from week 9 until birth, the fetus
experiences rapid growth and body systems, structures, and organs
continue their development.
Conditions/Syndromes associated with prenatal development:
1. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - is a condition, caused by maternal alcohol
intake during pregnancy, in which the baby is born with mental retardation,
with a small head and facial, organ, and behavioral abnormalities.
2. Low-birth Weight/Premature Babies - A low-birth-weight baby is a baby
weighing less than 5.5 pounds; a preterm or premature infant is an infant
born before the 37th week and weighing less than 5.5 pounds; low-birth-
weight and preterm infants are at risk for poor developmental outcomes.
3. Addicted/Withdrawal from Drugs – if mother is taking drugs while
pregnant, the baby also receives this through the placenta; after birth, the
baby suffers withdrawal

Trait Babyhood (first 2 years)

Characteristics - true foundation age; age of rapid growth and change; age of decreasing
of Each Stage of
Development dependency; age of increased individuality; beginning of socialization;
beginning of sex-role typing; an appealing age

Early Childhood (2-6 years)

- a problem age; a toy age; exploratory age; questioning age

Late Childhood (6 to sexually mature)

- troublesome age; sloppy age; quarrelsome age; critical period in the
achievement drive; gang age; play age

Adolescence (13 to 18)

- a problem age; a time of unrealism; a time of search for identity; a transitional
period

Physical Development

The physical changes that began during puberty will fully develop during the
adolescence stage which includes the physical changes comprising of the
primary and secondary sex characteristics.

Physical Changes during Puberty:

BOYS: Growth spurt between 12 and 15 years old; First ejaculation;
Secondary sex characteristics appear such as deepened voice, facial,
chest, underarm, and pubic hair grows.
 GIRLS: Growth spurt between 10 and 13 years old; Menarche (onset of
menstruation), and Secondary sex characteristics appear such as breasts
develop, hips become round, pubic and underarm hair grows.

Cognition Development

In this stage, adolescent shows the ability to solve problems, more

analytical in confusing situations and can handle abstract, concrete and
tangible concepts. In Piaget’s theory, adolescent belongs to the cognitive
stage of formal operations, in which they have the capability to understand
abstract ideas.

Social Development

The stage of Adolescence involves the search for identity. According to

Erickson the main psychological crisis or conflict that adolescent face is
identity versus identity role confusion. As the adolescent tries to answer the
question “WHO AM I?”

Moral Development

Moral development during adolescent stage is the application of the

cognitive abilities to moral issues and dilemmas. Lawrence Kholberg
proposed a theory that will explain the moral behavior of the adolescents.

Early Adulthood (19 to 40)

- period of adjustment, settling down age, reproductive age, problem age,
experiences emotional tension and social isolation; a creative age

Middle Adulthood (40 to 60)

- time of transition; time of stress; awkward age; time of boredom; time of
evaluation

Late Adulthood (60 onwards)

- period of decline (General slowing of physical/mental functions; Decline
in sensory capacity; Stiffer joints, brittle bones; increase in chronic
conditions such as high blood pressure, arthritis; slower performance of
cognitive tasks); period of many adjustments (retires from work, may lose a
spouse, may alter their living arrangements)

Freud’s Theory of Sigmund Freud

Psychosexual
Development • He believed that all human beings pass through a series of psychosexual
stages
• Each stage is dominated by the development of sensitivity in a particular
erogenous zone or pleasure giving spot in the body
• Each stage poses for individuals a unique conflict that must be resolve
before they go to the next higher stage.
• If unsuccessful, the resulting frustration become chronic and remains a
central feature of their psychological make-up: may become so addicted or
may want to go back on that stage to receive pleasure – FIXATION
(tendency to stay at a particular stage)
 1. ORAL STAGE (Birth to 1 year)
Center of pleasure: MOUTH
• Infants learn about their environment by such activities involving the mouth
• Infants derive much pleasure in sucking (fingers, toes, nipples), chewing,
spitting, and biting
• When an infant experiences frustration in not being able to meet needs
through oral activities, the needs may continue to resurface at a later period
in life in such forms as overeating, smoking, nail biting, thumbsucking

2. ANAL STAGE (1-3 years old)

Center of pleasure: ANAL REGION

• Voluntary defecation become the primary method of gratifying the sex

instinct
• Parents put emphasis to toilet training
• Parents over or lack of attention to children’s toilet training maybe the cause
of problems relating to control: may become sloppy when he/she grew up or
enjoys controlling others

3. PHALLIC STAGE (3-6 years old)

Center of pleasure: GENITALS

• Children at this age have matured to a point that their genitals have become
an interesting and sensitive area of the body
• Derive pleasure from activities associated with stroking and manipulating
their sex organs
• Boys experience oedipus complex (young boys experience rivalry with
father for mother’s attention and affection and regards father as a sex rival)
while girls experience electra complex (sees mother as rival for father’s
attention)

4. LATENCY STAGE (6-12 years old)

Center of pleasure: N/A

• Children’s sex instincts are relatively calm and continue until puberty
• Focus on child is on school work and vigorous play that consume most of
his energy
• Many of the disturbing and conflicting feelings of children are buried in the
subconscious mind

5. GENITAL STAGE (12 years onwards)

Center of pleasure: GENITALS

• Longest stage and lasts from puberty to old age

• Aim of sex instinct is reproduction
• Oedipus and electra complex are reactivated and directed toward other
persons of the opposite sex

• Provided that strong fixations at earlier stages have not taken place, people
no longer depend on parents and is on his way to establishing a satisfying
life of his own

Psychosocial • People progress through a series of eight stages. Each stage is not passed
Theory of Erik through and left behind. Each stage contributes to the formation of the total
Erikson personality (epigenetic principle).
• Each stage is characterized by a conflict or crisis that the individual must
successfully resolve in order to develop in a healthy direction. An individual who
fails to resolve one or more of the life crisis is almost certain to encounter
problems in the succeeding stages of development or in the future.
• Erikson also identified the virtues or ego strengths that appear during
successive stages.

1st Stage: Infancy

• Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust – Infants needs should be met by
feeding, cuddling, and showing genuine concern or affection to them. This
will give them a sense of a world that is safe and a dependable place. If a
child is chaotic, unpredictable and felt rejected as brought about by the
environment, he approaches the world with fear and suspicion.
• Virtue: Hope – this emerges if there’s proper ratio of trust and mistrust.

2nd Stage: Early Childhood

• Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt – As children
begin to walk and climb, a new conflict confronts them that is whether to
assert their will or not. When parents are patient, cooperative, encouraging,
children acquire a sense of independence and competence. However,
when children are not allowed such freedom and are over-protected, they
develop an excessive sense of shame and doubt. Excessive shamefulness
will only induce the child to be shameless or force it to attempt to get away
with things by being secretive, sneaky, and sly.
• Virtue: Will – Child learns from itself and others what is expected and what
is expectable. It is responsible for the child’s gradual acceptance of
lawfulness and necessity. It is the ever-increasing strength to make free
choices, to decide, and to exercise self-discipline.

3rd Stage: Play Age

• Psychosocial Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt – At this stage, the motor and
mental abilities of the child greatly expands. The healthy child learns to
broaden his skills to cooperate and to lead as well as to follow. Parents who
give their children freedom to do things like running, riding, skating, etc. are
allowing them to develop initiative. However, parents who curtail this
freedom are giving children a sense of themselves as nuisances and inept
intruders in the adult world, thus making them passive.
• Virtue: Purpose – through play, the child learns the purposes of things.

4th Stage: School Age

• Psychosocial Crisis: Industry vs. Inferiority – During this stage, children
are concerned with how things work and how they are made. Children learn
to win recognition by being productive. Work becomes pleasurable and
they learn to persevere. Parents and teachers who support, reward and
praise children are encouraging industry. However, those who ignore,
rebuff, ridicule children’s effort are strengthening feelings of inferiority.
• Virtue: Competence – child is eager to learn the techniques of productivity

5th Stage: Adolescence

• Psychosocial Crisis: Identity vs. Identity Confusion – at this stage,
individual has to develop an integral and coherent sense of self. He seeks
answers to the question “Who Am I”. To find an identity, adolescents try on
many new roles as they grope with romantic involvement, vocational
 choice, and adult statuses. When the adolescent fails to develop a centered
identity he/she becomes trapped in either role confusion or a “negative
identity”. On one hand, role confusion implies uncertainty of appropriate
behavior; he/she might feel regressing rather than progressing; one might
feel isolated, empty, anxious and indecisive; may feel that society is
pushing them to make decisions but unable to do so. On the other hand,
negative identity is the sense of possessing a set of potentially bad or
unworthy characteristics that often results to projection and might later
become a social pathology (prejudice, crime, and discrimination).
• Virtue: Fidelity – ability to sustain loyalties freely pledged

6th Stage: Young Adulthood

• Psychosocial Crisis: Intimacy vs. Isolation – Young adults are prepared
and willing to unite their identity with others. They are capable of
experiencing the intimacy of enduring friendship or marriage. Central to
intimacy is the ability to share with and care about another person without
fear of losing oneself in the process. Fear of self-abandonment results in a
feeling of isolation.
• Virtue: Love – dominant virtue of the universe

7th Stage: Adulthood

• Psychosocial Crisis: Generativity vs. Stagnation – Individual is able to
work productively and creatively. Generativity entails selflessness, parental
responsibility, interest in producing and guiding the next generation.
Stagnation is a condition in which individuals are preoccupied with their
material possessions or physical well-being.
• Virtue: Care – expressed by one’s concern for others, by wanting to take
care of those who need it and to share one’s knowledge and experience
with them.

8th Stage: Old Age

• Psychosocial Crisis: Integrity vs. Despair – Stage of facing reality,
recognizing and accepting it. Some feel a sense of satisfaction with the
accomplishment but others experience despair, the feeling that the time is
too short for an attempt to start another life and to try out alternative roads
to integrity; a feeling that life is meaningless.
• Virtue: Wisdom – maintains and conveys the integrity of accumulated
experiences of previous years.

Piaget’s Stages of Jean Piaget

Cognitive
Development • He is the best known child psychologist in the field of psychology
• For him, it is more important to know how children think rather than what they
know.
• Learning consists of adapting our thought schemas to new information from the
real world. Learning occurs in either of two ways: assimilation or
accommodation.

Cognitive Development - the acquisition of the ability to think and reason. The
development of thinking, problem solving and memory.

Schema – Basic unit of intellect,

 How we look at things
Our understanding of how the world works
Our tools for learning about the world

schema: is an organized pattern of thought about a certain subject

It is a mental structure that we create
It is a cognitive representation of our views on a certain subject.

• Assimilation
Process of taking in new information that easily fits into an existing schema.
A person interprets reality in a way that fits his current mental schemes.

Example: sucking schema for feeding also used by babies on exploring things
around him.
If we keep on assimilating, there will be no growth thus we need to adapt
by accommodation.

• Accommodation
A process that enables us to deal with knowledge from the environment by
changing our own structures or behaviors.
Modify the existing schemes to better fit new information.
Example: modification of sucking schema as the child learns to drink on a cup.

EQUILIBRIUM – when schemes are in accordance with the demands of the world.
Balance between assimilation and accommodation.

1st Stage: Sensorimotor (Birth – 2 years old)

In this stage, children’s contact with the world around them depends entirely on
the movements that they make and the sensations that they experience.

Whenever they encounter a new object, they shake it, throw it, or put it in their
mouth, so they gradually come to understand its characteristics through trial and
error.

About age 1, children understand the concept of object permanence—that an

object continues to exist even when it moves beyond their field of vision.

2nd Stage: Preoperational (2 to 7 years old)

According to Piaget, children move into the preoperational stage of cognitive

development when they begin to exhibit signs of the symbolic function—the
understanding that one thing can stand for another.

Children begin to understand spatial & numerical concepts; distinction between

past and future. But they remain highly focused on the present and on concrete
physical situations.

They have difficulty in dealing with abstract concepts: speed, weight, number,
quantity, or causality. Although they may be able to count, they do not really
understand the concept of number.
 Children’s thinking is also very egocentric at this stage; a child this age often
assumes that other people see situations from his or her viewpoint.

In this stage, children display the symbolic function through the use of words to
represent objects and through pretend play.

Children exhibit egocentrism: the belief that everyone sees what they see,
thinks as they think, and feels as they feel.

• Inabilities that need to be overcome:

• Centration – the child’s tendency to focus on only one aspect of a
stimulus/situation at a time.
• Inability to Conserve – inability to understand that physical
properties of objects such as number, mass, and volume remains
the same despite changes in the object’s outward appearance.

• Ego centrism – the child’s inability to consider the view points other
than his own.
• Believe that other people see or perceive things the way they do.
• Not equated with selfishness.
• Just have difficulty seeing the world through someone else’s
perspective

3rd Stage: Concrete Operational (7 to age 12)

Children now become able to imagine events that occur outside their own lives.
They also begin to conceptualize and to create sequences of logical reasoning,
though this reasoning still depends on a direct relationship to concrete things.

Children also acquire a certain capacity for abstraction. Hence, they can begin
to study disciplines such as mathematics, in which they can solve problems with
numbers and reverse previously performed operations, but only ones that involve
observable phenomena.

• Can do the following abilities:

• Seriation – an ability to order objects according to some
quantitative dimension.

• Transitive Reasoning – an ability to solve relationship between

three elements. Mathematical and logical problems.
Example: If A is taller than B, and B is taller than C;
who is the tallest?

4th Stage: Formal Operational (12 years old to onwards)

The new capabilities developed in this stage, such as the abilities to reason
hypothetically and deductively and to establish abstract relationships, are
generally mastered around age 15.

By the end of this stage, adolescents, like adults, can use formal, abstract logic.
They can also begin to think about probabilities and about moral issues such as
justice.

• Formal operational thinking enables adolescents to think of what might be.

They begin to conceive of “perfect” solutions to the world’s and their own
 problems, which Piaget called naive idealism.
• According to David Elkind, the early teenage years are marked by another
kind of unrealistic thought, adolescent egocentrism, which takes two
forms: the imaginary audience and the personal fable.
• The imaginary audience is a belief of adolescents that they are or will be
the focus of attention in social situations and that others will be as critical or
approving as they are of themselves.
• Need to be notice
• Attention-Getting behaviors
• The personal fable is an exaggerated sense of personal uniqueness and
indestructibility, which may be the basis for adolescent risk taking.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Lawrence Kohlberg

Moral Development - Kohlberg studied moral reasoning by presenting subjects with a set of
ethical dilemmas. Responses to several scenarios allowed Kohlberg to
describe how people reasoned about situations that demanded moral
judgments.

Level 1: Preconventional Morality (0-9 years)

• Punishment and obedience orientation
• Reward orientation

Children at this level base their reasoning on two ideas. Behaviors are motivated by
consequences, either reward or avoidance of punishments

STAGE 1: Punishment-Obedience Orientation (toddler to 7 years old)

• The child determines goodness and badness based on the physical
consequence of an action
• Authority have superior power and should be obeyed; punishment should be
avoided by staying out of trouble
▪ Disobeying warrants punishments, thus children will try to avoid it by
following the rules

STAGE 2: Instrumental Exchange Orientation (pre-school – school age)

• An action is judged to be right if it is instrumental or satisfying one’s own
needs or involve an even exchange
• Children behave well and do good in anticipation of reward
• I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine”
• Obeying rules should bring some sort of benefits in return

Level 2: Conventional Morality (9-20 years)

• Good boy/girl orientation
• Social Systems orientation

• This refers to judgments based on the rules or conventions of society;

behaviors that maintain the social order are considered good behaviors.
• The reasoning at this level is based on a desire to impress others, peer
relationship becomes very important.

STAGE 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation (9 years – Young Adulthood)

▪ Reasoning about morality focuses on the expectations of other people,
particularly the expectation of people in authority and peers.
▪ In order to create and maintain good relations with other people, it is
important to conform to their expectation of good behavior.
 STAGE 4: Law and Order Orientation
▪ To maintain the social order, fixed rules must be established and obeyed. It
is essential to respect authority.
▪ The moral person is one who follows the laws of society without questioning
them.

Level 3: Postconventional Morality (20 years onwards)

• Morality of social contract and democracy
• Morality of individual principles and conscience

▪ This is a judgment that recognized the societal need for mutual agreement
and the application of consistent principles in making judgments.
▪ Through careful thought and reflection, the post conventional thinker arrives
at a self-determined set of principles or morality.
▪ Individual abides by self-chosen moral principles
▪ Moral judgment is based on universal principles of justice, equality, and
human dignity.

STAGE 5: Social Contract Orientation

▪
At this stage, laws are open to evaluation. A law is good if it protects the
rights of individuals. Laws should not be obeyed simply because they are
laws but because there is mutual agreement between the individual and
society that these laws guarantee a person’s rights.
▪ Moral reasoning relies on the fundamental principles such as individuality,
equality, human dignity, contractual agreement, and mutual obligations.
STAGE 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

▪ The principles that determine moral behavior are self-chosen; they unify a
person’s beliefs about equality, justice, and ethics. If a person arrives at a
set of principles, the principles serve as guidelines for appropriate behavior.

▪ Individuals are willing to break (unjust) social rules and the law, and accept
the consequences, if such level went against the principle of human life.
▪ Following one’s conscience.
▪ Morally obligated to disobey unjust laws.
Examples of people: Mahatma Gandhi, Jose Rizal, Benigno Aquino, Jr.,
Malala Yousafzai.

References: http://www.nos.org, http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/family/350-053/350-053.html, www. washingtonpost.com,

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Wiley & Sons, Inc.; Estrada, A. & Manuel, C. (2007). Human Growth, Learning and Development. LET Reviewer, PNU.
General Psychology -A Bird’s Eye View, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House., De Guzman R., Reyes G., Pacquing
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