ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT b) All possible behaviors are said to be present from

What is Human Development? conception.

• The capability for long and happy life c) Genes provide the blueprint for all behaviors; some
present from birth, others pre-programmed to
• Freedom to decide
emerge with age.
• More choices for people
d) Is a developmental Approach: E.g. children’s
• Lead a life in dignity thought processes change at predetermined age-
Developmental Psychology Issues and Debates related stages changes in age are related to changes in
 Is development due more to genetics or behavior.
environment?
 Does development occur slowly and smoothly, NURTURE
or do changes happen in stages? • An individual’s behavior is determined by the
 Do early childhood experiences have the environment- the things people teach them, the
things
greatest impact on development or are later
they observe and because of the different situations they
events equally important?
are in.
THREE MAJOR CORE ISSUES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
• Also, a determinist view- proposes all human
• Nature vs. Nurture
behavior is the result of interactions with the
• Early Experience vs. Latter Experience
environment.
• Continuity vs. Discontinuity
• Behaviorist Theories are nurture theories:
NATURE VS. NURTURE
• Behavior is shaped by interactions with the
• The degree to which human behavior is determined
environment.
by genetics/biology. (nature) or learned through
• Born an empty vessel-waiting to be filled up by
interacting with the environment (nurture). The
experiences gained from environmental interaction.
debate over the relative contribution of inheritance
• No limit to what they can achieve:
and the environment usually referred as the nature
-Depends on quality of external influences and NOT genes.
versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in
• The quality of the environment is KEY
both philosophy and psychology
-You can become anything provided the environment is
• Philosopher like Plato and Descartes supported the
right.
idea that some ideas are inborn
TEMPRAMENT: How active, responsive or emotional an infant
• John Locke argued for the concept of “Tabula rasa” a
is influences in part determines their caregivers responses.
belief that the mind is a blank slate at birth, with
GENDER: People tend to react differently to boys and girls
experience determining our knowledge.
due to expectations of masculine and feminine
• Some aspects of development are distinctly
characteristics.
biological, such as puberty however the onset of
AGGRESSION: Displaying aggressive behavior create particular
puberty can be affected by environmental factors,
responses from other people.
such as diet and nutrition.
EARLY EXPERIENCE VS. LATER EXPERIENCE
BIOLOGICAL MATURATION
• A second important consideration in developmental
• Inheritance
psychology involves the relative importance of early
• Maturation
experiences versus those that occur later in life. Are
• Environment
we more effected by events that occur in early
• Experiences
childhood, or do later events play an equally
NATURE
important role? Psychoanalytic theorists tend to
• Behavior is caused by innate
focus on events that occur in early childhood
• Characteristics
according to Freud much of a child’s personality is
a) The physiological / Biological characteristics we are
completely established by the age of five. If this is
born with
indeed the case, those who are experienced
b) Biology is therefore determined by biology.
deprived or abusive childhoods might never adjust
c) Also, a determinist view suggests all behavior is
or develop normally. In contrast to this view
determined by hereditary
researchers have found that the influence of
childhood events does not necessarily have a
• Factors dominating effect over behavior throughout life.
a) Inherited characteristics or genetic make-up we are Many people with less-than perfect childhood go on
born with. to develop normally into well-adjusted adults.
CONTINUITY VS. DISCONTINUITY
• Continuity and discontinuity are two competing
theories in development 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 long 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, belief, furthermore, continuity PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY
and discontinuity disagree with one another in how Eric Erickson
they assess the changes that someone undergoes
throughout the course of their life. Developmental • Ego Psychologist
psychology encompasses a very wise array to • Most popular and influential theories of
observations related to how people think, behave development
and interact with their environment as well as other • Proposed the Psychosocial development
people. This field at first was confused on how young • Psychosocial theory focused on conflicts that arise at
children develop but, in recent years it has expanded different stages of development and, unlike Freud's
past the pediatric setting to encompass studies of theory, Erikson described development throughout
how people change throughout the course of their the lifespan.
entire lives up until the point of their death. • Eight developmental stages
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT? PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES

Relevant theories to the study of development

• PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES

• LEARNING THEORIES

• COGNITIVE THEORIES

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES\
PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES

• Psychoanalytic theories are traditionally focused

upon abnormal behavior, so developmental theories
in this area tend to describe deficits in behavior.

• Psychoanalytic theory is influenced by Sigmund

Freud who believes in the unconscious mind and
childhood experience

PSYCHOSEXUAL THEORY LEARNING THEORIES

Sigmund Freud • focus on how the environment impacts behavior.

Important learning processes include classical
• Australian Neurologist conditioning, operant conditioning, and social
• Founder of Psychoanalysis learning. In each case, behavior is shaped by the
• Proposed the Psychosexual theory of Development interaction between the individual and the
• Psychosexual describes how personality develops environment.
during childhood
• Psychosexual Stages CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL THEORY
• Classical conditioning is a type of learning that had a
major influence on the school of thought in
psychology known as behaviorism.
 • Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov,
classical conditioning is a learning process that
occurs through associations between an
environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring
stimulus.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

• Operant conditioning argues that one behavior will

depend on different situations. Meaning people will
repeatedly behave from where they will get benefits
and try to avoid where they will get nothing

• A particular behavior is usually followed by a reward

or punishment.

COGNITIVE THEORIES

• focus on the development of mental processes,

skills, and abilities

• Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

JEAN’S PIAGET’S THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

• Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and genetic

epistemologist. He is most famously known for
his theory of cognitive development that looked at
how children develop intellectually throughout the
course of childhood.

ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR VS INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

• One of the biggest concerns of many parents is

whether or not their child is developing normally.
Developmental milestones offer guidelines for the
ages at which certain skills and abilities typically
emerge, but can create concern when a child falls
slightly behind the norm. While developmental
theories have historically focused upon deficits in
behavior, focus on individual differences in
development is becoming more common.