Psychology of Human

Development and Learning

EDC 241

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 Psychology of Human
Development
 Psychology – It is the scientific study of
the mind and behaviour. Helps to explain
how we think, feel and act both individually
and as a group

 Psychology – comes from the Greek word

“Psyche” meaning “breath, spirit, soul or
mind” and the Greek word “logia” meaning,
“the study of something”.
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 Others say, Greek word “Logos”
meaning “the science of the mind”.

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 Educational Psychology
 It is the process of applying the knowledge
of psychology to education.

 Therefore, Educational Psychology is the

study of how people learn

 Deals with the problems, process and

products of education.
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 Educational Psychology
cont’d
 It involves both studying, learning in
the classroom and general learning
across the lifespan

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 Some importance of
Educational Psychology
 Helps teachers to know how learning process
should be initiated, how to motivate, how to
memorise or learn

 Helps teachers to direct or guide students in

the right direction to canalize students
abilities in the right direction

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Some importance of Educational
Psychology cont’d
 Helps teachers to know the problems of
individual differences

 Solve learning problems of students

 Helps the teacher to know how to

evaluate a student whether the purpose
or aim of the teaching and learning has
been achieved.
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Developmental Psychology
 It is the scientific study of systematic
psychological changes that a person
experiences over the course of his/her life
span i.e. from conception to death

 Developmental Psychology includes

psychological factors that is studied over the
lifespan i.e. motor skills, moral
understanding, acquiring language, emotions,
problem solving, personality, self-concept and
identity formation
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 Four Key Goals of
Developmental Psychology
 To Describe – This is to describe
behaviours. One should be able to
describe what transpires across the
lifespan of the human organism.

 To explain – This is to explain

behaviour. Why do people do the things
they do? What factors contribute to the
child’s way of thinking and talking?
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 Four Key Goals of
Developmental Psychology
cont’d
 To Predict – To make predictions about how
one thinks and act
 to predict developmental changes.
 When prediction is successful, it can help the
teacher or psychologist to make guesses

 To Change – To help influence and control

behaviour to make lasting changes in people’s
lives.
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 Human Development
Introduction
 Araba is a college student who is taking

a developmental psychology class. She's

learned a lot about development, or
the way that people grow and change
as they age. She thinks about her life so
far and realizes that she's developed
quite a bit! As a baby, she couldn't walk
or talk
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or do much of anything.
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 Then, as she grew into a kid, she
learned how to walk, run, and jump
rope. She was able to talk and learned
how to express her thoughts and tell
people what she wanted. She learned
how to recognize when she was feeling
sad or lonely and how to deal with
those emotions.
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 As a teen, Araba learned more complex
things, like algebra and critical thinking.
She also learned how to think about
others' needs, as well as her own, and
to recognize that just because she
wants something, it doesn't mean that
she'll get it.

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 As Araba now transitions into
adulthood, she realizes that there's still
a lot of development for her to do. She
will learn how to be in a healthy,
romantic relationship. She'll become a
mom and grow into the role of
caretaker. Her career will take off as
she navigates more and more complex
and demanding roles at work.

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 Eventually, Araba will find that her life
changes even more. Her children will
move out and have children of their
own. She will retire and learn to garden
and sew in her spare time. She'll also
learn how to deal with physical frailty as
her eyesight starts to go and she
develops weakness in her joints.

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 All these narrations of Araba happen at
all stages of a person’s life.
 Physical – Like how she learned to
jump the rope
 Emotional - When she learned to deal
with feeling sad
 Social – Like when she learned how to
recognize other’s needs
 Intellectual - Like learning algebra

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 Definition of Development
 Therefore, Development is defined as
the orderly and progressive changes
that do occur according to time as
organisms move from conception to
death.

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 The Concept of Growth
Maturation and learning
 People use the words growth and
maturation interchangeably. In
Psychology, they are a little different.
 Growth – It is the physical of
development.
 It is quantifiable. Can be measured and
influenced by genetics.

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 The Concept of Growth,
Maturation and Learning
cont’d
 For e.g. The year Araba was 12, she
got taller by 2 inches.
 This means that growth involves
changes in size, height, weight, etc.

 Maturation – It is the physical,

intellectual or emotional process of
development.
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 The Concept of Growth,
Maturation and Learning
cont’d
 Unlike growth, maturation is often not
quantifiable and influenced by genetics
 It can be said that it is the qualitative change
that occurs in an individual at a particular
stage in life for the performance of a certain
task.
 For e.g. as Araba became older, her brain
developed in a way that meant she was able
to handle more complex tasks than she could
before.
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 The Concept of Growth,
Maturation and Learning
cont’d
 Whiles growth is physical, maturation is
physical, intellectual or emotional.

 Learning – It is when a person

acquires knowledge or experience.

 Learning requires environmental

influence.
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 The Concept of Growth,
Maturation and Learning
cont’d
 Therefore, learning is defined as
knowledge gained through study

 Or a change in behaviour of an
individual through experience.

 So then, Araba thinking of others’ needs

as well as hers and learning to be
healthy is a typical example
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development
 There is a set of principles that
characterizes the pattern and process of
growth and development. Some of
these principles are:
 Cephalocaudal Principle – This
states that development proceeds from
top to bottom.

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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 A child will gain physical control of their head
first. After which the physical control will
move downwards to the arms and to the
legs.

 A new born will need support with head. By 2

months, it develops strength to hold the
head.

 In the next few months, the baby gains

control over the use
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Proximodistal Principle – Also describes
the direction of development.
 This principle states that development

proceeds from the centre of the body

outward.
 For a fertilized egg, the cell divides and

expand outward to become an embryo.

 Spinal cord forms limbs of the body form

before the hands and the feet and the hands

and the feet develop before the fingers and
toes.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Orthogenetic Principle – Does not involve
the direction of development.
 It states that development proceeds from
simple to the complex.
 This implies that development of more
complex tasks begin with the mastery of
simple tasks first.
 Meaning one stage of development lays the
foundation for the next stage of
development.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Development is Continuous –
development goes on continuously
throughout life. Growth reaches maturity.
Even after maturity has been attained,
development does not end.

 Development is Sequential – Every

species, follows a pattern of development to
it. This pattern is same for everyone. E.g. A
child crawls before he creeps, stands before
he walks and babbles
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before he talks.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Proceeds from General to specific – In
every type of development, general activity
proceeds specific activity. E.g. infants after
birth are able to make general movements
with the eyes, arms and legs.

 After the perfection of these general

movements, infants learn to make specific
movements.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Development is Gradual – Development
does not come all of a sudden. It is
cumulative in nature.

 Rate of Development varies from Person

to Person – development rate is not
uniform. Boys and girls have different
development rates and each part of the body
has its own particular rate of growth.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 There are periods of intensity and
equilibrium and there are periods of
imbalance
 Development is Predictable –
Physiological and psychological
potentialities can be predicted by
observation and psychological tests

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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Growth and Development is of
both hereditary and influenced by
environmental factors – for e.g.
poor nutrition can mare the growth of
an individual. Reduce intellectual
abilities and stature.

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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 Most traits are correlated in
Development – It is known in development
that most of the traits are correlated or
related.

 For instance, a child whose mental

development is above average, is also
superior in so many other aspects like health,
sociability and special aptitudes.
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 Principles of Human Growth
and Development cont’d
 A child who has a good health can be
active socially and intellectually.
 This means that there is constant
interaction between all the factors of
development.

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 Educational Implications
 The directions of human development, e.g.
simple to complex, general to specific, must
be considered in planning activities for the
children to assure satisfaction.

 Taking into consideration the individual

variation in growth, the school programmes
must be adjusted accordingly to suit students
variations.
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 Educational Implications
 Teachers and parents should consider
the maturation of the pupils or students
so they do not demand of students
what is beyond their stage.

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