EDUC 111 - Lecture 4

• Human Development is a life-long process. We spend our lives transitioning through phases of our development.
• We experience changes — in our cognitive, behavioral, physical, and emotional aspects — as we grow and develop.
• Bogin (2015) defines growth as a quantitative increase in size or mass
• Development refers to the progression of changes, either quantitative or qualitative, that lead from an undifferentiated or immature state to a highly organised, specialized, and mature state.
• Human development refers to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development of humans throughout the lifespan.
• Physical development is the growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness.
• Cognitive development encompasses the learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.
• Psychosocial development includes the emotions, personality, and social relationships.
• Cephalocaudal principle is the development that proceeds from the head downward (head to toe).
• The child gains control of the head first, then the arms, and then the legs (Cephalocaudal Principle).
• Infants develop control of the head and face movements within the first two months after birth (Cephalocaudal Principle).
• By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start to gain leg control and may be able to crawl, stand, or walk (Cephalocaudal Principle).
• Coordination of arms always precedes coordination of legs (Cephalocaudal Principle).
• Proximodistal development is the development from the center of the body outward.
• In proximodistal development, the spinal cord develops before outer parts of the body.
• The child's arms develop before the hands, and the hands and feet develop before the fingers and toes (Proximodistal Development).
• Finger and toe muscles (used in fine motor dexterity) are the last to develop in proximodistal physical development.
• Maturation refers to the sequential characteristics of biological growth and development.
• The biological changes occur in sequential order and give children new abilities.
• Changes in the brain and nervous system account largely for maturation. These changes help children to improve in thinking (cognitive) and motor (physical) skills.
• Children use their cognitive and language skills to reason and solve problems.
• Learning relationships between things (how things are similar), or classification, is an important ability in cognitive development.
• As a child develops, he or she adds to the skills already acquired and the new skills become the basis for further achievement and mastery of skills.
• Most children follow a similar pattern. Also, one stage of development lays the foundation for the next stage of development.
• In motor development, the infant will be able to grasp an object with the whole hand before using only the thumb and forefinger.
• The infant's first motor movements are very generalized, undirected, and reflexive.
• Growth occurs from large muscle movements to more refined (smaller) muscle movements.
• Each child is different and the rates at which individual children grow is different.
• Although the patterns and sequences for growth and development are usually the same for all children, the rates at which individual children reach developmental stages will be different.
• How we behave is influenced by various factors that can be categorized into two: external and internal.
• The external factors include those in our environment: our family, peers, school, and wider community.
• The internal factors include our personal characteristics such as age, sex, personality, temperament, and mental and physical health.
• Urie Bronfenbrenner was a psychologist who recognized the importance of environment on development.
• Urie Bronfenbrenner formulated the Ecological Systems Theory to explain how the inherent qualities of a child and their environment interact to influence how they will grow and develop.
• The Ecological Systems Theory shows how multiple environments influence our learning, well-being, and development; and how risk and protective factors can impact.
• Both risk and protective factors have a corresponding effects on us learners and our behaviors.
• Erik Erikson, a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, is best known for his Theory of Pyschosocial Development and the concept of identity crisis.
• According to Erik Erikson, personality develops in a predetermined order through 8 Stages of Pyschosocial Development, from infancy to adulthood.
• During each of the 8 stages, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis that could positively or negatively impact his or her personality development.
• Stage 1 - Basic Trust vs Mistrust (Infancy); Period: Birth to 18 months; Outcome: developing trust.