Human Development

• Main components of human growth and development include physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
• Physical development refers to the growth and development of the body's muscles, bones, energy systems, and nervous systems.
• Cognitive development refers to an individual's ability to interpret and process information and the introduction and establishment of a person's self-concept or self-awareness.
• Social development refers to the development of relationships with peers, friends, relatives, adults, and others in the outside world.
• Emotional development refers to an individual's ability to manage and regulate emotions such as motivation, pleasure, empathy, fear, anxiety, and anger.
• Chronological age refers to age as measured in years, months, and days.
• Skeletal age refers to age as indicated by the physical maturity of the skeleton. Factors such as nutrition/diet, disease, and major injuries can cause someone's skeletal age to fall behind their chronological age.
• Developmental age refers to age as determined by interaction between the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, and is expressed in one's ability to perform certain tasks.
• The cephalocaudal sequence describes how humans develop earliest in the brain and skull, followed by the heart, lungs, and other organs, followed by the limbs.
• The proximodistal sequence describes how body movements that originate close to the centre of the body develop earlier than those that originate farther away from the centre.
• Peak height velocity (PHV) is a measure of the maximum rate of growth in height that occurs during a growth spurt, and is directly linked to an individual's developmental age.
• Critical periods are periods during which our bodies are more prepared to grow and develop in certain areas (ex. puberty).
• The 4 stages of human development are infancy/toddler, childhood, puberty/adolescence, and adulthood.
• Motor skills are learned sequences of voluntary movements that combine to produce an action designed to perform a specific goal-oriented task.
• Infancy/Toddler

  • period of most marked growth in humans compared to the other stages
  • head and chest along with organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain grow rapidly
  • body weight typically increases by around 300%
  • body length typically increases by around 50%
  • this stage also includes the development of a huge range of motor skills, including crawling, walking, and running