Human
Development –
Defined
ÖZLEM BURAK (MSC)
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What is human development?
➢ Four fundamental domains: physical, cognitive, emotional and social
- Which one do you think is more important?
➢Can you give one example to each of them?
➢At which age can we discover the most change? In what ways?
➢What do you think about the nature-nurture debate?
- genes vs. environment
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What is human development?
➢A process of becoming someone different while remaining the same person in
some aspects
- What does this mean?
➢Age is one of the most important factors
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Continuity vs. Discontinuity
➢Continuous development sees our development as a cumulative process:
Changes are gradual.
➢Discontinuous development sees our development as taking place in specific
steps or stages: Changes are sudden.
➢Which one?
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Continuity vs. Discontinuity
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Developmental psychology
➢Developmental psychology looks at how thinking, feeling and behaviour change
throughout a person's life develop.
➢ A significant proportion of theories within this discipline focus upon
development during childhood, as this is the period during an individual's
lifespan when the most change occurs.
➢Typical developmental vs. atypical development
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The framework
➢ The major domains of development
➢The process of development
➢The context of development
➢The timing of developmental events
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e.g., Puberty,
skeletal, heart,
brain, hair, etc.
e.g., sensation,
perception,
memory, etc.
e.g., family,
peers, school
environment
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Processes of development
Growth:
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Processes of development
Maturation:
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Processes of development
Learning:
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The context
➢To understand human development, environment context should be considered
in which it occurs.
➢Bronfenbrenner (1979;1997) Ecological Systems Theory
- School massacre example (in the following weeks)
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Ecological Systems Theory
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Ecological Systems Theory
➢Microsystem
- The microsystem is the small, immediate environment the child lives in. Children's microsystems
will include any immediate relationships or organizations they interact with, such as their immediate
family or caregivers and their school or day-care.
➢Mesosystem
- It proposes that children don't develop only by influence from their close familial environment -
surrounding environments are influential on the development of the child as well.
➢Exosystem
- Exosystems are similar to mesosytems and microsystems in that they can be temporary or long-
term
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Ecological Systems Theory
➢Macrosystem
- The macrosystem is the larger culture as a whole and includes
socioeconomic status, wealth, poverty, and ethnicity. This further includes
children, their parents and school, and their parent's workplace as part of a larger
cultural context.
➢Chronosystem
- It is made up of the environmental events and transitions that occur
throughout a child's life, including any sociohistorical events
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The Nature of Developmental
Research
➢The scientific method
➢Importance of hypothesis
➢3 main kinds of research design:
- Longitudinal
- Cross-sectional
- Sequential
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The Nature of Developmental
Research
➢With longitudinal, we look at one group over a long time.
➢ With cross-sectional, we look at a whole bunch of groups right now.
➢With sequential, we look at a whole bunch of groups over time.
➢Any advantages and disadvantages?
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A few points
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The Nature of Developmental
Research
Also:
➢Experimental
➢Case study
➢Survey
➢Naturalistic observation
➢Cross-cultural
➢Correlational
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Some examples:
Case study:
Genie – feral child (Curtiss, 1977)
- Extreme neglect, resulted in social, emotional, physical and intellectual difficulties
- Problems occurred before the “critical period”
* Will be covered more deeply in the following weeks!
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[Link]
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Some examples:
Experimental:
Electric shock experiment – Milgram (1963)
- About obedience
- How upper status people can be “in control”
- Are we really “free”?
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[Link]
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Some examples:
Naturalistic observation:
Relate these to humans!
Any examples?
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Ethical Standards for Human
Development Research
How ethical…
➢is to observe someone without their awareness?
➢is to put individuals in a laboratory environment?
➢How can we control these types of disadvantages in human research?
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Ethical Standards for Human
Development Research
Key features
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Thank you for listening! ☺
Any questions?
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