CHAPTER- 4

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Q1. What is development? How is it different from growth and maturation?

Ans: Development is a process by which an individual grows and changes

throughout the life cycle. The term development refers to the changes that have a
direction and hold definite relationship with what precedes it. It includes changes
in size (physical growth), changes in proportion (child to adult), changes in
features (disappearance of baby teeth) and acquiring new features. Development
includes growth as one of its aspects.

Growth refers to an increase in the size of body parts or of the organism as a

whole and can be measured or quantified e.g. growth in height or weight.
whereas Maturation refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence and
are largely dictated by the genetic blueprint which produces communalities in
our growth and development.

Q2. Describe the main features of life-span perspective on development.

Ans: The study of development according to Life-span perspective (LSP) includes

the following assumptions:

i) Development is lifelong i.e. it takes place across all age groups starting
from conception to old age. It includes both gains and losses, which
interact in dynamic ways (change in one aspect goes with changes in
others) throughout the life-span.
ii) The various process of human development i.e. biological, cognitive
and socio-emotional is interwoven in the development of a person
throughout the life-span.
iii) Development is multi-directional. Some dimensions or components of
a given dimension of development may increase, while others show
decrement eg. The experiences of adults may make them wiser and
guide their decisions. However, with an increase in age, one’s
 performance is likely to decrease on tasks requiring speed, such as
running.
iv) Development is highly plastic, i.e. within a person, modifiability is
found in psychological development, though plasticity varies among
individuals.
v) Development is influenced by historical conditions eg. The career
orientations of school students today are very different from those
students who were in schools 50 years ago.
vi) Development is the concern of a number of disciplines. Different
disciplines like psychology, anthropology, sociology and neuro-sciences
study human development with different perspectives.
vii) An individual responds and acts in a particular context e.g. the life
events in everyone’s life is not the same such as death of a parent,
accident, earthquake, etc affect the course of one’s life as also the
positive influences such as winning an award or getting a good job.

Q3. What are developmental tasks? Explain by giving examples.

Ans: • A task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual,
successful achievement of which leads to happiness and to success with later tasks.
Some tasks are mainly as a result of physical maturation, such as learning to walk.
Others develop primarily from the cultural pressures of society, such as learning to
read, and still others grow out of personal values to reads.

Purposes of developmental tasks:

• Developmental tasks serve three very useful purposes.

- They are guidelines that enable individuals to know what society expects of
them at given ages. Parents, for example, can be guided in teaching young
children different skills by the knowledge that society expects the children to
master these skills at certain ages and that their adjustments will be greatly
influenced by how successfully they do so.
- Developmental tasks motivate individuals to do what social group expects
them to do at certain ages during their lives.
- Finally, developmental tasks show individuals what lies ahead and what
they will be expected to do when they reach their next stage of development.
Q4.’ Environment of the child has a major role in the development of the child’.
Support your answers with examples.

Ans: Environment of the child has a major role to play in the development of the
child because it includes the surroundings in which the child develops various
cognitive and motor skills. It also influences the physical development of the child
according to the limits set by genetic characteristics. The socio-economic and
cultural environment has a major role in the development of the child’s process eg.
A child who is sent to school is able to develop characteristics of confidence and
self-reliance more easily than a child who does not receive education. Thus,
environment plays a major role in the child’s development.

Q5. How do socio-cultural factors influence development?

Ans: Environmental factors are those factors which act upon the organism from
outside and influence its structure and behavior. development is influenced by
various socio-culture which are as follows

1. The micro system: it is the immediate environment or setting in which the

individuals lives. It is in the setting in which the child directly interact with
social agents as families, peer etc
2. The mesosystem: It consists of relations between these contexts. For
instance how the parents relates to teachers or how the parents view the
adolescence friend are experiences likely to influence an individual
relationship with others
3. The exosystem: it includes events in the social setting where a child does
not participate directly, but they influence the child experiences in the
immediate context. for example the transfer of father or mother may cause
tension among the parents which might affect their interaction with the child
or general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries,
medical care, means of entertainment
4. the macrosystem: it include the culture in which the individual lives
5. Chronosystem: it involve events in the individuals life course, and socio-
historical circumstances of the time such as divorce of parents or parents
economic setback, and their effect on the child

Q6. Discuss the cognitive changes taking places in a developing child.

Ans: Piaget’s given four types of stages for cognitive development:

i) Sensorimotor stage: Approximate age is 0-2 years. In this stage, infant

explores the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical
actions.
ii) Preoperational stage: Approximate age is of 2-7 years. In this stage
symbolic thought develops and helps to expand his/her mental world.
There are two features of preoperational stage :
a) Egocentrism (self focus): Children see the world only in terms of
their own selves and are not able to appreciate other’s point of view.
b) Centration: Focusing on a single characteristic or feature for
understanding an event eg. a child may insist on drinking a ‘big glass’
of juice, preferring a tall narrow to a short broad one, even though
both might be holding the same amount of juice.
iii) Concrete operational stage: Approximate age is 7-11.
a) It is made up of operations-mental actions that allow the child to do
mentally what was done physically before.
b) Concrete operations are also mental actions that are reversible.
c) Concrete operations allow the child to focus on different
characteristics and not focus on one aspect of the object.
d) The child can reason logically about concrete events.
e) This helps the child to appreciate that there are different ways of
looking at things.
iv) Formal operational stage: Approximate age is 5-11 years. The
adolescent can apply logic more abstractly, hypothetical thinking
develops.

Q7. Attachment bonds formed in children years have long term effects. Explain
taking example from daily lives.

Ans: - The close emotional bond of affection that develops between infants and
their parents (caregiver) is called attachment.

Attachment bonds formed on childhood years have long term effects

because they are notably developed between the parents and children. These
bonds determine the level of trust and perception of the world during the
formative years of childhood eg. a child growing up in a secure family, with
sensitive, responsive and affectionate parents will is not them. The child will
also make decisions in his/her life with the parents and thus, have a good
relationship. However, a child who does not have a steady and good
relationship with parents will lack communication. Problems of juvenile
delinquency are also related to the lack of attachment of an individual with
his/her parents.

Q8. What is adolescence? Explain the concept of egocentrism.

Ans: The term adolescence comes from the Latin word ‘adolescere’, meaning
‘to grow’ or ‘to grow to maturity’. The term adolescence includes mental,
emotional and social maturity as well as physical maturity.

Egocentrism: (Self focus) Children see the world only in terms of their own
selves and are not able to appreciate others point of view. The egocentrism of
early childhood is especially pronounced in the first year or two before children
begin to play with other children- the age of parallel play. Boys tend to be more
egocentric than girls, partly because they sense they are often parental favorites
and partly because they are given more privileges.

While all children tend to be egocentric, there are certain ones whose
environment encourages greater egocentrism than is found in the average child
of the same age level.

Adolescents develop a special kind of egocentrism. According to DAVID

ELKIND, adolescents develop two components of egocentrism:

1. Imaginary audience: Adolescents believe that others are as occupied with

them as they are about themselves. They imagine that people are always
noticing them and observing each and every behavior of theirs.
2. Personal fable: It is adolescent’s sense of uniqueness. It makes them think
that no one understands them or their feelings.

Q9. What are the factors influencing the formation of identity during
adolescence? Support your answer with examples.
 Ans: The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several
factors:

i) The cultural background, family and social values, ethnic background

and socio-economic status all prevail upon the adolescents’ search for a
place in society.
ii) Increased interactions with peers provide them with opportunities for
refining their social skills and trying out different social behaviors.
iii) Peers and parents are dual forces having major influence on
adolescents. Generally parents and peers serve complementary functions
and fulfill different needs of the adolescents.
iv) Vocational commitment is another factor influencing adolescent
identity formation.
v) To achieve a sense of identity, children must have an inner assurance
that they get this feeling of assurance, they are secure.
eg. Career counseling in schools offer information regarding appraisal of
the students for the formation of search of identity.
eg. In some cultures, freedom is given to the young people to choose an
occupation, whereas in certain cultures the option of making this choice
is not given to the children.

Q10. What are the challenges faced by individuals on entry to adulthood?

Ans: An adult is generally defined as someone who is responsible, mature, self-

supporting and well integrated into society. In early adulthood, two major tasks are
exploring the possibilities for adult living and developing a stable life structure
which are as follows

1. Career and work :

- Adults get new responsibilities at work.
- They have to adjust with new challenging situations.
- There are apprehensions regarding differences, adjustments, proving one’s
competence ad coping with expectations and both employer and self.

2. Marriage, parenthood and family:

- Adults have to make adjustments while entering a marriage relation and to
know their spouse and cope with each others’ likes/dislikes. Responsibilities
have to be shared if both are working.
- Parenthood is a difficult and stressful transition in young adults. It depends
on factors such as number of children in the family, availability of social
support, etc.