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Human Development

1. Human development is a lifelong process that continues throughout adulthood according to the life-span perspective. Development involves biological, cognitive, and socioemotional dimensions that are intertwined. 2. Key characteristics of the life-span perspective are that development is plastic, multidimensional, and influenced by contextual factors such as one's environment and culture. 3. Human development involves the goals of growth, maintenance, and regulation that vary depending on life stage.

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84 views

Human Development

1. Human development is a lifelong process that continues throughout adulthood according to the life-span perspective. Development involves biological, cognitive, and socioemotional dimensions that are intertwined. 2. Key characteristics of the life-span perspective are that development is plastic, multidimensional, and influenced by contextual factors such as one's environment and culture. 3. Human development involves the goals of growth, maintenance, and regulation that vary depending on life stage.

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Cielo Dasal
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© © All Rights Reserved
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EDUC 50

MODULE 2

If you believe that Nikki and Jun will show extensive change from birth to adolescence,
little or no change in adulthood, and decline in late old age, your approach to development is
traditional. In contrast, if you believe that even in adulthood developmental change takes place
as it does during childhood, your approach is termed the life-span approach.

What are the characteristics of human development from a life span perspective? Paul
Baltes (Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span development, gives the following characteristics:

1. Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. Jun and Ana will continue developing
even in adulthood.

2. Development is plastic. Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is possible
throughout the lifespan. No one is too old to lean. There is no such thing as "I am too old for
that..." Neither Jun nor Ana will be too old to learn something. Aging is associated with declines
in certain intellectual abilities. These declines can be prevented or reduced. In one research
study, the reasoning abilities of older adults were improved through retraining (Willies & Schose,
1994 cited by Santrock J, 2005)

3. Development is multidimensional. The development consists of biological, cognitive, and


socio-emotional dimensions. Development as a process is complex because it is the product of
biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes (Santrock, 2002).

Biological processes involve changes in the individual's physical nature. The brains of
Ana and Jun develop. They will gain height and weight. They will experience hormonal changes
when they reach the period of puberty and cardiovascular decline as approaching late
adulthood. All these show the common biological processes in development.

Development is relatively orderly. (http://www.cdipage.com/ development.htm) Ana


and Jun will learn to sit, crawl then walk before they can run. The muscular control of the trunk
and the arms comes earlier as compared to the hands and fingers. This is the proximodistal
pattern. During infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at the top - the head - with physical
growth in size, weight, and future differentiation gradually working its way down from top to
bottom (for example, neck, shoulders, middle trunk, and so on). This is the cephalo-caudal
pattern. These development patterns are common to Ana and Kenn.

Development takes place gradually. (http://www.cdipage.com/ development.htm) Ana


and Jun won't develop into pimply teenagers overnight. It takes years before they become one,.
In fact, that's the way of nature. The bud does not blossom suddenly. The seed does not
germinate overnight. While some changes occur in a flash of insight, more often it takes weeks,
months, or years for a person to undergo changes that result in the display of developmental
characteristics.

Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual's thoughts, intelligence, and


language. Ana and Jun develop from mere sounds to a word becoming two words, the two
EDUC 50

words becoming a sentence. They would move on to memorizing their first prayer, singing
Bayang Magiliw in every flag ceremony to imagining what it would be like to be a teacher or a
pilot, playing chess, and solving a complex math problem. All these reflect the role of cognitive

processes in development.

Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual's relationships with other


people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. As babies, Ana and Jun responded
with a sweet smile when affectionately touched and frowned when displeased, and even
showed temper tantrums when they could not get or do what they wanted. From aggressive
children, they may develop into a fine lady and a gentleman or otherwise, depending on a
myriad of factors. They may fall in love and get inspired for life or may end up betrayed,
deserted, and desperate afterward. All these reflect the role of socioemotional processes in
development.

These biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes are inextricably intertwined.


While these processes are studied separately, the effect of one process or factor on a person's
development is not isolated from the other processes. If Jun and Ana were undernourished and
troubled by the thought of father and mother about to separate, they could not concentrate on
their studies and consequently would fail and repeat. As a consequence, they may lose face
and drop out of school, revert to illiteracy, become unskilled, unemployed, and so on and so
forth. See how a biological process, affects the cognitive process which in turn, affects the
socioemotional process.

4. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing world.


Individuals respond to and act on contexts. These contexts include the individual’s biological
makeup, physical environment, cognitive processes, historical, social and cultural contexts.
(Santrock, 2002) Ana's and Kenn's biological makeup, social and cultural contexts may vary and
therefore make them develop differently from each other.

5. Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation. Growth,


maintenance, and regulation are three (3) goals of human development. The goals of individuals
vary among developmental stages. For instance, as individuals reach middle and late adulthood,
concern with growth gets into the backstage while maintenance and regulation take the center
stage.

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