EPS 200 –BED SCI

LEC 1

TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction

What is human development? What do you know about your own development? In this
topic we are going to introduce you to one of the areas of specialization in psychology
known as developmental psychology or human growth and development. We will define
the term and discuss among other things, the historical perspective of developmental
psychology, themes of development, importance of developmental psychology to a
teacher, theoretical perspectives, and ethics in developmental psychological research.
Objectives
At the end of this topic, you should be able to:
• Define developmental psychology, growth and development
• Explain the goals of developmental psychology
• Explain why the knowledge of developmental psychology is
important to a teacher
• Give a brief historical perspective of Developmental
Psychology.
• Compare and contrast two theories of human development.
• Explain the fundamental principles of developmental
psychology.

1.2 Definition of terms

Developmental psychology can be defined as the scientific study of progressive changes

in human abilities and behaviour from conception to old age. It is the study of the human
from conception to old age. Meece (2002) defines development as the systematic and
successive changes that follow a logical or orderly pattern over a long period of time that
enhances a child’s adaptation to the environment. It is mainly concerned with the
growing child, the changes in behaviour and abilities that occur from childhood to
adulthood and also with the processes and influences that account for these changes.
Growth is the progressive increase in the size of a child or parts of a child. Psychologists
define growth as the physical change that a certain individual undergoes. It involves
quantitative changes. Development is progressive acquisition of various skills (abilities)
such as head support, speaking, learning, expressing the feelings and relating with other
people. Development is more on the psychological change that occurs in an individual
throughout their lifespan. It involves qualitative changes. Growth and development go
together but at different rates.
1.3 The Goals of Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is mainly concerned with the description, explanation,

prediction, and modification of age related behaviours during the full life span from
conception to death.
Goals of developmental psychology
D Describe the changes that occur
E Explain why these changes occur
P Predict the changes that will occur, so that we may
C Control (intervene) as needed.
Some developmental psychologists emphasize specific ages (e.g., infancy, adolescence,
or old age) while others concentrate on specific areas (such as, personality or cognitive
development). The primary task of developmental psychology is to describe accurately
changes and discover their underlying causes. It attempts to explain changes in behaviour
that are as result of maturation and experience. The description of behaviour is important
in order to be able to answer questions about why a human being behaves the way he/she
does and to change undesirable behaviour.

Learning activity:
What are the four main goals of Developmental psychology?
Answer:
They are to describe, explain, predict, and modify age related behaviours.

Domains of development

Physical Domain:
Body size, body proportions, appearance, brain development, motor development,
perception capacities, physical health.

Cognitive Domain:
Thought processes and intellectual abilities including attention, memory, problem
solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, and language.

Social/Emotional Domain:
Self-knowledge (self-esteem, metacognition, sexual identity, ethnic identity), moral
reasoning, understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation, temperament,
understanding others, interpersonal skills, and friendships.

1.4 Why Should a Teacher Study Developmental Psychology?

Developmental psychology is important to you as a teacher because it will enable you to:
• Identify behaviour problems and to bring about desirable changes in the
behaviour of children and the society as a whole.
• Know the potentialities of each pupil in the class so that you may exploit
them to the maximum for the benefit of the individual and the society.
• Guide students and understand why they behave the way they do.
• Make provisions for the development of whatever capacity pupils have by
providing the appropriate experiences.
• Judge the rate of growth and development for a given child and to work
with that rate.
• Make use of each stage of development by providing teaching material,
incentives, companions and opportunities for the expression of behaviour
appropriate to each stage of development.
• Understand the psychological processes like maturation, motivation,
socialization, learning and so on, which are important to you as a teacher.
• Find solutions to questions related to instruction, discipline, behaviour,
emotional disorders, language acquisition, social development, moral
development etc.
• Formulate realistic expectations for children, respond sensitively to actual
behaviour, recognize unusual development and understand the child.
• Predict behaviour.
• Control or change behaviour.
• Know the conditions necessary for the normal growth and development of
the child.
• Provide a conducive environment for normal development and learning.
• Understand/identify behaviours that place children at risk
• Create an environment that promotes the healthy development of children
• Teach effectively
• Take into consideration the child’s developmental readiness for learning.
• Understand your own development
• Helps teachers to match their instruction to children’s level of
development. Influence on how we teach

1.5 Historical Perspectives of Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is a recent discipline. The scientific study of children started

slightly over a century ago with the pioneering work of Charles Darwin who researched
on infant’s early sensory and perceptual capacities and children’s emotions. Darwin
(1872) demonstrated that scientists could study infants and children. Later on John
Watson continued the formal analysis of children’s learning capacities. Other
psychologists such as Freud, Piaget, and Erik Erikson whom we shall talk about later in
this topic, contributed significantly to our understanding of children.
Prior to the recognition of childhood as unique period of development, they were viewed
as “miniature adults” who could assume adult roles and responsibilities. Many children
worked at the age of 7. By puberty, children knew how to farm, cook, care for children
and so on. The transition to adulthood was equally brief. Children between the ages of 10
and 15 worked as child laborers.

Some of the factors that contributed to the scientific study of children include:
• Social changes and changes of attitude towards children in the 17th and
18th century. Before then, children were treated as miniature adults i.e., as small
adults.
• Intellectual movements reflected in the writings of scholars and
philosophers like Plato, Aristotle etc. Their ideas reflected on children - how they
should be treated, educated, their rights etc.
• Early scientists’ advances in research in human behavior.
• Development of research methodology appropriate for the study of human
development.
• Advances in biology and medicine.
• Availability of elementary education. People could read and write.
• Rising industrialization.
• Recognition of childhood as a distinct period of development.

Some of the pioneers in developmental research include:

• Charles Darwin 1870s
• J.B. Watson - 1920s
• Aldous Huxley -1930s
• Arnold Gesell - 1930s
• B.F. Skinner - 1950s
• Jean Piaget - 1950s
• Erik Eriksson - 1963
• Abraham Mallow - 1960s-1970s
We are going to look at the contributions of some of these pioneers in our discussion on
the theoretical perspectives in developmental psychology.

1.6 Theoretical Perspectives of Human Development

A theory is a set of general statements (rules, assumptions, propositions, or principles)

used to explain facts. When applied to child development, a theory provides a framework
for observing, interpreting, and explaining changes in the child over time. Theories
about the way children grow and mature serve several functions:
 • To organize and integrate existing information into coherent and
interesting accounts of how children develop.
• To foster research by providing testable predictions about development
and behavior.
• Describe how children differ from one age to another
• Describe how different aspects of development are interrelated
• Explain why development proceeds in a certain direction

No one theory is able to account for all aspects of human development or predictions
about human development. Different theories take different positions on the themes of
development and account for different aspects of behaviour. By so doing, they
complement each other rather than compete with each other.

1.6.1 Learning Perspectives

Behavioural Theories
This approach is exemplified in the work of J. B. Watson (father of behaviourism), Ivan
Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner who developed central ideas of learning, and applied these
ideas to children’s development. Behaviourism holds that theories of behaviour should
be based on observations of actual behaviour rather than on speculation about motives or
other unobservable factors. Behavioural theories view development as a continuous
process and not a discontinuous or stage-like process.
Behaviorists maintain that developmental changes are influenced by the environment and
learning. Learning shapes development throughout childhood and across the entire life
span. According to the behaviourists, children play a relatively passive role in their own
development. Like computers, which can only do what programmers tell them to do,
children do only what the environment directs that they do.
In classical conditioning, Pavlov showed that a dog would learn to salivate at the sound
of a bell if that sound was always associated with the presentation of food. The dog
typically salivated at the appearance of food; if the food was repeatedly paired with the
sound of a bell, eventually the dog learned to salivate at the sound of the bell whether or
not it was accompanied by the food. Watson used classical conditioning to explain many
aspects of children’s behaviour, especially emotions such as fear. For example, he
conditioned a young child to fear furry animals, by showing the baby who was easily
frightened by noise, a white rat and simultaneously making a loud noise. The white rat
was paired with noise and the child learnt to fear the white rat as result
In operant conditioning, Skinner focused on the consequences of a person’s behaviour.
According to this theory, behaviour is modified by the type of rewarding or punishing
events that follow it. Positive reinforcement (reward) for a particular behavior will
increase the likelihood of that behaviour recurring. Punishment that follows behaviour
will decrease the chances of the behaviour being repeated.
 Learning activities:
i) What is positive reinforcement?
ii) What type of behaviour is likely to be imitated by young children?
iii) Physical punishment usually stops aggressive behaviour. True or False? Answers:
i) A stimulus that increases the frequency of a response that produces that stimulus.
ii) The behaviour of significant people or behaviour that is perceived to be reward-
producing. iii) False. It often tends to encourage aggression.

Cognitive Social Learning Theory

Behaviorists also belief that children acquire new behaviours through the processes of
observation and imitation. According to this theory, children learn by observing and
imitating others (Bandura, 1989). Bandura showed that if children were exposed to
aggressive behaviour of another person, they were likely to imitate his/her behaviour. For
example, children’s aggressive behaviour is often increased rather than decreased by the
attention parents pay to such behaviour as hitting and teasing.
Children at play watched a model punch and kick a large inflated doll in unusual ways.
Later when they were left alone with the doll and other toys, they imitated the unusual
aggressive behaviour, copying exactly what they had seen. Other children who did not
watch the aggressive model did not display aggressive behaviour.
Children who watch a great deal of television violence are more likely to develop
aggressive attitudes and behaviours (Comstock, 1991, Huston & Wright, 1998). The role
of cognitive factors in imitation is important because children do not imitate blindly, or
automatically but rather select specific behaviours to imitate.

1.6.2 Biological Theories

These theories focus on the role of heredity in determining development and behaviour.
Early pioneers in developmental psychology explained children’s development in terms
of innate biological processes. For example, Lorenz’s study of imprinting (the tendency
of goslings and chicks to follow the first moving object they see during the critical
period) behaviour in ducks and geese. Ethnologists are biologically oriented scientists
who study behaviour in natural situations. Bowlby adapted some of the concepts of
ethnology (specifically of imprinting) to explain the development and importance of the
attachment bond that forms between the mother and the infant.
Human characteristics emerge according to a predetermined biological timetable. A
child goes through invariant, predictable stages of growth and development. Biological
theories have been used to explain changes in height, weight, language, mental abilities,
motor skills etc. one of the most influential maturational theorists was Arnold Gesell
(1880-1961). Behavioural geneticists contend that many of our physical characteristics
(e.g., body type, eye and hair color, skin color) are inherited. Behavioural geneticists
argue that many of our psychological attributes have a genetic component.

1.6.3 Cognitive Developmental Perspectives

These perspectives hold that mental structures and processes within the child help to
determine his or her development.
Piagetian Theory
According to Piaget, the child plays a significant role in his/her development. Children
develop schemas (mental representations of things and ideas) as they grow older. They
use their current knowledge of how the world works as a framework for the absorption or
assimilation of new experiences. Children modify their existing knowledge by
incorporating new information into its framework or mental structures. Through the
process of accommodation, they modify these frameworks in response to the new input
from their environment.

Learning activities:
i) What is a schema?
ii) How does a child fit a new stimulus into the schemata he/she possesses?
iii) What is accommodation?
Answers:
i) A schema is an action or a thought process.
ii) By assimilating it into the schemata. iii) Modification of behaviour to fit
new environmental circumstances.
Children actively interpret and make sense of the information and events they encounter.
They are not passive receivers of experience. They actively seek experience in order to
build their cognitive worlds.
The way the child organizes new information depends on his/her level of cognitive
development. Piaget proposed that children go through several stages of cognitive
development, each characterized by qualitatively different ways of thinking,
organizing knowledge, and solving problems. This view sees development as
discontinuous (i.e. a process marked by distinct stages of development).
Young children are bound to sensory and motor information and are less flexible and less
able to think symbolically and abstractly. At adolescence, they are able to think logically
and to engage in deductive reasoning.
Young children are also more egocentric, that is, they are more centered on their own
perspectives than older children and less able to take the view points or understand the
feelings and perspectives of others. We will revisit this Piaget’s theory when we discuss
cognitive development of children.
1.6.4 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
This theory emphasizes the interaction between the active child and his/her social
environment. This theory considers the influence of a child’s social and cultural context.
The child grows and changes as a function of his/her efforts and support, guidance and
help from others who are more skilled. The child’s social and cultural worlds have an
impact on his/her development. Development is a product of social interaction. It
evolves as the child and his/her significant others such as parents, teachers and so on
solve problems such as learning to count or to read.
Vygotsky believed that children are endowed with certain “elementary functions”
(perception, memory, attention and language) that are transformed into higher mental
functions through interactions with others. To him, people structure a child’s
environment and provide the tools (e.g., language, mathematical symbols, art, and
writing) for making sense of it. Rather, they provide the tools for cognitive development.
Children are assisted by others in their social environment to learn to function
intellectually on their own as individuals. Children have innate abilities such as
perceptual and memory skills. Interactions with others mold these basic skills/abilities
into more complex, higher-order cognitive functions.
A good example of Vygotskian theory in action in the modern classroom is peer tutoring,
in which an older child helps a younger pupil learn to read, write, add, subtract, and so
on.

1.6.5 Information Processing Approaches

These approaches focus on children’s representations of information and how they
operate on it to achieve their goals in a particular situation. Children take in information
like computers, process it and produce behaviour (action, insight, verbalization, or a
memory that is stored for later use).
A child attend to information, change it into a mental or cognitive representation, stores it
in memory, compares it to other memories, generate various responses, makes a decision
about the most appropriate response, and finally, takes some specific action.

1.6.6 Psychodynamic Perspective (Freudian Theory)

This approach proposes that dynamic forces within the individual determine motivation
and behaviour. The psychodynamic theory has been influential in clinical or applied
settings than in scientific research, and for this reason has been less incorporated into the
study of child development than other theories.
According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of development, psychological change and
growth are governed by unconscious drives and instincts. He stressed the role of drives
such as sex, aggression and hunger in determining behaviour. For Freud, the developing
personality consists of three interrelated parts: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id
operates on the pleasure principle, which is oriented toward maximizing pleasure and
satisfying needs immediately. It is the irrational part of personality. As the infant
develops, the ego or the rational (controlling) part of personality enlarges. The ego
attempts to gratify needs through appropriate socially constructive behaviour. The
superego which is the third component of personality emerges when the child
internalizes (accepts and absorbs) parental or social morals, values, and roles and
develops conscience, or the ability to apply moral values in judging his/her own acts.
According to Sigmund Freud, development is a discontinuous process (i.e., a process
marked by distinct stages of development). He proposed five discrete stages of
development. In each of these stages, biological forces orchestrate the relations between
the developing child and his/her world.
These stages are:
i) Oral Stage (0 – 1 year)
The infant is preoccupied with eating and taking things into the mouth. Freud assumed
that the infant derives great enjoyment and satisfaction from oral behaviours.
ii) Anal Stage (1 – 3 years)
The child is forced to learn to postpone the pleasure of expelling feces, as his/her parent
struggles with the task of toilet training.
iii) Phallic Stage (3 – 6 years)
Children’s sexual curiosity is aroused. They become aware of anatomical differences
between sexes. They derive pleasure from genital stimulation. Boys get attracted to
their mothers (Oedipus complex). They feel jealous of their fathers and see them as
rivals. They fear that their fathers will punish them by cutting off their genitals. The
Oedipus complex is resolved when boys give up their sexual feeling for their mothers
and identify with their fathers.

Learning activity:
What parts of the body are the centers of gratification during the oral, anal, and phallic
stages?
Answer:
The mouth, anal area, and genitals.

Girls experience the Electra complex in which they get attracted to their fathers. They
see their mothers as rivals and blame them for their lack of a penis. They focus their
sexual feelings on their fathers, who possess the penis which Freud believed they wanted.
When they finally realized that they cannot possess their fathers as mates, girls transfer
their feeling to other males (Hetherington & Parke, 1999). They relinquish their
resentment of their mother and begin to identify with her.

iv) The Latency Stage (6 – 12 years)

Sexual drives are temporarily quiet during this period. Children avoid relationships with
opposite gender peers and become intensely involved with peers of the same gender.
This is a time when they concentrate on learning various social skills.
v) The Genital Stage (12 year onwards)
During this stage, sexual desires re-emerge, but this time they are more appropriately
directed toward opposite sex peers.
The way in which children resolve the psychological conflict in each of these stages has
a profound impact on their later adult personality. For example, infants who have
unsatisfied needs for oral stimulation may be more likely to smoke as adults. Toddlers
whose parents toilet train them extremely early and in a very rigid manner may later be
obsessively concerned with neatness and cleanliness. This approach views infancy and
childhood experiences as having a formative impact on later development. According to
psychoanalytic theory, this is what is referred to as fixation. Fixation is a state of arrested
development whereby an individual becomes stuck in a particular psychological battle,
repeating the conflict in symbolic ways.

Learning activities:
i) What are the causes of most adult emotional problems, according to Freud?
ii) What are the three parts of an adult personality?
Answers:
i) The improper resolution of conflicts in childhood.
ii) The id, the ego, and the superego

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Erikson, a follower of Freud, turned to a view that gave greater emphasis to the effects of
the social environment on the individual’s development. Erikson’s psychosocial theory
holds that development was discontinuous and proceeds through a series of stages. He
proposed eight stages of development. Erikson specified the personal and social tasks
that the individual must accomplish as well as the risks the individual confronts if he/she
fails at the task of a particular stage.
i) Infancy (Trust Vs. Mistrust) 0 – 1 year
Task: To develop basic trust in oneself and others. Risk: Mistrust of others and lack of
self-confidence. Basic trust is developed through the care provided by others. If the
infant finds others not trustworthy, he/she may develop mistrust of both himself and the
world.
ii) Early Childhood (Autonomy Vs Shane and Doubt) 1 – 3 years
Task: To learn self-control and establish autonomy. Risk: Shame and doubt about one’s
own capabilities. The child learns self-control if he/she is allowed to do things for
himself/herself.
iii) Play Age (Initiative Vs Guilt) 3 – 6 years
Task: To develop initiative in mastering the environment. Risk: Feelings of guilt over
aggressiveness and daring.
iv) School Age (Industry Vs Inferiority) 6 – 12 years
Task: To develop industry. Risk: Feelings of inferiority over real or imagined failure to
master tasks.
v) Adolescence (Identity Vs Role Confusion) 12 – 20 years
Task: To achieve a sense of identity. Risk: Role confusion over who and what the
individual wants to be. Focus is on the search for a stable definition of the self.
vi) Young Adulthood (Intimacy Vs Isolation) 20 – 35 years
Task: Is to achieve intimacy with others. Risk: Shaky identity may lead to avoidance of
others and isolation. This is a time when the young person is expected to achieve a
stable intimate sexual relationship with another person.
vii) Adulthood (Generativity Vs Stagnation) 35 – 50 years
Task: To express oneself through generativity. According to Erikson, generativity is the
challenge of learning how to reach out and become concerned with the well-being of
future generations. Risk: Inability to create something such as children, ideas, or
products may lead to stagnation.
viii) Mature Age (Integrity Vs Despair) Old Age - 50 years to death
Task: To achieve sense of integrity. Risk: Doubts and unfulfilled desires may lead to
despair. If past accomplishments and failures lead to doubt and regret, despair may be
the result.
Psychodynamic theories have contributed to child psychology through highlighting:
• The impact of early experiences on later behaviour.
• The role of the family on socialization, especially Erikson’s work.
• Impact of social interaction on children’s development.
• The concept of identity development during adolescence.

1.6.7 Dynamic Systems Theory

This approach views the developing individual as a member of a system or series of
systems that are complex, self-stabilizing and self-reorganizing. The continuing
interactions among system members and among systems make development a highly
dynamic enterprise in which relationships and processes are the primary focus. A system
comprises of regular interacting or interdependent group of parts.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

This theory stresses the importance of understanding the relationship between the
organism and various environmental systems such as the family, school, community
and culture. Development involves the interplay between children and their changing
relationships with these different ecological systems. The child does not develop in a
vacuum.
Image source: Center for Child and Community Development

Fig. Ecological approach which hypothesizes the layers of influence on a

young child’s development.

The Microsystem is the setting in which the child lives and interacts with the people and
institutions closest to him/her. Over time, the relative importance of these different
interactions may change. For example, the family may be most important in infancy,
whereas peers and school may become important foci in middle childhood and
adolescence.
The child is at the centre of the system. Next to him/her is the immediate physical and
social environment. Then there is the broader social and economic context and finally the
wider cultural context.
The Mesosystem comprises the interactions among the components of the microsystem.
For example, parents interact with teachers and the school system, family friends, health
care providers, religious institutions etc.
The Exosystem is composed of settings that impinge on children’s development but with
which the children have largely indirect control. For example, a parent’s work may affect
the child’s life if it requires that he/she travels a great deal or suddenly go on shift work.
It also includes mass media, neighbours, legal system, etc.
The Macrosystem represents the ideological and institutional patterns of a particular
culture or subculture. For example, children who grow up in Kenya experience a
different social ideology than children who grow up in America. Children who live in a
city slum are exposed to a different set of values than children in an affluent suburb.
The Chronosystem is the time based dimension that can alter the operations of the four
systems, the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystems which change over time. Over time,
both the child and his/her environment undergo change, and change can originate from
the individual (e.g. puberty, illness, accident) or in the external world (e.g. the birth of a
sibling, entering school for the first time, divorce). Thus development involves the
interaction of a changing child with a changing matrix of ecological systems.

1.7 Life Span Perspective

This is an approach that sees development as a process that continues throughout the life
cycle, from infancy through adulthood and old age. Erikson was one of the first to
extend the notion of development to the years of maturity and aging.
Life span theory views childhood as of equal importance with other stages but does not
accord it special significance in the shaping or forming of later stages of development.
The individual is open or susceptible to change at all points in development. Change
over time can be traced to three sets of causes:
Normative events, or age graded experiences, for example, the beginning of walking,
onset of menstruation in adolescent girls are biological or maturational. The timing of
these and other similar events does vary among individuals, but there is an average or
normative schedule for such biological events. Other normative events are programmed
by society to follow schedules that most people adhere to. For example, children enter
school at approximately the age of 6 years and begin college at about 17 or 18 years of
age.
Non-normative events: these are the unexpected events that often push development in
new directions. They are non-normative in that they neither happen to everyone in the
normal course of development nor follow any preset schedule. They happen without
warning or anticipation. For example, divorce, jobless, or change of residence are events
that may have an impact on the child, but are not normal expected occurrences.
Cohort effect: cohort is a term used to describe a group of children who were born in the
same year or the same general period (e.g. 2000 – 2005). Cohorts share the same
historical experiences. Historical context is an important source of influence on the
developing child, making development different for different cohorts.

1.8 Themes of Human Development

Psychologists have confronted and debated a number of significant themes related to

human development. Such themes generally pose basically conflicting views. For
example, is development and behaviour the result of hereditary or environmental
influences? As we discuss these themes, try to focus your attention on how they have
contributed to the understanding of child development.

1.8.1 Biological versus Environmental Influences

Most modern viewpoints recognize that both biological and environmental factors
influence development. However they disagree about the relative importance of each of
these factors on different aspects of development. Biological extremists argue that
biology is destiny and that development is merely a matter of maturation. They believe
that the course of development is largely predetermined by genetic factors. The genetic
or biological processes lead to the unfolding course of growth called maturation. One
advocate of this view was Anold Gesell. Opposing this view, other early theorists, such
as J. B. Watson placed their emphasis strictly on the environment. Watson believed that
genetic factors place restriction on the ways that environmental events can shape the
course of a child’s development. He claimed that by properly organizing the environment
he could pick a child at random and produce any kind of a specialist one could think
about. In other words, one can be trained to become any kind specialist irrespective of
his/her genetic makeup.

Learning activity:
How are physical features generally determined?
Answer:
Physical features are strongly influenced by heredity

Today, no one supports either of these extreme positions. The challenge to modern
developmentalists is to explore how biological and environmental factors interact to
produce developmental variations in different children. For example, both genetic
inheritance and nutrition affect physical development. Certain hormones and exposure to
experiences of aggression may both influence an individual’s development of aggressive
behaviour.
Thus, the question is not which factor is more important, but how the expression of the
biological programme that we inherit is shaped, modified, and directed by our particular
set of environmental circumstances. For example, the environment shapes the form that
the infant’s biologically based language can assume.

1.8.2 The Active versus the Passive Child

Early developmentalists viewed the child as a passive organism who is shaped by
external forces in the environment. Today the child is viewed as an active seeker of
information and of ways to use it. Modern developmentalists hold the view that children
are usually active agents who shape, control, and direct the course of their own
development (Bell, 1968; Bugental & Goodman, 1998). They assert that children are
active information seekers who intentionally try to understand and explore the world
around them. Parents and teachers do not just shape behaviour. Influence is a two way
process. Children actively modify the actions of their parents and other people whom
they encounter.

1.8.3 Continuity versus Discontinuity

Some developmental psychologists view development as a continuous process, in which
each new event or change builds on earlier experience in an orderly way. They see
development as smooth and gradual and without any abrupt shifts along the path. Others
see development as occurring in a series of discrete steps or stages. They see the
organization of behaviour as qualitatively different at each new stage. The concerns of
each phase of development are different from those of every other phase. For example,
the adolescence stage, in the discontinuous view, we should treat adolescence as a
distinct phase of development that marks an abrupt change in biological, social, and
cognitive functioning. Considering development over a fairy long period of time, it may
be clear that there are marked differences between different phases of development. For
example, the young infant’s motor abilities are different from those of a toddler. The
cognitive abilities of a toddler are qualitatively different from those of an adolescent.
Over time, qualitative changes proceed in a less coherent and linear way than stage
notions of development suggest. There may be a great deal in the variability in the
strategies used by children in solving a problem at the same point in time. For example, a
child may sometimes use a developmentally advanced strategy and at other times a
relatively primitive one. As we will see later, sometimes people who are in a particular
stage of development may manifest behavioural characteristics of an earlier or a later
stage of development. Most contemporary child psychologists hold a more or less
middle-of-the-road view of the continuity versus discontinuity issue, seeing development
as a basically continuous but interspersed with periods of transition in which change may
be quite sudden or pronounced. During the transition periods, developmental processes
are clearly revealed. Transitions come in a variety of forms; some are biological, such as
walking, others are both biological and psychological, such as the onset of puberty.
During puberty there are changes in the way the adolescents think about their world in
addition to the biological changes that are clearly evident. Other changes are culturally
determined like the timing of entry into high school, and initiation into adulthood
through rites of passage.

1.8.4 Situational Influences versus Individual Characteristics

Some developmentalists debate the question of whether situational influences or
individual personality characteristics are more important in determining how stable a
child’s behaviour will be across varying contexts. Many contemporary psychologists
(Magnusson, 1996; Magnusson & Stattin, 1998) avoid this debate by taking an
interactionist viewpoint that stresses the contemporary role of personality and situational
factors. For example aggressive children may be friendly, reasonable, and cooperative in
settings that don’t allow aggressive behaviour, like in the church.

1.8.5 Cultural Universals versus Cultural Relativism

Some developmental psychologists argue that culture-free laws of development should
be discovered to apply to all children in all cultures. Others argue that the cultural setting
in which children grow up play a major role in formulating the laws that govern
development. Different cultures have different influence on development since they
provide unique and different kinds of experiences. Cultures differ not only across
national boundaries but within a single country. For instance, in Kenya we have various
ethnic groups that influence development differently. However, development proceeds in
the same orderly fashion in different cultures, but the rate may vary. For example, in
some cultures, children are encouraged to walk very early and are given opportunities to
exercise their skills. In other cultures children are carried or swaddled for long periods of
time, which reduces their chances of walking until they are older. Most
developmentalists agree that cultural contexts must be considered in any account of
development.

1.8.6 Risk versus Resilience

A number of psychologists have become interested in the contradictions posed to a
child’s development by the presence of early high-risk factors and the evolution in the
child of the quality of resilience. They study how children are able to cope with such
negative influences as family disintegration, poverty, divorce, and illness and create a
satisfying and useful life for themselves. Some children may suffer permanent
developmental disruptions or delays due to risk. Others seem to cope well initially, but
exhibit problems later in development. Others exhibit resilience under the most difficult
of circumstances and some not only are able to cope with the risk but actually seem to be
enhanced by it. Moreover, when they confront new risks later in life they seem better
able to adapt to challenges than children who have experienced little or no risk.

1.9 Fundamental Principles of Human Development

1.9.1 Development is a Product of Interaction
Development is a process that results from an interaction of an organism with its
environment. The genetic constitution of an individual and the environmental forces
interact to influence development. It is difficult to assess the relative contribution of each
of the two.

1.9.2 Development Follows an Orderly Sequence

There is a high degree of similarity in the order in which various aspects of development
occurs in all individuals. Various directional trends have been identified, namely:
Cephalocaudal development - meaning that development begins from the head and
proceeds down towards the feet (tail). For example, Children acquire control over their
heads prior to acquiring control over their limbs or they can use their hands before they
can walk. Proximal-distal development - Meaning that development starts from the
central organs and proceeds outwards towards the outer or external organs. The child
acquires control over muscles closer to the center of the body before acquiring control
over those in the periphery. They can control their arms before their fingers.

Learning activities:
i) What do you call the trend in which development proceeds from the spinal cord
outwards? ii) The head is the first part an infant learns to control. True or false? Answers:
i) Proximal-distal ii) True. One-month-olds can usually
lift their heads.
Locomotion develops in a sequence in all infants of different cultures. The sequence is,
sitting, crawling, standing, and walking. The time the infant takes to pass these stages
may vary but the sequence is the same.
1.9.3 Development is an Individualized Process
Different individuals develop differently. Each person has his own rate of physical,
mental, emotional, and social development. However, the pattern is the same.

1.9.4 Development is Cumulative

This means that each new change is a product of the previous change and the experience
one has. Changes do not emerge out of nothing. This implies that other parts of the
organism must have matured first. For example, speech organs mature first before
language can be learned.

1.9.5 Development is Continuous

Development is a continuous process that begins from the time of conception and
continues until death. However the rate of development varies from age to age. For
example, there is a spurt in growth during the onset of adolescence.
1.9.6 Development is Interrelated
Different aspects of development are interrelated. For example, walking is related to
muscle development. Learning to talk is related to the development of speech organs etc.

1.9.7 Development Proceeds from the General to the Specific

Development takes place using the principle of mass differentiation and integration. For
example, the development of language begins with the birth cry, as a mass or general
response of which differentiation starts and the child acquires vocabulary of many words
and gradually the skill of communication develops. In emotion, there is a general
excitement at first and later specific emotions develop. Movement of the whole body is
followed by control and movement of specific parts of the body.

1.9.8 Development Proceeds in Stages.

The development of the individual occurs in different stages. Each stage has unique
characteristics and certain behaviours and traits that stand out more conspicuously than
others. The following are the criteria of stages accepted by most psychologists:
• Change from one stage to another involves change in the form, pattern and
organization of an individual’s behaviour.
• Each successive stage involves a new and qualitatively different
organization of responses or behaviour
• Stages in development appear in a sequence that is fixed and unvarying
from individual to individual
• Stages involve progress toward increasing complexity. For example,
language and cognitive development.
Summary

• Developmental psychology is the scientific study of the gradual changes

of children’s abilities and behaviour. It tries to uncover the processes that underlie
these changes.
• Human development explores how and why we change, and how and why
we remain the same as we grow older.
• Developmental psychology as a science began with Charles Darwin’s
study of children’s emotions and perceptual abilities.
• Until the end of the nineteenth century, children were regarded as
miniature adults and were exploited as cheap labour
• The consensus among contemporary psychologists is that both biological
and environmental factors are important and interact to produce developmental
differences. Other psychologists disagree over the relative contribution of each of
these two factors.
 • Most developmental psychologists believe that children actively shape,
control, and direct the course of their own development, while others hold that
children are the passive recipients of environmental influences.
• Some theories view development as a continuous process, whereby
change over time take place smoothly and gradually, whereas others see
development as a series of qualitatively different steps or stages
• Cultural contexts are believed to have significant influence on
development.
• Some children seem to cope with negative influences such as family
disintegration, poverty, divorce and illness and create a satisfying and useful life
for themselves, while others suffer permanent negative influences.
• Theoretical perspectives that help us understand how development occurs
include the psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, sociocultural and ethological
theories.
• Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson based their theories of development on
psychosexual and psychosocial factors respectively. Freud found that there were
five psychosexual stages of development – oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.
Failure to develop in one stage inhibits later development
• Piaget’s cognitive theory demonstrated how an individual’s thought
processes are different at various stages. Cognitive abilities differ with increasing
age.
• Behaviourists believe that development is comprised of what an individual
learns from the environment throughout life.
• Development is a process that:
i) Occurs in an orderly
sequence ii) Is
individualized iii) Is cumulative
iv) Is continuous
v) Is interrelated vi) Proceeds from the
general to the specific
vii) Proceeds in stages
Self Assessment and Revision Questions

1. What is the main focus of the study of human development?

2. What factors contributed to the emergency of developmental psychology
as a science?
3. Identify three developmental theories and give their major assumptions.
4. Compare Freud’s and Erikson’s stages of human development
5. Giving relevant example, discuss four principles of development.