EGERTON UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF OPEN AND DISTANCE

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E-CAMPUS

EPSC 122: DEVELOPMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGY
Topic 3 Handout

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Published 2020
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TOPIC THREE THEMES AND FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF
DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

Welcome to topic three of the course. Have you ever asked yourself whether the behaviours we display
are hereditary or environmental? Have ever wondered why children are not able to perform certain tasks
at a given point in life but later on are able? These questions are answered in this topic. Psychologists
have confronted and debated a number of significant themes related to human development. As these
themes are discussed, try to focus your attention on how they have contributed to the understanding of
child development. Enjoy the discussion.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:-

i. Identify the main themes in developmental psychology

ii. Explain the issues of contention in each of the themes in developmental psychology:
iii. Explain the fundamental principles of developmental psychology.

3.1 Themes in Development

3.1.1 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 make-up.

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Today, no one supports either of these extreme positions. The challenge to modern Developmental
psychologists 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.

3.1.2 The Active versus the Passive Child

Early developmental psychologists 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 developmental psychologists 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.

3.1.3 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

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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.

3.1.4 Situational Influences versus Individual Characteristics

Some developmental psychologists 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.

3.1.5 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

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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 developmental psychologists agree that cultural contexts must be
considered in any account of development.

3.1.6 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.

3.2 Fundamental Principles of Development

3.2.1 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.

3.2.2 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. Proximodistal 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 harms before their fingers.

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3.2.3 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.

3.2.4 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.

3.2.5 Development is Continuous

Development is a continuous process that begins from the time of conception and continues until
death. Hover the rate of development varies from age to age. For example, there is a spurt in growth
during the onset of adolescence.

3.2.6 Development is Inter-related

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.

3.2.7 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.

3.2.8 Development Proceeds in Stages

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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.

Topic Summary

You have learned that:

 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.

 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.

 Development is a process that:

i) Occurs in an orderly sequence

ii) Is individualized

iii) Is cumulative

iv) Is continuous

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 v) Is interrelated

vi) Proceeds from the general to the specific

vii) Proceeds in stages

Glossary

Cephalocaudal development means 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.

Proximodistal development means that development starts from the central organs and proceeds
outwards towards the outer or external organs.

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