Human Growth

and Development
DR.BÜLENT ERYÜKSEL
Learning Psychology – Agenda

1. Human Development & Growth

2. Learning Psychology – Introduction and History
3. Learning Theories – Introduction
4. Learning Theories I – Neurosicence / Memory
5. Learning Theories I – Neurosicence / Thinking
6. Learning Theories II- Behaviorism
7. Learning Theories III- Social Cognitive Theory
8. Learning Theories IV- Information Processing Theory & Constructivism
9. Factors Affecting Learning
10. Inteligence
11. Creativity
12. Group Dynamics in Learning
Learning Objectives

 Explain the concept of growth and development.

 Differentiate between growth and development.
 Explain the principles of growth and development.
 Describe the stages of human growth and development.
 Describe the characteristics of each stage of human growth
and development.
What is Theory ?

 Psychological theories are fact-based ideas that describe a

phenomenon of human behavior.
 These theories are based on a hypothesis, which is backed
by evidence. Thus, the two key components of a psychological
theory are:
It must describe a behavior.
It must make predictions about future behaviors.
 The term "theory" is used with surprising frequency in everyday
language. It is often used to mean a guess, hunch, or
supposition. You may even hear people dismiss certain
information because it is "only a theory."
What is Theory ?

 But in the realm of science, a theory is not merely a guess. A

theory presents a concept or idea that is testable.
 Scientists can test a theory through empirical research and
gather evidence that supports or refutes it.
 As new evidence surfaces and more research is done, a theory
may be refined, modified, or even rejected if it does not fit with
the latest scientific findings.
 The overall strength of a scientific theory hinges on its ability to
explain diverse phenomena.
Psychological Theory
The Concept of Growth and
Development
 Growth refers to quantitative changes in size, which include
physical changes in height, weight, size, internal organs, etc.
 Development, by contrast, refers to qualitative changes taking
place simultaneously with quantitative changes of growth. It may
be defined as a progressive series of orderly, coherent changes.
 Development represents changes in an organism from its origin
to its death, but more particularly the progressive changes
that take place from origin to maturity.
The Concept of Growth and
Development
 Thus, development may be explained as the series of overall
changes in an individual due to the emergence of modified
structures and functions that are the outcome of the
interactions and exchanges between the organism and its
environment.
Stages of Development

 Birth to 2 years / Infancy&Toddler : This stage is a period

from birth to two years. This stage is of rapid growth and
development. There are changes in body proportions as well as
intellectual growth.
 2 to 6 years / Early childhood: This is the preschool period. In
this stage, the child seeks gain control over his environment. He
also starts to learn to make social adjustment.
Stages of Development

 6 to 12 years / Late childhood : This is the primary school

age. Here child is expected to acquire the rudiments of
knowledge that are considered essential for successful
adjustment to adult life. He/She are also expected to learn
certain essential skills.
 12 to 18 years/ Adolescence : This is the period of
physiological change. It is the period when children become
sexually mature. It is also the period of intensified personal
interaction with peers of the same and opposite sex.
Stages of Development

 18 to 40 year / Young adulthood : The responsibilities of adulthood

include important decisions like choosing a career, a life partner, etc.
Young adulthood begins with setting goals and aspirations.
 40 to 60 year / Middle adulthood : After settling down in thirties
and having lived through with rooting phase, the individual starts
feeling sense of uprooting and dissatisfaction during the forties. A
physical decline in the form of wrinkles, thickening waistlines, greying
and thinning hair start appearing.
 The changes are often termed middle life transition, middle age revolt,
mid-career crisis or middle-age slump. These terms point U, the loss of
youth and the coming of old age. In women, hormonal changes of
menopause (ending of menstruation) may generate anxiety and
depression.
Stages of Development

Over 60 year / Late adulthood

 Aging is a process, which causes loss of vitality. Aged adults are
more concerned about their health and death.
 Their visit to doctors is more frequent. Retirement has the worst
impact on aged adults. They may gradually lose their sense of
meaningfulness in life.
 Some develop interests in social service and spend their time in
financial planning, reading, travelling, visiting religious places
and enjoying nature.
DEVELOPMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN
AND ADOLESCENTS:
 Children and adolescents grow and develop at very different
rates.
 Each individual is unique, with a distinct personality and life
experience.
 For this reason, age is not the only sign of where a particular
child or adolescent is in terms of development.
Types of Human Growth and
Development
DEVELOPMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN
AND
 ADOLESCENTS:
Physical development – genetic make-up, ethnicity, race,
gender, nutrition and diet, exercise, sleep patterns, use of tobacco,
alcohol or other drugs, stress and stressful life events,
environmental toxins and socioeconomic status
 Cognitive development – academic setting, family environment,
parent or caregiver involvement, access to early education
opportunities, teacher support, personal motivation, gender and
cultural or ethnic context
 Emotional development – individual temperament, parent and
family relationships, support network, life experiences and
transitions; media exposure and influence
 Social development – peer influence, popularity, community and
societal context
Piaget’s Cognitive Development
Theory
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
 Piaget (1936) was one of the first psychologists to make a
systematic study of cognitive development.
 His contributions include a stage theory of child cognitive
development, detailed observational studies of cognition in
children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to
reveal different cognitive abilities.
 His ideas have been of practical use in understanding and
communicating with children, particularly in the field of education
(re: Discovery Learning). Piaget’s theory has been applied
across education.
 According to Piaget’s theory, educational programs should be
designed to correspond to the stages of development.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
 According to Piaget, children progress through a series of four
stages that are marked by distinctive changes in how they think.
And how children think about themselves, others, and the
world around them plays an essential role in personality
development.
 Piaget's four stages
• Stage 1: Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
• Stage 2: Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
• Stage 3: Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years)
• Stage 4: Formal operational stage (12 years and up)
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
 Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end product
of it. Instead of checking if children have the right answer, the
teacher should focus on the student’s understanding and the
processes they used to get to the answer.
 Child-centered approach. Learning must be active (discovery
learning).
 Children should be encouraged to discover for themselves and to
interact with the material instead of being given ready-made
knowledge.
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
 Accepting that children develop at different rates so arrange
activities for individual children or small groups rather than
assume that all the children can cope with a particular activity.
 Using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing
“truths.”
 Using collaborative, as well as individual activities (so children
can learn from each other).
Criticism of Piaget’s Theory

 For example, Keating (1979) reported that 40-60% of college

students fail at formal operation tasks, and Dasen (1994) states
that only one-third of adults ever reach the formal operational
stage.
 The fact that the formal operational stage is not reached in all
cultures and not all individuals within cultures suggests that it
might not be biologically based.
Criticism of Piaget’s Theory

 According to Piaget, the rate of cognitive development cannot be

accelerated as it is based on biological processes however, direct
tuition can speed up the development which suggests that it is
not entirely based on biological factors.
 Because Piaget concentrated on the universal stages of cognitive
development and biological maturation, he failed to consider the
effect that the social setting and culture may have on cognitive
development.
Criticism of Piaget’s Theory

 Piaget’s methods (observation and clinical interviews) are more

open to biased interpretation than other methods.
 Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of
children, and from these he wrote diary descriptions charting
their development.
 Because Piaget conducted the observations alone the data
collected are based on his own subjective interpretation of
events.
 It would have been more reliable if Piaget conducted the
observations with another researcher and compared the results
afterward to check if they are similar (i.e., have inter-rater
reliability).
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

 Sigmund Freud proposed that personality development in

childhood takes place during five psychosexual stages, which
are the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.
 During each stage, sexual energy (libido) is expressed in different
ways and through different body parts.
 Freud(1905) believed that life was built around tension and
pleasure. Freud also believed that all tension was due to the
build-up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from
its discharge.
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory

 Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the
formation of adult personality. The id must be controlled to satisfy
social demands; this sets up a conflict between frustrated wishes
and social norms.
 The ego and the superego develop in order to exercise this
control and direct the need for gratification into socially
acceptable channels.
 Gratification centers in different areas of the body at different
stages of growth, making the conflict at each stage
psychosexual.
The Role Of Conflict

 Each psychosexual stage is associated with a particular conflict

that must be resolved before the individual can successfully
advance to the next stage.

 The resolution of each of these conflicts requires the expenditure

of sexual energy, and the more energy that is expended at a
particular stage, the more important characteristics of that stage
remain with the individual as he/she matures psychologically.
The Role Of Conflict

 To explain this, Freud suggested the analogy of military troops on the

march. As the troops advance, they are met by opposition or
conflict.

 If they are highly successful in winning the battle (resolving the

conflict), then most of the troops (libido) will be able to move on to
the next battle (stage).

 But the greater the difficulty encountered at any particular point, the
greater the need for troops to remain behind to fight and, thus, the
fewer that will be able to go on to the next confrontation.
Fixation Psychology

 Some people cannot leave one stage and proceed to the next.
One reason for this may be that the needs of the developing
individual at any particular stage may not have been adequately
met, in which case there is frustration.

 Or, possibly, the person’s needs may have been so well satisfied
that he/she is reluctant to leave the psychological benefits of a
particular stage in which there is overindulgence.

 For example, during the first two years of life, the infant who is
neglected (insufficiently fed) or who is over-protected (over-fed)
might become an orally-fixated person (Freud, 1905).
Critics of Psychosexual Theory
Critics of Psychosexual Theory
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
 Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined
order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from
infancy to adulthood.
 During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis
that could positively or negatively affect personality
development.
 For Erikson (1958, 1963), these crises are psychosocial because
they involve the psychological needs of the individual (i.e.,
psycho) conflicting with the needs of society (i.e., social).
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
 According to the theory, successful completion of each stage
results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic
virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths that the ego
can use to resolve subsequent crises.
 Failure to complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to
complete further stages and, therefore, a more unhealthy
personality and sense of self. These stages, however, can be
resolved successfully at a later time.
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development
Erikson's stages of psychosocial
development - critics
 Erikson’s eight stages form a foundation for discussions on
emotional and social development during the lifespan. Keep in
mind, however, that these stages or crises can occur more than
once or at different times of life.
 For instance, a person may struggle with a lack of trust beyond
infancy. Erikson’s theory has been criticized for focusing so
heavily on stages and assuming that the completion of one stage
is a prerequisite for the next crisis of development.
 His theory also focuses on the social expectations that are found
in certain cultures, but not in all.