Study of Human Development

Question 1

Human Development (Definition)

Answer 1

Human development is the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time

Question 2

4 Aspects of Human Development
(R. S. G. S.)

Answer 2

1. Reflects the complexity and uniqueness of each person and their experiences
2. Seeks to understand commonalities and patterns across people
3. Grounded in theory
4. Seeks to understand human behavior.

Question 3

3 Fundamental Issues of Human Dev.

Answer 3

1. Nature vs. Nurture
2. Continuity vs Discontinuity
3. Universal vs Context Specific Development

Question 4

Nature vs. Nurture

Answer 4

• The degree to which genetic influences (nature) or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are.
• Theorists and researchers recognize that development is always shaped by both
• Nature and nurture are mutually interactive influences.

Question 5

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Answer 5

Focuses on whether development smoothly progresses throughout the life span (continuity) or if it shifts abruptly (discontinuity)

Question 6

Universal vs. Context-Specific Development

Answer 6

• Focuses on whether there is just one path of development or several
• Asks the question : Does development follow the same general path for all or is it different, depending on the sociocultural context?

Question 7

The Biopsychosocial Framework

Answer 7

• It emphasizes that biological, psychological sociocultural and life cycle forces are mutually interactive
• It encompasses the life span and the different aspects of each phase of life

Question 8

Biological Forces

Answer 8

• Includes genetic- and health-related factors that affect development.
• Some biological forces, such as puberty and menopause, are universal and affect people across generations
• Others, such as diet or disease, affect people in specific generations or within a small amount of people

Question 9

Psychological Forces

Answer 9

• Includes all internal, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development

Question 10

Sociocultural Forces

• Culture

Answer 10

• Includes interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development
• Culture : the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors associated with a group of people
• Provides the context for development

Question 11

Life-cycle Forces

• Reflects D
• Reflects I
• Provides C

Answer 11

• Reflect differences in how the same event affects people of different ages
• Reflects the influences of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces
• Provides context for understanding how people perceive their current situation and its effect on them

Question 12

Neuroscience

Answer 12

The study of the brain and the nervous system, especially in terms of brain-behavior relationships
- Reveals interactions between biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces

Question 13

Theory

• Organized S
• Provides T

Answer 13

An organized set of ideas designed to explain development
- Provide testable explanations of human behaviors and the ways in which they change over time

Question 14

Psychodynamic theories

• RC –> DA
• Freud –> P
• Erikson –> CLP

Answer 14

• Argue that development is determined by how well people resolve the conflicts they face at different ages
• This perspective can be traced to Sigmund Freud’s theory that personality emerges from conflicts experienced in childhood
• Building on Freud, Erik Erikson proposed the first comprehensive life-span view of psychosocial development
  
  • Identified eight universal stages, each characterized by a particular struggle.
  • Each stage has its own special period of importance

Question 15

Learning theory

• L –> PB
• E –> WO
• T - B & SLT

Answer 15

• Focuses on how learning influences a person’s behavior
• Emphasizes the role of experience and that people learn from watching others around them
• Two influential theories in this perspective are :
  
  1. Behaviorism
  2. Social learning theory.

Question 16

Behaviorism
( J → BS)
( S → OC)

Answer 16

• John Watson - Focused on the belief that babies were born a “blank slate,”
• B.F. Skinner - Fcused on operant conditioning
  
  • Operant conditioning : includes reinforcement, punishment, and environmental control of behavior

Question 17

Social Learning Theory

• Self Efficacy

Answer 17

• Proposes that people learn by observing others in what is called imitation or observational learning
  
  • Bandura believed that self-efficacy helps determine when people will imitate others
  • Self Efficacy : people’s beliefs about their own abilities and talents

Question 18

Cognitive-developmental theory

• TP –> CK
  (PT. IP. VST)

Answer 18

• Focuses on thought processes and the construction of knowledge
• Involves three distinct approaches:
  
  1. Piaget’s theory
  2. Information Processing
  3. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory

Question 19

Piaget’s Theory

• US –> CD
• C –> CK

Answer 19

• A four-stage universal sequence of cognitive development
• The child constructs knowledge in a new way during each stage

Question 20

Information-processing theory
(MH & MS)

Answer 20

• Human cognition consists of mental hardware and software
  
  • Mental hardware : cognitive structures
  • Mental software : organized sets of cognitive processes

Question 21

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Answer 21

• The ways that adults convey to children the beliefs, customs, values, and skills of their cultures
  
  • Emphasizes the idea that children’s thinking does not develop in a vacuum

Question 22

Ecological and Systems Approach
(BEM & CEPF)

• D –> IEC

Answer 22

• Development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a person develops
  
  • Two examples are :
    1. Brofenbrenner’s ecological model
    2. Competence-environmental Press Framework

Question 23

Brofenbrenner’s ecological model
(Mi. Me. Ex. Ma.)

Answer 23

• Bronfenbrenner proposed that development occurs in a series of complex interconnected systems
  
  • Identified four levels of the environment:
    1. Microsystem
    2. Mesosystem
    3. Exosystem
    4. Macrosystem.

Question 24

Competence-environmental Press Theory

• PAE GM –> C & EP

Answer 24

• Suggests that people adapt most effectively when there is a good match between :
  - Their competence (abilities) and the environmental press (the demands put on them by the environment)

Question 25

The life-span perspective
(M. P. HC. MC)

• LP –> GU & GO

Answer 25

• Argues that human development is a lifelong process of growing up and growing old, beginning with conception and ending with death.
  
  • Key features of the life-span perspective:
    a). Multidirectionality – development involves growth and decline.
    b). Plasticity – one’s capacity is not predetermined
    c). Historical context – development is determined by the historical period and culture in which we grew up.
    d). Multiple causation – how we develop results from biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces.

Question 26

The Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) Model

Answer 26

Selection, compensation, and optimization form a system of behavioral action that generates and regulates development
- Selection : occurs because of elective selection and loss-based selection
- Compensation : occurs when a person’s skills have decreased
Optimization : involves minimizing losses and maximizing gains

Question 27

The life-course perspective

• VG –> BPS HC
• I–> I & S

3F
- ITE
- SIT
- IEE

Answer 27

• Describes how various generations experience the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces of development in their respective historical context
  
  • Key feature is the interplay between the individual and society
  • Involves three major factors:
    1. The individual timing of events
    2. The synchronization of individual transitions
    3. The impact of earlier life events