DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology which deals with studying

developmental changes of human and animal behaviour. The unit examines the basic
concepts and nature of developmental psychology. In addition the unit x-rays scientific
methods in the study of developmental psychology.

Definition and Description of Developmental Psychology

Psychology is the science of human and animal behaviour. It is a science that seeks to
understand and predict human and animal behaviour. The application of the knowledge to
practical problems is an art. Thus psychology is both a science and an art.

The field of human development is regarded as developmental psychology. The branches

of developmental psychology are child development or child psychology, adolescent
psychology and adulthood psychology. Child psychology focused on the developmental
changes of children from conception to early adolescent. Child psychology is the centre of
developmental psychology since behaviour develops rapidly in the childhood state.
Adolescent psychology and adulthood psychology deal with developmental changes,
characteristics and problems that occur especially in adolescence and adulthood periods.

Developmental psychology therefore is a branch of psychology that studies

developmental changes covering the life span from conception to death. All the segments
of life span or developmental pattern of childhood, adolescent hood and adulthood or old
age cover different periods or stages that occur during the entire life span. Scholars and
authorities like Hurlock (1978) defined developmental psychology as the ontogenetic
study of the development of organism from conception through childhood, adolescent,
adult and senescence till death. Apart from studying chronological and mental ages of
human beings, it regulates the structural, functional and behavioural changes that occur in
humans before maturity.

Recently developmental psychologists identified six major objectives according to

Hurlock. These objectives are to find out:

i) What the common and characteristic age changes in appearance, behaviour,

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 interests, and goals from one development period to another.

ii) When these changes occur.

iii) What causes the changes

iv) How they behaviour;

v) Whether they can or cannot be predicted; and

vi) Whether they are individual or universal”

The goal of developmental psychology is to identify how the individual develops

cognitively and affectively in addition to motor development from pre-natal stage to
adult stage or old age. Developmental psychology emphasizes the factors affecting
developmental changes and influencing changes, and the orderliness and sequential nature
of human development. Thus developmental psychology is a special branch of
psychology and mental processes which involves growth and developmental changes in
terms of differentiation, the maturation, and learning, integration of biological, cognitive
and affective processes (Akinboye et al 1982). It is also includes the study of processes
that contribute to foundations of life in terms of fertilisation, zygote formation, embryonic
development leading to the development of the neonate, the child, adolescent, adult and
senescence (old age).

In developmental psychology, two concepts are used namely: “growth and

development”. Some developmental psychologists use growth and development inter
changeably but, are they the same? In this respect they are different although go hand in
hand or inseparably. Both refer to changes and the processes are interrelated and inter-
dependent on each other. In addition, other basic concepts in developmental
psychology are maturation and learning. Basically, growth refers to quantitative changes
that are increase in bodily dimensions such as height, weight and size. For instance,
as a result of growth, the size and structure of internal organs and the brain increase. The
child grows mentally as well as physically. This also implies that the child has the
tendency of learning, remembering and reasoning as a result of growth of the brain.

Human Developmental Changes

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The developmental changes in human beings are categorized into changes in size,
proportion and disappearance of old features. The human being is never static rather
he is undergoing constant changes.

At every chronological age some changes manifest at the beginning while others are at
their peak and some are declining. These changes occur physically, emotionally, mentally
and disappearance of old features to be replaced by new ones (i.e. baby teeth, baby feet
etc).

The process of development has been explained from different perspectives and some of
them are development as maturation and learning or development as the synthesis of
maturation and learning. In this perceptive, Piaget identified four basic elements in
development which are as follows: maturation; experience, social transmitted
development such as learning through language, schooling or training by parents; and
equilibration. (i.e. when an individual adapts easily to environmental demands).

Development as maturation is governed by genetical and environmental factors. Basically

development comes from maturation. Maturation provides the raw material for learning
and orderly behaviour: Development as learning signifies that development is a collection
of learning experiences which the individual acquires in the process of interaction with his
environment. Learning is a key in human behvaviour. In this regard, learning can be
defined as any relatively permanent change in behviour which occurs as a result of
practice or experience. (Morgan, et.al., 1979). The changes due to growth or maturation
are not learning. Additionally, development as synthesis indicates that development is the
essential process and each element of learning occurs as a function of wholist
development rather than being an element which explain development. The
interrelationship which exists between maturation and learning generates development
which leads to individual differences and variation in personality, attitudes, interest and
behaviour patterns.

Developmental Tasks

Other aspects of development changes are the social expectations for each stage of
development which Havighurst labeled developmental task. Development is critical and

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plays a significant role in maturation and learning. It follows a definite and predicted
pattern, as a result of change in behaviour which leads to individual differences. Each
stage of development has its hazards and is affected by cultural belief and changes.

According to Havighurst, a developmental task is a “task which arises as or about a

certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to
happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness and
difficulty with later tasks”

The above definition indicates that the individuals are meant to know the societal
expectations at given ages. Parents and teachers are expected to guide the young
children through teaching to acquire different skills by the knowledge of what the
society expects, the children to master the skills in order to adjust successfully in life.

The developmental tasks predict the failure for an individual to master the tasks as a
result of aids and handicaps to mastery.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

Basic Principles of Development

Human life is a process of continual development. It finds expression in physical

change, intellectual change, personality change, and social change across the life span
and to live is to change (Reddy, 1978). Early development of a child involves
differentiation, increase in size and complex forms of organization. There are structural,
physiological and behaviour patterns in all the stages of development. The human has a
pattern of development. These patterns form the basic principles of development. The
patterns are cephalocaudal (cephalo = head; caudal = tail) and proximodistal (proximo =
central or middle; distal = periphery terminator).

i) The process of development follows an orderly sequence or pattern in all

individuals, for example the orderly patterns of physical, and mental
development of the child follow the law of directional sequence of development.

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 Psychologists maintained that the law of developmental direction and
predictable pattern are the “cephalocaudal law” and the proximodistal law”. The
cephalocaudal law means that development proceeds from head to foot (tail)
while the proximodistal law implies that development follow from trunk to
extremities” the outer parts of the body

ii) Development proceeds from general to specific responses as differentiation and

integration. For instance language development of the child begins from the birth
and cry as a means of response. The differentiation response starts as the child
acquires vocabulary of many words and latter develops communication skills.

iii) Development is predicable with changes namely growth, maturation and

learning. Development is the sum total of all changes that occur in an organism.
It continues the effect of growth and learning. Development therefore is
influenced by genetic or heredity and environmental forces. Growth is
quantitative and development is wider in scope. It is quantitative and quantitative.
Maturation is the stronger motivation on the part of the learner and sets the limit
of developmental changes no matter the type of learning methods employed. The
learner cannot learn unless he is ready. Learning in this regard is the relatively
permanent change in behaviour as a result of reinforced practice or experience.
For an individual to grow and develop fully, there must be four basic changes
namely, growth, maturation, learning and development.

iv) There are individual differences and variations in development. These imply that
children develop at different rates. Every child is biologically, physiologically
and maturation ally different from every other. The differences occur as child
proceeds to adolescence and eventually to adulthood.

v) Growth and development are continuous. The child is continuously developing.

Sometimes the growth and development are slow, and sometimes they are rapid
i.e. “growth Spurt’s during infancy and adolescence. But they are always
occurring.

vi) Development behaviour is controlled by needs. The developing child needs

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 nutritional materials in order to enhance his cognitive, physiological, emotional
and social needs. For instance the child requires love and affection,
belongingness and acceptance especially from his peer group in order to satisfy
his emotional and social needs. If the developing child is deficient, the
development requirements may not be fulfilled.

vii) Development proceeds by different developmental stages. Human life proceeds by

stages. Each stage is distinguished by a dominant feature. It is characterized by a
specific kind of development which is more prominent than the other. For
example the five major developmental stages in childhood begin with prenatal
stage down to infancy, babyhood, childhood and puberty when the child becomes
sexually mature.

viii) Developmental changes are inter-related and proceed at different rates. The
mental, physical, and social aspects of development are inter- related as such the
child develops as a wholistic individual. Although these aspects of traits develop
at different rates

ix) Critical period in development – There are critical periods in development of

certain organs and functions of the body. The development of the organs of the
body could be perfected through nutrient materials and other accident in order to
enable the organ function properly. Any further interference may lead to mal-
function or normal deficiency. Examples of such organs are eyes, brain, heart,
and kidney.

Heredity and Environment

Heredity refers to the biological transmission of traits from parents to offspring through
genes. It also refers to the biological factors which contribute to the development of the
individual through the process of cell division. The two cell divisions associated with
human development are mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis is simply “the process in which a
cell duplicates its chromosomes and then divides into two genetically identical daughter
cells”. While meiosis is “the process in which a germ cell divides, producing gametes
(sperm or ova) that each contain half of the parent cell’s original complement of

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chromosomes, In humans; the products of meiosis contain 23 chromosomes”.

The environmental factors connote all external conditions and influences that affect the
life and development of individual from conception to death. Heredity per se establishes
certain limitations and directions of growth and environment furnishes the condition
which may accelerate or decelerate the process.

The hereditarian believes that hereditary traits play a dominant role in human
development than the environmental conditions such as provision of nutrition, health,
sanitation etc. The environmentalists also assert that an adequate environment contribute
to development of an individual’s potentialities. In this regard, hereditarians stressed that
no matter the amount of environmental conditions provided for an idiot, he cannot attain
to the level of university professor. Along this line, the combination of heredity and
environment (e.g. social, mental, emotional, physical) contribute handsomely to human
development.

The Nature-Nurture Controversy

The nature – nurture controversy started in the classical Greek era among, philosophers
like Plato and Aristotle (Plato’s student) John Locke and others. The areas debated were
heredity versus environment, nature versus nurture, maturation versus learning, innate
versus acquired etc. In the history of psychology, the great debates centered on the
controversy over nature and nurture. This controversy was based on the two schools of
thought – the hereditarians and the environmentalists.

The hereditarians favoured nature and claimed that all hereditary traits were transmitted
directly through the chromosomes via genes from generation to generation where
environment was of little consequence. In this case, if your father was a criminal, you
will be a criminal; and if your mother’s 1Q is only 89, then you shouldn’t choose a
career like medicine.

On the other hand, the environmentalists claimed that the most important thing was
how an individual was raised or nurtured”, not based on genetic endowment. The
environmentalists insisted that all people were burn genetically equal and that they differ
as a result of environmental opportunities.

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The modern stand on nature – nurture dimensions emphasized that behaviour has multiple
causes. It is the result of heredity interacting with environment that can influence human
development. Our hereditary potentialities can be nourished based on the type, amount
and quality of our environmental conditions.

Conception

Heredity involves a number of genetic mechanisms. These genetic mechanisms are as

follows:

i) Development begins at conception from a parent sex cell which is formed by the union
of a male sperm cell and a female ovum forming a zygote which contains 46
chromosomes (23 from each parent). Each sperm and each ovum contain minute
structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes house smaller hereditary traits
known as genes. Each gene (or group of genes) represents a hereditary factor such as color
of eyes, or shape of nose etc which is transmitted as a unit. Physical traits developed as
the result of the influence of a combination of genes.

Gender is determined by the 23rd pair of chromosomes (ie the sex chromosomes) the
normal females inherited one sex chromosome (an x chromosomes); from each parent
whereas males inherited an x chromosomes and a smaller Y chromosome. The father
determines the sex of a child not the mother. The father (XY) can transmit either an X
chromosome or a Y chromosome to his offspring. Identical heredity is present only in
twins developed from the same fertilised ovum.

Chromosomal Disorders

These are chromosomal disorder brought about as a result of inheritance. These disorders
are associated with the presence of too few or too many chromosomes. The Down’s
syndrome, klinefelter’s syndrome, turner’s syndrome and the XYY syndrome (super male
syndrome) are chromosomal disorders. Some of these abnormalities can also result from
the uneven meosis of male gametes. The Down syndrome occurred where a Child inherits
extra 21st chromosomes. Children with the syndrome received their “extra” chromosome
from their father rather than their mothers (Magenis and his associated 1977). The child
will be mentally retarded with a number of distinctive physical features. The Klinefelter’s

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syndrome happened as a result of imbalance in the distribution of X chromosomes. This
implies if a Y chromosome from sperm cell reaches the ovum first, the Zygote will
become a kinefelter male (XXY). Here the males fail to develop secondary sex
characteristics and show deficiencies on tests of verbal ability.

The Turner’s syndrome occurred when the ovum containing no X chromosome is

fertilized by an X-bearing sperm; the result will be an XO female (who has Turner’s
syndrome). The female remains small in stature, and fail to develop secondary sex
characteristics. She exhibits mental deficiency. The “Super male” syndrome (the XYY)
resulted when the child received the extra Y chromosome from the father. The child is
taller than average and tends to score below average on intelligence tests. The poly – x
syndrome occurred when a sex chromosome abnormality involving females who inherit
three X chromosomes. These females are normal in appearance, remain fertile and tend
to score below average on intelligence tests.

Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is an inter-disciplinary and multi- disciplinary field, made of

sociology, anthropology and biology. Human life is a process of continual
development. The developmental changes in human life find expression in physical,
intellectual, personality and social changes. The field of developmental psychology can
benefit from developmental research as a result of prevention of problematic behaviour
among the various stages of human development. In this section, seven prominent
research methods employed in the study of human development are:

i) The observation method

ii) The survey method

iii) The case study method – The chemical care study

development care study – longitudinal progression

iv) The experimental method

v) The observation method

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The Observation Method

The observation method carries out observational studies which yields significant result
on developmental characteristics of children. The observation method is classified into
two namely, maturation observation method and participant observation method. In
maturation observation the researcher observes the specific behavioural characteristics of
children or adolescents or adults in natural setting. It enables the researcher to study
individuals independently of their ability to report on themselves while it does not disturb
or affect the events under investigation. The participant observation as a research enables
the researcher to become part and parcel of the group which he wants to observe. In this
case, he establishes rapport with the group of children or adolescents (even adults) in
order that they may not become conscious of his presence so that they may not hide their
actual behaviour or overt behaviour.

The observation method may have a number of limitations such as the subjectivity of
interpretation and collection of data from overt behaviour which does not provide reliable
information regarding internal mental process.

The Survey method

The survey method especially the social survey method employs interviews (structured /
unstructured) and questionnaire for the determination of incidence and prevalence of
given attitudes and behaviour with identifiable population. For instance, the researcher
may be interested in studying the abnormality and prevalence of drug abuse among
adolescents or to find out the prevalence of certain child-rearing or maltreatment of
widowhood practices and so on.

The Case Study Method

This method focuses upon a single individual rather than a group of subjects of different
ages within behavioural problems. The case study method is used in baby biographies
and in clinical approaches involving maladaptive children and adults. The case study
method is categorized into the clinical case study or case history and developmental case
study. The clinical case study is designed to gather information and present condition of
the subjects. In clinical case study information is specifically collected from the

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following sources: biodata, past history such as the state of mother during pregnancy,
relation between children and parents of the family and so on; and present condition may
derive information from physical, mental, and social -emotional of child’s development
after birth.

The developmental case study or genetic method uses two approaches to collect the data
viz:- longitudinal approach and cross-sectional approach. The longitudinal approach is
employed by the researcher for studying human development in order to compare the
same individuals at different intervals between birth and maturity or at any specific age
bracket. The researcher observes their developmental characteristics regularly from year
to year. This approach is used to study physical, mental, language, emotional and social
developmental characteristics of children, It also allows researchers to plot individual
growth curves in such areas as language, motor and cognitive development.

The cross-sectional approach compares different groups of individual of varying age

cohort to specific aspect of developmental stages.

The Experimental Method

The method offers cause and effect relationships. It is a study in which the researcher
manipulates one or more variables known as independent variables and measures other
variables termed dependent variables (Mills, 1969). The independent variable is
assigned to be the causal factor in the variables being studied while the dependent
variable is usually some measure after subjects’ behaviour (Zanden, 1978). The
experimental method uses a systematic procedure called experimental design. It
provides guidelines to the researcher to carry out his research sequentially. The
experimental design is made up of the experimental group and control group for the
purpose of testing hypotheses. The control group is associated with the experimental
group except that the researcher did not introduce change into it. The control group
provides a mental standard against which the changes in the experimental group can
be measured. For instance undergraduate class students talk noisily when the lecturer is
out of the room but become quiet when the lecturer enters; the change in the level of
lecture room noise is the dependent variable and its cause by the lecturer’s presence is
the independent variables.

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Psychosexual Stages of Development

Sigmund Freud postulated that a child passes through five major progressive stages of
psychosexual development namely: oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Each stage is
characterized by certain developmental and behaviour changes. Further, each stage
possesses for children a unique conflict that they must resolve before they pass on to the
next stage. According to Robert, Poulos and Marnur (1977) individuals may become so
addicted to the pleasure of a given stage that they are unwilling to move on to later
stage. This also may be as the process of stagnation which individuals experience
including fixation as a result of frustration or overindulgence. Fixation in the view of
Zanden (1978) is the tendency to stay at a particular stage to be troubled by the conflict
of the stage and to reduce tension by means of the behaviour characteristic of that stage.

The Oral Stage of Psychosexual Development (Birth to 18 months)

For Freud, the oral stage of infancy is a critical period in personality formation. The
centers of pleasurable body movements are the mouth, lips and tongue. The child
regards sucking his mothers breast as the most pleasurable activity. But conflict
ensures when the source of love or pleasure is terminated i.e. the breast feeding. The
child at this stage is self-centered and pre-occupied with his own needs. He also
experiences common problems associated with fixation as dependent personality with
unnecessary demand for mothering, oral aggressive, and excessive oral behaviours such
as the compulsive eating, nail biting etc.

Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years)

This stage refers to the stage when the focus of pleasurable body zone shifts from mouth
to anus, rectum and bladder. The child takes most pleasurable activities in urinating and
defecating. The source of conflict results in toilet training by the mother. The child
develops ambivalent attitudes as a result of parent’s interference with his activities. The
child also resolves conflict between his need for parental love and his need for
instinctual gratification through the development of life long attitudes toward
cleanliness, submissiveness, orderliness, punctuality etc. The problems alongside with
fixation are hostile and challenging personality accompanied with adherence to rules,

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regulations, neatness and orderliness.

The Phillic Stage

This stage refers to approximately the age of three to six. The focus of pleasurable body
zone shifts from anus to the genitals (the sexual organs). The child’s pleasurable body
activity results to masturbation. Another important development at this stage are the
Oedipus complex and Elektra complex.

The Oedipus complex implies that the male child feels sexual love for the mother and
perceives his father as hostile rivalry which leads him to fear punishment through
“castration by the father and eventually called castration anxiety”. This conflict is
resolved by identifying with his father and repressing his desire for his mother. In female
child, Elektra complex occurs where she feels sexual love for the father and hates her
mother. This leads her to conclude that she has been castrated and otherwise feels inferior
that finds expression in female, “penis envy”. In this regard, the problems expressed in
this stage for both male and female children are sexual problems in adulthood
(impotence or frigidity) homosexuality and failure to handle competitive relationships.

The Latency Stage (Age of 6 to 12 years)

While anal and phallic stages correspond to pre-primary school years, the latency stage
corresponds to the primary school years in which children suppress most of their infantile
sexual feelings or sexuality and become interested in games and sports. Further, the boys
associate with their fellow boys and girls and engage themselves in learning skills and
values etc.

Genital Stage (12 to 18years)

This stage corresponds to part of senior primary school and junior secondary schools.

In this stage, the focus of pleasurable activity shifts to the members of the opposite sex.
Both boys and girls experience romantic and emotional feelings. At this stage, Sigmund
Freud postulated that human behaviour is determined by id, ego and superego personality
functions. He identified the nature of anxiety as conflicts among ‘id’ – impulses;
superego, demands and ego defenses. Id is that part of mind controlled by the pleasure

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principle and will. Id impulses clash with person’s need to adapt to society. As a child
grows he develops the ego and superego. The ego as the conscious part of the mind acts as
a mediator between an individual’s instinctive id, impulse and external reality. As his ego
develops, the child learns to make compromises between his internal urges and parental
and societal controls. The superego is regarded as conscience part of the mind that helps
children, adolescents and adults to develop a moral code and ideal behaviour. The ego and
superego develop as parts of the personality as the child goes through psychosexual
growth stages. In the course of a child’s development, the id, the ego and the superego do
not appear simultaneously. The id is already present at birth. The ego develops as the
infants satisfy his needs with the interaction with the environment. Later years the
superego develops as the custody of the rules and values of environment.

Learning Theories of Development

Learning theories of Human Development otherwise known as Behaviouristic theories of

human development. The learning psychologists see learning as communicative which
build upon itself the main purpose of learning theories is to explain learning operations.
Learning theories are rooted in a mechanistic orientation in which the model for all
occurrences is the machine. Whereas Stage theories are derived from one organistic
orientation in which the underlying model is the biological organism and its activities; In
this unit only three major learning theories will be discussed viz: operant conditioning by
B.F. Skinner; classical conditioning by Iven P. Pavlov and social learning theory by
Bandura.

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning Theory of Human Development

This theory will be discussed briefly. The operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner then will
be emphasized Skinner was an American psychologist who represents a school of
thought known as radical behaviourism. He believed that it is relevant and profitable to
observe and identify factors that influence individuals’ behaviour. Skinner sees learning
as a series of experiences which influences behavioural change in the same way that
conditioning does. Here conditioning denotes the process by which conditioned
responses are learned or acquired. For Skinner, each learning experience is a stimulus
that produces a behavioural response.

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In operant or instrumental conditioning, the response must be made before a record
is given or before an aversive stimulus is removed. in this regard, when an individual’s
response is followed by a protein rein forcer or rehad, then there is a tendency for the
individual to repeat the response. For example food serves as a positive rein forcer for a
hungry child.

Skinner conducted an experiment (with a hungry rat). He constructed a box and fitted
the box with a lever. Skinner placed a hungry rat in the box with a or bar projected out
with the food dish beneath it and higher bulb above the bar. In the box, the rat moves up
ward and down restlessly and occasionally presses its paws upon the bar. The container
with pellets of food is attached in such a way that as soon as the rat presses the bar a
pellet of food falls into the dish. The rat eats and immediately presses the bar again. In
the experiment, Skinner observed that the food reinforces bar-pressing, while the
pressing response is instrumental in producing a rein forcer (food) which acts as a
stimulus for response (Salivation).

Thus, Skinner demonstrated the role of reinforcement in the Learning process. He

concluded that the behaviour we develop as we grow up depend on the consequences
that followed these behavours in future.

Classical Conditioning Theory of Ivan. P. Pavlov

Whereas in instrumental conditioning the behaviour is emitted by the organism, and the
association between emitted behaviour and the reinforcement is contingent upon
behaviour. But in classical conditioning, behaviour is elicited by stimulus and the
association is between a stimulus elicited responses.

The influential work of Ivan Pavlov, a Russian Psychologist is based upon the idea of
classical conditioning. Briefly, Ivan Pavlov studies the salivation reflex in dogs in the
presentation of a piece of meat. He discovered that by pairing the sound of a bell with the
piece of meat, he established a new relationship between a stimulus (the sound of a bell)
and a response (Salivation) that was not associated with one another. Note that the meat is
the unconditioned stimulus and the saliva produced by the dog is the unconditioned
response, while the striking of the bell is the conditioned stimulus.

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Developmental Stages

Erik Erikson observed that human beings follow a developmental Pattern throughout their
lifetime. He formulated eight major stages of Development accompanied with crisis or
conflicts during childhood, Adolescent hood and adulthood.

Erikson identifies the stages as:

i) Basic Trust versus Mistrust (birth – 1 year).

ii) Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (1 - 3 years)

iii) Initiative versus Guilt (3 – 6 years)

iv) Industry versus Inferiority (6 – 12 years)

v) Identity versus Role Confusion (12 – 20 years)

vi) Intimacy versus Isolation (20 – 40 years)

vii) Generativity versus Stagnation (40 – 65 years)

viii) Ego Integrity versus Despair (65 – death)

These developmental stages from infancy to old age are associated with psychosocial
crisis or conflicts, social setting and favourable outcome. Basically interaction takes place
between an individual and social environment during each developmental stage which can
change the course of personality either positively or negatively.

Trust versus Mistrust

Basic Trust versus Mistrust Stage (oral - sensorial stage) of psychosocial development
occurs predominantly during infancy. This stage relates to Freudian oral stage and
Piagetian sensori motor stage. In the family, the mother breast – feeding baby develops
trust with human affection, love and warmth. The deprivation of affection and love in
infancy threatens the baby to turn into mistrust or a suspicious person.

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Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

The Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt correspond to anal – muscular stage of
psychosexual theory of Freud. This stage also corresponds to pre-operational stage
(symbolic) of Piaget’s Cognitive developmental theory. The autonomy versus shame
and doubt of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development fall within early childhood
stage. Children at this stage become autonomous in their personal care, and explore their
physical environment and reaffirm their autonomy in terms of self control.

Initiative versus Guilt

The Initiative versus Guilt corresponds to psychomotor stage of Piaget and Phallic stage
of Freud. Majority of children at this stage have finished their pre-primary school and
start primary school according to Nigerian National Policy on Education (2004). Here
children initiate activities or games with their peers having achieved physical autonomy.
In this respect if the family and school environment are strict and inflexible, they may
acquire undesirable feelings of guilt.

Industry versus Role Confusion

The Industry versus Inferiority of developmental stage of psychosocial of Erickson

corresponds to latency stage of Freudian theory of psychosexual development and
concrete operational stage of Piaget. Children at this phase may have finished primary
school and enter junior secondary school. Majority of children acquire a sense of
mastery, competence and responsibility while in the school environment. In contrast,
children tend to experience an inferiority complex when there is no acknowledge of
the progress achieved.

Identity versus Role Confusion

Erickson’s developmental stage of identity versus role confusion (Genital stage of

Freud and Formal operations of Piaget) in fact correspond to puberty and adolescence
stage with the age bracket of 12 to 18 years plus. Erickson made the greatest
contribution to the study of identity in adolescence which he expressed as “identity

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crisis” Here the adolescent is in search of his own identity quiet different from his
parents or from socio-cultural setting especially among his peer groups and out groups.
At this stage the adolescent also tends to search for vocational identity among a variety
of professions and specialties. He also exhibits sexuality identity, ideological identity
and personal identity apart from vocational identity. The sexuality identity leads the
adolescent to identify with adults, made or female which may cause problems for many
teenagers (Melgosa, 2002) while ideological identity accounts for another dilemma the
adolescent has to face. Teenagers cannot continue to blindly accept the parent’s or other
influential adults’ ideologies (Melgosa, 2002). It is a search for personal identity. In
regard, some resolve their problems early and others take years to do so.

In this circumstance, failure in the identity search eventually brings role confusion in his
belief, ideas, sexuality and career or vocation.

Intimacy versus Isolation

Another developmental stage involves Intimacy versus Isolation (youth stage). The
adolescent’s role confusion is shaped at this stage. He/she develops the ability to work
toward a specific career accompanied with intimate relationship with friends. This is a
stage of young adulthood where a man and a woman establish an intimate relationship
which leads to mutual trust and healthy development. The failure of adolescents to
establish interpersonal relationships can lead to isolation.

Generativity versus Stagnation

The adulthood stage according to Erikson is associated with Generativity versus

Stagnation of psychosocial crisis and healthy personality. The adults build up new family
and work. They also contribute beyond their immediate families and to society through
hard work as well as through the upbringing of their children and relatives, the adult’s
failure to attain their developmental tasks and goals may lead them to stagnation or
fixation.

Ego Integrity versus Despair

At the old age, adults experience psychosocial crisis in terms of integrity versus despair as

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a result of retirement. The individuals at stage have retired this and accept life as it is and
face his last days and death with dignity. Some of them acquire satisfaction in looking
back upon their live. If the psychosocial crisis of the older individuals is not solved,
dissatisfaction occurs when they are approaching the end of their lives which leads to
despair. Despair according to Erickson (1963) implies the feeling that the time is now
short, too short for the attempt to start another life and to try out alternative roads to
integrity.

COGNITIVE THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. THE COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT VIEW

Basic Concepts in Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development.

Piaget assumes that intelligence is made up of two divisions namely functional invariants
and structure. The functional invariants are of two types known as organization and
adaptation. He further grouped adaptation into two processes namely accommodation and
assimilation. The next word Piaget used is schemas (singular schemata). Piaget believes
that intelligence works through the terms mentioned. Basically organisation and
adaptation are inborn intellectual functions of cognitive structures. Organisation is “the
process by which a child combines existing schema into new and more complex
intellectual structures” or bodies of knowledge (Shaffer, 1985). A schema is a logically
organized pattern of thought or action that one constructs to interpret some aspect of one’s
experiences.

Piaget believes that a child is born with a number of reflection schemata. Piaget (1977)
described three kinds of intellectual or cognitive structures as behavioural schemata,
symbolic schemata and operational schemata. The behaviour schemata are organized
patterns of behaviour that are used to represent and respond to objects and experiences
(Shaffer, 1985, Zanden, 1978, and Gardner, 1978). The symbolic schemata imply that the
child is capable of representing actions mentally to satisfy his/her objectives. The internal
mental symbols (images or verbal codes) are used to help child to represent aspects of
experience.

The operational schemata imply that a child performs on his or her objects of thought

19
through a cognitive operation that include mental activities such as actions implied in
mathematical symbols.

The goal of organisation is to advance the adaptive function. Adaptation is the aspect of
intelligence which organizes the interaction between the individual and environment. It is
a process of adjusting to the demands of the environment. Adaptation also occurs when
the process of assimilation and accommodation are balanced. According to Piaget,
adaptation occurs through two complementary activities of assimilation and
accommodation.

Assimilation is the psychological process by which the child understands the new
information or interprets new experiences in relation to the existing scheme which is
integrated into cognitive structures – assimilation. Piaget believes that as we assimilate
new experiences, we will also accommodate such experiences. Accommodation as
cognitive structure and complement of assimilation is the process of modifying existing
schemas (old schemas) or structures in order to account for new experiences (or new
schemas). Every assimilation of schemata involves an accommodation to that schema
(mental model) or experience. Everyday children are repeatedly assimilating new
schemata and accommodating their cognitive structure to those experiences.

The total process of assimilation and accommodation for maintaining intellectual

balance at all age levels in Piagetian theory of cognitive development is called
equilibration. According to Piaget, cognitive development is marked by altering states of
equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Piagetian Stages of Cognitive or Intellectual Development

Piaget asserts that intelligence unfolds in four distinct stages or periods between early
childhood and adolescence namely:

a. The sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)

b. The preoperational stage (2 to 7 years),

c. The stage of concrete operations (7 to 11 years) and

20
 d. The stage of formal operations (11 years to 21 years)

Sensorimotor Stage

The sensorimotor stage maintained that children are relying on behavioural schemata as
a means of exploring and understanding the environment. Sensorimotor child is
characterized by sense of perception and vocalization. At the preoperational stage, the
child is thinking at a symbolic level but the logical thoughts are not yet, developed.
Piaget divided this stage or period into the pre-conceptual stage or pre-logical stage
which lies between two to four years and the intuitive reasoning stage or the
perceptional operation stage from four to seven years. In our review of this level of pre-
operation thought, we need to understand what Piaget meant by operations. Operations,
in Piaget’s system, are ways of manipulating objects in relation to each other. These
manipulations of objects may be according to size or colour etc. The manipulations of
objects can be concrete operations (Physical manipulation) or formal operations (mental
manipulation). The Pre- conceptual child (2 to about 4) is characterized by egocentric
use of language and heavy dependence on perception in problem solving (Thomas
1992). Here the child’s talk is social communication i.e asking parents to reach a toy he
cannot get or telling mother he wants to go to the toilet etc. The child also increases the
use of symbols with causal relationships and develops conservative concepts. Piaget at
this stage identified logical mathematical experience as another interactive experience
with the physical world.

Pre-Operational Stage

The intuitive period or stage of pre-operational (from age 4 to age 7) is marked by more
social or communicative speech and greater dependence or intuitive thinking rather than
just on perception. This stage marks the movement toward greater decent ration. The
child is able to see more than one factor at a time that influences an event (Piaget, 1969).
The mental activities which are necessary for schooling begin to develop various kinds of
conservation as quantity, length, number etc and by appearance; density and seriate
objects in order and size starting with the smallest to the largest etc.

Concrete Operational Stage

21
The next stage of Piagetian cognitive development is the concrete operational stage (about
7 years to 12 years). The concrete operations stage emphasized the children capability of
performing operations that are directly related to objects. Children can now conserve,
classify, seriate, decentre, accommodate and participate in the most of the things required
of them at school. Piaget noted that one of most significant characteristics of cognitive
activity at the concrete operations stage (Grinder 1978) children’s achievement in number,
mass, weight and so on. Children at this stage increase in knowledge and skills and
decrease in egocentrism or self-centredness.

Formal Operational Stage

Finally the next stage of Piaget’s cognitive development is the formal operations stage
(about age 11 to age 15 plus). This stage according to Jean Piaget is the cognitive
development in adolescents and relationship with other developmental and cultural
phenomena.

The term formal is used by Piaget because adolescence at this level of thinking possesses
the ability to consider the possible, and therefore, is able to reason about the form of an
argument apart from its contents (Manaster, 1977).

The formal operational child will manipulate relations between relations to work with
proportion, correlations and probability. Here the child becomes capable of logical
thinking with abstractions. He /she acquires higher order operations which imply
applying abstract concepts and hypothetical events to his / her problems. Basically the
adolescents can accept assumptions, hypothesis and laws for problem solving.

Manaster emphasized that the adolescent at this stage makes use of the hypothetico –
deductive method of reasoning indicating “formal thought begins with a theoretical
synthesis. This implies that certain relations are necessary and thus proceeds in the
opposite direction.

Biological Determinants of Human Development

The foundation of life starts from conception with the union of a male sex cell.
(Spermatozoon) and ovum, the female sex cell to from zygote (the fertilised ovum) this

22
process is called fertilisation. The sex determination occurs at the time of conception; sex
depends on the type of a male (gamete) sex gamete cell (spermatozoon) that unites with a
female gamete sex cell (ovum). The spermatozoa and ova are alike and carry equal
numbers. They contain chromosomes. Chromosomes are the hereditary materials of life or
genetic materials. The chromosomes carry genes, which determine heredity or inheritance.
The chromosome also determines the sex of the child xx. The mature ovum contains 22
matched chromosomes and one unmatched which may be an x or a y chromosome the x
and y chromosomes are sex determining chromosomes.

For example, we have the following offspring from two

parents (Bok and Musa).

1 Human beings normally passes 46 chromosomes, 22 pair are similar in size and
shape in men and women. The 23rd pair, is the sex chromosome in males.

2 Women have two chromosomes (xx) and men have an x and y chromosome (xy).
Provided that if the spermatozoon with x chromosome unites with ovum (egg)

Prenatal Development

The prenatal period begins as conception and lasts as birth with approximately “270 to
280 days” in length or nine calendar months (Hurlock, 1978).

The whole process of prenatal development involves three main stages viz.

i) The period of the zygote development (the germinal period)

ii) The period of the Embryo development (the embryonic

period) and

iii) The period of the fetus (the fetal period)

Stages of Prenatal Development

The Zygotic Period (the Germinal Period)

This zygotic period extends from fertilization to the end of the second week. The zygotic

23
period is characterized by the growth of the zygote with an initial linkage between the
zygote and the support system of the mother. This is the period of rapid growth as a
result of increase in cells. The zygote is unplanted in the uterine wall after fertilization.

Embryonic Period

The embryonic period lasts from the end of the second week to the end of the eight
weeks. The period is characterized by rapid growth as the developing organism emerges
as recognized human fetus. It also established the placental relationship with the mother.

Furthermore, during this period, the main organs like the arms, legs and the internal
organs like the kidney, liver, lungs etc. the face, mouth, ears start to be defined better in
the 8th and 9th weeks, a recognizable human body ensued.

The period of the embryo is therefore a period of rapid development of the nervous
system. The embryo is attached to the wall of the uterus by means of the placenta,
which functions as a roof, which permits the entry of food materials, oxygen and
hormones and removal of carbon dioxide and metabolic wastes. The cephalocandial and
proximodistal development occur at this period.

Foetal or Fetal Period

The fetal period is the final stage in prenatal life which beings with the ninth weeks and
ends with birth. This implies that the growing organism is called the foetus. During this
period the differentiation of these major organs continues, and the organs themselves
become capable of assuming their specialized functions (Arey, 1974). At the eighth week,
the internal and external organs developed and the organism now resembles a human
being.

Factors Affecting Prenatal Development

Some identifiable factors affecting the child especially of the prenatal development from
fertilization to birth according to Akinboye et al (1982) include;

- Malnutrition and age of mother; drug usage, maternal illness, effect of Rh

and other blood factors, maternal emotional state etc. The maternal nutrition

24
 should be of high quality for the survival of the pregnant mother because the
foetus depends directly on its mother for food supply through the placenta and
umbilical cord. Equally the mother’s emotional state changes
from one pregnancy to another which depends in the age of the mother.

In addition, the Rhesus factor (Rh factor) is one of the causes of the mental subnormility
as a result of incompatibility of mother’s is blood (rhesus negative) and her foetus is
periodic. This incompatibility of blood may lead to damage of its blood, or brain etc.

NEONATAL DEVELOPMENT

Neonate development or infancy is a period of postnatal. An infant is a child in the

first period of life from zero to two to three years. It is the shortest period of all
developmental stages or periods. The infant or the period of the neonate occurs from the
cutting of the umbilical cord to the end of the second week of postnatal life. An infant is a
child that must adjust to the new environment outside the mother’s body. Growth is still
very rapid during this period.

Characteristics of Neonate Development

This stage is characterized by rapid growth and development. The survival of the child
depends on physiological, social, psychological, digestive and physical adjustments that
must be made at this stage of development. Physiologically, the child’s survival depends
on the adjustment of outside the womb body in terms of breathing in and breathing out
of oxygen. Psychologically the result of complaints during birth is completed when the
infant beings to show signs of development progress in behavior (Hurlock,1972); the
digestive adjustment of the child boarders on proper feeding and elimination of
excretory waste products in order to determine the amount of sleep and comfort of the
child. This feeding, sleeping and crying are process of adjustment of the child which
determines developmental changes in size, weight and structure of the infant.

This stage is also characterized by stoppage or half in growth and developmental

environment. This is a period of plateau in development.

Physical and Motor Development

25
In this unit, we have learnt that physiological changes that occur between conception
and prenatal life. The infant growth and development follow two patterns basically
cephalocandal and proximodistal principle. After birth, there are manifestations of
physical and motor development.

Physical development refers to developmental changes in size, height, weight and

strength of various parts of the body. It is also depends on the ability of the infant to
control and coordinate the movements of the head, trunk and leg muscles. Motor
development is closely related. The infant’s is physical growth takes place in generally
orderly fashion with predictable changes occurring at different age levels. The motor
development follows the cephalocandal law. The infant’s motor development depends
upon the overall physical growth.

Precisely, the levels of skeletal and muscular development enable the infant to craw,
walk, climb and grip objects. The infant also gain mastery over his head followed by
his trunk and leg muscles. The infant’s development of manual skills proceeds through
the proximodistal law. Not all body system grow at the same rate, for example, the
skeletal and internal organ system show growth spurts, one in entry infancy and the
other at adolescence. Infancy and adolescence are marked acceleration of growth called
the infant growth spurt or the adolescence growth spurt. Apart from physical and motor
development in infant experiences perceptual development. The infant experiences a
pattern sequence of changes the focusing and organizing visual events.

THE CONCEPT AND NATURE OF CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Childhood starts after infancy at the age approximately two years and extends to the age
of five or six years. Childhood is divided into three separated periods namely early,
middle and late childhood. Early childhood falls within the age bracket of 2 to 5 years.
The middle childhood extends from approximately 6 years to 8 years and late childhood
extends from approximately 9 years to 11 years plus. Some psychologists talk about
early childhood or baby hood and vice versa while others omitted it completely. In this
case childhood is divided into early and late childhood. In this unit, therefore we shall
follow the three sub-stages of childhood. These sub-stages of childhood extend from 2 to
11 years and this age cohort covers pre-primary education to primary education

26
according to Nigerian National Policy on Education currently revised in 2004. Often,
this happens when the child beings junior secondary school (9 to 11 years) based on
socioeconomic status and educational attainment of some parents. However, adequate
attention should be paid to these categories of childhood. Since nursery and primary
education are the bedrock of the educational system.

Early Childhood

Early childhood is the first stage of childhood development. It extends from 2 years to 5
years or approximately 6 years. Whereas the infancy falls within the Piaget’s sensori
motor period of intellectual development where the infant learns and develops motor
skill by manipulating objects around him. The early childhood extends to piagetian
second stage of intellectual development from two to 7 years called pre-operational
when the child begins to acquire vocabulary and he can use the language within his
environment completely, play and skip about.

Physically, the early childhood is most rapid in growth as that experienced in infancy.
There are qualitative changes in size, height and body proportions of changes in
proportion are also an adult apparent in cognitive development. The child is self-
centered and concerned with objects of play or trip. But he becomes interested in other
children.

At this stage, improvement is made in the aspect of perceptual development. In this

regard the child develops a variety of motor skills because he enjoys the repetition of
learning skills such as self- feeding, playing, jumping and so on. The child develops
perception of size, shape, colour and time etc.

In terms of language development, the enabling environment and early childhood training
help the development of vocabulary.

Psychologists conducted some studies and concluded that there is positive correlation
between intelligence and language development. Mentally, the child develops rapidly, in
terms of acquisition of new experiences. The child is inquisitive and reflects this through

27
questioning about this environment. Since he is in primary school at the age of 6 he is able
to use symbols in language, play and problem solving.

Socially, the child learns to cooperate with his friends and others. On shared interests
especially in playing, simple stories etc

Emotionally, early childhood provides personal and social adjustment of the child. The
emotional expression in early childhood are intense.

At this stage, Hurlock identified certain social expectations for every stage of
development namely, childhood, adolescent-hood and adult- hood called development
tasks.

Development Tasks

In unit 2, we have identified the various stages of common development as infancy,

childhood, adolescent-hood and adulthood. Each stage has certain tasks to acquire for
later development. In every culture, for example, individuals are expected to master
certain saleable skills and acquire approval patterns of behavior. Failure to acquire these
developmental changes and patterns of behaviour acquired at various ages during the life
span may result in unacceptability in the society. These skills and patterns acquired are
what Hurlock called social expectations for every stage of development. The social
expectations according to Havighurst are Developmental tasks. According to Havighurst,
development task is a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the
individual, successful achievement of which leads to happiness and to success with later
tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness and difficulty with later tasks.” This implies that
an individual must acquire an acceptable degree of competency in learning skills and
behavior as expected of his age, sex and after circumstantial situation. Again failure to
achieve saleable skills and expected behavior in each stage of human development will
difficult, in lead to the next stage. The mastery of developmental tasks may be affected by
malnutrition, health, state-of- poor socioeconomic status of parents, low intelligence, etc.

Developmental Tasks in Infancy and Early Childhood

You have known the meaning or definition of development al tasks which that should be

28
mastered during each stage of life from infancy to old age. It is interesting to let us
identify the developmental tasks that are associated with infancy and early childhood at
the age bracket of zero to 5years plus. The age falls into pre- primary school period.
The developmental tasks of infancy and early childhood are adopted from Havighurst.
These tasks include learning to be mobile; communicate by the use of language of
immediate environment; take solid foods; and control and eliminate body wastes. In
addition, the child learns to differentiate a boy from a girl (sex differences), achieving
physiological stability; learning to distinguish right from wrong and developing
conscience (through teaching of moral and tradition) forming simple concepts of social
and physical realities such as parents (mother and father), other realities, etc. Learning to
relate oneself emotionally to parents, siblings and other people are all crucial in speech
as a result of being an only child or a result of deficiency in the use of words. The
parents and teachers are influential factors to the achievement of the tasks. The influence
of the home begins before birth and through out life.

Middle Childhood

In sub-unit 3.1, we learnt early childhood stage of human development is the

foundation in the early years, which eventually determine what the child’s adjustment to
life will be. Each child develops at his own rate and pattern. It is characterized by traits
associated with the period.

The middle childhood lies between six and eight years. According to National Policy on
Education, the child is supposed to be in primary school after attending pre- primary
school if he has access to it. The child leaves his home to formal schooling in primary
school and if the child is progressing very well, he is supposed to be in primary school.
The middle childhood is characterized by Piaget’s concrete operational stage. During
this stage the child prefers concrete objects. The child is more sociable and full of
activities and likes learning by doing. He likes to play games with his peers. It is an age
of competition and rivalry.

Physically, the period of middle childhood is characterized by body coordination and

movements. The increased in physical coordination enables him to be vigorously involved
in activities.

29
Morally, the child looks at his parents and his teachers as models of morality.

Socially, the child plays with peers and mates. Peers do influence the behavior of young
children through modeling or imitation. Parents and relatives as well as teachers play
important roles in the social development of the child.

Emotionally, in the period of middle childhood, the child becomes more emotional in
terms of expression of happiness, anxiety, sadness; affection and love, among parents,
teachers and other people are even their peers and mates. Both parents and teachers should
understand that anxiety and fear affect the behavior of children at these stages.
Psychologists believe that anxiety and fear affect intellectual performance of the child.
The child should study in an anxiety and fear- free environment.

Mentally, this is a period of discovery Piaget observed that children at this stage are able
to learn the operations of subs traction, addition, Multiplication of numbers that involves
logical thinking as basis to classify objects and events and understand how they are
related while in primary school. They are able to solve simple problems that involve mass,
weight, number, length, area and quantity.

Developmental Tasks of Middle Childhood

You have learnt the meaning of the concept- developmental task in unit

3.1. In this respect, developmental tasks of middle childhood like any other period of
human development demands the social expectations of a child at home, community and
school which the child must accomplish in order to cope with the stage of development
successfully. The developmental tasks of middle childhood and late childhood are treated
the same in this module.

The Period of Late Childhood

Psychologists regard this period as the “gang age, “the age of conformity” or “the age of
creativity” because group activities play important roles in the child’s life. In the view of
Hurlock, late childhood is called the going age because older children are interested in

30
activities with their peers and want to belong to a gang, which expects them to conform to
the patterns of behavior and to the values and interest of its members. This period or
stage falls within the age bracket of 6 to 11 years.

According to the National Policy on Education (2004), the child leaves the home and
nursery school and Primary school. Today some of them may enter junior secondary
school that is ages 10 to 11 years. The period involves operational stages of Piaget’s
cognitive development especially in the sub-stage or intuitive stage (4 to 7 years) and
concrete operations (8 to 11 yeas). Basically the child is involved in intuitive thinking as
such he can handle numbers of various reactions to each other and arrange objects
orderly. This period is marked by more social or communicative speech and greater
dependence on intuitive thinking rather then just on perception (Thomas 1992).
Personality development and socialization are essential at this age and their
experiences are tied to their immediate environment. At this stage, the child also
develops moral standards of their group. He accepts the group activities as he prepares
himself to the next stage.

Let us find out the developmental tasks of middle childhood and late childhood. The
children fall within the age cohort of 6 to 11 years. They should acquire social,
schooling and play skills in the primary school etc.

Some of the developmental tasks to develop these skills are identified by Havighurst as:

i) Learning physical skill or motor skill for ordinary games. This implies that some
of the skills are acquired by children through interaction with their peers. The
parents and teachers should enable them develop these motor skills through
proper coordination, supervision and teaching.

ii) Building a wholesome attitude toward oneself as a growing organism. In this

respect, children should be trained in the areas of sanitation, and health habits.

iii) Learning to get along with age- mates. Sociometrically, children should be taught
to maintain good relationship with their peers and age- mates.

iv) Beginning to develop appropriate Masculine or femine social roles;

31
v) Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating.

vi) Developing a conscience, a sense of morality and a scale of values. For example,
children should be exposed to good family up bringing and religious and moral
instructions especially in primary school.

vii) Developing attitudes toward social groups and constitutions- children should be
encouraged to obey rules and regulations; of their school etc. they should be
taught to respect one another in their everyday living.

ix) Achieving personal independence: children should be encouraged to work

independently with their school activities, and develop self skills.

ADOLESCENCE STAGE

Nature and Concept of Adolescence

Psychologists, guidance counselors and educators have given various definitions of

adolescence from time to time in terms of physical, mental, social and emotional
maturity. Some psychologists define adolescence as a transition period between childhood
and adulthood. Lewin (1968) has held the view that the adolescent is really in a “no man’s
land”. He is neither a child nor an adult but is caught in a field of overlapping forces and
expectations between the field of childhood and field of the adult. It is some-times
referred as the period of teenage. This stage of development varies in length from family
to family; from one socio-economic level to another, and from culture to culture. It
includes the period of mental, emotional and social maturity, legal maturity as well as
physical maturity. Some psychologists maintained that chronologically adolescence lies
roughly between ages of 12 and 18 years. The psychologist Jersild defined adolescence as
that span of years during which boys and girls move from childhood to adulthood. This
movement has mental, social and physical implications on the adolescents.

This period experienced a spurt in physical growth, changes in holding proportions and
the maturing of primary and secondary sex characteristics. Zanden (1978) called this
period, adolescent growth spurt when the adolescent experiences a very rapid increase
in height and weight. The growth spurt typically occurs at about the age of twelve in girls

32
and fourteen in boys. It is known as pre-adolescence or pubescence. The pre-adolescent
growth spurt is followed by a period of speedy growth known as puberty. This period
expand rapid increase in the size of the genital organs and the individual attains sexual
maturity. Puberty is attained between 13 and 14 years of age. However, puberty (the
beginning of sexual maturity) occurs from the first menstrual period (i.e. the menarche) in
girls and the appearance of pubic hair in boys. During puberty, male hormones (androgen)
in boys are increased in production, and female hormones (estrogen) in girls. Puberty
stage varies from culture to culture and both boys and girls develop at different rates.
Some are earlier maturers; others are late developers which have implication in the
development of all round efficiency. In Nigeria the period of adolescence is regarded as
between 11 and 18 years.

The adolescence period is divided into early adolescence and late adolescence. The early
adolescence is usually referred as the period of teenage which extends from 13 to 16 plus,
while late adolescence covers the period until 18, the age of legal maturity. In Nigeria, at
the age of 18, individuals are eligible to vote.

Characteristics of Adolescence

Adolescence is regarded as a period of “storm and stress”. It falls on the Piaget’s formal
operational stage of cognitive or intellectual development. Jean Piaget calls adolescence
the period of formal operations. Its hallmarks according to Zanden are logical and
abstract reasoning. Adolescence produces its own form of egocentrism.

Adolescence therefore is characterized:

i) as a period of search for identity which affects his behavious in term of

clarifications. He imagines where he belongs as he is neither a child nor an adult.
He wants to identify himself because he has reached the period of sexual maturity
and that of heightened emotionality.

ii) as a period of problem age because many of them cannot cope with this
problems. More so, adolescents want independence in order to have the right of
coping with their problems, while they may fall into conflict with their parents,
teachers etc.

33
iii) as review of rapid changes in the areas of physiological, emotional and physical
development especially during early adolescence. There are also changes: in sex
roles and demands independence among boys and girls.

The home, school, church, and society, and other agencies of education can help
the adolescents to adjust to their responsibilities.

For instance in schools, teachers should help them to adjust their social
expectations and make up their educational, career and social concerns.

Developmental Tasks

In Unit 2 we have defined developmental task. The concept of developmental tasks as

earlier stated was developed by Havighurst. He proposed the developmental tasks for
American adolescents which was adapted for Nigerian adolescents. He points out that
any developmental task becomes appropriate for an individual at every stage of human
development (Childhood, Adolescent hood and Adulthood). The basic characteristics
necessary for developmental task for an individual are physical maturation, societal
expectations and attitudes, psychological competence, personal values and aspiration. In
this connection, Havighurst defined developmental task as:

“A task which rises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful
achievement of which leads to his happiness and success with later task in the society
and difficulty with later tasks”. Psychologically, developmental tasks of adolescent will
help them to become integrated into the society. The developmental task of adolescents
was developed from foreign culture, but it can be adopted in our cultural and socio-
economic conditions of Nigerian setting with certain modifications. The ten
developmental tasks of adolescent as indicated by Harvighurst are:

i). Achieving new and more mature relation with age mate of both sexes – the
adolescent is expected to maintain a cordial relationship with his age group.

ii). Achieving a masculine or terminate role – An adolescent is expected to exhibit

sex - roles

ii) Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively – An Adolescent worry
34
 a lot about his physical appearance in term of size, height and weight

iii) Achieving assurance of economic independent – The Adolescent needs to acquire

vocational skills to become economically independence

iv) Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults - should be able to
control their aggressive tendency through learning.

v) Selecting or preparing for an occupation – Adolescents are expected to choose

their career based on certain factors that influence them. There is the need for
career counseling.

vi) Preparing for marriage and family life – maintaining a friend relationship may
lead them to marriage life.

viii. Developing intellectual skills and concepts for necessary civic competency – they
also expected to develop their intellectual skills in readiness for secondary
schools and higher institution

ix) Desiring and achieving socially responsible behaviour and - adolescents are
expected to identify accepted behaviour

x) Acquiring a set of values as a guide to behaviour – Adolescents should address

the societal form and standard accepted through exhibiting proper behaviour

Mastering the developmental tasks is not easy. Adolescents need much to develop
necessary sustainable skills to be useful adults in the social

- Adolescents exhibit social, l and recreational interests

- Pay attention to members of opposite sex

- Adolescents like to form peer groups and move in gangs

- They want to be noticed and recognized

- The two emotional characteristics of adolescents are:

35
- Adolescents exhibit heightened emotional tension (because of the acute
emotional disturbances of this period that some psychologists/educators called
adolescence a period of “storm and stress”)

- They may be isolated or rejected within their peer groups/ gangs.

- They are moody and not predictable

- They share ideas

The two mental characteristics of Adolescents are:

- Ability to carry out formal operations i.e. ability to carryout

logical and abstract reasoning

- Ability to solve more difficult problems

- Ability to formulate hypothetical issues

- Increase in the level of vocabulary and use of imagination

- Improvement of attention span and

- Ability of generalize facts and make decisions

The problem of adolescents will eventually show whether developmental tasks are
achieved or not. The failure to achieve these tasks results to certain problems in the life
of adolescents.

Some psychologist’s believe that adolescence period is associated with the theories like
Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development which she calls adolescence the period of
formal operations, which is the hallmark of logical and abstract reasoning or thought.
Piaget (1967) says that adolescence produces its characteristic form of egocentrism. Erik
Erickson maintains that the main task of adolescence is to build and sustain a reasonably
stable identity.

3.4 Problems of Adolescents

36
 In the study of adolescence period, we have defined and stated the needs of adolescence.
Further, we have outlined the characteristics and developmental tasks of adolescents. In
this unit we are going to outline and explain the problems of adolescence and suggest
various ways of solving these problems.

The developmental tasks of adolescence refer to the problems that they typically face at
this period of their life development. Adolescence is regarded as a period of transition
from childhood which images many developmental changes. According to Hall (1968)
adolescence is the period of strain and stress fraught with many described as problems.
Some psychologists identified the problem of adolescence as a result of cultural
conditions/ child-rearing practices. But there are some relevant cultural skills that should
be acquired by adolescents.

Majority of the adolescents’ problems arise actually when their developmental tasks are
not fulfilled. Apart from the problems of maturation in terms of early and late maturers.
Maturing earlier than age-mates constitute a problem that affects their physical
appearance either positively or negatively which may serve as embarrassment to both
sexes. The consequence of early-and-late maturer’s view of physical, social and general
appearance can be noticed.

ADULTHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Adulthood Period of Human Development

Adulthood is the longest period of the life span which according to Hurlock (1980) is
subdivided into three periods: early adulthood (approximately 40 years); middle
adulthood or middle age (approximately 40 to approximately 60 years); and late
adulthood or “Old age (approximately 60 years to death). People’s definitions of early,
middle and late adulthood also vary depending upon their current age.

Adult implies grown to full size and strength or matured. Today, legally, adulthood has
reached at the age of eighteen or twenty-one when an individual has the right to vote in
the political dispensation. Adulthood as the longest life span experienced certain
predictable physical and psychological changes accompanied by the beginning of the loss
of reproductive capacity or decline which speeds up at old age.

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Three sets of developmental tasks that must be coped with during
adulthood, namely:

i) To build, modify and enhance the life structure within the periods of each era
depicted as early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adult transition and late
adulthood.

ii) Forming and modifying single components of the life

structure. According to Levinson, the components include:

- Forming and modifying a dream, creating a structure in which

the dream can be lived out and attaining goals to fulfill the
dream;

- Forming and modifying an occupation

- Forming love - marriage and family relationships

- Forming mutual relationships (e.g. friendships are rare;

amicable relationships are more likely)

iii) The tasks associated with becoming an individual involves reintegrating basic
polarities of young-old etc.

Early Adulthood Period

Early adulthood is a period of adjustment to new pattern of life characterized by

“reproductive age, problem age, and settling down age” (Hurlock, 1968). It is also a
period of emotional tension (like adolescence period with heightened emotionality),
creative age and commitments. Early adulthood period also experienced social isolation
as a result of self-centeredness which contributes to loneliness or what Erickson has
referred to as an isolation crisis. During this period, individuals have left the late
adolescence stage to early adulthood with certain social expectations which differs from
culture to culture.

According to Havighurst, the early adulthood developmental tasks are arranged as

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follows:

i) Getting started in an occupation: Adults who are still in exploration stage of

choice of occupation may try to settle done after getting an occupation. Others
who have finished their educational career may get occupations that will suit
their interests and abilities. The occupation is of economic value to adult at these
stages which commit him to adult roles and responsibilities.

ii) Selecting a mate – Immediately an adult settles down with accompanied

occupation, he likes to get married, occupational mobility notwithstanding.

iii) Learning to live with a marriage partner – adults who get married at this
stage, decide to learn to live with each other for proper adjustments of home.

iv) Starting a family – Adults will eventually learn to start and maintain family.

v) Maintaining a home with arrival of children. Adults would like to manage a home
in its ramifications.

vi) Tasking a civic responsibility – Adults should take certain civic responsibilities
in communities and society.

vii) Finding a congenial social group – Adults should belong to social groups of
interest that will not constitute a hindrance to his roles, accessibility of social
groups will enable him to interact and be able to know the world around him so
that individuals will not continue to lag behind among members of their groups.

Hazards arise when the adults cannot meet up with these tasks. In some cases, they
become inferior and inadequate to function among their social groups. For instance,
adults suffer from prolong age – group influence and unrealistic aspirations. They are
also emotionally disturbed as a result of inadequate personal and social adjustments.

Vocational and family adjustments in early adulthood are prone to problems if

inadequate foundations on which to build their adjustments are not met due to role –
expectations of this period. The major problems in vocational adjustment at this stage
comprise of how to select, prepare and keep a vocation. But successful men and women

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 in terms of vocational adjustment make voluntary changes of jobs and jobs satisfaction.

3.0 Middle Adulthood (Middle Age)

This period generally lies between age forty and age sixty. It is a long period in the life
span and is subdivided into early middle (40 to 50 years) and advanced middle (50 to 60
years). During middle age, physical and physiological changes become more apparent. It
is marked by mental changes especially at sixty years where there is a decline in
physical vigor. In Nigeria, at age sixty many adults experience voluntary or involuntary
retirement as identified by Donald Super in theory of career development.

The middle age is characterized by the time when men undergo a change in virility and
women, a change in fertility. This period also experienced some developmental crisis
in terms of parental expectations from their children or children’s failures to come up to
their expectations. This crisis may come from the death of a spouse. It is also a period
of stressful situation in the home, work and social aspects of their lives, and or general
evaluation of life. The developmental tasks of middle age involved the problems of
adjustment which are difficult to both men and women to attend to.

But most developmental tasks of middle age prepare the individual for successful
adjustment to old age. The developmental tasks of middle age as highlighted by
Havighurst are as follows:

i) Achieving adult civic and social responsibility,

ii) Assisting teenage children to be come responsible and happy adults

iii) Developing adult leisure- time activities;

iv) Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person

v) Accepting and adjusting to the physiological changes of middle age;

vi) Reaching and maintaining satisfactory performance in one’s occupational

career and

vii) Adjusting to aging parents,

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 The developmental tasks of middle age can be summarized as

a. Tasks relating to physical changes – Adults should accept and adjust to physical
changes that occur during the middle age

b. Tasks relating to changed interests – The adults at this stage should develop
interest in adult–oriented leisure time activities in family matters as they assume
civic and social responsibilities

c. Tasks relating to vocational adjustments imply that the middle- aged person
should establish and maintain economic status which will enable him to live
properly and.

d. Tasks relating to family life – The middle – aged person should assist teenage
children around him to become responsible and happy adults. The couples should
also exhibit harmonious relationship among themselves.

3.1 Late Adulthood

Immediately after middle adulthood, the next stage with identical similarities and
structural characteristics is the late adulthood or old age.

In adulthood, the later years is classified into two, namely early old age (age 60 to age
70); and advanced old age (70 to death). The beginning of old age is known as elderly
who occurs after middle age.

Biologically, aging refers to changes that occur in the structure and functionality based
on time frame as humans. It is a continuous process which begins at prenatal and ceases
at death.

Physically, it is a period of decline to an individual’s physical characteristics. Older

people are viewed as physically unattractive and in capable of sexual activity and sickly.

Chronologically, their ages make them to be regarded as elderly deficient in mental

activity and aimless in mind based on ignorance, prejudice and superstition surrounding
aging for generation or an over estimation of the decline in intellectual functioning unit

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that occurs with aging. Contrarily certain professions in Nigeria finally retired at the
ages of 65 and 70 respectively. Aging is also accompanied by various physiological
changes. For instance the old age experienced decline in capacity for physical work and
exercise. There are marked individual differences and variations on certain problems
or adjustment. Majority of them experienced poor personal and social adjustments in the
home, community and society at large.

Psychological, social and physical hazards are prominent at this period. For example,
physical hazards as characteristics of old age are diseases, handicaps, malnutrition,
dental disorders and sexual deprivation etc. Psychological hazards include among
others, feelings of inferiority and inadequacy resulting from physical changes. Physical
helplessness and meeting social obligations are difficult for many of them.

The developmental tasks of old age have been summarized by. Havighurst as:

i) Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health – In this period, individuals

are expected to adjust to weak in strength and health wise

ii) Adjusting to retirement and reduced income – Old people are expected to adjust
to economic pressures such as low income.

iii) Adjusting to death of spouse – Old people find it difficult to adjust in terms of
death of spouse At times the lost of dear one creates emptiness syndrome.

iv) Establishing an explicit affiliation with members of one’s age group – Old people
must adjust to companionship in order to avoid loneliness.

v) Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangements and

vi) Adapting to social roles in a flexible manner - Old people must adjust to his
social roles both in the home and community at large.

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