Block 3
Block 3
Block 3
Developmental Processes
Psychology of Individual
Differences BLOCK 3 DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES
Introduction
The third block of the course consists of three units. The first unit of the block
discusses the nature and principle of human development. The unit discusses the
meaning of development, issues and stages in development of humans, and then
put forward different conception of stages involved in development. It also
explains the importance of critical period in development. The second unit
discusses about stages of development. Human development starts even before
the infant is borned (pre-natal stage). Life span development deals with important
common developmental stages that human beings pass through: birth, infancy,
adolescence, adulthood, old age and finally death. As the humans grow up from
stage to stage they learn to make use of their body parts, learn how to express
themselves and communicate with others, how to form relationship with others,
how to care for others, how to love and how to work. In this unit we will discuss
two prominent theories of human development namely, Sigmund Freud’s theory
of psychosexual development and Erikson’s theory of development.
The third unit comprises of moral and cognitive development. This unit deals
with two major theories of cognitive development namely, Piaget’s cognitive
theory of development and Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development. Then,
the unit also discusses the moral development with the help of Kohlberg’s theory
of moral development.
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Theories of Personality
UNIT 7 NATURE AND PRINCIPLE OF
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT*
Structure
7.0 Introduction
7.1 Objectives
7.2 Human Development
7.2.1 Topical Areas of Human Development
7.3 Definition of Life Span Development
7.4 Factors Influencing Development
7.5 Issues of Human Development
7.6 Periods of Development
7.7 Life-Span Perspective on Development
7.8 Contextual Influence on Development
7.9 Critical Period Hypothesis
7.10 Let Us Sum Up
7.11 Unit End Questions
7.12 Glossary
7.13 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
7.14 References and Suggested Readings
7.15 References for Images
7.0 INTRODUCTION
* Contributed by Dr. Mamta Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Punjabi University,
Patiala & Dr. Arti Singh (IGNOU) (Adapted from BPC-002, Block 1) 101
Developmental Processes would make rapid clicking noises with his tongue. His fingers were turned inward.
He was taken to an old people’s home by care workers, but there, because he
was so aggressive, he was tied with bed sheets to his bed for over 20 years. Now
he is over 40 years old is cared for by Elizabeth Clayton, who rescued him from
the home.
- Source: http://www.technogypsie.com/faerie/?p=2309
Even after getting treatment can care by many psychologists, Sujit kumar is still
not able to talk and walk like other people. Why after so many years staying with
humans Sujit is not able to learn waling and community in human language?
What do you think could be the reason of this failure? According to psychologists
the reason is not able to learn any of the required behaviour within the timeline
of ‘critical period’ of development. But what is critical period of development?
To understand this we need to first understand the concept of development. The
present unit therefore will discuss the meaning of development, issues and stages
in development of humans, and then put forward different conception of stages
involved in development. It also explains the importance of critical period in
development.
7.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
Define and describe human development;
Define life span development;
Identify the human developmental periods;
Explain the key issues involved in human development;
Understand contextual influence on development; and
Describe the importance of critical period.
A point to remember here is that these four domains or areas are not independent
but are overlapping.
Nature vs. Nurture: Whether the behaviour ultimately developed by the child is
due to hereditary factors or environmental factors. This issue is of great importance
to psychologists. The debate over the relative contributions of inheritance and
the environment is one of the oldest issues in both philosophy and psychology.
This debate concerns the relative degree to which heredity and learning affect
the behaviour of the individual. Both genetic traits and environmental
circumstances are involved in an individual’s development, although the amount
of influence the two has is not clearly evident. In fact it may be stated that the
individual and his or her circumstances decide how much of the behaviour is
influenced by heredity factors and how much by environmental factors. Today,
most psychologists believe that it is an interaction between these two forces that
causes development. Some aspects of development are distinctly biological, such
as puberty. However, the onset of puberty can be affected by environmental factors
such as diet and nutrition.
DEVELOPMENT
Life-span perspective, proposed by Paul Baltes (1987) considers development is
the result of multiple factors in different frameworks. Theorists who support the
view of lifespan perspective on development view development as a lifelong
process and give all age period equal importance. Paul Baltes and his colleagues
have identified four underlying principles of the lifespan perspective:
Development is lifelong
Development is multidimensional
Development is multidirectional
Development is highly plastic
Development is influenced by multiple interacting factors
1) Development is Lifelong: This assumption or principle states that all age
period play equally important role in development and no single age period
or developmental stage is supreme in its impact on life course than other.
Therefore, development takes place throughout one’s life instead of taking
place in parts or stages only, proposed by other theorists.
2) Development is Multidimensional: Multidimensionality refers to the fact
that development cannot take place in one dimension rather it is a result of
development in all dimensions (physical, personality, cognitive, and social).
3) Development is Multidirectional: This assumption states that there is no
single and fixed path of development. Development does not mean that there
will always be a growth, rather, at any point of time development may be a
joint expression of growth and decline.
4) Development is Highly Plastic: Plasticity means that we have the ability to
adapt and modify. This means one can develop skills and abilities throughout
one’s life span. Plasticity may vary across individual.
5) Development is influenced by Multiple Interacting Factors: There is no
single factor that can influence developmental trajectory rather there are
multiple interacting factors influencing developmental process. According
to Baltes, three such factors include age-graded influences, history-graded
influences, and non-normative influences.
History-graded influences: The time period in which you are born influence
your experiences. Examples include war, any natural calamity, economic
prosperity or depression or any technological advances (such as introduction of
computers, internet or mobile phones). Due to these history-graded influences
people born and brought-up around same time period carry tend to be alike in
many ways.
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Developmental Processes Non-normative influences: The above discussed influences (age-graded and
history-graded) are normative i.e., shared by a large number of people. Whereas,
there are certain events that can be experienced only by one person or a few
people such as death of parents, divorce or getting affected by some disease.
Fig.7.2: Structure of the environment in ecological systems theory. Please note chronosystem
is not pictured here.
Source: Berk, L. E. (2007)
Mesosystem: This is the second level structure of this model. This level is
comprised of connections between microsystems. For example, how parents of
a child relate to the teachers or how parents treat their child’s friends affect child’s
behaviour.
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Exosystem: It includes those social contexts on which a developing individual Nature and Principle of
Human Development
have no control. Events occurring in this social context can affect mesosystem
and the experiences of developing person such as, parent’s transfer, work schedule,
availability of maternity, paternity leave or availability of hospital.
7.12 GLOSSARY
Life Span Development : The pattern of change that begins at conception
and continues through the life cycle.
Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U. M. (2006). Life span theory in
developmental psychology. In W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of
Child Psychology, 6th edition (pp. 569-664). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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Nature and Principle of
UNIT 8 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT* Human Development
Structure
8.0 Introduction
8.1 Objectives
8.2 Stages of Development
8.2.1 Sigmund Freud’s Theory
8.2.2 Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
8.3 Let Us Sum Up
8.4 Glossary
8.5 Unit End Questions
8.6 Answers to Self Assessment Questions (SAQ)
8.7 References and Suggested Readings
8.8 References for Images
8.0 INTRODUCTION
From the moment the human child is first conceived, to the day the individual
dies, they keep changing constantly and developing. While some of the changes
humans undergo are as a result of chance incidents and personal choices, the
vast majority of life changes and stages the human passes through are due to
certain common biological and psychological factors partly inherited and partly
environmental and are shared by all people.
Life span development deals with important common developmental stages that
human beings pass through: birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, old age and
finally death. As the humans grow up from stage to stage they learn to make use
of their body parts, learn how to express themselves and communicate with others,
how to form relationship with others, how to care for others, how to love and
how to work. In this unit we will discuss two prominent theories of human
development namely, Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and
Erikson’s theory of development.
8.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
Articulate the importance of stage in human development;
Know the Freud’s contribution in understanding developmental process; and
Understand the eight stages of Erik Erikson’s theory of developmental
process.
According to him, our conscious mind is that part which deals with the current
information. That is, all the thoughts, feelings and actions of which you are aware
at the very moment are part of conscious mind. Preconscious mind deals with all
those information for which you are not currently aware but can become only if
you pay attention. The last level of mind is unconscious. This part of mind stores
those socially unacceptable needs, desires, motivations and feelings for which
you are unaware of. According to him, this unconscious part of mind plays vital
role in influencing our actions.
Id: This part of personality operates unconsciously. It deals with basic instincts,
biological needs and aggressive impulses. It is the most primitive part of human
personality present since birth. From id other parts of the personality (ego and
superego) develop. It works on pleasure principle-tendency to avoid pain and
seek pleasure. The aim of the id is to gratify one’s need immediately without
considering the moral values of the society and individual. Eros and Thanatos
are the two driving forces of Id. Eros was the God of love in Greek mythology.
According to Freud, in context of id, Eros is the life force. It is responsible for
our life instinct and survival, which includes sexual desire, reproduction desire
and pain avoidance. The counterpart of Eros is Thanatos-the death force or
instinct. It is responsible for violence, aggression and hate like negative feelings.
The aim of Thanatos is to balance the drive of Eros by driving us towards death
and destruction. When personality is dominated by id, then individual tend to
become more impulsive, such people will do what they want irrespective time,
place and situation, just like a kid.
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Ego: Suppose a 10-year-old child wants to eat a scoop of ice-cream kept in the Stages of Development
refrigerator. But he knows that eating ice-cream without seeking permission from
parents will be punished. The part of the personality responsible for this reality
check is known as Ego. So, ego works on reality principle-delaying id’s
gratification need will be delayed until an appropriate and more realistic situation
is not found. This part of personality emerges from id and its main objective is to
strike a balance between id’s impulsive needs and reality of this world. It is the
decision making component of our psyche and works on logic only. In the words
of Freud, “ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence
of the external world” (Freud, 1923). If ego would not be able to resolve the
conflict between impulsive demands of the id and realistic demands of this world,
then it would lead to the development of anxiety and stress. To ward off this
anxiety, individual will be motivated to use unconscious defense mechanisms
(we will talk about this in later section).
Superego: It is the moral master or moral guru of our personality. Let us continue
the same example referred in the last section. Whether that 10-year-old kid will
ask permission from his parents or not for eating a scoop of ice-cream depends
on the development of his superego. Since, seeking permission is morally correct
behaviour; it will indicate the presence of superego in the child. Role of the
superego is to internalise the moral and ethical value of the society through the
process of socialisation. It controls the impulsive urges of the id and pursue ego
to choose morally appropriate behaviour instead of only realistic behaviour. This
part of our psyche develops between the ages of three to five years. Further,
according Freud, our superego consists of two systems: (i) conscience and (ii)
ideal self. The conscience’s role is to punish or reward ego, through the feeling
of pride or guilt, depending on its behaviour. For example, if ego gives in id’s
demand and breaks the moral code of conduct, superego will make you feel
guilty about your behaviour. The second system, the ideal self-idealised picture
of your own self, also do the job of making you feel guilty or pride, depending
on your behaviour.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Structural-Iceberg.svg
During this stage a child start exerting his assertive abilities. He learns to
take initiatives- “a positive response to the world’s challenges, taking on
responsibilities, feeling purposeful and learning new skills” (Tandon, 2002).
Play is central to this stage. It gives a child to take initiative and have a
control over his or her surroundings. If parents encourage and support
children’s activities and imagination, then it will make child confident of
his abilities. This will help the child in leading others in future and taking
decision on its own. On the other hand, if the child’s initiative is criticised
and controlled by parents then it will develop a sense of guilt. Success in
this stage will lead to the virtue of purpose.
Source: Chart adapted from Erikson’s 1959 Identity and the Life Cycle: Psychological Issues
vol.1, #1)
8.4 GLOSSARY
Id : That part of personality which operates
unconsciously. It deals with basic instincts,
biological needs and aggressive impulses
Pleasure Principle : Tendency to avoid pain and seek pleasure.
Projection : Assigning our own undesirable qualities to others
in exaggerated amounts
Oedipus complex : It involves sexual feeling of male child towards
his mother, feeling of rivalry for the father, as well
as a threat of getting punished by the father for
having a desire for mother.
Electra complex : It is the counterpart of Oedipus complex. It is
experienced by female child. It involves the sexual
attraction for father, feeling of rivalry for mother
and a threat of getting punished by the mother for
having this feeling towards father.
Epigenetic principle : This principle states that our personality develops
through a predetermined order i.e., one stage after
another only.
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Developmental Processes
8.6 ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT
QUESTIONS (SAQ)
Self Assessment Questions I
1) False
2) True
3) False
4) True
5) True
9.0 INTRODUCTION
In laymen’s language, cognition refers to your knowledge about the world.
Whereas, cognitive processes are those mental processes through which we
acquire information about the world around us. Thus, cognitive development
refers to a child’s development in terms of information processing, conceptual
resources, perceptual skill, language learning etc. This unit deals with two major
theories of cognitive development namely, Piaget’s cognitive theory of
development and Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development. Then, the unit
also discusses the moral development with the help of Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development.
9.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
Explain the concept of cognitive development;
Describe the Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development;
Elucidate the Vygotsky’s contribution in cognitive development; and
Explicate the Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.
Stage I: Sensory motor stage: The first stage is the sensorimotor stage which
lasts from birth to about two years old. The infant uses his or her senses and
motor abilities to understand the world, beginning with reflexes and ending with
complex combinations of sensorimotor skills. This stage can be divided into six
separate sub-stages as given below.
i) Reflexes (0-1 month): The child understands the environment purely through
inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking.
ii) Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months): Between one and four months,
the child works on an action of his own which serves as a stimulus to which
it responds with the same action, and around and around we go.
iii) Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months): The child becomes more focused
on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger
a response in the environment.
iv) Coordination of Secondary Reactions (8-12 months): Develop certain focuses
on the demand object. Responses become more coordinate and complex.
v) Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-24 months): Children begin a period of trial-
and-error experimentation during this sub-stage.
vi) Early Representational Thought: Children begin to develop symbols to
represent events or objects in the world in the final sensory motor sub-stage.
Stage II- Preoperational stage: The preoperational stage lasts from about two
to about seven years old. Now that the child has mental representations and is
able to pretend, it is a short step to the use of symbols. Language development is
one of the hallmarks of this period. Piaget noted that children are unable to take
the point of view of other people, which he termed egocentrism. Egocentrism is
when children experience difficulty in experiencing other person’s perspective.
Stage III- Concrete operations stage: The concrete operational stage begins
124 around age seven and continues until approximately age twelve. During this
time, children gain a better understanding of mental operations. They begin Cognitive and Moral
Development
thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract
or hypothetical concepts.
Logic
Piaget stated that children in the concrete operational stage were fairly good at
the use of inductive logic. Inductive logic involves going from a specific
experience to a general principle.
Conservation
It refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance.
If you show a child four marbles in a row, then spread them out, the preoperational
child will focus on the spread, and tend to believe that there are now more marbles
than before. The concrete operations child, on the other hand, will know that
there are still four marbles.
Reversibility
By seven or eight years of age, children develop conservation of substance: If a
ball of clay is taken and roll it into a long thin rod, or even split it into ten little
pieces, the child knows that there is still the same amount of clay. And he will
know that, if you rolled it all back into a single ball, it would look quite the same
as it did — a feature known as reversibility. In addition, a child also learns
classification and seriation during this stage.
Stage IV- Formal operational stage: The formal operational stage begins at
approximately age twelve to and lasts into adulthood. During this time, people
develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, deductive reasoning, and
systematic planning.
Logic
Piaget believed that deductive logic becomes important during the formal
operational stage and this requires the ability to use a general principle to
determine a specific outcome. This type of thinking involves hypothetical
situations and is often required in science and mathematics.
Abstract Thinking
The ability to think about abstract concepts emerges during this stage. Instead of
relying solely on previous experiences, children begin to consider possible
outcomes and consequences of actions.
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Developmental Processes Key Principles:
Society and culture of the children plays a vital role in the development of
their cognition.
Sign system or the language of the society works as a tool in gaining
knowledge.
Inputs from others and especially from more knowledgeable people and
adults have the capacity to affect the development of cognition.
Central Concepts
More Knowledgeable Others (MKO): He defined intelligence as “the capacity
to learn from instruction”. According to him, these are those people, who are
more knowledgeable and have better expertise in a particular domain. These
MKO can help in improving the skill of the children. MKO need not to be a
person in all instances. Sometimes, MKO can be computers also.
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Developmental Processes Stage V (Social Contract and Individual Rights) – In this stage, individual or
child understands that different people and community may hold different views
and laws. Laws of the society are not rigid edicts and should be change with the
change in the time and need of the society.
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Cognitive and Moral
9.6 GLOSSARY Development
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