Human Growth Ch2

Human development is the study of processes of change and stability throughout the life span

• Physical – growth of body, sensory capabilities, motor skills, health
• Cognitive– mental ability, learning, attention, memory, language
• Psychosocial–emotions, personality, social relationships

concept or practice that may appear natural but is an invention of a particular culture or society

• a society or groups total way of life – all learned behaviors
• passed on from parents to children - customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language

1. Development is lifelong
   
   






2. Development is multidimensional –biological & social develop at different rates
   
   






3. Development is multidirectional – gain in one area, loose in another (adults)
   
   






4. Relative influence of biology and culture shift over the lifespan – biological abilities weaken with age but cultural ability (education, relationships) grows
   
   






• Development involves changing resource
• allocations – childhood resources go to growth – old age to regulation of loss







5. Development shows plasticity –abilities can be increased with training and practice
   
   






6. Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context – the time and place we live

set of logically related concepts that seek to describe and explain development and predict what kinds of behavior might occur in different conditions – organize and explain data

possible explanation for phenomena – used to predict outcomes of research

• 1. Psychoanalytical
• 2. Learning
• 3. Cognitive
• 4. Contextual
• 5. Evolutionary

• Freud phychosexual – behavior controlled my unconscious urges – reactive

• Erikson phychosocial – personality is influenced by society –

• develops through crises – Active

Behaviorism (traditional learning theory)(Pavlov, skinner, Watson) – people are responders –reactive

Social Learning – children learn in social context by watching others – Active and reactive

• Piaget congnitive stage – changes in thought occur between infancy and adolescence – children are active initiators of development – active
• Vygotsky sociocultural – social interaction is central to cognitive development – active

Information-processing – human beings are processers of symbols – active

Bronfenbrenners bioecological – development is interaction between developing person and surroundings – from Microsystems to chronosystems

Bowlby attachment theory – Humans have adaptive mechanism to survive – critical and sensitive period of development – evolutionary and biological bases for behavior – predisposition toward learning

• Qualitative research – measurable data
• Quantitative research – nonnumeric al data

• 2. Identifying a problem

• Hypothesis
• Collect data
• Analyze data
• Tentative conclusions
• Disseminating findings