Educ 201 issues on human development

Issues on

Human

DevelopmentMODULE 3

INTRODUCTION

Each of us has his/her own way of

looking at our own and other people’s

development. These paradigms of human

development while obviously lacking in

scholastic vigor, provide us with a

conceptual framework for understanding

ourselves and others. Scholars have come

up with their own models of human

development. Back up by solid research,

they take stand on issues on human

development.

THREE ISSUES IN

DEVELOPMENT

Nature versus Nurture

Continuity versus

Discontinuity

Stability versus Change

Nature versus Nurture

The degree to which human behavior is

determined by genetics/biology (nature)

or learned through interacting with the

environment (nurture)

http://www.slideshare.net/ruthhewitt125/nature-nurture-powerpoint-

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Nature

Behavior is caused by innate characteristics :The physiological/biological characteristics we are born with.

Behavior is therefore determined by biology.

Also a Determinist view- suggests all behavior is determined by hereditary factors: Inherited characteristics, or genetic make-up we are born with.


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All possible behaviors are said to be

present from conception.

Genes provide the blueprint for all

behaviors; some present from birth,

others pre-programmed to emerge with

age.

Is a developmental approach:

E.g. Piaget: children’s thought processes

change at predetermined age-related

stages changes in age are related to

changes in behavior.


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Nurture

An individuals behavior is determined

by the environment- the things people

teach them, the things they observe,

and because of the different situations

they are in.

Also a determinist view- proposes all

human behavior is the result of

interactions with the environment.


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Nurture Behaviorist theories are nurture theories:

- Behavior is shaped by interactions with the environment.

Born an empty vessel- waiting to be filled up by experiences gained from environmental interaction.

No limit to what they can achieve:

-Depends on quality of external influences and NOT genes.

The quality of the environment is KEY

-You can become anything provided the environment is right.


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Nature Nurture Interaction

Behavior is often a result of the interaction between nature AND nurture.

An individuals characteristics may elicit particular responses in other people e.g. Temprament: how active, responsive or emotional an infant is influences in part determines their caregivers responses. Gender: people tend to react differently to boys and girls due to expectations of masculine and feminine characteristics.

Aggression: Displaying aggressive behavior create particular responses from other people.


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SUPPORTING APPROACHES &

PERSPECTIVE

Supporting Nature Supporting

Nurture

-Physiological - Social (e.g.

Helping Behavior)

- Individual Differences - Behavioral

- Developmental


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Continuity versus DiscontinuityContinuity and discontinuity are two

competing theories in developmental

psychology that attempt to explain how people

change through the course of their lives,

where the continuity theory says that

someone changes throughout their life along a

smooth course while the discontinuity theory

instead contends that people change abruptly.

These changes can be described as a wide

variety of someone's social and behavioral

makeup, like their emotions, traditions, beliefs,

habits, personality and so on.https://www.reference.com/education/continuity-versus-discontinuity-developmental-psychology-

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Furthermore, continuity and discontinuity disagree with one another in how they assess the changes that someone undergoes throughout the course of their life. The continuity theory examines the way someone changes in a quantitative and continuous respect. Discontinuity theory, on the other hand, looks at these changes through the lens of a qualitative analysis with an emphasis on the discontinuous nature of how someone changes.

Developmental psychology encompasses a very wide array of observations related to how people think, behave and interact with their environment as well as other people. This field, at first, was focused on how young children develop but, in recent years, it has expanded past the pediatric setting to encompass studies of how people change throughout the course of their entire lives, up until the point of their death.https://www.reference.com/education/continuity-versus-discontinuity-developmental-psychology-

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Is Child Development continuous or

discontinuous?

Not all psychologists, however, agree that

development is a continuous process.

Some view development as a

discontinuous process. They believe

development involves distinct and separate

stages with different kinds of behavior

occurring in each stage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_stage_theori

es

What is the theory of

development?Developmental stage theories are

theories that divide child development

into distinct stages which are

characterized by qualitative differences

in behaviour. There are a number of

different views about the way in which

psychological and physical

development proceed throughout the

life span.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_stage_theori

es

Stability versus Discontinuity

deals with the issue of whether or not

personality traits present during

present during infancy endure

throughout the lifespan.

The stability-change debate describes the developmental psychology discussion about whether personality traits that are present in an individual at birth remain constant or change throughout the life span.

For example, does a naturally extroverted and talkative baby remain that way for their entire life? The stability vs. change debate is one of the fundamental questions in developmental psychology along with nature vs. nurture. Typically cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are used in research concerning stability vs. change.

http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Stability-

Change%20Debate#ixzz4HV5dL4NQ

Change

Change Theorists- argue that personalities are modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, and acculturation.

Studies of children have often revealed impressive stability over time in aspects of development such as the attachment to their parents or in personality. However, there is evidence which suggests a contrary view, that change is both possible and indeed, is likely under appropriate conditions.

https://prezi.com/nuahqipogaau/stability-vs-

change/

Freud was one of the first psychologist to

emphasize the critical nature of our early

experiences for our later development. He

believed that how we resolve our sexual and

aggressive urges is strongly tied to the

nature of our personality as adults.

Psychoanalysts believe that personality

traits developed in the first 5 years predict

adult personality.

https://prezi.com/nuahqipogaau/stability-vs-

change/

How the First Nine Months

Shape the Rest of Your Life

What makes us the way we are? Why are some people predisposed to be anxious, overweight or asthmatic? How is it that some of us are prone to heart attacks, diabetes or high blood pressure?

There's a list of conventional answers to these questions. We are the way we are because it's in our genes. We turn out the way we do because of our childhood experiences. Or our health and well-being stem from the lifestyle choices we make as adults.

But there's another powerful source of influence you may not have considered: your life as a fetus. The nutrition you received in the womb; the pollutants, drugs and infections you were exposed to during gestation; your mother's health and state of mind while she was pregnant with you — all these factors shaped you as a baby and continue to affect you to this day.

This is the provocative contention of a field known as fetal origins, whose pioneers assert that the nine months of gestation constitute the most consequential period of our lives, permanently influencing the wiring of the brain and the functioning of organs such as the heart, liver and pancreas. In the literature on the subject, which has exploded over the past 10 years, you can find references to the fetal origins of cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergies, asthma, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, mental illness. At the farthest edge of fetal-origins research, scientists are exploring the possibility that intrauterine conditions influence not only our physical health but also our intelligence, temperament, even our sanity.

As a journalist who covers science, I was intrigued when I first heard about fetal origins. But two years ago, when I began to delve more deeply into the field, I had a more personal motivation: I was newly pregnant. If it was true that my actions over the next nine months would affect my offspring for the rest of his life, I needed to know more.

Of course, no woman who is pregnant today

can escape hearing the message that what

she does affects her fetus. She hears it at

doctor's appointments, sees it in the

pregnancy guidebooks: Do eat this, don't drink

that, be vigilant but never stressed. Expectant

mothers could be forgiven for feeling that

pregnancy is just a nine-month slog, full of

guilt and devoid of pleasure, and this research

threatened to add to the burden.

But the scientists I met weren't full of dire warnings but of the excitement of discovery — and the hope that their discoveries would make a positive difference. Research on fetal origins is prompting a revolutionary shift in thinking about where human qualities come from and when they begin to develop. It's turning pregnancy into a scientific frontier: the National Institutes of Health embarked last year on a multidecade study that will examine its subjects before they're born. And it makes the womb a promising target for prevention, raising hopes of conquering public-health scourges like obesity and heart disease through interventions before birth.

Educ 201 issues on human development

Education

Transcript of Educ 201 issues on human development