CHAPTER 2 | HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: MEANING, CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES

The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

a. understand the aspects of human development.

b. determine the approaches of human development
c. understand the principles of human development.
d. determine the periods of development.

Human Development

the pattern of movement or change that begins at

conception and continues through the life span of a person.
the scientific of the quantitative and qualitative ways
by which people change over time.
Quantitative change – are changes in the number or
amount of something, such as height, or weight, or size of
vocabulary
Qualitative change – refers to the increase in skills and
complexity of function resulting in increased specialization.

Aspects of Human Development

Human Development is very complex because growth and change occur in different
aspects of the self. These different aspects of life are intertwined.
1.) Physical Development
➢ Changes in the body, brain, sensory, capacities, and
motor skills.
➢ Exert major influence on both intellect and personality.

2.) Intellectual Development

➢ Changes in a wide variety of mental abilities such as
learning, memory, reasoning, thinking and facility with
language; related to both motor and the emotional
aspect of development.

|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 1

 3.) Personality and Social Development
➢ Personality is the unique way in which
each person deals with the world,
expresses emotions and gets along with
other individuals.
➢ Social development is that which
affects birth the physical and cognitive
aspects of functioning.

4.) Moral Development

➢ aware of what is right or what is wrong; to unfold standards or habits that have to
do with right or wrong conduct.
5.) Spiritual Development
➢ An evolved refinement of though and feeling of the spirit or soul as distinguished
from the body or material matters.
➢ A consciousness; of religion or the church.

Two Approaches to Human Development

If you believe that 2 people will show extensive change from birth to adolescence, little
or no change in adulthood and decline in late old age, your approach to development
is TRADITIONAL. In contrast, if you believe that even in adulthood development
change takes place as it does during childhood, your approach is TERMED LIFE-SPAN
APPROACH.
Characteristics of life-span perspective by Paul Baltes

• Development is lifelong. It does not end in adulthood. No developmental stage

dominates development.
• Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological,
cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions
• Development is plastic. Development is possible throughout the life span.
• Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing
world

Principles of Human Development

1.) Development is relatively orderly.

Two Types of Pattern:
a.) Development proceeds from head downward.

|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 2

 • This is called cephalo-caudal principle/ pattern. The child gains
control of the head first, then the arm, then the legs. Infants
develop control of the head and face movements within the first 2
months after birth

b) Development proceeds from the center of the body outward.

• This is the principle of proximodistal pattern/ development.
This means that the spinal cord develops before the hands and
the hands and feet develop before the fingers and toes.

2.) Development involves change

- We can expect individual differences in developmental characteristics and variation
in the ages when people will experience events that will influence their development.
a.) Cephacaudal
b.) Proximadistal

3.) Development takes place gradually

4.) Development as a process is complex because it is a product of biological,

cognitive and socio emotional processes. (Santrock, 2002)

- We can expect individual differences in developmental characteristics and variation

in the ages when people will experience events that will influence their development.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation
- Growth, maintenance and regulation are (3) goals of human development. The
goals of individuals vary among development stages.
Other principle of Development includes:
A. Development is continuous- one stage of development lays the foundation for the

|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 3

next stage of development
B. Early development is more critical than later development
C. The child develops as unified whole
D. Earlydevelopment takes place in stages- each stage has a certain unique
characteristic and, in each stage, certain types of behavior or traits are more
conspicuous than others.
E. Each phase of development has characteristics behavior
➢ the patterns of behavior are marked by period of equilibrium and periods
of disequilibrium.
F. Each phase of development has its own hazard
➢ There is sample evidence that each phase of development associated with
its certain development hazard
G. There are periods of accelerated growth and decelerated growth
H. Development is influenced by heredity and environment
I. Development is product of maturation and learning
J. Development is influenced by heredity and environment
K. Development is product of maturation and learning.

The Entire Period of Development is Divided into 5 Stages

Parental Period - growth of all body parts.

1.) Infancy- period of new-born

2.) Babyhood
3.) Childhood- 2 to 13 years of age

• Early Childhood
• Late Childhood- “gang age”
4.) Adolescence- twelve years onwards

• Early Adolescence- physical growth is rapid

• Later Adolescence- tapering off of physical growth but the
psychological development continuous in many complex ways
5.) Adulthood- physical changes are nearly complete but the psychological
adjustment continues.

Why is it important for us to have knowledge about the principle of

development?

• It helps us to know what to expect and when to expect it.

• It gives the adult information as to when to stimulate the child. It gives a basis
for planning the environmental encouragement that must be offered and the
correct time of this encouragement.
• It makes possible for parents, teachers and other who work with the children to

|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 4

 prepare the child ahead of time for the changes that will take place in his body,
interests or his behaviour.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

❖ Growth and development are similar words but different from each other though
it is not possible to separate them totally.
❖ Is the physical process of development
❖ Growth if often referred as QUANTITATIVE change
❖ It is the process of physical maturation resulting an increase in size of the body
and various organs. It occurs by multiplication of cells and an increase in
intercellular substance
❖ There are periods of accelerated growth and decelerated growth.
❖ Growth in human is rapid at two stages. First, during the period of gestation and
two years after the births of a child. Second, during adolescence (11-18).
❖ Growth generally takes place during the first 20 years of life while development
continue after that.

Growth Monitoring- is the process of maintaining regular close observation of a

child’s growth.
-Weight - Length and height -Body Mass Index (BMI)

- Head Circumference -Chest Circumference

GROWTH

1. Growth is quantitative.
2. Growth comprises of height, weight, size
and shape of body organs like brain etc.
3. Growth is for limited period of time
4. Growth can be measured
5. Growth tells about one’s aspect of
personality nut in a limited scope.

DEVELOPMENT

1. Development is quantitative as well as

qualitative.
2. In this with the physical changes
cognitive social and emotional change
are also included.
3. Development takes place till death.
4. It can be observed by mature behaviour.
5. Development deals with all the aspect of
personality and has a vast scope.

|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 5

 Relation between Growth, Maturation and Learning

MATURATION
➢ refers to sequential characteristic of biological growth and development.
Maturation is the process by which we change, grow and develop throughout
life and enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by
experience. It is also an increase in competence and adaptability.

Different Types of Maturation

THE PHYSICAL MATURATION

- indicates the physical development and growth that we go through as we get

older. A child goes through some very distinct physical maturity as they
progress through all their development stages. For example, in the early
stages of development, a child depends on reflexes majorly. Then as they age,
they develop their motor skills and coordination. They also grow taller and add
more weight as they develop. Their body goes through hormonal changes as
they leave adolescence and enter early adulthood.
THE COGNITIVE MATURATION
- refers to the cognitive development of children from birth to adulthood. It refers
to how babies think, learn, interact with their environment, etc. Some important
aspect of cognitive development is the processing of information, language
development, reasoning skills, development of intellects and memory.
Principles of Maturation

PRINCIPLE OF DIRECTIONALITY

- development govern with maturation has clear direction.

PRINCIPLE OF FUNCTIONAL SYMMETRY
- human has tendency to develop asymmetrically; one half of the brain is
dominant over the other half.

PRINCIPLE OF SELF-REGULATING FLUCTUATION

Is invoked to reflect the supposedly inherit spiral nature of development with
advances, regressions, consolidation and new advances.

Learning
Learning takes place because of a child’s interaction a with the environment, which
then brings about a change in his behavior; comes through experience, knowledge
and practice.

References
|The Basic Concepts of Growth and Development: CHAPTER 2 6
https://bit.ly/3ss4iF1

https://bit.ly/3poURUS