HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT “ To be a person is to change. Change is what development is all about. There is nothing permanent except change.”

Growth: Self-initiated changes in a desired direction. Development: Orderly and sequential changes that occur with the passage of time as an organism move from conception to death. Human Development: The process of becoming someone different while remaining in some respects the same over an extended period of time.

Human development studies how people change as well as characteristics that remain fairly stable throughout life. 1)By the end of the 19 th century- many trends were preparing the way for the scientific study of child development. 2)Scientists unlocked the mystery of conception and were arguing about nature vs. nurture. 3)Discovery of germs and immunizations – more children survived infancy.

4) Cheap labor – was abundant/ children were less needed as workers and spent more time in school. 5) Parents and teachers – more concerned with meeting children’s developmental needs. 6) Freud – taught that by knowing what happened in childhood, we could better understand ourselves. 7) G. Stanley Hall – (early 20 th century) posited that adolescence was a separate period of development.

8) Stanford, Berkley, and Oakland studies – extended research into adulthood and focused on how particular experiences, tied to time and place affect the course of people’s lives. 9) Terman studies – focused on adulthood in the 1930s. Oakland studies – focused on World War II. Berkley studies – post-war boom period (1950).

The Science and Its Goals (4): 1) Describe – the changes that take place from conception to death. Addresses the question “how.” Accurately portray behavior. Example” when do children speak and what is the nature of this speech? 2) Explain – behavior and addresses the question “why?” Example: why am I so shy? Why is my mother behaving so differently than 2 years ago?

3) Predict – changes that may occur. Forecasting later development on the basis of earlier or present development. Example: what are the chances for language if a child suffers from an inherited disorder? What health habits are conducive to lowering heart attacks? 4) Influence – or control behavior. Intervention to promote optimal development. Example: If I know my father is alcoholic, what can I do to avoid becoming like him? If infants are put on a special diet after birth, intellectual development from an inherited disorder can be minimized.

Dimensions of Human Development 1)Biological/Physical:genetic inheritance, health care, nutrition, sleep, drug abuse, changes in height and weight, sexual functioning. 2)Psychological (cognitive and emotional): thinking, learning, remembering, problem solving, attachment, security, trust, emotions, affection.

3) Social – moral development, relationships with family and peers, marriage, parenthood, work,

Paul Baltes – leader in the study of lifespan developmental psychology: 1) Development is lifelong – each period has its own unique characteristics and value; none is more important than the other. Each period is influenced by what happened before and will affect what is to come. 2) Development depends on history and context – each person develops within a set of circumstances defined by time and place. Reciprocal determinism.

3) Development is multidimensional and multidirectional – development involves a balance of growth and decline. As we gain in one area, we may lose in another. Example: vocabulary may increase and the ability to solve problems may diminish. 4) Development is plastic – modifiability of performance; the potential for change. Many abilities such as strength and endurance can be improved with training and practice.

5) Development is embedded in multiple contexts – it is influenced by a wide range of influences: Normative influences – events experienced in a similar way by most people.  Normative age-graded influences: similar for most people in a certain age group. Example: puberty, entry into formal education, learning to drive.

b) Normative history-graded influences – are common to a particular cohort (group of people who share a similar experience). Example: living through the Great Depression, feeling the impact of War (Iraq). Non-normative life events – unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives and are unique turning points at which people change some direction in their lives. These experiences may cause stress because they are unexpected and require an adjustment on the individual’s part.

 U.S. Copter Down in Iraq; 12 Believed Dead  All 12 Americans aboard a crashed Black Hawk helicopter are dead. Five Marines also died in a bloody weekend.

Example: death of a parent when a child is very young, marrying at a very young age (early teens), winning a scholarship, being in an automobile crash, September 9/11. Critical period – a specific time when an event or its absence has the greatest impact on development. Example: a pregnant woman takes certain drugs or contracts certain diseases.

On June 29, 2005, architect David Childs of SOM and David Libeskind, the WTC site's master planner, unveiled revised design plans for the Freedom Tower. Though the structure maintains its 1776-foot height, many other changes were introduced Project Rebirth

A pregnant woman receives X-rays during the first trimester – the fetus may show ill effects. A child deprived of certain experiences may show permanent stunting of physical development.

Developmental scientists study 2 kinds of change: 1)Quantitative – change in number or amount: height, weight, vocabulary, frequency of communication. 2)Qualitative – change in kind, structure, or organization: from reading shakily to doing so with a firm voice, a non-verbal child to one who understands words and can communicate verbally.

 Nature vs. Nurture – the age-old debate that explores our inborn biological inheritance and the forces of the social and physical world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth. Today, it is not a question of how much but how do these two opposing forces interact to make us who we are.  CLASS ACTIVITY: Victor – the Wild boy of Aveyron.

Get together in your family groups and answer the following: 1)Do you think it was right for Itard to try to modify the development of a child like Victor? 2)What damages, if any, do you see in such a project and what benefits to be gained? 3)Can you suggest any safety measures that might have protected Victor’s welfare (if you think that Victor was harmed in some way)?