Human Growth and Development 1a: Introduction

The graph to the right shows four distinct stages of development in the life cycle of a ladybug. Early childhood is also referred to as the preschool years and consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling. As a three to five-year-old, the child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world.

Vygotsky concentrated more on the child’s immediate social and cultural environment and their interactions with adults and peers. Human development is a branch of psychology with the goal of understanding people — how they develop, grow, and change throughout their lives. This discipline, which can help individuals better understand themselves and their relationships, is broad.

Study Resources: Human Growth and Development

It is not an assessment tool, rather it was designed to support RECEs as they observe and document children’s emerging skills (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014). It should be noted that all five domains are interrelated and no one domain is more important than another (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014a). What are the differences between human development and developmental psychology?

Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

The following are some research methods used in qualitative research. Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and background, and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger. They may include forced-choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the most difficult aspects of designing a good survey is wording questions in an unbiased way and asking the right questions so that respondents can give a clear response rather than choosing “undecided” each time.

Stage 5 — Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion

1. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence.
2. Our assumptions very often guide our perceptions, consequently, when we believe something, we tend to see it even if it is not there.
3. The sociocultural theory ties human development to the society or culture in which people live.
4. Surveys are commonly used by sociologists, marketing researchers, political scientists, therapists, and others to gather information on many independent and dependent variables in a relatively short period of time.
5. The preschool years, generally ages three to five, are all about learning, observing, and making sense of the world through the innocent and fresh perspective a young child possesses.

The 40s through the early 60s we focus on being productive at work and home and are motivated by wanting to feel that we’ve made a contribution to society. Teenagers are trying to gain a sense of identity as they experiment with various roles, beliefs, and ideas. Sequential research involves combining aspects of the previous two techniques; beginning with a cross-sectional sample and measuring them through time. Figure 1.1 – A tiny embryo depicting some development of arms and legs, as well as facial features that are starting to show.

This method is much less expensive than longitudinal research but does not allow the researcher to distinguish between the impact of age and the cohort effect. Different attitudes about the use of technology, for example, might not be altered by a person’s biological age as much as their life experiences as members of a cohort. Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and background, and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger. They may include forced choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the benefits of having forced choice items is that each response is coded so that the results can be quickly entered and analyzed using statistical software.

1. The hallmark of scientific investigation is that of following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing any phenomenon.
2. These exclusions should be kept in mind when extrapolating the data.
3. Schools compare students and make these comparisons public through team sports, test scores, and other forms of recognition.
4. As adults reach the end of life, they look back on their lives and reflect.
5. We find cultural values and beliefs at the level of macrosystems.
6. Such research is conducted with a focus on discovery and therefore open-ended.

A theory guides and helps us interpret research findings as well. Think of introduction of growth and development theories as guidelines much like directions that come with an appliance or other object that requires assembly. Let’s look more closely at some techniques, or research methods, used to describe, explain, or evaluate. Each of these designs has strengths and weaknesses and is sometimes used in combination with other designs within a single study. Growth in weight of the fetus follows the same general pattern as growth in length, except that the peak velocity is reached much later, at approximately 34 weeks after the mother’s last menstrual period.

Families from all 10 provinces and territories were included with the exception of families living on First Nations reserves, in extremely remote areas of Canada and full-time members the Canadian Armed Forces. These exclusions should be kept in mind when extrapolating the data. The sociocultural theory ties human development to the society or culture in which people live.

Psychosexual Theory

If children feel they’re accomplished in relation to peers, they develop strong self-esteem. If, however, they notice that other children have met milestones that they haven’t, they may struggle with self-esteem. For example, a first grader may notice a consistently worse performance on spelling tests when compared with peers.

Developmental Milestones in Infancy (0-2 years)

Those who feel that they’re contributing experience generativity, which is the sense of leaving a legacy. On the other hand, those who don’t feel that their work or lives matter may experience feelings of stagnation. For example, a middle-aged adult who’s raising a family and working in a career that presumably helps people may feel more fulfilled than an adult who’s working at a day job that feels meaningless.

Through the scientific study of behaviour, it was hoped that laws of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control of behaviour (Baker & Sperry, 2021). Today many nations are actively addressing the legacies of colonialism that brought with it such things as patriarchy, eurocentrism, and structuralism. These ways of describing the world and human experience tend to align with a Western ideology with embedded hierarchies and colonist world views.