1. Chapter 1 What IS human development?
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2. Defining human development
Human development can be defined as a process of
progressive changes in people’s lives over time that
enables them to adapt more effectively to their
environments.
Points to note about this definition:
People always have many forms of connections with one another
What counts as progress is not unproblematic
Change is always happening
We are interested in the conditions that enhance people’s lives, so that we can live well in the situations in which we find ourselves
Place shapes and locates the conditions of our lives
Invite students to think about the many forms of connection or relationship they have with other people.
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3. A social constructionist approach
Ideas about developmental progress:
Change over time
Are different at different times in history
Foreground different assumptions from time to time
Developmental progress is not one-directional:
It is not a single line, marching towards a single goal
It is complex and is made up of many strands
There is no single truth about ‘right’ development
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4. Development: a broader picture
Evolutionary theory encouraged those interested in social progress to think that:
Some developmental changes help the species survive
Developmental change follows a pattern from primitive to more highly evolved, in stages
Speedy development through stages is an advantage
The history of child development began with attempts to chart predictable stages, or ‘normal’ development
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5. The power of norms
A norm can be defined as a statistically average tendency, but it is often also seen as an expected appearance or behaviour
We derive norms by tracing patterns of development by individuals, finding the average, then generalising them
This approach is seen as scientific:
It allows prediction, and
Offers criteria for measuring developmental progress
A norm is sometimes seen as an ideal
What are the pluses and minuses of this kind of approach?
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6. However Following the norm does not guarantee successful development
Developing faster than the norm may not always be useful
Different cultures value different developmental outcomes
Adaptability is generally thought of as preferable for the success of a species
Plasticity refers to flexibility in the way an individual develops
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7. Big debates: stages of development
Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development
Children develop new ways of thinking as their brains develop
Cognitive development is also a response to environmental stimulation
All children’s cognition goes through the same stages
The ultimate cognitive ability is logical thinking
Sigmund Freud: Sexual-Emotional Development
Sexuality is the energising force of personality
Internal conflict is caused by aspects of personality: id, ego, superego
Unconscious forces play a large part in how a person behaves
How a person is treated as a child is important to how they turn out as an adult
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8. Jean Piaget: stages of cognitive development
Sensori-motor
Reflexes are the beginning of interaction and cognition
Primary and secondary circular reactions are practice for beginning to control self and the world
Pre-operational
The child begins to use logical rules, but in an experimental way
Concrete operational
The child can use logic to manipulate things in the world
Formal operational
The child is able to think logically about abstract issues
Progression from reflexes to intentional interaction with the world.
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9. Jean Piaget: how children learn
Children adapt to their environment by:
Assimilation: using a familiar schema to work on the world
Accommodation: adapting a familiar schema to the new situation
Development proceeds through both assimilation and accommodation
Humans aim for a balance between old and new
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10. Critiques of Piaget’s theory
As a biologist he was seeking universal principles
Can be interpreted as a prescription for development of individuals
Does not allow for diverse outcomes
Suggests even development across all areas of cognition
Invites a stage approach to the presentation of new learning opportunities
Reflects a particular Euro-Western view of education and preferred learning goals
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11. Sigmund Freud: theory of sexual-emotional development
Much of development is about learning to fit in with notions of manhood and womanhood appropriate to one’s culture
Same-gender parent-child relationships provide the child with a model of emotional life
The partner/spouse of that parent provide a model of the child’s future love relationships
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12. Freud’s stage theory
Oral: the infant’s emotional energies are involved in coping with issues related to the oral – feeding, weaning and cutting teeth
Anal: the importance of controlling personal expressions as the very young child becomes an acceptable member of society
Phallic: the child develops a sense of its sexuality, learning to desire the parent of the opposite sex
Latency: children’s sexual awareness is latent during the primary school years
Genital: the child moves towards a heterosexual relationship and integration of the emotional battles of the earlier stages
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13. Critiques of Freud’s theory
Focus on sexuality is better understood as about the ‘life force’
Explanatory power of this theory continues to capture the minds of many theorists
Some critics have thought he generalised too much from his therapeutic work, particularly with women who had been abused
The theory assumes hetero-sexual relationships are the dominant form of human relationship
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14. Big debates: development in cultural context
Lev Vygotsky: thought about how children’s learning – their ‘mind’ – is achieved within cultural and historical contexts
Urie Bronfenbrenner: drew attention to the broader range of systems within which a child’s development proceeds
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15. Lev Vygotsky
Different cultures provide different settings and different learning outcomes
Each culture has its own ‘cultural curriculum’
Development occurs in interactions with people
Thus, development is co-constructed
Language is a central tool in this process
Children learn in interaction with adults, working within the zone of proximal development (ZPD)
Scaffolding is the process of supporting learning within the child’s ZPD
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16. Urie Bronfenbrenner
Developmental processes increase in complexity over time in people’s lives
Used ideas about interlinking social ‘systems’ to talk about five kinds of contexts that surround the individual child.
Development is always grounded in a particular society at a particular time in history
Drew attention to the interaction between different aspects of a person’s ‘ecology’
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17. Bronfenbrenner’s nested systems
The microsystem refers to interactions with people in the child’s immediate environment, such as members of the family or classroom.
For example, if a child is to learn how to work cooperatively with others, there is much to be learned about cooperationfrom their interactions
with people with whom they spend the most time: family members andclassmates.
The mesosystem refers to a system of connections that links microsystems together. In the case of learning about cooperation, the kinds of relationships between home and school
could be key areas in which cooperative learning could be enhanced if it is considered important in both settings.
The exosystem refers to larger social systems, such as public media, communities and neighbourhoods. The messages about cooperation on television and in children’s books
provide a context for the child’s understanding, as do community projects such as school and neighbourhood fundraising events.
The macrosystem of large cultural patterns includes social class and the political system of the country. It might be relevant to consider how cooperatively
our parliamentary system works, both in terms of the way parties are created under mixed member proportional voting (called MMP in New Zealand) and the level
of cooperative debate at the Beehive (one of New Zealand’s parliament buildings).
The chronosystem refers to the way that all these processes emerge over time. This includes each child’s progress towards adulthood
as well as social changes in a country’s history; for example, in terms of social legislation.
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18. Complex constructionist ecology
Developmental outcomes are the result of complex interactions
Complexity: there is almost never a single cause for a developmental outcome
To think ecologically is to consider the person in a complex situation or set of situations
The quality of the interactions and the environment produce developmental outcomes
Development is constructed. That is, it is a product of multiple interactions; it is not inevitable or ‘natural’
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