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Chapter 1

What IS human development?

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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 theirenvironments.

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

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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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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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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

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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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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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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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Bronfenbrenner’s nested systems

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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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