It is a whole process which includes growth of the body as well as growth of various
aspects of child's personality, e.g., the physical, emotional, social and cognitive
development.
Development is a progressive change the child undergoes which increases the physical,
social, mental and emotional capacities of the child.
In the early stages of life these changes are constructive and after middle age there are
destructive changes in the body which lead to old age.Growth
Growth
Growth means an increase in size, height, weight, length, etc. which can be measured.
1. Growth is quantitative.
2. Growth comprises of height, weight, size and shape of body organs like brain, etc.
3. It is due to cell division.
Development
Development implies changes in shape, form or structure resulting in improved
working. It implies qualitative changes.
2. In this with the physical changes cognitive social and emotional change are also
included.
3. It happen due to motor and adjust mental processes and their interplay.
6. Development deals with all the aspect of personality and has a vast scope.
(3) Growth is the change in shape, form, structure, size of the body. Development is
structural change and functional progress of the body.
(4) Growth stops at maturation but development continues till death of the organism.
(7) Growth and development is the joint product of heredity and environment.
Both growth and development are interrelated aspects of psychology. There are some
basic differences as per their structure but it is difficult to separate them. They have
some basic similarities also. In study of educational psychology study of their
differences and similarities have equal importance for a teacher.
(1) Heredity.
(2) Environment.
(3) Sex.
(4) Nutrition.
(5) Races.
(6) Exercise.
(7) Hormones.
1. Heredity:
Heredity is a biological process through which the transmission of physical and social
characteristics takes place from parents to off-springs. It greatly influences the different
aspects of growth and development i.e. height, weight and structure of the body, colour
of hair and eye, intelligence, aptitudes and instincts.
However environment equally influences the above aspects in many cases. Biologically
speaking heredity is the sum total of traits potentially present in the fertilized ovum
(Combination of sperm cell & egg cell), by which off-springs are resemblance to their
parents and fore parents.
2. Environment:
Environment plays an important role in human life. Psychologically a person's
environment consists of the sum total of the stimulations (physical & Psychological)
which he receives from his conception. There are different types of environment such as
physical, environment, social environment & psychological environment.
Physical environment consists of all outer physical surroundings both in-animate and
animate which have to be manipulated in order to provide food, clothing and shelter.
Geographical conditions i.e. weather and climates are physical environment which has
considerable impact on individual child.
3. Sex:
Sex acts as an important factor of growth and development. There is difference in
growth and development of boys and girls. The boys in general taller, courageous than
the girls but Girls show rapid physical growth in adolescence and excel boys. In general
the body constitution and structural growth of girls are different from boys. The
functions of boys and girls are also different in nature.
4. Nutrition:
Growth and Development of the child mainly depend on his food habits & nutrition. The
malnutrition has adverse effect on the structural and functional development of the
child.
5. Races:
The racial factor has a great influence on height, weight, colour, features and body
constitution. A child of white race will be white & tall even hair and eye colour, facial
structure are governed by the same race.
6. Exercise:
This does not mean the physical exercise as a discipline. The functional activities of the
child come in the fold of exercise of the body. We do not mean any law of growth
through use or atrophy (The reverse of growth) through disuse.
The growth of muscles from the normal functioning of the child is a matter of common
knowledge. It is a fact that repeated play and rest build the strength of the muscle. The
increase in muscular strength is mainly dye to better circulation and oxygen supply. The
brain muscles develop by its own activity-play and other activities provide for these
growth and development of various muscles. Deliberately the child does not play or
engages himself in various other functions with the knowledge that they will help him in
growing. This style of functioning of the child is but natural.
7. Hormones:
There are a number of endocrine glands inside the human body. Endocrine glands are
ductless glands. This means there are certain glands situated in some specific parts of
the body. These glands make internal secretions locally. These secretions produce one or
more hormones.
Hormones are physiological substances having the power to raise or lower the activity
level of the body or certain organs of the body. For example, the gland pancreas secretes
pancreatic juice, not into the blood, but into the intestine. Here it acts upon food and
plays an important part in digestion of food. This pancreas also discharges into the
blood, a substance called insulin. This being carried by the blood to the muscles enables
them to use sugar as a fuel to add strength to muscles. It the pancreas fails to produce
the secretions, the organism lapses to the unfavorable conditions of growth and
development.
Similarly, the adrenal glands are very close to kidneys. These make a secretion of
adrenaline, a very powerful hormone, which is responsible for strong and rapid heart-
beat, release of stored sugar from liver and which controls blood pressure. Gonads are
glands, which secrete hormones that have important effects on growth and sex behavior.
Learning includes much more than school learning. Learning goes to help the human
child in his physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social and attitudinal
developments. All knowledge and skill, all habits, good and bad, all acquaintances with
people and things, all attitudes built up in your dealing with people and things have
been learned.
should be repeated till we get the desired results. So the proverb should be, "We learn by
doing getting results."
Question 2:
Explain in detail the Piagets stages of
intellectual Development?
Answer:
For nearly 50 years, Paiget observed children's intellectual development, and suggested
that all children proceed through a series of four stages in a fixed order. He said that
these stages differ not only in the quantity of information acquired at each stage, but
also in the quality of knowledge and understanding as well.
making, and problem solving. Piaget's work provides insight into the age-related
cognitive activities from early childhood to adolescence.
Piaget who initially in 1920s worked in Alfred Binet's laboratory help standardize the
early IQ tests came to believe that the standardized intelligence tests ignore the
development of important qualitative aspects of children's thought processes.
In order to examine how children think, Piaget asked children some interesting
questions, such as "Where do dreams come from"? Or "Has the rock life?" He was
interested not with correct answers but with the way children answer a question, even if
their answers were wrong. This gave him tremendous insight about the nature of
children's thought processes, which is very different from that of the adults.
Piaget received his early training in biology and philosophy. During his mage years, his
godfather introduced him into an area of philosophy called epistemology, which is
concerned with analysis of various forms of knowledge only natural that his theory of
cognitive development reflects a distinctively logical flavor. He believed that human
beings are active organisms having a network of mental structures and constantly trying
to make sense of their experiences.
He consistently observed his own three children, two daughters Jaculine, and Lucine
and the son Laurent. His observations were found to be almost same in cases of all his
children. His meticulous studies were put a systematic theory, which continued to be
updated until his death in 1980. His careful work inspired a great deal of research on
children's cognition intelligence. Even today, Piaget's theory of intelligence provides the
most dominant framework in developmental psychology.
First the child starts giving attention to stimulation from the environment, perceives
them, forms concepts and then finally gives response.
The moment mother holds the baby he calms down and that shows understanding and
perceptual development.
Baby starts crawling and exploring his environment. He tries to understand and analyse
his environment. The activities of the child are now focused directly. He can now solve
some problems like to reach his toy.
He can remove the obstruction in his way. During this stage the baby takes help of his
past experiences. If a toy is hidden at another place, instead of the first place he will look
for it in the previous place only. It shows object permanence to a certain extent. He
enjoys a game of peek-a-boo.
2. Pre-operational stage
(2 to 7 years)
During this stage, the child gathers experiences and continuously interacts with the
environment. These experiences form images in the mind of the child. He starts
recognising symbols and tries to perceive their meanings. His memory starts developing
and he becomes imaginative.
He is impressed by the imaginary characters of stories and imagines himself like them.
He is lost in his imaginary world and toys. He holds a stick like a sword and acts as a
king. Girls act like their mother by wearing her 'dupatta' or 'sari'.
Teachers are required to adopt appropriate methods and techniques of teaching with
due consideration to students age and interest which will support intellectual
development of the child.
Question 3:
Explain in detail the Erik Erickson theory
of Psychosocial psychology?
Answer:
According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are
distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others,
developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the
future.
During this stage, the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live. To
resolve these feelings of uncertainty, the infant looks towards their primary caregiver
for stability and consistency of care. If the care the infant receives is consistent,
predictable and reliable, they will develop a sense of trust which will carry with them
to other relationships, and they will be able to feel secure even when threatened.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope. By developing a sense of trust,
the infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other
people will be there as a source of support. Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will
lead to the development of fear.
Erikson states it is critical that parents allow their children to explore the limits of
their abilities within an encouraging environment which is tolerant of failure.
In this stage children assert themselves more frequently. These are particularly
lively, rapid-developing years in a childs life. The primary feature involves the child
regularly interacting with other children at school. Central to this stage is play, as it
provides children with the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills through
initiating activities. Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate
activities with others.It is at this stage that the child will begin to ask many questions
as his thirst for knowledge grows. If the parents treat the childs questions as trivial,
embarrassing or other aspects of their behavior as threatening then the child may
have feelings of guilt for being a nuisance.Too much guilt can make the child slow
to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity.
A healthy balance between initiative and guilt is important. Success in this stage will
lead to the virtue of purpose.
Children are at the stage where they will be learning to read and write, to do sums, to
do things on their own. Teachers begin to take an important role in the childs life as
they teach the child specific skills.
Children at this age are becoming more aware of themselves as individuals. They
work hard at being responsible, being good and doing it right. They are now more
reasonable to share and cooperate. If children are encouraged and reinforced for
their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in their ability to
achieve goals. If this initiative is notencouraged, if it is restricted by parents or
teacher, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and
therefore may not reach his or her potential.If the child cannot develop the specific
skill they feel society is demanding then they may develop a sense of inferiority.
Some failure may be necessary so that the child can develop some modesty.
During this stage, adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity,
through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs and goals.An adolescent
must struggle to discover and find his or her own identity, while negotiating and
struggling with social interactions and fitting in, and developing a sense of morality
and right from wrong.
This is a major stage of development where the child has to learn the roles he will
occupy as an adult.
It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity and try to find
out exactly who he or she is. They explore possibilities and begin to form their own
identity based upon the outcome of their explorations. Failure to establish a sense of
identity within society ("I dont know what I want to be when I grow up") can lead to
role confusion. Role confusion involves the individual not being sure about
themselves or their place in society. In response to role confusion or identity crisis an
adolescent may begin to experiment with different lifestyles (e.g. work, education or
political activities). Also pressuring someone into an identity can result in rebellion
in the form of establishing a negative identity, and in addition to this feeling of
unhappiness.
Successful completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of
commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing
commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes
depression.
At this stage Career and work are the most important things along with family.
Middle adulthood is also the time when people can take on greater responsibilities
and control.
At some point, a person needs to be needed and to feel like shes guiding the next
generation. A desire to leave a legacy and impact younger people develops during
middle adulthood. When people feel that theyve done nothing or can do nothing for
the next generation, they develop a sense of stagnation instead of generative.
As we grow older and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity
and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our
accomplishments and can develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a
successful life.
Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or
feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and
develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to
look back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept
death without fear.
Critical Evaluation
Eriksons theory has good face validity. Many people find that they can relate to his
theories about various stages of the life cycle through their own experiences.
However, Erikson is rather vague about the causes of development. What kinds of
experiences must people have to successfully resolve various psychosocial conflicts and
move from one stage to another? The theory does not have a universal mechanism for
crisis resolution.
However, Erikson stressed his work was a tool to think with rather than a factual
analysis. Its purpose then is to provide a framework within which development can be
considered rather than testable theory.
One of the strengths of Erikson's theory is its ability to tie together important
psychosocial development across the entire lifespan.
Introduction:
Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura proposed one of the most influential theories
of learning and development the social learning theory.
Bandura stated that
Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing
others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later
occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action
Banduras Social Learning Theory posits that people learn from one another, via
observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been called a bridge
between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses
attention, memory, and motivation.
Experiment:
Experimenters drew 40 boys and 40 girls from the Stanford University Nursery
School, aged between 38 to 63 months old.The children were organized into 4 groups
and a control group. The 4 groups exposed to the aggressive model and non-
aggressive model belonged to the experimental group. 24 children were exposed to
an aggressive model and 24 children were exposed to a non-aggressive model. The
two groups were then divided into males and females, which ensured that half of
thechildren were exposed to models of their own sex and the other half were exposed
to models of the opposite sex. The remaining 24 children were part of a control
group.
Through a series of experiments, he watched children as they observed adults
attacking Bobo Dolls (a toy that gets up by itself to a standing position when it is
knocked down). Bandura included an adult who is tasked to act aggressively toward
a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later, Bandura let the children play
inside a room with the Bobo Doll. He affirmed that these children imitated the
aggressive behavior toward the doll, which they had observed earlier.When hit, the
dolls fell over and then bounced back up again. Then children were then let loose,
and imitated the aggressive behavior of the adults. However, when they observed
adults acting aggressively and then being punished, Bandura noted that the children
were less willing to imitate the aggressive behavior themselves.Children who
observed violent behavior behaved violently toward the doll and vice versa.Children
learn social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning
- through watching the behavior of another person.
Conclusion:
After his studies, Bandura was able to determine 3 basic models of observational
learning, which include:
Attention(environmental)
Retention (cognitive)
Reproduction (cognitive)
Motivation
Step 1: Attention
Social Cognitive Theory implies that you must pay attention for you to learn. If you want
to learn from the behavior of the model (the person that demonstrates the behavior),
then you should eliminate anything that catches your attention other than him. Also, the
more interesting the model is, the more likely you are to pay full attention to him and
learn.We cannot learn if we are not focused on the task. If we see something as being
novel or different in some way, we are more likely to make it the focus of their attention.
Social contexts help to reinforce these perceptions.
Step 2: Retention
Retention of the newly learned behavior is necessary. Without it, learning of the
behavior would not be established.We learn by internalizing information in our
memories. We recall that information later when we are required to respond to a
situation that is similar the situation within which we first learned the information. And
you might need to get back to observing the model again since you were not able to store
information about the behavior.
Step 4: Motivation
Feeling motivated to repeat the behavior is what you need in order to keep on
performing it. This is where reinforcement and punishment come in. You can be
rewarded by demonstrating the behavior properly, and punished by displaying it
inappropriately.
How it can be applied to education
Social learning theoryis a very powerful method of education. If children see positive
consequences from a particular type of behavior, they are more likely to repeat that
behavior themselves. Conversely, if negative consequences are the result, they are less
likely to perform that behavior. Novel and unique contexts often capture students
attention, and can stand out in the memory. Students are more motivated to pay
attention if they see others around them also paying attention. Another less obvious
application of this theory is to encourage students to develop their individual Self
efficacy through confidence building and constructive feedback, a concept that is rooted
in social learning theory.
Introduction:
Social Development Theory is the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. His
extensive research into social development has lead his theory to be one of the most
important of its kind. He believed that childrens thinking is affected by their social
knowledge, which are communicated by either psychological (language, number, art) or
technical (books, calculator) means.He also suggested that language is the most
important tool for gaining this social knowledge; the child can be taught this from other
people via language.
The intellectual growth begins with rapid sensory and perceptual development in the
early years of life. By this third year the child develops skillful perceptual ability in
exploration of his world. For about 10 years he builds it, reaching his maximum capacity
in adolescence when his senses and perceptions are as sharp and keen as they will not
he again. General ability shows a steady and continuous growth from childhood through
adolescence. The maximum intellectual capacity seems to develop in the period from 15
to 17.
For example, a child tries to chronologically arrange the blocks that contain the letter A
to Z. At first, his performance is poor but when his mother sits beside him and tells him
how to arrange the letters properly, he begins to learn how to do so. The child will then
master the knowledge of arranging the alphabet with the presence of his parent. His
mother, on the other hand, gradually lets the child do the skill on his own, making the
child more competent.
Since language holds a central role in Vygotsky's theory, and is essential tothe
development of thinking, the school needs to provide many opportunities thatallow
children to reach the third stage of speech, which is inner speech, sinceit is this stage
which is responsible for all higher levels of functioning.
All classrooms in which instructional strategies compatible with Vygotsky's social
constructivist approach are used don't necessarily look alike. The activities and the
format can vary considerably. However, four principles are applied in any Vygotskian
classroom.
2. The Zone of Proximal Development can serve as a guide for curricular and
lesson planning.
THE END