EPS 1102: INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

LECTURE NOTES
Course Outline
 Definitions: Psychology, Education, Educational Psychology
 Goals and objectives of Psychology
 Relevancy of Educational Psychology to a teacher
 Branches of psychology
 Schools of psychology: functionalism, structuralism, behaviorism, Psychoanalism,
Associationism, Gestaltism
 Perspectives of Psychology: behavioral, biological, cognitive, psychoanalytic,
phenomenological
 Contribution of Psychology to the theory of education
 Methods of psychological study: observation, developmental case study, differential or
survey study, cross-sectional study, longitudinal study, scientific s enquiry, Merits and
demerits of each method
 Growth and development: definitions, principles of growth and development, maturation,
precocity
 Stages of growth and Development: Prenatal stage and factors affecting it, Peri-natal
stage and factors affecting it, Post natal stage and factors affecting it
 Genetic influences: Fertilization process, chromosomes, genes, DNA
 Nature-nurture debate
 Theories of growth and development and their classroom implications: Psycho-sexual
theory by Sigmund Freud, Cognitive development theory by Jean Piaget, Moral
development theory by Lawrence Kohlberg, Psycho-social theory by Erick Erickson
Introduction: Definition of terms

Psychology
The term Psychology is derived from two Greek words psyche (soul) and logos (science or
study). thus, literally it means study or science of soul. Generally, Psychology is defined as the
scientific study of behavior and mental processes of organisms. There are three key words in this
definition namely:
Scientific study: which means that psychology involves use of scientific techniques such as
observation, and experimental investigation to collect information and then organizing it.
Mental processes: means the private and cognitive processes such as attention, perception,
remembering, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, thinking, etc.
Behavior: means all the actions or reactions of an organism in response to external or internal
stimuli.
Behavior may be simple or complex, short or enduring. Human behavior may be overt i.e. it is
observable, detectable and public e.g. walking style, facial expression or covert i.e. it occurs
within the organism and is not readily observable or detectable or sensed by observer e.g.
attitudes, beliefs, preferences.

Aims and objectives of psychology

Psychologists pursue four broad goals:
 To measure and describe behavior: Identifying and classifying behaviors and mental
processes as accurately as possible. A measuring tool should be reliable (producing
consistent results whenever administered) and valid (measure what it is meant to
measure)
 To understand and explain behavior: Proposing reasons for behaviors and mental
processes
 To predict and control behavior: Offering predictions (or hypotheses) about how a
given condition or set of conditions will affect behaviors and mental processes
 To improve society: Using the results of research to solve practical problems that
involve behavior and mental processes.
What is education?
The word education is derived from latin word educare which means to bring up. Thus,
education has been defined as the process of imparting or acquiring knowledge and habits
through instruction or study. it can also be defined as a process in which behavior is modified so
as to be in closer agreement with some model or ideal determined by the values of society.
It is also the process of bringing desired change into behavior of human beings.
More so, education is the process by which society transmits to new members the values,
beliefs, knowledge, and symbolic expressions to make communication possible within society. In
this sense, education is serving a social and cultural function.
What is Educational Psychology?
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology that specializes in understanding teaching
and learning in educational settings.
Educational Psychology focuses on understanding the processes of teaching and learning.
Thus, educational psychology is a branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning.
It is a discipline that is concerned with teaching and learning processes.
It is concerned primarily with understanding the processes of teaching and learning that take
place within formal environments and developing ways of improving those methods.
It focuses its interest into schooling, teaching, learning, content and culture.
Learning
This refers to a relatively permanent change in an individual's behavior or behavior potential (or
capability) as a result of experience or practice.
It can also be explained as an internal change inferred from behavior.
It can be compared with the other primary process producing relatively permanent change—
maturation that results from biological growth and development
Teaching
The purposeful direction and management of the learning process
Educational psychology therefore is the scientific discipline that addresses the questions;“Why
do some students learn more than others?”, “What can be done to improve that learning?”
Educational psychologists attempt to discover:
 The extent to which factors of heredity and environment contribute to learning
 The nature of the learning process
 The educational significance of individual differences in rate and limit of learning.
 The inner change that occur during learning.
 The relation of teaching procedures to learning outcomes
 The most effective techniques for evaluating progress in learning
Educational psychology has two main goals or functions
1. To create theories that offer valid accounts for learners’ and teachers’ behaviors i.e. to
generate knowledge to teachers about learners and the learning process and relationships
(to enable teachers to acquire better understanding of the learners)
2. To develop the principles that, when applied to instructional situations enhance learners’
capabilities to achieve their own goals and those goals set by society in which learners
live
Relevance of educational psychology to the teacher.
It enables the teacher to;
 Understand him/her self.
 Understand why his or her learners behave the way they do
 Be able to develop the personality of the learners and help them grow as acceptable
members of society.
 Be able to nurture emotional growth and development of the learners and be able to help
them overcome frustrations while in difficult situations.
 Understand the process of growth and development of the learner sp as to detect factors
that might have affected some learners and be able to help them improve on such factors
for effective learning to take place.
 Acquire knowledge and skills on research which will enable him/her identify problems
and seek solutions to the problems during the learning process.
 Enables him/her to understand learning as a process and understand the basic theories of
learning so that he/she can use the most appropriate instructional materials and
instructional methods for teaching purposes and be able to select the most suitable,
relevant and applicable content.
 Helps in improvement of teachers’ personality.
 Educational psychology helps the teacher to know the learner, his interest, attitudes,
aptitude, level of aspiration, intelligence which all play a major role in one’s learning.
 It helps in selection of teaching methods and aids for effective learning situations and
teaching
It is important to note that we study educational psychology so as to become better
teachers who understand our duties, those that we teach and how we teach them.
Educational psychology focuses its interests into the following:

School: which is a social institution that provides social context in which teaching and
learning occur.
Teaching: which is the process of learning guided by the action of another person called
the teacher.
Learning: which is the process of acquiring knowledge through teaching or other
indirect ways but should lead to a change in behavior.
Content: which is the kind of information, knowledge or skills that schools plan to
provide to learners through teaching.
Culture: which is the process or experience in which the school is located, that we go
through and controls teaching and learning. It involves the whole environment i.e.
families, peers, community, colleagues.

Branches of Psychology
 Clinical psychology: is the branch of psychology that specializes in the diagnosis and
treatment of mental and behavioral disorders, such as anxiety, phobias, and
schizophrenia. Some also conduct research in these areas.
  Counseling psychology: is the branch of psychology that involves helping people who
have adjustment problems (marital, social, or behavioral) that are generally less severe
than those handled by clinical psychologists.
 Developmental psychology: is the branch of psychology that deals with the study of
how people grow, develop, and change throughout the life span.
 Educational psychology: is the branch of psychology that specializes in the study of
teaching and learning processes. (Note: Do not confuse educational psychology with
school psychology.
 School psychology is the subfield of clinical psychology that deals with the diagnosis
and treatment of learning problems.
 Social psychology: is the branch of psychology that investigates how the individual
feels, thinks, and behaves in a social setting or in the presence of others.
 Industrial/organizational psychology: is the branch of Psychology that involves the
study of the relationships between people and their work environments.
Schools of psychology
Schools of psychology explain the historical background of the existence of psychology as a
subject and how it became the study of human behavior. At the beginning, psychology was a
branch of philosophy but later came a group of philosophers who started asking questions like;
why, do we behave the way we do? To answer such questions, different schools of thought came
up namely: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, psychoanalism, gestaltism, associationism
psychophysics.

Structuralism
This was the first formal school of thought in psychology that was focused on breaking down
mental processes into the most basic components. Major thinkers associated with structuralism
include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. The focus of structuralism was on reducing
mental processes down into their most basic elements. Through the use of Introspection
researchers tried to understand the basic components of consciousnesses. Introspection refers to
Wundt's technique that involved training people to carefully and objectively analyze the content
of their own thoughts.
Pros
1. Structuralism is important to study because it is the first major school of thought in the
field of Psychology.
2. It influenced Experimental Psychology

Cons
This method was not around very long due to it’s basis in subjective introspection. There were
not observable variables.

Functionalism
An early school of psychology that was concerned with how humans and animals use mental
processes in adapting to their environment. Functionalism was a response to Structuralism.
William James was a strong proponent /influence behind this school of thought along with
theories of evolution like that of Charles Darwin. James was a philosopher, psychologist, and
Physician. While Structuralism was focused on the consciousness, the Functionalists focused on
the “purpose” of our consciousness and human behavior. This school of thought acknowledged
the differences in each person’s individual experience. From what I understand it is a sort of
philosophical look at the way of what is happening in our brains then becomes behavior and
trying to understand why.

1. Influenced Behaviorism and applied Psychology

2. Influenced the educational system. John Dewey’s belief that children should learn at the
level for which they are developmentally prepared was recognized.

Functionalism has the most influence of any theory in contemporary psychology. Psychological
functionalism attempts to describe thoughts and what they do without asking how they do it. For
functionalists, the mind resembles a computer, and to understand its processes, you need to look
at the software, which is what the mind does, without having to understand the hardware that
includes the underlying how and why.

Gestalt psychology
The school of psychology that emphasizes that individuals perceive objects and patterns as
whole units and that the perceived whole is more than the sum of its parts. According to Gestalt
psychologists, the human mind works by interpreting data through various laws, rules or
organizing principles, turning partial information into a whole. For example, your mind might
interpret a series of lines as a square even though it has no complete lines; your mind fills in the
gaps. Gestalt psychotherapists apply this logic to help patients solve a wide array of problems
from issues at work to relationship troubles.

The Psychoanalytic School of Thought

This is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. This school of thought emphasized
the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. Freud believed that the human mind was
composed of three elements: id, ego and superego. The id consists of primal urges while the ego
is the component of personality charged with dealing with reality. The superego is the part of
personality that holds all of the ideals and values we internalize from our parents and culture.
Freud believed that the interaction of these three elements was what led to all of the complex
human behaviors. Freud's school of thought was enormously influential, but also generated
considerable debate. This controversy existed not only in his time, but also in modern
discussions of Freud's theories. Other major psychoanalytic thinkers include: Anna Freud and
Carl Jung

Behaviorism
The school of psychology that views observable, measurable behavior as the appropriate subject
matter for psychology and emphasizes the key role of environment as a determinant of behavior.
In the 1950s, B.F. Skinner carried out experiments with animals, such as rats and pigeons,
demonstrating that they repeated certain behaviors if they associated them with rewards in the
form of food. Behaviorists believe that observing behavior, rather than attempting to analyze the
inner workings of the mind itself, provides the key to psychology. This makes psychology open
to experimental methods with results that can be replicated the same as any other scientific
experiment.

Humanistic Psychology
The school of psychology that focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and their capacity for
choice, growth, and psychological health. Humanist psychologists teach that understanding
psychology must involve looking at individuals and their motivations. Abraham Maslow's
"hierarchy of needs" exemplifies this approach: A system of needs, such as food, love and self-
esteem, will determine a person's behavior; meeting these needs leads to a sense of self-
satisfaction and solves psychological problems.

Cognitivism
The school of psychology that sees humans as active participants in their environment; studies
mental processes such as memory, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, perception,
language, and other forms of cognition. Cognitive psychology follows behaviorism by
understanding the mind through scientific experimentation, but it differs from behaviorism by
accepting that psychologists can study and understand the internal workings of the mind and
mental processes. This school of thought rejects psychoanalysis as it regards psychoanalytic
theories about the subconscious mind as subjective and not open to scientific analysis.

Associationism
This school of psychology was established in the early 18th century by David Harley after
Edward Lee Thorndike had started it. According to Thorndike all our behavior and learning can
be explained in terms of stimulus-response (S-R) connections. The pioneers of this school
include: Ivan Pavlov, Edward Lee Thorndike, B.F Skinner, and Hull.
The school of Psychophysics
This was the earliest of all schools of psychology and originated from the search of all contents
in psychology. This school looked at all psychology as experimental psychology. It was founded
by Theodore Fechner whose work was inspired by Ebbinghaus who then started carrying out
researchers on memory (short and long term).

Perspectives of psychology

An approach is a perspective (i.e., view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e., beliefs) about
human behavior: the way they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study and what
research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study. There may be several different
theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions.

You may wonder why there are so many different psychology perspectives and whether one
approach is correct and others wrong. Most psychologists would agree that no one perspective is
correct, although in the past, in the early days of psychology, the behaviorist would have said
their perspective was the only truly scientific one.

Each perspective has its strengths and weaknesses, and brings something different to our
understanding of human behavior. For this reason, it is important that psychology does have
different perspectives on the understanding and study of human and animal behavior.

Below is a summary of the six main psychological approaches (sometimes called perspectives)
in psychology.

Behavioral perspective

If your layperson's idea of psychology has always been about people in laboratories wearing
white coats and watching hapless rats try to negotiate mazes in order to get to their dinner, then
you are probably thinking about behavioral psychology.

Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and animals) as
controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned
from our environment. Behaviorism is concerned with how environmental factors (called
stimuli) affect observable behavior (called the response).

The behaviorist approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their
environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning
involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the
consequences of behavior.

Classical conditioning (CC) was studied by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Though
looking into natural reflexes and neutral stimuli he managed to condition dogs to salivate to the
sound of a bell through repeated associated with the sound of the bell and food.

B.F. Skinner investigated operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behavior. Skinner
felt that some behavior could be explained by the person's motive. Therefore behavior occurs for
a reason, and the three main behavior shaping techniques are positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, and punishment.

Behaviorism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g., controlled experiments), and that only
observable behavior should be studied because this can be objectively measured. Behaviorism
rejects the idea that people have free will, and believes that the environment determines all
behavior. Behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior working on the basis that
behavior can be reduced to learned S-R (Stimulus-Response) units.

Behaviorism has been criticized in the way it under-estimates the complexity of human behavior.
Many studies used animals which are hard to generalize to humans, and it cannot explain, for
example, the speed in which we pick up language. There must be biological factors involved.

Psychodynamic perspective
Who hasn't heard of Sigmund Freud? So many expressions of our daily life come from Freud's
theories of psychoanalysis - subconscious, denial, repression and anal personality to name only a
few.

Freud believes that events in our childhood can have a significant impact on our behavior as
adults. He also believed that people have little free will to make choices in life. Instead, our
behavior is determined by the unconscious mind and childhood experiences.

Freud’s psychoanalysis is both a theory and therapy. It is the original psychodynamic theory and
inspired psychologists such as Jung and Erikson to develop their own psychodynamic theories.
Freud’s work is vast, and he has contributed greatly to psychology as a discipline.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, explained the human mind as like an iceberg, with only a
small amount of it being visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is the unconscious,
submerged mind that has the most, underlying influence on our behavior. Freud used three main
methods of accessing the unconscious mind: free association, dream analysis and slips of the
tongue.

He believed that the unconscious mind consisted of three components: the id, ego and superego.
The 'id' contains two main instincts: 'Eros', which is the life instinct, which involves self-
preservation and sex which is fuelled by the 'libido' energy force. 'Thanatos' is the death instinct,
whose energies, because they are less powerful than those of 'Eros' are channeled away from
ourselves and into aggression towards others.

The 'id' and the 'superego' are constantly in conflict with each other, and the 'ego' tries to resolve
the discord. If this conflict is not resolved, we tend to use defense mechanisms to reduce our
anxiety. Psychoanalysis attempts to help patients resolve their inner conflicts.

An aspect of psychoanalysis is Freud's theory of psychosexual development. It shows how early

experiences affect adult personality. Stimulation of different areas of the body is important as the
child progresses through the important developmental stages. Too much or too little can have
bad consequences later.

The most important stage is the phallic stage where the focus of the libido is on the genitals.
During this stage little boys experience the 'Oedipus complex,' and little girls experience the
'Electra complex.' These complexes result in children identifying with their same-sex parent,
which enables them to learn sex-appropriate behavior and a moral code of conduct.

However, it has been criticized in the way that it over emphasizes the importance of sexuality
and under emphasized of the role of social relationships. The theory is not scientific, and can't be
proved as it is circular. Nevertheless, psychoanalysis has been greatly contributory to psychology
in that it has encouraged many modern theorists to modify it for the better, using its basic
principles, but eliminating its major flaws.

Humanistic perspective
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole
person (know as holism). Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through
the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.

Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to his inner feelings
and self-image. The humanistic perspective centers on the view that each person is unique and
individual, and has the free will to change at any time in his or her lives.

The humanistic perspective suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and
well-being as humans. We have the innate (i.e., inborn) capacity for self-actualization, which is
our unique desire to achieve our highest potential as people.

Because of this focus on the person and his or her personal experiences and subjective perception
of the world the humanists regarded scientific methods as inappropriate for studying behavior.

Two of the most influential and enduring theories in humanistic psychology that emerged in the
1950s and 1960s are those of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Cognitive perspective

The cognitive perspective is concerned with “mental” functions such as memory, perception and
attention etc. It views people as being similar to computers in the way we process information
(e.g., input-process-output). For example, both human brains and computers process information,
store data and have input an output procedure.

This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory comprises of three stages: encoding
(where information is received and attended to), storage (where the information is retained) and
retrieval (where the information is recalled).

The focus is on how people think, understand and know about the world

Biological perspective

According to Charles Darwin (1859), genetics and evolution play a role in influencing human
behavior through natural selection. How nerve cells are joined together

Theorists in the biological perspective who study behavioral genomics consider how genes affect
behavior. Now that the human genome is mapped, perhaps, we will someday understand more
precisely how behavior is affected by the DNA we inherit. Biological factors such as
chromosomes, hormones and the brain all have a significant influence on human behavior, for
example, gender.

The neuroscience perspective.

This is concerned with how people and nonhumans function

Conclusion

Therefore, in conclusion, there are so many different perspectives in psychology to explain the
different types of behavior and give different angles. No one perspective has explanatory powers
over the rest.

Only with all the different types of psychology, which sometimes contradict one another (nature-
nurture debate), overlap with each other (e.g. psychoanalysis and child psychology) or build
upon one another (biological and health psychologist) can we understand and create effective
solutions when problems arise, so we have a healthy body and a healthy mind.

The fact that there are different perspectives represents the complexity and richness of human
(and animal) behavior. A scientific approach, such as behaviorism or cognitive psychology,
tends to ignore the subjective (i.e., personal) experiences that people have.

The humanistic perspective does recognize human experience, but largely at the expense of
being non-scientific in its methods and ability to provide evidence. The psychodynamic
perspective concentrates too much on the unconscious mind and childhood. As such, it tends to
lose sight of the role of socialization (which is different in each country) and the possibility of
free will.

The biological perspective reduces humans to a set of mechanisms and physical structures that
are clearly essential and important (e.g., genes). However, it fails to account for consciousness
and the influence of the environment on behavior.

Contribution of psychology to the theory and practice of education

Psychology has greatly contributed to the development and enrichment of the field of education
in the following ways;
 Understanding development characteristics: it is necessary for a teacher to know about
the development stages of the learner in order to help him or her achieve the goals of
education.
 Understanding classroom learning: educational psychology enables the teacher to manage
his/her class and ensure that learners derive maximum benefit from the learning process.
The teacher will know how to utilize the principles of learning to assist his/her learners.
 Will know how to identify and cater for individual learners’ differences in intelligence,
personality, age, sex, emotions, etc.
 Enables the teacher to develop new strategies of teaching and determine which methods
of teaching are appropriate and beneficial to the learner.
 Enables the teacher to identify learners’ problems and to apply appropriate remedies.
 Enables the teacher to identify maladjusted learners and factors responsible for the
maladjustments using the knowledge of mental health and improve the learning
environment
  Curriculum construction-psychological principles are used in the formulation of
curriculum
 Measuring learning-psychological principles and methods are used in measuring and
evaluating learners
 Educational psychology helps teachers to develop skills in research. Through educational
psychology, we can control, direct and predict the behavior of learners on the basis of
research conducted in the classroom.
 Guidance and counseling of learners at all levels by using psychological principles.
 Understanding group dynamics-educational psychology helps teachers to identify
relationships in class, students’ social behavior and group dynamics.
 Enables the teacher to ensure that there is discipline in his/her class.

METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY

There are number of methods to study human behavior and these are:-

1. Introspection. This is also known as self-observation method. Introspection means ‘to look
within’. It is not possible to understand the inner feelings and experiences of other persons. But
the individual himself can observe and report. Example: A student can report about his pains and
other disturbances in a better way than by a teacher. He will look within himself and explain how
he is feeling. This will help for a better help. Though Introspection is a useful method and the
advantage with it is that it is cheap and easy to use. However, it has some demerits and these
include:

 We cannot verify the reports given by the observer hence we have to accept his report.
 At times even if he is reporting correctly there may be distortions
 This method cannot be used to study children, animals and persons suffering from mental
disorders.

2. Observation Method: This method is very useful in the areas where experiments cannot be
conducted. In this method the observer will observe and collect the data. Example: In the
classroom the teacher will make observation of students’ behaviors. This method is very useful
to study the children, mentally ill, animals and unconscious patients. At times the observer will
go to the natural settings, situations, etc. in order to get the objective data. Because, in natural
settings the person being observed will not be aware that he is being observed, his behavior will
be natural/ original. Hence, this method is also known as ‘naturalistic observation’ or ‘objective
observation’ method. This is a very good and useful method.

3. Experimental Method:
This is the most objective way of studying the behavior. In this method, experiments are
conducted in the laboratories under controlled conditions.

The advantage of this method is that, the results of the experiment may be verified by repetition
of the same experiment. But this method has some demerits also.

They are:

(a) Conducting experiment is very expensive and time consuming;

(b) Another feature is that the experiments cannot be conducted outside the laboratory.

4. Clinical Method/Case History Method: This method is used very commonly in hospitals
and also in educational settings. In education setting, when a student is admitted, the teachers can
collect the detailed information pertaining the student. The information includes the past history
of the disease, school performance, etc.. This information may be obtained from the student, his
close relatives like parents, siblings or others who accompany him or from his friends, neighbors,
etc.

5. Survey Method: This is used to gather the information from large number of people.
Questionnaires, checklists, rating scales, inventories are used to collect the required
information.

6. Genetic Method/developmental method: This method is also called as developmental

method. Most of our behaviors are the result of earlier experiences. In some cases when we need
to understand some behavior we need to know their developmental aspects also. For example, in
order to understand the behavior of adults we need to know their childhood development.

This can be done by two ways:

(a) Cross-sectional study in which, the children of different age groups will be studied
simultaneously,

(b) Longitudinal study in which, the same individual will be studied in different stages of life.

7. Testing Method: Different tests are developed by psychologists to study various aspects of
behavior. The attitudes, interests, abilities, intelligence, adjustments, personality and such other
factors which influence behavior, can be studied by administering the suitable tests.

(Read about the advantages and disadvantages of each method of psychological study)
HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Human growth is the quantitative increase in the size and height of an individual.
It is the systematic visible increase in weight, height, girth (burst) of an individual from the time
of conception up to the time of early adulthood (between 18-21 years)
Human development is the progressive sequence of qualitative change of an organism. It begins
at conception and is continuous until death (under normal circumstances). It involves biological,
emotional, social, cognitive and psychological processes in an unending sequence of interactions
some of them are systematic and orderly while some are unpredictable.

The physical growth under normal circumstances is systematic, biological development e.g. on
set of menstruation, change of voice are also predictable while social, emotional and other
psychological factors are unpredictable.eg loss of a mother or a close relative, occasional lack of
food, provocation may result into unpredictable emotional/ psychological developments.

Growth and development are closely related and inter-dependent processes. E.g. a change in
physical growth may trigger a change in emotional, cognitive or social development.
Adolescence for example causes many physical and psychological changes in an individual. But
on attainment of adulthood, individuals change in the emotions, social interactions, and cognitive
ability. In other words, as a child increases in size, she matures in structure and functions and her
behaviors become more complex e.g. will learn to tell lies, to reason etc.

Growth and development are the result of the interaction of the influences of heredity and the
environment.

Principles of growth and development.

According to various psychologists like Erickson, Piaget, Bruner etc, growth and development
constitute the fundamental i.e.,

 Growth and development processes are gradual i.e. they occur unnoticed at given
moments and are not bullet shot (drastic)
 Both processes are directional i.e. they start and move towards a direction ie
cephalocaudal and proximal- distal.
 Cephalocaudal means the development is from head to tail. Infants learn to control
movements of the head parts first. New borns have good movement control of the eyes
(tracking), rooting, sucking and swallowing.
 Proximaldistal (near to far) refers to progression of physical development from the
centre of the body outwards. Activities to do with the central nervous system are
controlled before the ones to do with the peripheral nervous system.
 Growth and development are orderly and continuous (no sharp demarcation)
 Growth and development processes precede stages i.e. one must occur before the other.
 The rate of these processes is not uniform in all individuals nor in all stages.
 Growth and development are influenced by heredity as well as the environment.
 Gender sometimes influences growth and development i.e. females tend to mature more
rapidly than males. For example a girl of 20 years looks at herself to be at the level of a
male of 28 years.
 They are both cumulative i.e. each change is an accumulation of previous aspects of the
process.
Maturation
 This is the innately determined sequence of growth and development that may or may not
be influenced by the environment (eg the fetus in the uterus will mature/ develop at the
same rate with that in an incubator). Maturation is dependent on age and learning.
 According to the maturation theory, many innate behavior patterns appear only when the
organisms/ individual has reached the right stage of physical/ physiological maturity e.g.
ability to speak/ walk.
 Maturation and learning are very closely related aspects. Maturation may make certain
aspects of behavior to occur and that behavior must be learned before it can be used e.g.
walking, reading etc.
 Maturation crisis
 This is the form of crisis caused by a person having difficulty adjusting to the transition
from one stage of development or stage of life to another.
 Maturation is most apparent during childhood and adolescence but it also continues into
adult life
PRECOCITY

This refers to early maturation. Or it is the unusual development before the actual time.

Mary Ainthworth an American Psychologist carried out research on the development of the
Ugandan child between 1963-1967. She studied a group of children whose mothers were
attending clinic at Mulago hospital and Kasangati health center. She especially looked at motor
development, cognitive development, social development and emotional development.

In terms of motor development, she looked at their locomotion (crawling, sitting, walking
standing).

Cognitive development she looked at alertness, responsiveness, language development.

In social emotional development she looked at especially the weaning period.

She then compared her results with Gasell scale results obtained from study of American
children.

She found out that Ugandan children development stages were 3-4 months in advance in terms of
crawling, sitting and walking as compared to their American counterparts. In terms of cognitive
development, Ugandan children were very alert and were quite early in language development in
terms of cooing and giggling.

Factors influencing precocity in Ugandan (African) children.

 In the African culture, the arrival of the baby is always looked forward to and doesn’t
cause anxiety like in the European and American cultures.
 A lot of physical stimulation and contact between mother/ care taker and the child.
Mothers share beds with their babies and are carried on the back all of which provide
close physical contact and warmth for the baby yet western children are always left in
cribs alone.
 The support from extended families. In typical African homes, extended families are
common. The child is handled by many people other than parents. The extended family
reduces the amount of stress the child experiences. This helps to create a state of balance
in the child’s systems.
  Majority of African children are breast fed.

Factors leading to loss of precocity

Around the age of two (2), the precocity in the African child disappears and the child in the
western world catches up rapidly and even develops faster. This is because of the following;

 After the first year, the child is left to wonder on his or her own with little assistance from
adults. He/she loses the attention and nurturance that he/she has been enjoying. But the
European and American child now receives greater attention.
 Weaning in many African cultures is harsh and abrupt. The loss of emotional support
from the mother depresses the psychological comfort of the child who may lose appetite
and hence be malnourished.
 After the child is weaned, she/he is introduced to a highly carbohydrate diet and this
retards the rate of physical and mental development.
 Sometimes African children are physically separated from their parents and sent to their
relatives who may not look after the child like real parents.
THE ANTE NATAL /PRENATAL / NEONATAL PERIOD OF GROWTH AND
DEVELOPMENT.
 This is the period before birth (the first 9 months of life)
 Growth of a person starts right at the moment the sperm cells from the male unite with
the ova from the female during the act of sexual intercourse (natural way) the union
between the sperm and the ovum is called fertilization or conception. It occurs in the
fallopian tubes. The newly fertilized egg is called the zygote. The zygote stays in the
mother’s womb for a period of about 38 weeks (9 months) and this period is called
gestation. There are three stages of gestation or prenatal growth which are also broken
into trimesters each of three months.
Germinal stage or the zygote stage
 This occurs between 0-2 weeks from fertilization. During this stage, the zygote divides its
self into two cells through a process of mitosis. This process continues the zygote
changing from two cells to four up to a dozen of cells by the fourth day. During the next
 4-5 days, the zygote descends through the fallopian tube and implants itself in the blood
lined walls of the uterus.
 By the fifth day, the cells form a hollow fluid-filled ball called a blastocyt. The cells on
the inside called the embryonic disk will become the new organism, and the outer ring
will provide protective covering known as the placenta which allows oxygen, nutrients
and other substances to be transferred between the mother and the baby. A membrane
called the amnion forms that enclose the developing organism in the amniotic fluid, a
York sac also appears, it produces blood cells until the developing liver, and spleen and
bone marrow are mature enough to take over this function (Moore and Persuad, 1993).
The placenta is connected to the developing organism by the umbilical cord. The
umbilical cord contains one large vein that delivers blood loaded with nutrients and two
arteries that remove waste products. The force of blood flowing through the cord keeps it
firm much like a garden horse so it seldom tangles while the embryo, like a space
walking astronaut, floats freely in its fluid like chamber (Moore and persuad, 1993).
The embryonic stage
 This is between 2-8 weeks. It is a critical period because all parts of the body are
forming. The
embryo develops within a covering called amniotic sac with three layers, namely the
ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. The ectoderm is the outer layer of the sac from
which later the skin, sensory organs, nervous system (brain and spinal cord) will develop.
The mesoderm is the middle layer from which the muscles, circulatory system, and
skeleton system will form. The endoderm is the inner layer which ultimately will form
digestive, glands, respiratory and lining of internal organs. These three layers give rise to
all parts of the body. By the end of the first month, a primitive and spinal cord appear.
Heart, muscles, back bone ribs and digestive tract begin to develop. In the 2nd month,
many external body structures e.g. face, arms, legs, toes, fingers and internal organs form.
The sense of touch begins to develop and the embryo can move. By the eighth week,
organogenesis (organ development) is complete.

The fetal stage

 This occurs between eight weeks up to birth. In the third month, the organs, muscles and
nervous system start to be organized and connected, the brain signals and in response the
fetus moves (bends, kicks, opens its mouth and even sucks). The lungs begin to expand
and contrast (breathing) and by the 12th week, the external genitals are well formed and
the sex of the fetus can be detected with ultra sound. The heart beat is strong and can be
heard through a stethoscope. By this time the fetus is an inch long. That is the end of the
1st trimester.
2nd trimester
 By middle of the second trimester, between 17 and 20 weeks, the new being has grown
large enough and is about 12 inches and weighs about 1.8 pounds and its movements can
be felt by the mother.
 Vernix and lanugo (white cheese like substance) keep the fetus from chapping in the
amniotic fluid. The 20 week old fetus can be stimulated as well irritated by sounds and if
a doctor has reason to look inside the uterus with fetoscopy, fetuses try to shield their
eyes from the light with their hands, indicating that the sense of light has begun to
emerge. All the neurons that will be produced in the brain are present by 24 weeks. Still a
fetus born at this time cannot survive because its lungs are too immature and the brain has
not yet developed to the point at which it can control breathing movements and body
temperature.
The 3rd trimester
 This is between 25- 38-40 weeks. During the final trimester, a fetus born early has a
chance of survival. The point at which the baby can survive is called the age of viability.
If born between the 7th and 8th month, breathing would be a problem so oxygen assistance
would be necessary. Size continues to increase. Lungs gradually mature, rapid brain
development causes sensory and behavior capacities to expand. In the middle of this
period, a layer of fat is added under the skin to assist with temperature regulation.
Antibodies are transmitted from the mother to the fetus to protect against diseases.
 In the last weeks, most fetuses assume an upside-down position, partly because the shape
of the uterus and because the head is heavier than the feet. Growth starts to slow and birth
is about to take place. At this time, most fetuses are 19-21 inches and weigh around 2.5
kgs.
PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES (problems in prenatal development)

 Genetic disorders

Genetic inheritance

Two or more forms of each gene occur at the same place on the chromosomes, one inherited
from the mother and one from the father. Each different form of gene is called an allele. If the
alleles from both parents are alike, the child is said to be homozygous and will display the
inherited trait. If the alleles are different, then the child is heterozygous, and the relationships
between the alleles determine the trait that will appear. In many heterozygous pairings, only one
allele affects the child’s characteristics. It is called dominant; the second allele, which has no
effect, is called recessive. Heterozygous individuals with just one recessive allele can pass on the
trait to their children and they are called carriers. Harmful genes can be created through
mutations (a sudden but permanent change in the segment of DNA) a mutation can affect one or
two genes. It may also involve many genes as in the case of chromosome disorders. Some
mutations occur by chance and others are caused by hazardous environmental agents that enter
our food supply or present in the air we breathe.

The disorders in the genetic makeup can be distinguished by whether they involve autosomes or
sex chromosomes

 Autosomal anomalies
1. PKU (phenylkenonuria).

Here the recessive gene causes a baby to have problems digesting the amino acid
phenylalanine. Toxins build up in the baby’s brain and cause mental retardation. PKU affects
the way the body breaks down proteins contained in many foods such as cow’s milk, bread,
eggs and fish.

Sickle cell anemia. (A heterozygous condition present in many black Africans).

It occurs in full form when a child inherits two recessive alleles. They cause the usually round
red blood cells to become sickle shaped, a response that is especially great under low oxygen
 conditions. The sickle cell clog the blood vessels and block the flow of blood. Individuals who
have the disorder suffer severe attacks involving intense pain, swelling and tissue damage.

Sex linked anomalies

i. Red green color blindness; this is a condition where one cannot tell the difference
between shades of green and red.
ii. Hemophilia. The blood of people with hemophilia lacks the chemical components that
cause blood to clot. Thus, when a person with hemophilia bleeds, the bleeding doesn’t
stop naturaly.

 Chromosomal abnormalities or errors

A variety of problems can be caused when a child has too many or too few chromosomes, a
condition referred to as chromosomal error or chromosomal anomaly. Like genetic disorders,
these are distinguished by whether they involve autosomes or sex chromosomes. Trisomies. A
trisomy is a condition in which a child 3 copies of a specific autosome. The most common are;

a. Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21)

It results from a failure of the 21st pair of chromosome to separate during meiosis, so the
individual inherits three of these chromosomes rather than the normal 2. These children are
mentally retarded, have speech difficulties, limited vocabulary, slow motor development, a
shortened face, protruding tongue, almond shaped eyes. They also have heart defects. The risk of
bearing a child with trisomy 21 is greatest for mothers over 35.

b. Patau’s syndrome. (Also called trisomy 13)

This is a result of non disjunction of chromosome 13. Most chromosome 13 cases are aborted
before birth. Of those born alive, 90% die during the first year of life. Those few who survive
beyond the age of two years suffer from severe mental retardation. Patau’s syndrome is
characterized by ; wide spread eyes, beaked nose, clefts of lip and palate, small chin most often
polydactyl(with extra toes and fingers.) or “trigger thumb” where the thumb and index fingers
overlap the third finger. Malformed genitals where nearly all males affected have undescended
testes.
Edward’s syndrome also called trisomy 18.
This is due to non disjunction of chromosome 18. About 1 in every 4000 live births has this case
of an extra 18th chromosome. It occurs 3 times more frequently in females than males. Of those
born alive, survival beyond one year is rare. Children who suffer from such condition have the
following characteristics; Mental retardation, Odd shaped head (flattened with long behind),
Short thumbs, low set ears, small mouth and they are difficult to feed., The index finger overlaps
the middle finger and ring finger (fusion of the fingers and a peculiar finger folding parten),
Clefts of the lip and palate. Heart defects are found in nearly all Edwards’s syndrome cases.)
Sex chromosome anomalies
1. Turner’s syndrome (X0)

This has a total of 45 chromosomes instead of (46) with xx. This is a problem in females.
Individuals with Turner’s are anatomically females but show stunted growth and are usually
sterile. Without hormone therapy, they do not menstruate or develop breasts at puberty. About
one fourth have serious heart defects. These girls also show an imbalance in there cognitive
skills.

2. Klinefliter’s syndrome.

It is also caused by non disjunction of the sex chromosomes. Where some males acquire an
extra x chromosome thus having XXY. Affected males usually look normal but have
underdeveloped testes and as adults very low sperm production. Most are not mentally
retarded but many have language and learning difficulties. At puberty, these boys experience
both male and female changes. For example, their penis enlarges and their breasts develop.

3. Super male with XYY.

Such males are taller than average and have large teeth. They usually experience normal puberty
and they have no difficulty fathering children.

4. Triple x syndrome (XXX)

It is caused by inheritance of an extra X chromosome. These females have impaired verbal

intelligence. Affected girls are no different in appearance or sexual development from normal
age mates, except for a great tendency towards tallness.
  Teratogens.

These refer to any environmental agent that causes damage during the prenatal period

i. Maternal diseases.

They are diseases that affect the mother but if not treated early can be deadly to the fetus. for
example rubella(German measles), HIV virus that causes AIDS is one of the many STDS that
can be passed directly from the mother to the fetus. Other STDS include syphilis; genital herpes
gonorrhea can cause birth defects like eye, ear and brain defects.

ii. Drugs

Any drugs including many whose safety we take for granted (e.g. antibiotics), can be teratogenic.
Unless the drug is absolutely necessary to a woman’s health, doctors recommend avoiding drugs
of any kind unless recommended by medical personels.

iii. Cigarette smoking

When a mother smokes during pregnancy the fetus is exposed to nicotine, tar, and carbon
monoxide. Nicotine the addictive substance in tobacco can cause the placenta to grow
abnormally. As a result blood flow and transfer of nutrients to the fetus is reduced because it
constricts the blood vessels. The reduction of blood and oxygen flow results in stillbirth, low
birth weight etc. There is an increase of risk of sudden death syndrome (SIDS) in infants.
Nicotine also increases the risk for miscarriages and premature births or infant mortality. There
has been a link from smoking during pregnancy that led to asthma in childhood. Low birth
weight and premature births can also increase the risk of asthma if a mother smoked during
pregnancy because of the effects on the respiratory system of the fetus.

iv. Alcohol

Alcohol use leads to disruptions of the fetus's brain development, interferes with the fetus's cell
development and organization, and affects the maturation of the central nervous system. Alcohol
use can lead to heart and other major organ defects, such as small brain, which will affect the
fetus's learning behaviors. Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause behavioral problems in a
child, mental problems or retardation and facial abnormalities

v. Marijuan, heroin and cocaine

Significant numbers of pregnant women all over the world take various illegal drugs. The most
frequently used are marijuana, cocaine and heroin. These will slow the fetal growth rate and can
result in premature delivery. They can also lead to low birth weight, a shortened gestational
period and complications in delivery. The fetus is also put at a great risk for low birth weight and
respiratory problems.

vi. Environmental toxins

Exposure to environmental toxins in pregnancy lead to higher rates of miscarriage, sterility, and
birth defects. Toxins include fetal exposure to lead, mercury, and ethanol or hazardous
environments.

 Other maternal factors

a. Mother's age

Women between the ages of 20 and 35 have a healthier environment for a fetus than women
under 20 or over 35. Women between this age gap are more likely to have fewer complications.
Women over 35 are more inclined to have a longer labor period, which could potentially result in
death of the mother or fetus. There is a risk of Down syndrome for infants born to those aged
over 40 years. Young teenaged mothers (younger than 20) and mothers over 35 are more
exposed to the risks of miscarriages, premature births, and birth defects.

b. Mother's diet and physical health

An adequate nutrition is needed for a healthy fetus. A lack of iron results in anemia in the fetus,
the lack of calcium can result in poor bone and teeth formation, and the lack of protein can lead
to a smaller fetus and mental retardation. So failure for a mother to have adequate nutrition, her
body will destroy itself to get nutrients for the baby. This may also weaken the mother leading to
anemia, miscarriage or sometimes still birth.
 c. Maternal emotional state

Stress makes a mother’s body to produce or reduce production of various hormones in the body.
This effect alters the chemical composition of blood making it less favorable to child
development. Thyroxin deficiency causes mental deficiency called crentism(a child cannot move
straight but keeps on moving in a circle. The respiratory rate can be higher than normal or vice
versa) poor production of pituitary growth hormone will lead to poor development of bones and
tissues. This also affects the development of the body organs. A good attitude towards pregnancy
may result into proper care and nutrition but a poor attitude may lead to self neglect, drug abuse,
poor antenatal attendance, poor nutrition and these all can cause damage to the fetus leading to
abortion, or poor physical development.

d. RH factor (Rhesus)

This is an incompatibility between the mother and baby in a blood protein. When the mother is
RH negative (lacks the protein) and the father is RH positive (has the protein), the baby may
inherit the father’s Rh positive blood type if the father’s Rh is dominant and the mother’s
recessive. During the third trimester and at the time of birth, some maternal and fetal blood cells
usually cross the placenta, generally in small amounts to be quite safe. But if even a little of the
baby’s Rh positive blood passes into the mother’s Rh negative blood stream, the blood of the
mother will look at the baby as a germ or virus. It therefore will produce antibodies that will go
to destroy the baby it considers as a foreign body. If these enter the baby’s system, they destroy
red blood cells reducing supply of oxygen. Mental retardation, damage of the heart muscle and
infant death can occur. It also results into frequent miscarriages with each additional pregnancy.

e. Accidents and physical exercises

Adequate physical exercise stimulates and activates the fetus. This makes it become lively and
reduce the risk of dormancy at birth. On the other hand, over exercise may lead to the fetus being
deprived of oxygen by mother’s over demanding body. Over exercise also may lead to over
utilization of food nutrients by the mother at the expense of the fetus. This therefore retards child
development. The exercises may also lead to accidents that may damage the fetus leading to
miscarriages.
 CHILD BIRTH

The physical process of birth

Once gestation is complete, the fetus must be born, an event that holds some pain as well as a good deal
of joy for most parents. It is not surprising that child birth is often referred as labor. It is the hardest
physical work a woman may ever do. A complex series of hormonal changes initiates the process, which
naturally divides into three stages.

1) Dilation and effacement of the cervix

This is the longest stage of labor, lasting on average 12 to 16 hours in the 1st birth and 4 to 6 hours in
later birth. The cervix (the opening of the bottom of the uterus) must open up like the lense of a
camera (dilation) and also flatten out (effacement). At the time of actual delivery, the cervix must
normally be dilated to about 10 centimeters (about 4 inches). Stage I is divided into phases. In the
early (or latent) phase, contractions are relatively far apart and typically are not too uncomfortable. In
the active phase, which begins when the cervix is 3 to 4 centimeters dilated and continues until
dilation has reached 8 centimeters, contractions are closer together are more intense. The last two
centimeters of dilation are achieved during a phase usually called transition. It is in this, phase when
contractions are closely spaced and strong, that women typically find the most painful. But it is the
shortest phase.

At the end of the transition phase, the mother will normally have the argue to help the infant
emerge by pushing. When the birth attendant is sure the cervix is fully dilated, she or he will
encourage this by pushing and stage two of labor, the actual delivery begins
2) Delivery of the baby

When the birth attendant is sure the cervix is fully dilated, she or he will encourage this by pushing
and actual delivery begins. This stage lasts for about 50 minutes in a 1st birth and about 20 minutes in
later birth. The baby’s head moves past the stretched cervix, into the birth canal, and finally out of the
mother’s body.

3) Birth of the placenta.

Labor comes to an end with a few contractions and pushes. These cause the placenta to separate from
the wall of the uterus and be delivered, a stage that usually lasts about 5 to 10 minutes.

Cesarean deliveries

Sometime it is necessary to deliver a baby surgically through incisions made in the abdominal and uterine
walls. There are several situations that justify the use of this operation called a cesarean section (c-
section) such as a breech presentation in which an infant’s feet or bottoms are delivered first. This is
associated with collapse of the umbilical cord (ACOG, 2001). Other factors include fetal distress, during
labor, labor that fails to progress in a reasonable amount of time, a fetus that is too large to be delivered
virginally and maternal health conditions that may be aggravated by virginal delivery (e.g. cardiovascular
disease, spinal injury) or may be dangerous to a virginally delivered fetus (e.g. herpes)
Risks associated include allergic reactions to anesthetic, infection, accidental injuries to other organs as
well as the fetus and excessive blood loss.

Assessing the new born

New born babies have large heads and small bodies. To quickly asses the baby’s physical condition,
doctors and nurses use the Apgar scale. An Apgar score of seven or better indicates that the infant is in
good condition, a score between 4 and 6 indicates that the baby requires special help in establishing
breathing and other vital signs and if the score is 3 or below, the infant is in serious danger and
emergency medical attention is needed.

The Apgar scale

Sign score

0 1 2

Heart rate No heart beat Under 100 beats per 110 to 140 beats per
minute minute

Respiratory effort No breathing for 20 Irregular shallow Strong breathing and

seconds breathing crying

Reflex No response Weak reflexive response Strong reflexive

irritability(sneezing, response
coughing, and
grimacing)

Muscle tone Completely limp Weak movements of Strong movements of

arms and legs arms and legs

Color Blue body, arms and Body pink with blue Body, arm, and legs
legs arms and legs completely pink

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AFTER BIRTH (POST NATAL)

Of all animals, human beings are the most immature at birth. They require the longest period of
development before they become self reliant. They are dependants for many years and require a
long period of learning and interaction with others before becoming self-reliant.

The most widely used classification of developmental periods after birth involves the following
sequence;
Infancy; (birth to 18 months), early childhood (infancy to about 5-6 years), middle and late
childhood (6-11 years), adolescence (approximately 10 to 12 ending at 18-21 years), early
adulthood (late teens or early twenties through the thirties), middle adulthood ( approximately
35-45 up to sixties), late adulthood ( sixties to death)

Infancy (birth to 18 or 24 months). Infancy is a time of extreme dependency on adults. Many

psychological activities are just beginning for example language development, symbolic thought,
sensorimotor coordination and social learning.

Early childhood (pre school years). This extends from infancy to about 5 or 6 years. During
this time children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves, develop
school readiness skills (following instructions, identifying letters) and spend many hours in play.

Middle and late childhood ( 6-11 years). Children master the fundamental skills of reading,
writing, and arithmetic and they are formally exposed to the larger world and culture.
Achievement becomes a more central theme of the child’s world and self-control increases.

Adolescence. (10-12 to 18-21 years). The landmark for puberty (beginning of adolescence ) in
boys is spermache and in girls is menarche. This begins with rapid physical changes- dramatic
gains in height and weight changes in body contour, and the development of sexual
characteristics such as enlargement of the breasts, development of pubic hair, change in voice. At
this stage, the pursuit of independence and an identity are prominent. Thought is more logical,
abstract and idealistic.

Early adulthood. (late teens/early twenties to 35 years.). it is a time of establishing personal

and economic independence, a time of career development and for many, a time of selecting a
mate, learning to live with someone in an intimate way, starting a family and rearing children

Middle adulthood (35-45 years-60). It is the time of expanding personal and social involvement
and responsibility, of assisting generation in becoming competent, mature individuals and of
reaching and maintaining satisfaction in one’s career.

Late adulthood.(60/70-death). It is a time of adjusting to decreasing strength and health, life

review, retirement and adjusting to new social roles

FACTORS THAT INFLUNCE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

 Heredity
 Environmental factors
Growth and development are the result of the interaction of the influences of heredity and the
environment.

Both heredity (nature) and environmental (nurture) contribute to physical, emotional, social,
intellectual and language development of an individual. In some cases, biological and genetics
predominate while in others environment exerts more influence.

Heredity (nature) is the transmission of potentialities/ characteristics for physical, mental, social,
emotional etc from parents to off springs at conception. It is the nature of the individual’s make
up contained in the genes. The genes are carried on the chromosomes and the chromosomes are
carried in the parents’ reproductive cells i.e. sperm and ovum. Each reproductive cell contains 23
chromosomes. At fertilization the mother donates 23 chromosomes and the father too making a
total of 46 (23 pairs) of chromosomes in a normal person.

In adults, the reproductive cells (sperm and ovum) continuously divide themselves in a process
known as meiosis. This enables the genes and chromosomes to continuously divide into halves.
Each normal individual formed at fertilization therefore gets the 23 pairs of chromosomes. At
fertilization, the chromosomes arrange themselves in such a way that sex and body parts can
form normally.

The genes which are borne in the chromosomes determine physical characteristics such as
height, body size, color of the skin, eyes, hair, voice etc. they also determine behavior and
intelligence to a certain extent and the environment also plays a part. DNA (deoxyribonucleic
acid) contains genetic information. Because each parent donates 23 chromosomes, and each
chromosome contains thousands of genes and therefore thousands of combinations are possible.
Some of these genes are dominant while others are recessive. All these factors allow for
unlimited characters among brothers and sisters. This accounts for individual differences even
among siblings. Thus children of the same parents may be tall or short fat or thin, dark or light
skinned, clever/ dull, introverted/ extroverted.

Environment (nurture) refers to various external factors to which an individual is exposed from
conception to death. These external or environmental factors include physical environment (e.g.
second hand smoking and prenatal nutrition) and social environment (e.g. the media, and peer
pressure). Environmental factors may also involve families, friends, school systems, local
governments, global warming etc.

Nature- Nurture Debate

Since as early as 1930s, researchers have attempted to determine the contribution of hereditary
and environmental factors to human growth and development.

According to John Locke, a British philosopher, the mind of a newly born is a blank slate “tabula
rasa” the babies experience are written on a blank slate and all knowledge comes to us through
the senses i.e. what we see, hear, taste, smell and feel. According to John Lock, no knowledge is
in born.

In addition, behavioural psychologists J.B. Watson and B.F Skinner argued that human
bahaviour is capable of being hammered into any shape. To them, training can turn a child into
any kind of adult regardless of heredity. Watson further believes that, that environmental has
tremendous power to shape a child’s development.

On the other hand, in his theory of evolution (1859) Charles Darwin emphasised the biological
basis of behavior (nature). He believed that there was struggle for existaence for the limited
resources, survival is for the fittest and the less fit are out competed. Darwin emphasized that our
behavior and our ability to cope with situation is determined by our body make up (nature).

In the nature-nurture debate/controversy, day to day behaviours in individuals are an interplay of

heredity and environmental factors e.g., headache. For example, many biological diseases,
mental break down, ulcers can also be a result of psychological stressors in the environment
(nurture) e.g., heat, conflicts and anxiety due to social interactions, etc. Also people’s moods and
thoughts are often the result of genetic factors and the environment.

There’s a complex interplay between nature and nurture e.g., a person may eat well, and never
grow fat or may spend years working in a gym to build up physical strength but the biological
nature may limit him. Also, people may maximize their intellectual gifts through reading widely
and training but the nature will contribute to the limit.
It’s also important to note that psychologists have learned that inherited traits do not become
evident in behavior unless a person’s environment supports or encourages them. Thus a child
who has inherited some special talent must be given opportunities to express them e.g. a child
with a music talent should be encouraged by parents and be exposed to the instruments and
opportunities.

N: B The talented do not express their abilities at birth, instead the talents unfold as people
mature and interact with the environment.

Thus;-

1) Both nature and nurture affect expression of a trait such as intelligence, fatness, etc
2) The surrounding environment must make it possible for an inherited trait to be expressed.
3) The complex and constantly changing relationship between nature and nurture affects
behavior.

THEORIES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

PERSONALITY

Personality is the sum total of ways in which individual reacts to and interacts with others. It is
most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits.

Personality also refers to unique and relatively stable qualities that characterize an individual’s
behavior across different situations over a period of time.

Personality characteristics are relatively stable and enduring, often developed in childhood, and
affect the way we think, act, feel, and behave.

Individual personality patterns are both consistent and stable and unique and distinctive.

Personality: features
• It has both physical and psychological components.
• Its expression in terms of behavior is fairly unique in a given individual.
• Its main features do not easily change with time.
• It is dynamic in the sense that some of its features may change due to internal or external
situational demands. Thus, personality is adaptive to situations.
Types of personality
Different Psychologists give different approaches to types of personalities. We are going to refer
to Jung’s approach pf personality. Jung classified individual into two psychological types –
introvert, extrovert, and ambivert was added later on, as all individuals could not be fitted in only
these two types.
Introvert
An introvert limits his acquaintance to a few. This person is very conservative and suspicious of
the motives of others. He is not social and prefers to remain in the background on certain
occasions. He avoids embarrassment and public speaking. He is very reserved, self-centered,
introspective, absent minded, remains worried and is always day dreaming. He is generally slow
and hesitant to take the initiative. Philosophers, poets, and scientists are generally introverts.
Extrovert
An extrovert is socially adaptable and interested in people. He likes to make friends and very
soon creates a circle of friends around him. He prefers working in company with other people, is
talkative and fond of talking. He is self assertive and generally takes things lightly. He never
feels embarrassed. He has a keen sense of observation and is attentive. Reformers and social
workers are generally extroverts.
Ambivert
Ambivert types are placed in between extrovert and introverts. Their behavior is balanced. Their
psychic energy is partially directed inwards and partly outwards. They are interested in their own
thoughts and emotions and also in other persons and their action. Most of us belong to ambivert
type.

The factors affecting personality development include the following.

o Biological factors
o Family and social factors
o Cultural factors
o Situational factors

Biological factors

a) Heredity: heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical
stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, reflexes, energy level etc are
considered to be either completely or substantially influenced by who our parents are.
The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of individuals personality is
the molecular structure of the genes. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness,
fear and distress are more likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.
b) Physical features. The physical stature of an individual is also a contributing factor to
personality. E.g. the fact that a person is tall/short, fat /skinny, handsome/ugly will
 influence the person’s effect on others and in turn will affect self-concept which may
have impacts on personality.

Family and social factors

Family and social groups have a significant impact on personality development through
socialisation (a process by which an individual acquires behaviour potentials that are
acceptable and according to the standards of his family and social group) and identification
processes(a person identifies himself with a person whom he feels ideal in the family eg a
child trying to behave like his father).

Cultural factors.

Culture is considered as the major determinant of an individual’s personality. Culture is the

complex of beliefs, values and techiniques for dealing with the environment which are shared
among contempolaries and transmitted by one generation to the next.

Environment
Environment to which we are exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities. For
example, culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values that are passed along from one
generation to next and create consistencies over time. The environmental factors that exert
pressures on our personality formation are culture in which we raised, our early conditioning, the
norms among our family, friends, social groups, social interaction, etc that we experience.

Both heredity and environmental factors are important determinant of human personality.
Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but, an individual’s full potential will be determined
by how well s/he adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.
Situational factors

Situations influence the effects of heredity and the environment on personality. An individual’s
personality although generally stable and consistent does change in different situations. The
different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality.

Relevancy of studying personality to a teacher

 The knowledge of human personality enables the teacher to judge and follow the method
of guiding by selecting suitable teaching methods.
 This helps the teacher to properly plan the educational program to accomplish the
objectives for a desirable change in the learners.
 By studying the personality of learners, the teacher can understand the values and value
systems of his/her learners and can precede his/her work accordingly.
 By studying the personality of a particular learner, the teacher can get a clear idea about
his various traits such as sociability. If a person found with this trait, then he can be used
as a key communicator to promote developmental activities in a particular village.
  Similarly, learners with traits of empathy, sympathy, generosity can be engaged in
trustworthy works like sharing, helping etc.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Psycho dynamic theorists believe that development is an active dynamic process that is
strongly influenced by individual’s social and emotional experiences. A child’s development
occur in a series of stages, at each stage the child experiences conflicts which must be resolved in
order to go to the next stage.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.

Freud viewed the new born as a “seething cauldron” that is an inherently negative creature that is
driven by two kinds of biological instincts which he called Eros and Thanatos. Eros/life
instincts help a child to survive and directs life sustaining activities such as respiration, eating
among others. Thanatos/death instincts were viewed as a set of destructive forces present in all
human beings. Freud believed that eros is stronger than thanatos thus enabling us to survive than
self destruct. Freud thought that destructive acts like murder and war were out ward expressions
of the death instinct.

Components of personality development.

According to Freud, personality has three components. That is the id, ego and superego.

The id is a psychoanalytic term for the in born component of the personality that is driven by the
instincts. At birth the personality is id whose function is to serve the instincts by seeking objects
that will satisfy them. It is unconscious and has no contact with reality. It is also irrational
According to Freud, the id obeys the pleasurable principle strives to relieve tension by seeking
pleasure and avoiding pain and by seeking immediate gratification. We might have difficult time
satisfying our needs by relying on our irrational ids. Freud believed that these difficulties lead to
the second component of personality which is the ego.

The ego. This operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic and rational
ways of satisfying the id’s demands and sometimes ego must invest some of it’s available
psychic energy to block the id’s irrational thinking. The ego is partly conscious. It houses our
mental functions such as reasoning, problem solving and decision making.
Freud stressed that the ego’s mastery over id is reflected by its ability to delay gratification until
reality is served. Due to some difficulties found at this component of personality, it leads to the
third component, superego.

Superego. It works on the morality principle. This controls the id’s impulses especially those
that society forbids e.g. aggression, murder etc.. it also persuades the Ego to turn to moralistic
goals than simply realistic ones and strive to perform. Freud believed that between 3 to 6 year-
old children are gradually internalizing the moral standards of their parents. Thus the internalized
code of conduct form child’s superego.

The superego consists of 2 systems that is conscience this push the ego by making a person feel
bad through guilt. And the ideal self is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be.

 You can now see that the id and the super ego make life hard for the ego eg. Your ego
might say, “I want to have sex only occasionally and be sure to use an effective form of
birth control”. But your id is saying “ I want to be satisfied; sex feels good”. And your
superego is at work too, “I feel guilty about having sex”

DEFENCE MECHANISMS

Defense mechanisms are behaviors that people use to separate themselves from unpleasant
events, actions, or thoughts.

The idea of defense mechanisms comes from psychoanalytic theory, a psychological perspective
of personality that sees personality as the interaction between three components: id, ego, and
super-ego. These psychological strategies may help people put distance between themselves and
threats or unwanted feelings, such as guilt or shame.

First proposed by Sigmund Freud, this theory has evolved over time and contends that behaviors,
like defense mechanisms, are not under a person’s conscious control. In fact, most people do
them without realizing it.
According to Freud, besides the id, ego and the super ego, defense mechanisms are important in
understanding how personality works. The ego calls a number of strategies to resolve the conflict
between its demands for reality, the wishes of the id, and the constraints of the superego.
Defence mechanisms are the ego’s protective methods for reducing anxiety by unconsciously
distorting reality. Defence mechanisms are unconscious ie we are not aware we are calling on
them to protect our ego and reduce anxiety and when they are used in moderation or on a
temporary basis, they are not necessarily un healthy. Examples of defence mechanisms include;

Repression. This is a master defence mechanism. The ego pushes unacceptable impulses out of
the awareness, back into the unconscious mind. E.g. a young girl was sexually abused by her
uncle. As an adult, she can’t remember anything about the traumatic experience.

Rationalisation. Explaining an unacceptable behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner,

avoiding true reasons for the behavior (Fear of committing a crime). Eg a student reaches late in
class and blames late coming on traffic jam yet he/she woke up late. Someone who didn’t get a
course of his/her choice might say they didn’t want the course anyways.

Compensation : Overachieving in one area to compensate for failures in another. Eg one fails in
academics and compensates in sports

Displacement. The ego shifts unacceptable feelings from one object to another, more acceptable
object. E.g. a woman can’t take her anger out on her husband so she takes it on her children.

Sublimation. The ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable one. E.g. a
man with strong sex urges or desires becomes an artist who paints nudes. Someone with strong
aggressive powers resorts to boxing.

Projection. The ego attributes personal shortcomings, problems and faults to others. A man has
a strong desire to have an extramarital affair accuses his wife of flirting with other men.

Reaction formation. The ego transforms an unacceptable motive into its opposite. E.g. Joan
lavishes praises at her sister whom she feels jealousy about and hates.

Denial. The ego refuses to acknowledge anxiety producing realities. E.g. a man won’t
acknowledge that he has cancer even though a team of doctors has diagnosed his cancer.
Regression. The ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental period in the face of stress.
E.g. A woman returns home to her mother every time she and her husband have a big argument.

Intellectualization: Thinking about events in a cold or clinical way Eg. One diagnosed with a
terminal illness might focus on reading about the illness in order to avoid distress and remain
distant from the reality of the situation and feelings about them.

Freud’s psychosexual development.

Freud thought that personality develops in a fixed series of stages which he called

psychosexual stages. According to him, interest and pleasure begin before an individual matures.

An infant gets sexual gratification from different parts of the body at different stages but the

sexual instinct reduces as the child grows. He used the term psychosexual pleasure in a wider

sense to include good feelings that arise from the stimulation of the different parts of the body.

These early experiences may have long-term effects on social and personality development.

Below are the stages that Freud called psychosexual stages of development.

The five stages of psychosexual development.

Oral stage (birth-1year). This is Freud’s first stage of psychosocial development in which
children satisfy the sexual instinct by stimulating the mouth, lips and gums. Thus children derive
their pleasure from sucking on, chewing/ biting objects. Fixation at this stage may result into
behaviours like nail biting, over smoking, over talking alcohol, pleasure from over kissing,
gluttony, oral hygiene, chewing gum.

The anal stage. (1-3years). This is Freud’s second stage of psychosexual development in which
anal activities like defecation become the primary methods of gratifying the sex instinct. During
this anal stage children must endure the demands of toilet training.
Fixation at this stage result into development of an anal expulsive personality character i.e. they
become wasteful, irresponsible, sloppy, or extreme messiness, etc. If toilet training was too strict,
fixation results into development of anal retentive character that is become too orderly, clean,
organized etc.
3. The phallic stage (3-6years). This is Freud’s stage of psychosexual development in which
children gratify the sex instinct by fondling their genitals and developing an incestuous desire for
the parent of other sex.
Freud talked of Electra complex in girls where girls envy their fathers for possessing the penis
and would choose him as a sex object in the hope of sharing this valuable organ. And Oedipus
complex ) is the conflict experienced by boys of 4-6 years when they develop an incestuous
desire for their mothers and at the same time, become jealous and hostile with their fathers.
The above conflicts children are resolved through the process of identification this involves a
child adapting the characteristics of the same parent. Fixation at this stage is reflected in
behaviours like heavy reliance on masturbation, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc.

4. The latency period (6-12year). At this stage the child’s sex instinct are relatively quiet and all
available libido is channeled into some socially acceptable activity like school work and
acquiring new skills. The latency period, continues until puberty when the child suddenly
experiences a number of biological changes and this takes us to his last stage of psychosexual
development. There is no fixation in this stage.

5. The genital stage (12 onward). In this stage the underlying aim of sex instinct is to establish
an erotic relationship with another adult and to have children. At this stage individuals prepare
for a career, courting, marrying to satisfy fully the mature sex. At this stage the superego
develops further.

ERIKSON'S THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of
personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops
in a series of stages. Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes
the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.
One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego
identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction.
According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experience and
information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. In addition to ego identity, Erikson
also believed that a sense of competence also motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in
Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled
well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which he sometimes referred to as ego strength or
ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.
In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in
development. In Erikson’s view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a
psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for
personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.

Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust

The first stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and one
year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life. Because an infant is utterly dependent, the
development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers.
If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers
who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in
the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is
inconsistent and unpredictable.

Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during early
childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control.
Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However,
Erikson's reasoning was quite different from that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning to
control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence.
Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences, and
clothing selection. Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident,
while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.

Psychosocial Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt

During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the world
through directing play and other social interaction. Children who are successful at this stage feel
capable and able to lead others. Those who fail to acquire these skills are left with a sense of
guilt, self-doubt and lack of initiative.

Psychosocial Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority

This stage covers the early school years from approximately age 5 to 11 years. Through social
interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities.
Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling of
competence and belief in their skills. Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents,
teachers, or peers will doubt their ability to be successful.

Psychosocial Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion

During adolescence, children are exploring their independence and developing a sense of self.
Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will
emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control.
Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will insecure and confused about
themselves and the future.
Psychosocial Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation
This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are exploring personal
relationships.
Erikson believed it was vital that people develop close, committed relationships with other
people. Those who are successful at this step will develop relationships that are committed and
secure. Remember that each step builds on skills learned in previous steps. Erikson believed that
a strong sense of personal identity was important to developing intimate relationships. Studies
have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of self tend to have less committed relationships
and are more likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness, and depression.
Psychosocial Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation
During adulthood, we continue to build our lives, focusing on our career and family. Those who
are successful during this phase will feel that they are contributing to the world by being active
in their home and community. Those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and
uninvolved in the world.
Psychosocial Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair
This phase occurs during old age and is focused on reflecting back on life. Those who are
unsuccessful during this phase will feel that their life has been wasted and will experience many
regrets. The individual will be left with feelings of bitterness and despair. Those who feel proud
of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity. Successfully completing this phase means
looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction. These individuals will attain
wisdom, even when confronting death

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Cognitive development is the development of the thinking and organizing systems in the brain. it
involves language, mental imagery, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, memory development
etc.

PIAGET'S STAGE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

Jean Piaget was among other things, a psychologist who was interested in cognitive
development. He saw children’s thinking developing in a series of increasingly complex stages
each of which incorporates and revises those which precede it. He formulated a most complete
and detailed description of the process of cognitive development based on observations of
behavior of his own children and those in his area of genetic epistemology. He noted that
children of similar age tend to engage in similar behaviors and to make the same kinds of
mistakes in problem solving. He concluded that these similarities are as a result of a sequence of
development that is followed by all normal children. He also concluded that completion of each
period with its corresponding abilities is the pre-requisite for entering the next period.

According to Piaget, individuals acquire the cognitive structures by interacting with their
environment. Children actively construct their cognitive world and go through a series of stages
in doing this. In actively constructing their cognitive world, children use schemas. A schema is a
concept or framework that already exists in a person’s mind which organizes and interprets
information. Schemas help people to reconstruct the past and also to make sense out of their
current experience. Two processes help the individual to use and adapt their schemas

Assimilation: This occurs when individuals incorporate new information into existing
knowledge. That is, in assimilation people assimilate the environment into a schema

Accommodation: This occurs when individuals adjust to new information Existing concepts/
ideas are modified to fit new ideas or experiences better.
Adaptation: occurs as a result of the interplay between assimilation and accommodation to
make the learning process complete. Adaptation results from a combination of the individual’s
experiences, cultures and society as well as physical maturation.

Illustration. A young infant lunges at a rattle and tries to grasp it but is unable to pick it up. In
this instance the infant has assimilated the rattle into the reaching schema of objects to be picked
up. Over the course of several months and repeated attempts, the infant refines its movement and
is able to pick up the rattle (accommodation)

Together these processes (assimilation, accommodation and adaptation) create a state of

cognitive equilibrium (balance) but there is sometimes temporally dis-equillibrium in the
development of these processes.

After observation of many children, he posited that children progress through 4 stages and that
they all do so in the same order. These four stages are described below.

The Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years)

In this stage infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences
eg seeing and hearing with physical (motor) actions- hence the term sensorimotor. It is non-
symbolic through much of its duration and object permanence is an important accomplishment.
At the beginning of this stage, new borns have little more than reflexive parterns with which to
work. By the end of of the stage, 2 year olds show complex sensorimotor patterns and are
beginning to use symbols in their thinking.

Infants cannot predict reaction, and therefore must constantly experiment and learn through trial
and error. Such exploration might include shaking a rattle or putting objects in the mouth. As
they become more mobile, infants' ability to develop cognitively increases. Early language
development begins during this stage. The development of object concept is an important feature
of this stage. This means that at the beginning of this stage, when a child perceives an object and
it is removed from sight, he thinks that it has disappeared for good (objects out of sight are out of
mind). Object permanence starts occurring at 7-9 months, demonstrating that memory is
developing when infants realize that an object exists after it can no longer be seen. Object
permanence (understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot be
seen, heard or touched) is one of the major accomplishments in the sensori-motor stage.

Pre-Operational period (2 to 6/7 years)

At this age, there’s rapid development of language and ability to represent things symbolically.
Children use toys to represent objects and ideas (symbolic representation) and they begin to
classify and categorise them. They learn to count and manipulate numbers. Operations in this
stage are mental representations that are irreversible. E.g. A preschooler may know that 2+3=5
but may not understand the reverse 5-2=3.
Piaget says children at that stage have not grasped the concept of conservation. i.e. A belief in
the permanence of certain attributes of objects or situations inspite of superficial changes e.g. if a
round piece of clay is moulded into a longer shape, a child will think that the longer clay has
more clay than the round shaped one. Another example is when a child is presented with two
identical Beakers A and B and filled with same amount of liquid. Then a third Beaker C which is
tall and thin is filled with the same amount of liquid. If a child in typical preoperational stage is
asked whether the amounts in A and C are the same, she/he will say that the liquid in C is more.
They are very self-oriented, and have an egocentric view; (inability to distinguish between
one’s own perspective and some one else’s perspective) that is, they think that others see the
world the way they do. They also have intuitive thoughts i.e. children can’t answer logically
why they know something but offer personal insights or guesses instead. Young children at this
stage also have much desire to know their world and they ask a lot of questions.

Concrete Operations (6/7 to 11/12 years)

Children in the concrete operations stage have logical reasoning which replaces intuitive
reasoning. They lack abstract reasoning but classification skills are present. They are able to take
another's point of view and take into account more than one perspective simultaneously. They
can also represent transformations as well as static situations. Although they can understand
concrete problems, Piaget would argue that they cannot yet perform on abstract problems, and
that they do not consider all of the logically possible outcomes. Concrete operations allow the
child to coordinate several characteristics rather than focusing on a single property of the object
so a concrete operational child can solve the beaker problem seen earlier. He/she can say that
liquids in all beakers are the same.. That is they have learnt reversibility and the law of
conservation. Children in this stage can reason in respect to objects they have seen but not with
hypothetical objects.
Formal Operations (11/12 years to adult)

Children who attain the formal operation stage are capable of thinking logically and abstractly.
They can also reason theoretically. Piaget notes that, unlike young children, adolescents are no
longer limited to actual concrete experience as the anchor of thought. They can conceive make-
believe situations, hypothetical possibilities, or purely abstract propositions. Thought also
becomes more idealistic. Adolescents often compare themselves and others to ideal standards.
Adolescents also begin to think more like a scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and
systematically testing solutions (Hypothetical-deductive reasoning). Hypothetical-deductive
reasoning is the ability of adolescents to develop hypotheses, or best hunches, about ways to
solve problems such as an algebraic equation. Piaget considered this the ultimate stage of
development, and stated that although the children would still have to revise their knowledge
base, their way of thinking was as powerful as it would get.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

The continued existence of human groups in every society is determined by an overarching

social organization that specifies rules of good conducts and vices. This constitutes the moral
aspects of life which are basically roles and behaviors by which a society is expected to live.
Attitudes and behaviors which are generally accepted as ideal or rejected as improper in society
may be determined by rules or forces of law but can be from the religious, philosophical,
cultural, biological or other ideologies.

Morals can be, “one’s judgments about what is right or wrong and their reasoning capacity as to
why one’s action is right and the other is wrong. Morals can be habits, expectations which are
acquired or learned which begin right from parents, peers and society. Therefore moral
development involves the dos and the don’ts of society.

Therefore children can obtain their morality directly from their parents and act in accordance
with moral prescriptions to avoid punitive feeling of guilt from a harsh, restrictive super ego.
KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Lawrence Kohlberg viewed development in terms of levels of reasoning applied to choices

people make in their lives. Kohlberg viewed moral reasoning in three levels which included six
sequential stages.

Kolberg perceived these stages as universal, that is, no stage is ever skipped, and applicable to all
cultures. Kolberg stressed that the actual decisions people make are not important, but that the
reasoning behind the decisions was important. This reasoning determines which stage of
development a child is in.

Unlike the other theories, Kohlberg’s developmental levels and stages are not related to age.
Developmental levels are determined by the moral dilemmas people face and the reasoning they
apply in making decisions to resolve these dilemmas. A moral dilemma is a conflict situation
faced by an individual that involves making a choice between two alternatives, both of which
would be considered socially unacceptable.

The best known of these moral dilemmas is the “Heinz dilemma,” which asks individuals to
choose between the value of obeying the law ( not stealing) and the value of human life (saving a
dying person): For example in Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. There was one
drug the doctors thought might save her. A druggist in the same town had discovered it, but he
was charging ten times what the drug costed him to make. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz,
tried to borrow the money, but he could only get together half of what it costed. The druggist
refused to sell it cheaper or let Heinz pay later. So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s
store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have done that? Why or why not?.

Kohlberg organized his six (6) stages into three (3) general levels

These three (3) levels of development range from reasoning based upon self-gratification (pre
conventional morality), to reasoning based upon conformity (conventional morality),to reasoning
based upon individual values that have been internalized (post conventional morality).

Level one: The Pre conventional morality (2-7 years)

At this level, the child makes decisions based on cultural roles of what is considered to be right
or wrong. The reasoning applied is based upon reward and punishment and the satisfaction of
their own needs. This level is divided into two stages.

Stage One: Punishment and Obedience Orientation.

The child acting in this level avoids breaking rules because he/she may be punished. The child
demonstrates complete deference to rules. Often the interests of others are not considered.

Stage Two: Instrumental Relativist Orientation.

The reasoning applied during this stage is the one that satisfies the needs of the individual and
sometimes the needs of others. However, the only reason that the individual helps another is
because a deal has been made where the person the individual helps owes him/her something.

Level Two: Conventional Morality (7-12 years)

Conformity is the most important aspect at this level. The individual conforms to the expectation
of others, including the general social order. Kohlberg identified two stages within this level.

Stage Three the “good boy – good girl” Orientation, or the morality of interpersonal
cooperation.

Living up to the expectations of others and good behavior are the important considerations for
the individual in this stage. Stage 3 individuals want to maintain the affection and approval of
friends and relatives by being a “good person “by displaying actions of trustworthy, loyalty,
respect, helpful and being nice. For instance “no one will think you’re bad if you steal the drug,
but your family will think you’re an inhuman husband if you don’t. If you let your wife die,
you’ll never be able to look anyone in the face again”

Stage Four: The social – order maintaining orientation or law and Order Orientation.

The person acting in this stage is oriented towards authority and maintaining the social order.
The emphasis is on doing one’s duty and showing respect for authority. In stage 4, individuals
believes laws cannot be disobeyed under any circumstances because they are vital for ensuring
societal order.

Level Three: Post conventional Morality (+12 years)

This is Kohlberg’s highest level of moral development, in which individuals define morality in
terms of abstract Principles and values that apply to all situations and societies. Individuals move
beyond unquestioning support for the rules and laws of their own society.

People who are in this level make decisions on the basis of individual values that have been
internalized. These values are not dependent on one’s friends, family or group, but totally on the
individual making the decision. The stages of reasoning also comprise this level.

Stage Five: Social Contract - Legalistic orientation.

In this stage, correct behaviour is defined in terms of individual rights and the consensus of
society. Right is a matter of personal opinion and values, but there is an emphasis on the legal
point of view present here. When laws are consistent with individual rights and the interests of
the majority, each person follows them because of a social-contract orientation – free and willing
participation in the system because it brings about more good for people than if it did not exist.

Stage Six: The Universal ethical principle orientation.

The ultimate judge of what’s moral is a person’s own conscience operating in accordance with
certain universal principles. Society’s rules are arbitrary and may be broken when they conflict
with universal moral principles.

At this stage, right action is defined by self-chosen ethical principles of conscience that are valid
for all humanity, regardless of law and social agreement. These values are abstract, not concrete
moral rules like the Ten Commandments. For example “If Heinz does not do everything he can
to save his wife, then he is putting some value higher than the value of life. It doesn’t make
sense to put respect for property above respect for life itself. Respect for human life and
personality is absolute and accordingly people have a mutual duty to save one another
from dying”.