UNIT 2

BASIC
CONCEPTS
AND ISSUES
ON HUMAN
DEVELOPME
NT
MAGIC 5
INTRODUCT
ION

Every living creature is called to become what

it is meant to be. The caterpillar is meant to
become a butterfly; a seed into a full grown
herb, bush or tree; and a human baby into a
mature person, the person "who is fully alive,
the glory of God" in the words of St. Irenaeus.
INTRODUCT
ION

How this development happens is what we

learn in our biology class. We have seen it to be
a fantastic process. So wonderful a process
that we can't help but experience a feeling of
awe for the Power or the Force or the Principle
(theists call this Power or Force or Principle
(God)) behind all these
INTRODUCT
ION
The process of development involves beginnings
and endings. What was this organism then? What
will this organism be?

A number of researches on human development

have been conducted. A lot of theories on human
development have been forwarded. Researches on
human development continue as existing theories
get corrected, complemented or replaced. Up to
the present several issues on human development
are unresolved and so the search for explanations
continue.
INTRODUCT
ION
In this Unit, you will be acquainted with human development as a
process, the developmental tasks that come along with each
developmental stage and relevant issues that are raised about human
development.
ABSTRACTI
ON
Two approaches to human development:

If you believe that Nikki and Kenn will show extensive change from
birth to adolescence, little or no change in adulthood and decline in late
old age, your approach to development is traditional. In contrast, if you
believe that even in adulthood developmental change takes place as it
does during childhood, your approach is termed life-span approach.
What are the characteristics of human development from a life- span
perspective? Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002), an expert in life-span
development, gives the following characteristics:
1.Development is lifelong.
It does not end in adulthood. Ken and Naschielle will continue developing even in
adulthood.

2. Development is plastic.
Plasticity refers to the potential for change. Development is possible throughout
the life-span. No one is too old to learn. There is no such thing as "I am too old for
that..." Neither Kenn nor Naschielle will be too old to learn something.

Aging is associated with declines in certain intellectual abilities. These declines can
be prevented or reduced. In one research study, the reasoning abilities of older
adults were improved through retraining (Willies & Schose. 1994 cited by Santrock
J., 2005)
3. Development is multidimensional. Development consists of biological,
cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions. Development as a process is
complex because it is the product of biological, cognitive and
socioemotional processes (Santrock, 2002).
Biological processes involve changes in the individual's physical nature. The brains
of Naschielle and Kenn develop. They will gain height and weight. They will
experience hormonal changes when they reach the period of puberty, and
cardiovascular decline as they approach late adulthood. All these show the common
biological processes in development.
4. Development is relatively orderly. (http://www.cdipage.com/
development.htm) Naschielle and Kenn will learn to sit, crawl then walk before
they can run. The muscular control of the trunk and the arms comes earlier as
compared to the hands and fingers. This is the proximodistal pattern. During
infancy, the greatest growth always occurs at the top - the head with physical
growth in size, weight and future differentiation gradually working its way down
from top to bottom (for example, neck, shoulders, middle trunk and so on). This is
the cephalo-caudal pattern. These development patterns are common to Naschielle
and Kenn.
.
Development takes place gradually. (http://www.edipage.com/
development.htm) Naschielle and Kenn won't develop into pimply teenagers
overnight. It takes years before they become one. In fact, that's the way of nature.
The bud does not blossom suddenly. The seed does not germinate overnight. While
some changes occur in a flash of insight, more often it takes weeks, months, or
years for a person to undergo changes that result in the display of developmental
characteristics.
.
Cognitive processes involve changes in the individual's thought, intelligence, and
language. Naschielle and Kenn develop from mere sounds to a word becoming two
words, the two words becoming a sentence. They would move on to memorizing
their first prayer, singing Bayang Magiliw in every flag ceremony to imagining what
it would be like to be a teacher or a pilot, playing chess and solving a complex math
problem. All these reflect the role of cognitive processes in development.

.
Socioemotional processes include changes in the individual's relationships with
other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. As babies,
Naschielle and Kenn responded with a sweet smile when affectionately touched and
frowned when displeased and even showed temper tantrum when they could not
get or do what they wanted. From aggressive children, they may develop into a fine
lady and a gentleman or otherwise, depending on a myriad of factors. They may fall
in love and get inspired for life or may end up betrayed, deserted and desperate
afterwards. All these reflect the role of socioemotional processes in development.

.
These biological, cognitive and socioemotional processes are inextricably
intertwined. While these processes are studied separately, the effect of one process
or factor on a person's development is not isolated from the other processes. If Kenn
and Naschielle were undernourished and troubled by the thought of father and
mother about to separate, they could not concentrate on their studies and
consequently would fail and repeat. As a consequence, they may lose face and drop
out of school, revert to illiteracy, become unskilled, unemployed and so on and so
forth. See how a biological process, affects the cognitive process which in turn,
affects the socioemotional process.

.
4. Development is contextual. Individuals are changing beings in a changing
world. Individuals respond to and act on contexts. These contexts include the
individual's biological make up, physical environment, cognitive processes,
historical, social and cultural contexts. (Santrock, 2002) Naschielle's and Kenn's
biological make up, social and cultural contexts may vary and therefore make them
develop differently from each other.
5. Development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Growth,
maintenance and regulation are three (3) goals of human development. The goals of
individuals vary among developmental stages. For instance, as individuals reach
middle and late adulthood, concern with growth gets into the back stage while
maintenance and regulation take the center stage.
THANK YOU!!