Human Development: Nature, Principles, Factors and Stages; Successful Aging; Psychoanalytic, Behaviouristic and Cognitive Theories; and Sensory-Motor, Cognitive, Language, Emotional, Social and Moral Development

Unit 9 opens: "Developmental processes: Nature, Principles, Factors in development, Stages of Development. Successful aging. Theories of development: Psychoanalytical, Behavioristic, and Cognitive. Various aspects of development: Sensory-motor, cognitive, language, emotional, social and moral." This chapter treats development across the whole life span, as the syllabus does by naming successful aging: the principles and factors, the stages from conception to old age, Freud and Erikson, Watson, Skinner and Bandura, Piaget and Vygotsky, and each of the six aspects with its milestones and classic research — attachment and the Strange Situation, Parten's play categories, Baumrind's parenting styles, theory of mind, and Piaget's account of moral judgement.

1. Developmental processes and successful aging

Development is the orderly, lifelong pattern of change in structure, thought and behaviour; growth refers to quantitative increase in size, and maturation to change that unfolds from a genetic plan largely independent of experience. Its principles: development proceeds cephalocaudally (head to foot) and proximodistally (centre to extremities); from general to specific (mass to specific responses) through differentiation and integration; it is continuous yet follows a predictable sequence; it shows wide individual differences in rate; and it is the product of the interaction of heredity and environment. Its factors are hereditary (genes, temperament) and environmental — prenatal conditions (teratogens such as alcohol, rubella and some drugs), nutrition, family and parenting, socio-economic status, schooling and culture.

Stages of development across the life span
StagePeriod
PrenatalGerminal (0–2 weeks), embryonic (2–8 weeks, when organs form and teratogens do most damage) and foetal (9 weeks to birth)
Infancy and toddlerhoodBirth to about 2 years
Early childhoodAbout 2 to 6 years
Middle and late childhoodAbout 6 to 11 years
AdolescenceAbout 11 to 18 years, beginning with puberty
AdulthoodEarly (about 18–40), middle (about 40–65) and late (65 onward)

Successful aging: Rowe and Kahn (1987, 1997) defined it by three components — a low probability of disease and disability, high cognitive and physical functioning, and active engagement with life. Paul and Margret Baltes's selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) model describes how older people succeed by narrowing their goals, practising what matters and compensating for losses (the pianist Rubinstein played fewer pieces, practised them more and slowed before fast passages to make them seem faster). Activity theory holds that staying active brings satisfaction, whereas disengagement theory (Cumming and Henry, 1961) saw mutual withdrawal of the old person and society as natural; Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory explains why older adults prefer fewer, emotionally close relationships; and Erikson's last stage, integrity versus despair, frames aging as a search for meaning.

2. Theories of development

Psychoanalytic: Erikson's psychosocial stages (alongside Freud's oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages); Marcia later described identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement
Erikson's stageAgeVirtue if resolved
1. Trust vs mistrustInfancy (0–1)Hope
2. Autonomy vs shame and doubtAbout 1–3Will
3. Initiative vs guiltAbout 3–6Purpose
4. Industry vs inferiorityAbout 6–12Competence
5. Identity vs role confusionAdolescenceFidelity
6. Intimacy vs isolationYoung adulthoodLove
7. Generativity vs stagnationMiddle adulthoodCare
8. Integrity vs despairLate adulthoodWisdom

Behaviouristic theories treat development as the accumulation of learned behaviour: Watson claimed he could make any healthy infant into any kind of specialist given control of its environment, and conditioned fear in Little Albert; Skinner explained development by operant reinforcement, including language; Bandura's social learning theory added observation, modelling and self-efficacy. Cognitive theories treat the child as an active constructor of knowledge.

Cognitive: Piaget — schemas are adapted by assimilation and accommodation, driven by equilibration
Piaget's stageAgeHallmarks
Sensorimotor0–2Knowing through action; six substages of circular reactions; object permanence develops (searching for hidden objects from about 8 months; the A-not-B error); deferred imitation and the beginning of symbolic thought at the end
Pre-operational2–7Symbolic function and pretend play, but egocentrism (the three-mountains task), animism, centration, irreversibility and failure of conservation
Concrete operational7–11Logical operations on concrete objects: conservation (number, then mass, then weight and volume — horizontal décalage), reversibility, seriation, classification, decentration
Formal operational11 onwardAbstract, hypothetico-deductive reasoning — systematically testing variables in the pendulum problem

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory holds that higher mental functions arise first between people and are then internalised. The zone of proximal development is the gap between what a child can do alone and what she can do with guidance; adults and more skilled peers provide scaffolding (a term from Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976), withdrawn as competence grows; and private speech turns into inner speech, a tool of self-regulation. Information-processing accounts and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem) complete the picture.

3. Sensory-motor, language and emotional development

  • Sensory-motor: newborn reflexes — rooting, sucking, grasping, stepping, the Moro (startle) and Babinski (toes fan out when the sole is stroked) reflexes, most of which disappear within months. Motor milestones follow the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles: head control, sitting without support at about 6 months, standing with support at about 9 months and walking at about 12 months. Perception develops early: newborns prefer face-like patterns (Fantz's preferential looking) and crawling infants avoid the deep side of the visual cliff.
  • Language: cooing (about 2 months), babbling (about 6 months), the first word (about 12 months), holophrases, a vocabulary spurt at about 18 months, two-word telegraphic speech (18–24 months), with overextension, underextension and overregularisation ("goed"). Theories: Skinner (reinforcement and imitation), Chomsky (an innate language acquisition device and universal grammar), interactionist views (Bruner's language acquisition support system), and a sensitive period (Lenneberg; the case of Genie).
  • Emotional: the social smile appears at about 6–8 weeks, stranger anxiety at about 8 months, followed by separation anxiety. Attachment: Bowlby described attachment as an evolved bond with phases ending in a clear-cut attachment and an internal working model; Harlow's rhesus infants preferred a cloth "mother" to a wire one that fed them (contact comfort). Ainsworth's Strange Situation classifies infants as secure (about 60–65 per cent in the original samples), insecure-avoidant (about 20 per cent) and insecure-resistant/ambivalent (about 10–15 per cent), with Main and Solomon's disorganised category added later.

4. Social and moral development

Social and moral development
TopicKey findings
Play (Parten, 1932)Unoccupied, solitary, onlooker, parallel (side by side without interaction), associative (sharing and interacting without a common goal) and cooperative (organised around a shared goal) play, increasing in social complexity with age.
Parenting styles (Baumrind)Authoritative (high warmth, high control with reasoning — the most competent children), authoritarian (low warmth, high control), permissive (high warmth, low control), and neglectful (low on both; added by Maccoby and Martin).
Theory of mindUnderstanding that others have beliefs different from one's own; most children pass false-belief tasks such as the Sally–Anne test at about age 4.
Moral development (Piaget)Heteronomous morality (moral realism, up to about 7–10): rules are fixed and made by authorities, acts are judged by consequences (the child who broke 15 cups by accident is naughtier than one who broke one while stealing jam), and punishment is expected to follow automatically (immanent justice). Autonomous morality (moral relativism, from about 10): rules are agreements that can be changed, and intentions matter. Kohlberg extended this into six stages; Gilligan added an ethic of care; Hoffman stressed empathy.
⚠️ Piaget's cups
A heteronomous child judges the boy who broke 15 cups accidentally as naughtier than the one who broke one cup while doing something forbidden — because the damage is greater. An autonomous child reverses the judgement by attending to intention. Kohlberg's stages are covered with personality in Unit 7, which is where the syllabus places them.

Key takeaways

  • Development is cephalocaudal and proximodistal, proceeds from general to specific, follows a predictable sequence with individual differences, and results from heredity–environment interaction.
  • Successful aging (Rowe and Kahn) combines low disease, high functioning and active engagement; the SOC model, activity versus disengagement theory and socioemotional selectivity explain adaptation in late life.
  • Erikson's eight psychosocial stages run from trust versus mistrust to integrity versus despair; behaviourists (Watson, Skinner, Bandura) stress learning; Piaget's four stages and Vygotsky's ZPD and scaffolding stress active construction.
  • Motor milestones, language stages (cooing, babbling, first word, telegraphic speech) and attachment (Bowlby, Harlow, Ainsworth's secure, avoidant, resistant and disorganised types) mark early development.
  • Parten's play categories, Baumrind's parenting styles, false-belief understanding at about 4, and Piaget's move from heteronomous to autonomous morality describe social and moral development.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

  1. In Erikson's sequence of eight psychosocial stages, what is the number of the stage "industry versus inferiority"? Type a number from 1 to 8.

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 4

    The order is trust–mistrust (1), autonomy–shame (2), initiative–guilt (3), industry–inferiority (4, the school years), identity–role confusion (5), intimacy–isolation (6), generativity–stagnation (7) and integrity–despair (8).

  2. A child says a tall, thin glass holds more juice than a short, wide glass, although she watched the same amount being poured into each. According to Piaget, she is most likely in the:

    1. Concrete operational stage
    2. Sensorimotor stage
    3. Pre-operational stage
    4. Formal operational stage
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Pre-operational stage

    Failure to conserve liquid quantity, owing to centration on height and irreversibility, is typical of the pre-operational stage (about 2–7). Conservation is achieved in the concrete operational stage.

  3. In Ainsworth's Strange Situation, an infant who shows little distress when the mother leaves and avoids her on reunion is classified as:

    1. Insecure-resistant (ambivalent)
    2. Disorganised
    3. Securely attached
    4. Insecure-avoidant
    Show answer

    Answer: D — Insecure-avoidant

    Avoidant infants seem indifferent to separation and avoid the caregiver on return. Secure infants are distressed and readily comforted; resistant infants are very distressed and both seek and resist contact; disorganised infants show contradictory, confused behaviour.

  4. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development refers to:

    1. The period in which attachment must form
    2. The gap between what a child can do alone and what she can do with guidance
    3. The distance at which a child can see clearly
    4. The age range in which object permanence develops
    Show answer

    Answer: B — The gap between what a child can do alone and what she can do with guidance

    The ZPD is the range of tasks a child cannot yet do independently but can do with help from an adult or more skilled peer — the zone in which scaffolding is effective.

  5. Which of the following are components of successful aging in Rowe and Kahn's model? Select all that apply.

    1. Complete withdrawal from social roles
    2. Avoidance of all new learning
    3. Low probability of disease and disability
    4. Active engagement with life
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Low probability of disease and disability; D — Active engagement with life

    Rowe and Kahn named low disease and disability, high cognitive and physical functioning, and active engagement with life. Withdrawal from roles belongs to disengagement theory, which their model opposes.

  6. Children playing side by side with similar toys but without interacting are showing Parten's:

    1. Cooperative play
    2. Parallel play
    3. Onlooker behaviour
    4. Associative play
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Parallel play

    Parallel play is side-by-side activity without interaction. Associative play involves sharing and interaction without a common goal, cooperative play a shared goal with roles, and onlooker behaviour watching others without joining in.

  7. A seven-year-old judges that a child who broke fifteen cups by accident is naughtier than one who broke a single cup while stealing jam. Piaget would describe this as:

    1. The ethic of care
    2. Post-conventional reasoning
    3. Heteronomous morality (moral realism)
    4. Autonomous morality
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Heteronomous morality (moral realism)

    Judging by the amount of damage rather than intention is the mark of heteronomous morality. The autonomous child attends to intention; post-conventional reasoning is Kohlberg's, and the ethic of care Gilligan's.

  8. Which of the following statements about Baumrind's parenting styles are correct? Select all that apply.

    1. Authoritative parents combine warmth with firm control and reasoning
    2. The neglectful style was added by Maccoby and Martin
    3. Authoritarian parents are high in control and low in warmth
    4. Permissive parents are high in control and low in warmth
    Show answer

    Answer: A — Authoritative parents combine warmth with firm control and reasoning; B — The neglectful style was added by Maccoby and Martin; C — Authoritarian parents are high in control and low in warmth

    Authoritative is high on both warmth and control, authoritarian high control and low warmth, and permissive high warmth but LOW control. Maccoby and Martin added the neglectful (low–low) style.

  9. Assertion (A): Motor development proceeds cephalocaudally: infants control their heads before their legs. Reason (R): Development proceeds proximodistally: control of the trunk and shoulders precedes control of the fingers. Choose the correct option.

    1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
    2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
    3. A is true, but R is false
    4. A is false, but R is true
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

    Both are true but R does not explain A. They are two separate directional principles: cephalocaudal (head to foot) and proximodistal (centre to extremities); neither explains the other.

  10. Most children first pass false-belief tasks such as the Sally–Anne test at about age:

    1. 4 years
    2. 1 year
    3. 8 years
    4. 12 years
    Show answer

    Answer: A — 4 years

    Understanding that another person can hold a false belief — a core part of theory of mind — typically emerges at about four years; younger children answer from their own knowledge.