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Chapter 17
Epilogue: Fitting the Pieces
Together
• One year from now, we may find that we
have forgotten more than 50 % of what
learned from this class.
• What’s important is the big picture and
major principles which we can use in the
future.
Human Development is a Holistic
Enterprise
• Human Development is truly holistic
• In a developing infant, physical, cognitive,
social and emotional development all
function together.
• One cannot function independently
• An example of this is an infant that
develops cognitive schemes for familiar
faces and discriminates unfamiliar ones.
• She has also developed motor capabilities
that permit her to crawl to her attachment
objects.
• She protests separation form loved ones
because of object permanence.
We are Active Contributors to Our
Own Development
• Early developmental theorists viewed
humans as passive: A tabulae rasae
(Watson, Locke)
• Piaget altered this view by emphasizing
how children actively explore their
environments and actively construct new
understandings of objects, events and
people they encounter.
• Bandura claimed that children actively
influence how they are treated by their
parents.
• Behavioral geneticists argue that we
actively select environments we are
comfortable with because they are
compatible with our own genetic
predispositions.
• In fact, it is the ongoing transaction
between an active person and a changing
environment, each influencing the other in
a reciprocal way, that steers development.
Continuity and Discontinuity in
Development
• Is development stage like, or does it occur
in small, orderly steps?
• Advances in cognitive and moral
development occur gradually.
• Transitions from one stage to another do
not unfold abruptly.
• Environment plays a large role in how
children progress through development.
• Looking at population trends, development
often seems continuous, with earlier
development predicting later life
outcomes.
• Yet it is risky to predict characterological
traits which an individual adult will display
from a knowledge of his/her childhood
traits.
There is Much Plasticity in Human
Development
• Human beings are resilient organisms who
display a remarkable capacity to change in
response to experience.
• Early experiences rarely make or break
us.
• There are opportunities throughout life to
undo damage done by early traumas and
to redirect young lives along better paths.
The Nature/Nurture Distinction is a
False Dichotomy
• The Nature vs. Nurture issue has been
resolved.
• It is known that both forces play a role in
development: from changes in cell
chemistry to changes in the global
economy.
• Genes and environment interact
• We also actively seek out experiences
which are most compatible with our
genetically influenced character.
• At the same time, our environments can
influence the course of biological
development
• “Biology and environment are as
inseparable as conjoined twins who share
a common heart” (Diane Halpern, 1997).
Both Normative and Idiosyncratic
Developments are Important
• While we all share normative aspects of
development, we also display unique,
idiosyncratic patterns of development.
• Most infants worldwide proceed through
predictable sequences of development.
• Yet late in toddlerhood, our genetic
endowments begin to express themselves
more fully.
• No child should be expected to emerge as
a copy of their parents or siblings.
• Development always proceeds in
normative and idiosyncratic directions.
• Such diversity is even adaptive from an
evolutionary perspective.
• In order to really understand development,
we must recognize and appreciate
developmental diversities and must seek
to understand the forces that underlie both
the normative and the idiosyncratic
changes that children and adolescents
display.
We Develop in A Cultural and
Historical Context
• Children and Adolescents are embedded
in a socio-cultural context that affects their
development.
• Each person’s development is influenced
by social changes and historical events
occurring during his/her life time.
Development is Best Viewed From
Multiple Perspectives
• The task of understanding some thing as
complex as human development requires
that we take an eclectic approach.
• Many theories have something to offer.
• Our knowledge is always enriched by
integrating the contributions of researchers
from many disciplines and diverse
viewpoints.
• Behavioral geneticists have helped us
understand how genes and hormones
influence our behavior.
• Psychologists have explained
relationships and family systems that
influence children.
• Sociologists and economists have taught
us much about the sociocultural context in
which we develop.
Patterns of Parenting (and Adult
Guidance) Clearly Matter
• Some theorist claim that parenting styles
really don’t matter.
• Given an average home, children will
display normal developmental outcomes
regardless of child-rearing practices.
• However, patterns of parenting do matter
Children Need Love,
Guidance,…and Limits
• Different child-rearing and practices can
produce very large differences in children’s
developmental outcome.
• The most effective pattern of parenting is
authoritative.
• It is characterized by provision of
standards for children to live up to,
reasonable limitations, and love.
• “Indigenous patterns of child care
throughout the world represent largely
successful adaptations to conditions of life
that have long differed from one people to
another. Adults are good parents by the
only relevant standards, those of their own
culture (Louis, Laoga, 1981).”
Parents Must Themselves Be
Adaptable
• Raising a child successfully is hard work.
• What works for one, may not work for
another.
• Favorable outcomes are more likely to
result when parents successfully adapt to
their child.
• Need to create a goodness of fit between
parenting practices and child’s unique
characteristics.
Many Social Forces Conspire to
Shape Development
• Although the family may be the primary
agent of socialization, each of us is
exposed to a variety of extra familial
contexts and experiences that can play a
major part in shaping our personalities and
social behaviors.
• TV, personal computers, peers, schools
• Society of one’s peers is an important
developmental context for acquiring social
skills, cooperation and teamwork, healthy
attitudes about competition, a sense of
identity and self-esteem.
• A sense of belongingness emerges from
these newly formed relationships.
We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby…
• As we enter the 21st century, there is no
doubt that the field of human development
is an extremely dynamic one.
• This knowledge we have acquired will
definitely make us observe ourselves and
others closer
• This will help us steer our lives and others’
in healthier directions.