Introduction to

Development

Ms.Huma Humair Ghouri

Institute of Professional Psychology,
Bahria University.
What is Development & Why Study Development?
 Development is a long-term personal change that has multiple sources and multiple
effects.
 It is the pattern of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes that begins at
conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth,
although it also eventually involves decay (dying).
 As a teacher or an educational psychologist, you will be responsible for a new wave of
students in each class, every year.
 The more you learn about children’s development, the more you can understand at
what level it is appropriate to teach them.
 Biological processes produce changes in the child’s body and underlie brain
development - height and weight gains, motor skills, and puberty’s hormonal changes.
Genetic inheritance plays a large part.

 Cognitive processes involve changes in the child’s thinking, intelligence, and

language. Cognitive developmental processes enable a growing child to memorize a
poem, imagine how to solve a math problem, come up with a creative strategy, or speak
meaningfully connected sentences.

 Socioemotional processes involve changes in the child’s relationships with other

people, changes in emotion, and changes in personality. Parents’ nurturance toward
their child, a boy’s aggressive attack on a peer, a girl’s development of assertiveness, and
an adolescent’s feelings of joy after getting good grades all reflect socioemotional
processes in development.
 Periods Of Development
Infancy Early childhood
 Birth to 18 to 24 months.  Infancy to about 5 years
 Extreme dependence  Preschool years
 Beginning, of language  More self-sufficient, develop
development, symbolic school readiness skills, spend
thought, sensorimotor many hours with peers.
coordination, and social
learning.  First grade typically marks the
end of early childhood.
 Middle and Late Childhood

elementary school years

about 6 to 11 years of age
competition, concrete thinking, reversibility, ego-centricism developed

Children master the fundamental skills

reading, writing, and math
Need for achievement
Increased self-control
children interact with the wider social world beyond their family
 Adolescence

transition from childhood to adulthood

10 to 12 - 18 to 21.
rapid physical changes

Need for independence

seek their own identity
Thoughts are abstract, logical, and idealistic.
(profession, same gender friends)
 At this point in their development, many individuals
are still exploring which career path they want to
follow, what they want their identity to be, and
which lifestyle they want to adopt (for example,
being single, cohabiting, or getting married).

Adulthood
Developmental Issues
The debate continues about the relative importance of factors that influence the developmental
processes and about how the periods of development are related. The most important issues in
the study of children’s development include
 Nature and nurture
In reality, we are both the creatures and creators of our worlds. We are . . . the products of our genes and environments.
Nevertheless, . . . the stream of causation that shapes the future runs through our present choices. . . . Mind matters. . . .
Our hopes, goals, and expectations influence our future. (Myers, 2010, p. 168)

 Continuity and discontinuity

For the most part, developmentalists who emphasize nurture usually describe development as a gradual, continuous
process, like the seedling’s growth into an oak. Those who emphasize nature often describe development as a series of
distinct stages, like the change from caterpillar to butterfly.

 Early and later experience

If infants experience harmful circumstances, can those experiences be overcome by later, positive ones? Or are the early
experiences so critical—possibly because they are the infant’s first, prototypical experiences—that they cannot be
overridden by a later, better environment?
 Development and Education

Competent teachers are aware of developmental differences. Rather than characterizing

students as “advanced,” “average,” and “slow,” they recognize that their development
and ability are complex, and children often do not display the same competence across
different skills.

Children will be with an age range

Developmentally appropriate
of several years and a range of
teaching: neither too difficult and
abilities and skills in the classes you
stressful nor too easy and boring
teach. 
 Development And Education
 Splintered development refers to the circumstances in which
development is uneven across domains
 One student may have excellent math skills but poor writing skills.
 Within the area of language, another student may have excellent
verbal language skills but not have good reading and writing
skills.
 Yet another student may do well in science but lack social skills
Cognitively Advanced Students
Cognitively advanced students whose socioemotional
development is at a level expected for much younger
children present a special challenge. For example, a
student may excel at science, math, and language but be
immature emotionally.

Such a child may not have any friends and be neglected

or rejected by peers. This student will benefit
considerably from having a teacher who helps him or her
learn how to manage emotions and behave in more
socially appropriate ways.
Piaget’s Theory of
Cognitive Development
 Piaget
•Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was
one of the 20th centuries most
influential researchers in the
area of developmental
psychology.
•He was mainly interested in the
biological influences on “how
we come to know.”
 Piaget’s Theory

While working in Binet’s test lab in Paris, Piaget became interested in how
children think.

He noticed that young children's answers were qualitatively different than

older children.

This suggested to him that the younger children were not less knowledgeable
but, instead, answered the questions differently than their older peers
because they thought differently.
 To make sense of the world, children develop schemas.
 Schema:
 A concept or framework that organizes and interprets
information.
 Conceptual models of how the world works
 Schemas and stages build on one another through
learning by:
 Assimilation
 Accommodation
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
What processes do children use as they construct
their knowledge of the world?
Cognitive Processes

What processes do children use

as they construct their
knowledge of the world? Piaget
stressed that these processes
are especially important in this
regard: schemas, assimilation
and accommodation,
organization, and equilibration.
 Schemas
 Piaget (1954) said that as the child seeks to construct an understanding of the
world, the developing brain creates schemas.
 These are actions or mental representations that organize knowledge.
 In Piaget’s theory, behavioral schemas (physical activities) characterize infancy,
and mental schemas (cognitive activities) develop in childhood.
 A baby’s schemas are structured by simple actions that can be performed on
objects, such as sucking, looking, and grasping. Older children have schemas that
include strategies and plans for solving problems

By the time we have reached adulthood, we have constructed an enormous

number of diverse schemas, ranging from how to drive a car, to how to
balance a budget, to the concept of fairness.
 Piaget’s theory explains how our schemas change as we have
learning experiences.
Schema
fur
4 legs

A baby’s
schema
about cats

tail 2 ears

2 eyes
 Assimilation and Accommodation
 To explain how children use and adapt their schemas, Piaget offered two concepts:
assimilation and accommodation

 Assimilation occurs when children incorporate new information into their

existing schemas.
 Accommodation occurs when children adjust their schemas to fit new
information and experiences
 Accommodation vs. Assimilation
Experience Assimilation—a form of adaptation in Accommodation—a form of adaptation in
which an experience in the environment is which an existing scheme is modified and
incorporated into an existing scheme a new one is created in response to
experience
Identify Characteristics of kitty apply to other Kitties and doggies are different animals
animals members of cat family (lion, tiger) even though both are furry

Drive car I can drive a semi tractor because it has a Driving stick shift (manual) is different
clutch and gear shift, just like my old from driving automatic. I have to learn to
Toyota car use the clutch and gear shift.
Cooking If I know how to cook one type of pasta, I You can’t make a cake in a microwave
can apply that knowledge to other types

Play music Once you know one brass instrument, you Brass instruments—you have to learn how
can play the others using the same the harmonic overtone series works in
knowledge order to play a horn
 Organization
 To make sense out of their world children cognitively organize their
experiences.
 Organization in Piaget’s theory is the grouping of isolated behaviours
and thoughts into a higher-order system.
 Continual refinement of this organization is an inherent part of
development.
 Example: A boy with only a vague idea about how to use a hammer also
may have a vague idea about how to use other tools. After learning how
to use each one, he relates these uses, organizing his knowledge.
Equilibrium
A state of cognitive balance between
individuals’ understanding of the world and
their experiences.

Schemas and equilibrium:

IN OTHER WORDS: The understanding
you have explains the experience you are A person is experiencing
having. equilibrium when his or her
theory (or scheme) of something
explains past experiences
successfully and predicts new
events successfully.
Equilibrium
 Equilibration is a mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from
one stage of thought to the next.
 The shift occurs as children experience cognitive conflict, or disequilibrium, in
trying to understand the world. Eventually, they resolve the conflict and reach a
balance, or equilibrium, of thought.
 Piaget pointed out that there is considerable movement between states of cognitive
equilibrium and disequilibrium –assimilation and accommodation work together to
produce cognitive change.
Equilibrium
 Assimilation and accommodation always take the child to a higher
ground. The motivation for change is an internal search for
equilibrium.
 As old schemas are adjusted and new schemas are developed, the child
organizes and reorganizes the old and new schemas.
 Eventually, the organization is fundamentally different from the old
organization; it is a new way of thinking.
Equilibrium
 For example, if a child believes that the amount of a liquid changes
simply because the liquid is poured into a container with a different
shape—for instance, from a container that is short and wide into a
container that is tall and narrow—she might be puzzled by such issues
as where the “extra” liquid came from and whether there is actually
more liquid to drink.
 The child will eventually resolve these puzzles as her thought becomes
more advanced. In the everyday world, the child is constantly faced with
such counterexamples and inconsistencies.
 Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

All these processes, individuals go through four stages of

development.

A different way of understanding the world makes one stage

more advanced than another.

Cognition is qualitatively different in one stage compared with

another.
 Piaget’s Theories Of Development

Each stage is a Each later stage

They always significant incorporated
No stage is ever
happen in the transformation the earlier
skipped.
same order. of the stage stages into
before it. itself.
 Implications of the Theory

Understanding and
Building on students
thinking:

New knowledge
Problem of the match: develops when the
Help children learn, Work should not be student realizes that
how to learn boring or too difficult they don’t know
everything
Take a constructivist approach
• Children learn best when they are active and seek solutions for themselves
• Piaget opposed teaching methods that treat children as passive
receptacles(Accepting material as it is and not questions or argue)
• Students learn best by making discoveries, reflecting on them, and
discussing them, rather than blindly imitating the teacher or doing things
by rote.
 Criticisms on Piaget’s Theory
Whether Piaget’s stages really hang together as coherent and general modes of thinking
that can be applied universally.
Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of young children; recent studies suggest that
children master some Piagetian concepts earlier than Piaget believed they did.

Culture and education exert a stronger influence than Piaget envisioned. E.g. conservation
skills are very much related to the practice provided by the culture or by teachers help.
Vygotsky’s Socio-
cultural
Perspective
 Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Perspective

In Vygotsky’s theory children’s cognitive development is shaped by the cultural context in

which they live. The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social
interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition.

Children's cognitive development is fostered by interactions with people who are

more capable or advanced in their thinking – people such as parents and teachers
 Vygotsky’s major concepts

Zone of proximal development

Scaffolding

Language and private speech

Lower limit of the ZPD is Upper limit is the level of
the level of skill reached by additional responsibility the
the child working child can accept with the
independently (homework) assistance of an able
instructor (classwork)

They are the range of tasks that are too difficult for the
child to master alone but that can be learned with
guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled
children.

The Zone of Proximal

Development
 According to the Vygotsky theory, children who are in the zone
of proximal development for a particular task can almost
perform the task independently, but not quite there yet. They
need some help in order to perform the task successfully.
 For example, a five-year-old child knows how to ride a tricycle.
However, he can’t ride a bicycle (with two wheels) without his
grandfather holding onto the back of his bike. With his
grandfather’s help, this little boy learns to balance his bike. With
some more practice, he can ride the bike on his own. In this
scenario, we can say that the child is in the zone of proximal
development for riding a bike.
 The Stepping Stone Metaphor

Teaching in the ZPD reflects the

concept of developmentally
appropriate teaching
• It involves being aware of “where students
are in the process of their development and
taking advantage of their readiness. (how
much instruction is required)
• It is also about teaching to enable
developmental readiness, not just waiting
for students to be ready.
 Scaffolding ( adult assistance)

Scaffolding : changing the

level of support

• Over the course of a teaching session,

a more-skilled person (a teacher or
advanced peer) adjusts the amount of
guidance to fit the child’s current
performance.
• When the student is learning a new
task, the skilled person may use direct
instruction. As the student’s
competence increases, less guidance is
given.
• Scaffolding is often used to help
students attain the upper limits of
their ZPD.
 VYGOTSKY’S THEORY

Asking probing questions is an excellent way to scaffold students’ learning and help them
to develop more sophisticated thinking skills.

• “What would an example of that be?”

• “Why do you think that is so?”
• “Now, what’s the next thing you need to do?”
• “How can you connect those?”
• Over time, students should begin internalizing these kinds of probes and improve monitoring
their own work.

Just-in –time Assistance

 A six-year old has lost a toy and asks her father for help. The father asks her where she
last saw the toy; the child says ‘I can’t remember.’ He asks a series of questions- did
you have it in your room? Outside? Next door? To each question, the child answers ,
‘no.’ When he says ‘in the car?’ she says ‘I think so’ and goes to retrieve the toy.
(Tharp & Gallimore, 1988, p.40)
 Who remembered? The answer is really neither the father nor the daughter, but the two
together.
 The child may have internalized strategies to use next time something is lost. At some
point, the child will be able to function independently to solve this kind of problem.
Language and Thought

• According to Vygotsky, children use speech not only for social

communication, but also to help them solve tasks.
• Vygotsky (1962) further argued that young children use language to
plan, guide, and monitor their behavior.
• Language for self-regulation is called private speech.

Vygotsky argued that children who use private speech are more
socially competent than those who don’t.

Piaget held that self-talk is egocentric and reflects

immaturity
 Self-regulation develops in a series of stages. First, the child’s behavior is regulated by
others, usually parents, using language and other signs such as gestures.
 The parent says ‘No!’ when the child reaches toward a candle flame. Next the child
learns to regulate the behavior of others using the same language tools. The child says
‘NO’ to other child who is trying to take away a toy, often imitating parent’s voice
tone.
 Along with learning to use external speech to regulate others, the child begins to use
private speech to regulate her own behavior saying ‘no’ quietly to herself as she is
tempted to touch the flame. Finally, the child learns to regulate her own behavior by
using silent inner speech.
 Language and Thoughts

After a while, the self-talk

Children also must becomes second nature to
Language and thought communicate externally and children, and they can act
initially develop Mental functions have use language for a long without verbalizing:
independently of each external, or social, origins. period of time before they internalizing their egocentric
other and then merge. can make the transition from speech in the form of inner
external to internal speech. speech, which becomes their
thoughts.
 Constructivist models of learning

Learning Assimilation + Accommodation  Equilibrium  Schemata

According to
Piaget:

Learning Novice (beginner) Zone of Proximal Development  Expert

According to
Vygotsky:
Emphasizes the social contexts of learning and that knowledge is mutually
built and constructed
 Strategies for Applying Vygotsky’s Theory to Children’s
Education

Assess the child’s ZPD.

• The skilled helper presents the child with tasks of varying difficulty to determine the best level
at which to begin instruction.
• This is the area where instruction can succeed, because real learning is possible.

Use the child’s ZPD in teaching

• Teaching should begin toward the zone’s upper limit, so that the child can reach the goal with
help and move to a higher level of skill and knowledge.
• In contrast to in-class work, homework should be aimed at the zone’s lower limit so that the
child will be capable of completing it
 Strategies for Applying Vygotsky’s Theory to Children’s
Education

Use more-skilled peers as teachers

• For example, pair a child who is just beginning

to read with one who is a more advanced reader.
It is also desirable to use cross-age tutoring.
Place instruction in a meaningful
context
• For example, instead of just memorizing math
formulas, students work on math problems with
real-world implications
Comparison of Vygotsky and Piaget
 Criticisms
Some critics point out that Vygotsky was not specific enough
about age-related changes

Also, his emphasis on collaboration and guidance has potential

pitfalls. Might facilitators be too helpful in some cases

Further, some children might become lazy and expect help when
they might have done something on their own.
Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial
Development
 Psychosocial Development Theory
 Psychosocial development theory is based on eight stages of
development
 Erikson’s theory is based on the idea that development through life
is a series of stages which are each defined by a crisis or
challenge
 The early stages provide the foundations for later stages so if a
child does not resolve a crisis in a particular stage, they will have
problems in later stages
 Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
 Infancy (birth to 12 -18 months)
 Caregiver meets needs: child develops trust
 Caregiver does not meet needs: child develops mistrust
 If the proper balance is achieved, the child will develop the virtue of
hope.

Mama? Papa?
Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
 Toddler (ages 1-3)
 Child able to exercise some degree of choice
 Child’s independence is thwarted: child develops feelings of
self-doubt, shame in dealing with others
 Basic Strength: Will
 Determination to exercise freedom of choice in face of society’s demands

Up, up and away?

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt
 Preschool (3 to 5 years)
 Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities
with others.
 Children who are successful at this stage develop a sense of initiative &
feel capable and able to lead others.
 Those who fail to acquire these skills
are left with a sense of guilt &
self-doubt
 Basic strength: Purpose
 Courage to imagine and pursue
goals
Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority
 School age (6 to teens)
 Child develops cognitive abilities to enable in task completion (school
work, play)
 Successful completion leads children to develop a feeling of
competence and belief in their skills.
 Those who are unsuccessful doubt their ability to be successful.
 Basic strength: Competence
 Exertion of skill and intelligence in pursuing and completing tasks

Scared of school?
 Stages 1-4
 Largely determined by others (parents, teachers)
 Stages 5-8
 Individual has more control over environment
 Individual responsibility for crisis resolution in each stage
Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion
 Adolescence (teens to 20's)
 A common question adolescents ask is a straight-forward question of identity: "Who
am I?"
 During adolescence, children are exploring their independence and developing a
sense of self. They form their identity based upon the outcome of their explorations
 Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement 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.
 Basic strength: Fidelity - means loyalty, the ability to live by society’s standards
despite their imperfections and incompleteness and inconsistencies.
Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation
 Young adulthood (20's to 35-40 years)
 Undertake productive work and establish
intimate relationships
 Inability to establish intimacy leads to social
isolation
 Basic strength: Love
 Mutual devotion in a shared identity
 Fusing of oneself with another person
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation
 Middle adulthood (40 to 60 years)
 Generativity: Interest in guiding the next generation
 Stagnation: When one is only concerned with one’s own needs and
comforts
 Basic strength: Care
 Broad concern for others
 Need to teach others
 Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair
 Late adulthood (from 60 years)
 This stage is focused on reflecting back on life.
 Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a
sense of integrity. Success at this stage leads to feelings of
wisdom.
 While failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair.
 Basic strength: Wisdom
 Detached concern with the whole of life
Moral Development
 What is morality?
 Where do our morals come from?
 How do they develop throughout life?
 Are we born good?
 If your friend came up to you with a copy of this semester’s Psychology examination would you take
a peak? Why or why not?
 Let's say you are guaranteed not to get caught; would you cheat? Why or why not?
 You are an eyewitness to a crime: A man has robbed a bank, but instead of keeping the money for
himself, he donates it to a poor orphanage that can now afford to feed, clothe, and care for its children.
You know who committed the crime. If you go to the authorities with the information, there's a good
chance the money will be returned to the bank, leaving a lot of kids in need. What do you do?
 Turn the robbers in to the authorities, right is right
 Say nothing since the money went to what you deem a good cause
 Here’s a simple one: Grandma asked me if I like the sweater, she gave me. It’s ugly. Should I tell her
the truth (and hurt her feelings) or lie to her (and deceive her). Both options seem wrong, ethically.
 Would you kill one person in order to save 5 other people? (Killing is wrong…but isn’t it better for 1
person to die rather than 5?)
 Moral Development

Why are morals important

in a classroom setting?
Morality is a system of beliefs about what is right and
good compared to what is wrong or bad.

Moral development refers to changes in moral

beliefs as a person grows older and gains maturity

Kohlberg’s theory of moral

development

SEE NOTES
 Kohlberg’s stages of moral
development

Conventional
Pre-conventional (approval from Post-conventional
(personal needs) others, (individualism)
expectations)
KOHLBERG’S MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY
 A key concept in understanding progression through the levels
and stages is that their morality becomes more internal or
mature.
 That is, their reasons for children's moral decisions or values
begin to go beyond the external or superficial reasons they
gave when they were younger.
 By studying the answers from children of different ages to these questions,
Kohlberg hoped to discover how moral reasoning changed as people grew
older. The sample comprised 72 Chicago boys aged 10–16 years, 58 of
whom were followed up at three-yearly intervals for 20 years (Kohlberg,
1984).
 Each boy was given a 2-hour interview based on the ten dilemmas. What
Kohlberg was mainly interested in was not whether the boys judged the
action right or wrong, but the reasons given for the decision. He found that
these reasons tended to change as the children got older.
Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning
Pre-conventional reasoning is the lowest level of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory and
consists of two stages:

Stage 1. Punishment -Obedience Orientation is the first Kohlberg stage of moral

development. At this stage, moral thinking is often tied to punishment.

For example, children and adolescents obey adults because adults tell them to obey.

Stage 2. Self-interest and exchange driven is the second Stage of Kohlberg’s theory.
At this stage, individuals pursue their own Interests but also let others do the same.
Thus, what is right involves an equal exchange. People are nice to others so that
others will be nice to them in return. ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.’
 Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning
Conventional reasoning is the second, or intermediate, level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development. Individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they are the standards of
others (external), such as parents or the laws of society. The conventional reasoning level
consists of two stages:

Stage 3. Interpersonal relationships, and interpersonal conformity driven. At this stage,

individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others as a basis of moral judgments. Children
and adolescents often adopt their parents’ moral standards at this stage, seeking to be thought
of by their parents as a “good girl” or a “good boy.”

Stage 4. Authority and Social order obedience driven is the fourth stage in Kohlberg’s theory
of moral development. At this stage, moral judgments are based on understanding the social
order, law, justice, and duty. For example, adolescents may say that, for a community to work
effectively, it needs to be protected by laws that are adhered to by its members.
Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning

At this level, morality is more internal.

Stage 5. Social contract and individual rights. At this stage, individuals reason
that values, rights, and principles undergird or transcend the law. A person
evaluates the validity of actual laws and examines social systems in terms of the
degree to which they preserve and protect fundamental human rights and values.

Stage 6. Universal ethical principles. At this stage, the person has developed a
moral standard based on universal human rights. When faced with a conflict
between law and conscience, the person will follow conscience, even though the
decision might involve personal risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bounwXLkme4
Implications
 Cheating
 Prosocial Behaviour
 Moral Education
 Character Education
 Values Clarification
 Cognitive Moral Education
 Service Learning
 Criticism
 As logical as they sound, Kohlberg's stages of moral justice are not sufficient for understanding the
development of moral beliefs. To see why, suppose that you have a student who asks for an
extension of the deadline for an assignment. The justice orientation of Kohlberg's theory would
prompt you to consider issues of whether granting the request is fair. Would the late student be able
to put more effort into the assignment than other students? Would the extension place a difficult
demand on you, since you would have less time to mark the assignments? These are important
considerations related to the rights of students and the teacher.
 In addition to these, however, are considerations having to do with the responsibilities that you and
the requesting student have for each other and for others. Does the student have a valid personal
reason (illness, death in the family, etc.) for the assignment being late? Will the assignment lose its
educational value if the student has to turn it in prematurely? These latter questions have less to do
with fairness and rights, and more to do with taking care of and responsibility for students. They
require a framework different from Kohlberg's to be understood fully.