Human Development
Human development questions test stage names, the nature-nurture interaction, and classic findings from Piaget, Bowlby and Erikson.
Life-span perspective
Development is lifelong, multidimensional, plastic and contextual (Baltes). Stages: prenatal, infancy (0-2), childhood (2-11), adolescence (11-19) and adulthood.
Heredity and environment
Genotype is the genetic makeup; phenotype is the observable result of genotype interacting with environment. Temperament has biological roots, but parenting, peers, nutrition and culture shape its expression. Nature and nurture interact; they are not alternatives.
Piaget's cognitive stages
- Sensorimotor (0-2): object permanence develops.
- Preoperational (2-7): symbolic thought, egocentrism, failure at conservation.
- Concrete operational (7-11): conservation, classification, reversible thinking about concrete things.
- Formal operational (11+): abstract and hypothetical reasoning.
Attachment and psychosocial stages
Bowlby argued attachment is innate and promotes survival. Ainsworth's strange situation identified secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent patterns. Erikson's stages include trust vs mistrust (infancy), autonomy vs shame, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, and identity vs role confusion (adolescence).
Worked example
A 5-year-old watches water poured from a short wide glass into a tall narrow one and says the tall glass has more. Reasoning: this is preoperational thinking. The child centres on height and lacks conservation; it is not evidence of low intelligence, because the stage sequence is normal.
Traps
- Piaget's ages are approximate; the order is invariant.
- Egocentrism means difficulty taking another's viewpoint, not selfishness.
- Identity vs role confusion belongs to adolescence, not infancy.