Human Development: Concepts and Stages
Human development is the study of how people change and stay the same from conception to death. This domain tests whether you can separate growth from development, apply the principles and stage theories to a described child, and name the milestone expected at a stated age.
Growth versus development
Growth is quantitative - measurable increase in size, weight and cell number. Development is qualitative - a change in the complexity of functioning, such as a child moving to a tripod pencil grip. Growth stops at maturity; development is lifelong, multidimensional and plastic.
Principles
- Cephalocaudal: head-to-toe (head control before sitting, sitting before walking).
- Proximodistal: centre-outward (arm control before finger control).
- General to specific, continuous and sequential, with individual differences in rate.
Stage theories
- Piaget: sensorimotor (0–2, object permanence); preoperational (2–7, egocentrism, symbolic play, no conservation); concrete operational (7–11, conservation, classification, seriation); formal operational (11+, hypothetical reasoning).
- Erikson: trust/mistrust (0–1); autonomy/shame (1–3); initiative/guilt (3–6); industry/inferiority (6–12); identity/role confusion (adolescence).
- Kohlberg: preconventional (punishment/obedience), conventional (social approval, law and order), postconventional (universal principles).
Worked example
A mother says her 5-year-old "does not understand maths" because the child claims a tall thin glass holds more water than a short wide one holding the same amount. Reasoning: the child fails conservation of liquid, the defining difficulty of Piaget's preoperational stage, so the logic is age-appropriate, not a sign of low intelligence. The full-mark answer names the stage and the missing concept, then suggests concrete pouring demonstrations rather than abstract teaching.
Traps
Do not write "growth" for a qualitative change. Object permanence belongs to sensorimotor, conservation to concrete operational. Industry versus inferiority is school age (6–12), not adolescence; identity versus role confusion is adolescence.