The Prenatal Period

• Conception to birth
• All parts of the human body are formed
• Inherited characteristics from the parents are imparted to the child
Infancy or Babyhood
• Birth to 2 years
• Basic physical & physiological behavior patterns begin to develop (rolling, crawling, sitting, standing,
walking, talking etc…)
• Learning the rudiments of right & wrong
• Oral stage
• Child uses tantrums to call attention

Early childhood
• 2 – 6 years
• Exploratory & inquisitive period
• Child begins to learn social relationships
• Self control begins to develop
• Intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures & memory & imagination are
developed
• Egocentric thinking predominates
Late Childhood
• 6 – 12 years
• Child learns manual skills taught at home & in school (language, writing, arithmetic etc…)
• Begins to be interested in the opposite sex
• Operational thinking develops
Puberty
• 12 – 15 years
• The urge of sex begins to assert itself very rapidly
• Physical & physiological changes in both sexes take place very fast
• Period known for the formation of personal & social identity & the discovery of moral purpose.
Early Adolescence
• Puberty -17 years
• Rapid sex maturation occurs
• Physical, intellectual & emotional characteristics continue changing
• Struggle to be autonomous & commit to an identity or sense of self

Late Adolescence
• 18 – 21 years
• Preparing for an independent life
• Development of intellectual & social skills continue
• Learning to form intimate relationships in both love & friendship

Early Adulthood
• 21 – 40 years
• New life adjustments occur
• Duration of productive years
Middle Age
• 40 – 65 years
• Most have achieved their aspirations, are well established & are already stable
• Some physical & physiological functions begin to decrease
• Conflict between productivity & stagnation
Old Age
• 65
• Most physical & physiological & mental functions decline rapidly
• Ailments associated with old age occur (dementia, arthritis, cataract..)
• Conflict between integrity & despair

GROWTH – the physical and physiological changes that occur throughout life (quantitative changes)
DEVELOPMENT – the progressive and continuous change in the organism from birth to death (qualitative changes

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:

1. Early foundations of human development are critical and persistent.
Factors like attitudes, habits, and patterns of behavior established during
the early years determine how an individual succeeds in adjusting to life as
he/she grows older.
2. No two individuals are alike.
All people are biologically and genetically different from one another.
Fraternal twins, even identical twins are not spared.

3. Human development is dependent on maturation and learning.

-Maturation is the development or unfolding of traits potentially present individual considering his/her endowment.

- Learning is the result of day-to-day experiences and practices on the child himself/herself.
4. Human development follows a definite and predictable pattern.
- The development of the physical, motor, speech, and mental is sequential and has an orderly
pattern.
5. Stimulation plays an important role in human development
- For the individual to reach his full potentials, he/she should be continuously stimulated and
encouraged to use an ability at the time when the ability is normally developing.
6. Every phase of human development has a characteristic “pattern behavior.” These patterns are marked by period of
equilibrium and disequilibrium.

-The former means that the individual adapts himself easily to environmental demands, thus makes good personal and
social adjustments.
-The latter explains that the individual experiences difficulties in adapting and so, makes poor personal and social
adjustments.
7. Every phase of human development has hazards.
Each period in a life span is associated with certain developmental hazards. These may be physical, psychological,
mental, or environmental in origin.
8. Social expectation is inevitable for every period in the life span.

- Every group, cultural or otherwise, expects its members to master certain basic skills and acquire
approved patterns of behavior at various stages in human development.
9. Cultural changes affect human development.
- Development is molded to conform to cultural standards and ideals
10. Judgments of self and others are affected by the traditional beliefs about people of all ages.
- For example, practices and stereotyping related to old age can lead to favorable or unfavorable treatment of people
in the later years of their life.

THEORY – is a set of concepts, assumptions, conjectures, and propositions that help people to describe and explain
observation that one has made.

THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:

1. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- Originated from the work of Sigmund Freud.
- Focus on social and emotional development.
- They make us aware that early experiences and unconscious emotional conflicts can have
a dramatic effect on the developing personality.
- At birth, the child’s personality consists only of these instinctual forces (called the “id”), however,
these “id” forces are gradually diverted into a system of rational thought, the “ego” and an
irrational but ethical component of personality, the “superego”
The child is thought to pass through five psychosexual stages
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:
a. ORAL STAGE – (birth to one year)
a. Reflects the infant’s needs for satisfaction from the mouth which is considered erogenous at this
period.
b. The infant’s eating, sucking, spitting, chewing and biting
b. ANAL STAGE – (two to three years)
- Attention is directed to the anal region as the sphincter muscles begin to mature.
- Toilet training should be given at this period.
c. PHALLIC STAGE – (fourth to fifth year)
- In this stage the children have matured to the point that their genitals have become an interesting
and sensitive area of the body.
- Children derive pleasure from activities associated with stroking and manipulating their sex organs.
d. LATENCY STAGE – (sixth to puberty
Focus of child is on school work and vigorous play that consume most of his physical and psychic energy.
e. GENITAL STAGE – ( from puberty onward)
- Concentrates on the maturation of the reproductive system and production of sex hormones.
2. THE PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY

- Erik Erikson extended Freud’s theory by concentrating less on the sex instinct and more on
important socio-cultural determinants of human development
- He formulated eight major stages of developmental task, each stage posing a unique developmental
task and simultaneously presenting the individual with a crisis that he/she must struggle through.
8 PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
a. TRUST vs. MISTRUST (birth to one year)
a. A healthy personality requires the element of trust toward self and the world.
b. If the child is well nurtured he develops trust and security.
c. If the child is inadequately handled, he becomes insecure and mistrustful.
b. AUTONOMY vs. SHAME & DOUBT (two to three years)
- Personality is shaped by the child’s learning of the meaning of self control.
- If the child is well managed, he comes out of this stage certain rather than ashamed.
c. INITIATIVE vs. GUILT (fourth to fifth year)
- The healthy child learns to broaden his skills, to cooperate and to lead as well as to follow.
- If he is fearful, he will continue to be dependent on adults and be restricted in the development of
social skills and imagination.
d. INDUSTRY vs. INFERIORITY (sixth to twelve years)
Child learns to win recognition by being productive. Work becomes pleasurable and he learns to persevere.
- If child does not feel competent in his skill or not satisfied with his status among his peers in work
skills, he may develop a sense of inferiority.
e. IDENTITY vs. ROLE CONFUSION (twelve to eighteen years)
The individual has to find a place for himself, an identity, self-concept, that corresponds with other’s ideas of him.
- He/she is seeking answers to the questions “Who am I?”
f. INTIMACY vs. ISOLATION (eighteen to thirty-five years).
- Capable of experiencing the intimacy of enduring friendship or marriage.
g. GENERATIVITY vs. STAGNATION
(thirty-five to sixty-five years)
- Individual is able to work productively and creatively
- It defined as parental responsibility.
g. INTEGRITY vs. DESPAIR (sixty-five to death)
- Stage of facing reality, recognizing and accepting it.
3. BEHAVIORAL THEORY
- The mind of an infant is a “tabula rasa” and that learned associations between stimuli and
responses are the building blocks of human development.
- John Watson believed that development does not proceed through a series of stages.
- The behaviorists believe that biological factors merely place limits on what children are capable of
learning. The most significant aspects of human behavior are those habits and qualities that make
us “human” are learned.
4. COGNITIVE THEORY

- Is concerned as dependent on social mediation. The child is socially dependent at the beginning of
his cognitive life and becomes increasingly independent on his thinking through many experiences
in which adults or older peers help.
- Jean Piaget developed the four stages or periods of Cognitive development. These are the following
stages:
- SENSIMOTOR PERIOD (birth to two years)
- The cognitive development of infants and toddlers comes mainly through their use of their bodies
and their senses as they explore the environment.
b. THE PREOPERATIONAL PERIOD (two to seven years)
- Refers to a child who has started to use symbols but is not capable of mentally manipulating them.
- These children illustrate having a level of thinking that precedes operational thought.
c. THE CONCRETE OPERATIONAL PERIOD (seven to twelve years)
- Children at the concrete operational stage overcome the limitations pf preoperational thinking and accomplish true
mental operations.
- Learners are now able to reverse their thinking and to group objects into classes.
d. THE FORMAL OPERATIONAL PERIOD (thirteen and older)
 - This period marks the beginning of logical and abstract thinking.
- Students demonstrate an ability to reason realistically about the future and to consider possibilities
that they actually doubt.

5. MORAL THEORY

The moral development of each successive generation is of significance to society

- Moral standards may vary from culture to culture, every society has devised rules that is
constituents must obey in order to remain members in good standing.
Lawrence Kohlberg developed the description of the three levels and six stages of moral reasoning.
a. Level One – Pre-conventional Morality ( Zero to Ten years)
a. Children of this age do not really understand the conventions or rules of society
Stage 1: Punishment – Obedience Orientation
- The child at this stage determines the goodness or badness of act based on physical consequence.
- Children avoid punishment by obeying the rules of those in authority.
Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation
- An action is judged to be right if its satisfying one’s own needs or it involves an even exchange
- Obeying rules should bring some sort of benefit in return.
b. Level Two – Conventional Morality (Ten to Twenty years)
- Children desire to get approval from others like their parents, teachers, peers, and social group.
Stage 3: Good Boy – Nice Girl Orientation
The individual wants to be a good person in order to please or impress others
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation
- To establish and maintain social order, fixed rules must be followed or obeyed
- This essential to respect authority.
c. Level three – Post-conventional Morality (after age twenty)
- Individuals who have reached this level act according to an enlightened conscience, meaning, the
moral principles that underlie the conventions of society are understood.
Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation
Rules are needed to maintain the social agreement at the same time, the rights of the individual should be protected.
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
- Moral decisions should be made in terms of self-chosen ethical principles
- Once principles are chosen, they are applied consistently.
6. ETHOLOGICAL THEORY

- Is the study of the biological bases of behavior including its evolution, causation and development.
- Ethologists believe that members of each species are born with a number of innate responses that are products of
evolution.
- Ethologists further believe that infants are sociable creatures who are quite capable of promoting
and maintaining social encounters from the day were born.