FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

CPD 1313 Psychology in Education INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Group member: Nur Fatin Hanani Binti Roslee Noor Carolnisak Binti Noor Ismail Anis Syuhadah Binti Bukhari Syed Ahmad Fattah Bin Syed Noor Mohammad

Matric number: 3111017831 3111017491 3111023641 3111025571

Diploma in TESL 2C
Presentation and Submission Date: 9th February 2012

Lecturer: Mr. Hj. Baghawi Bin Sarbini

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INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Concepts of Human Nature

According to the Dewan Dictionary (1998), the word human nature is explained as human natural characteristics, talent and character. In psychological term, human nature can be explained as an inborn characteristic of human being with abilities or natural potentials, instincts, including belief. Human potential here refers as natural ability and hidden capability contain in every human s mind. It is basically expressed in terms of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional aspects. Thus, human nature is classified into two main categories, namely: 1. 2. Physical, materials and worldliness Spirituality, God eternity

According to Freud (1856-1939), human nature contains primitive instinctive elements, including sexual element. Similarly, many well-known Islamic scholars referred human nature as a permanent gift from God, such as talent, intellect, emotions and physical attributes. The harmony of human nature will be achieved when one s body, mind and soul are in equilibrium condition. Some educational psychologist observed and studied human nature from the aspects of pupils potentials, instincts, needs, and individual characteristics.

Factors Influencing Individual Development

According to the theories of human development, every individual exhibits similar characteristic with others during certain stages of personal growth. However, an individual s rate of development during each stage of growth will be different from one another in terms of physical, cognitive, emotional and social aspects. Researchers conducted by psychologist have revealed that it is not possible to have two persons develop at the same rate. That argued that heredity and environment are two factors which cause the rate of growth and development of individuals to be different from one another.

 Genetic Influence
The study of genetic influence on human growth and development was pioneered by Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) from Austria.

The hereditary factor named by Mendel, is now known as gene. It contains nucleoprotein which determines the hereditary characteristics of human being. It is located in the chromosomes, kind of threadlike strands found in the male sperm inside the nucleus cell as well as in the female ovum cell. According to research, chromosomes contain DNA and RNA constituents, which contain genes carrying hereditary characteristics.

Individual Differences due to Genetic Influence Individual differences can be referred as inequalities in individual development of physical, mental, emotional and social aspects. According to the Dictionary of Psychology (1973), individual differences are explained as Variation or characteristics of cognitive, emotional, physical, moral, behavioural, social, intelligence and other possible attributes found among individuals in a group . This explanation clarify that every individual is unique and possesses his or her own characteristics. Aspects of Individual Differences Individual differences can be illustrated briefly according to the following aspects: 1. Physical aspects: There is no two persons possess entirely the same physical characteristics. They might be different in terms of sex, appearance and body size, as well as physical skills. 2. Cognitive aspects: An individual is different from another in terms of mentally, learning, memory, reasoning and analysing abilities, as well as intelligence. 3. Emotional aspects: No two individuals will exhibit identical emotional feeling at the same time in the same situation. 4. Behaviours: An individual will normally behave differently with the other individuals in terms of communication, interaction and social activities. 5. Social aspects: Every individual practises his or her own style of social interaction, and it is different from one another, including members of his own family. 6. Spiritual aspects: Every individual has his or her own philosophy of life, even if the religion the individual embraced might be the same as others.

Physical Differences Every individual, except twin children, possessed unique physical characteristics such as a body size, height, weight, shape and sensory organs as well as physical skills. Finding of some researches have shown that external physical characteristics, especially the colour of a child s hair and the sensory organs are inherited from the genes of the parents. For example, according to research study, eye colour is determined by a single pair of genes. However, most of the physical traits are polygenic traits, i.e. their characteristics are influenced by more than a pair of genes, such as skin colour and motor coordination which exhibits complex physical abilities. Mental (Cognitive) Differences Research conducted by psychologists Galton (1865), Goddard (1890), Newman (1937) and Shieldo (1962) had proved that every individual has different level of intelligence and mental ability among the peer group. The difference in intelligence among individuals can be observed from their academic performance in a class. Psychologists often conduct survey to relate the differences in intelligence of individuals with their parents level of intelligence. Usually, intelligent parents will normally produce smart children. Other factors that contribute to emotional intelligence differences are social and cultural environment, including the home. Emotional Differences According to the finding of psychologists research, the emotion of an individual is also inherited from his parents. For example, parents who are emotionally unstable and hot-tempered will probably produce children with aggressive and autocratic behaviour. The degree of affiliation needs varies of one individual to another individual. As the degree of emotion links with achievement and other
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fulfilment of individual needs, such variable degrees contribute to emotional differences which exhibit among individuals.

 Environmental Influence Many research studies have proved that factors such as family background, peer group, socioeconomic status, society culture and belief, technological resource, teachers and school also influence every stage of an individual s growth and development. Individual Differences due to Environment Influence (a) Family Influence The family unit itself poses a great influence over human development. Family factors which influence the development of an individual include home atmosphere, food, guidance, and socioeconomic status of the family. It is generally known that differences in home atmosphere, food guidance and family socioeconomic status will produce individuals with different levels of development. Examples:
y y y y Children who are born in a friendly and affectionate family will experience healthy emotional development. Sufficient nutritious and balanced food diet will help them to develop their physical health satisfactory condition. Children who are nurtured and educated properly will normally be able to develop their potentials, behaviours and emotions optimally. Pupils who are form highly educated or high socioeconomic status family will normally experience optimal intellectual and physical development. This is due to the fact that educated or well to do parents usually try their best to provide nutritious and balanced food as well as sufficient education facilities for their children.

(b) Peer Group Peer group plays an important role in influencing individual development, especially in intellectual, personality, emotional and social aspects. Examples:
y y Children who mix industrious peer group will be an asset for their intellectual and potential development. Children who frequently socialized with courteous and well-disciplined peer group will tend to follow their good examples.

(c) Society Culture and Belief Society is an environment for people to interact. Different culture and belief of a society will influence children s development in socioeconomic, personality and spiritual aspects. Examples:
y y y Differences in values of life will form different philosophy of life among individuals. Differences in culture and religion will produce different ways of living as well as human behaviours. A healthy society will influence its members to practise right attitude such as responsibility, accountability, and with good ethical and religious values. Materialistic society will influence individual attitude with emphasis on self-importance and materialistic gain, and tend to ignore spiritual and psychological values of individuals. Society which emphasizes its culture and religious belief will produce individuals as pious followers of God.

(d) Technological Resources in Urban and Rural Environment An individual development is also influenced by the exposure of the existing technological resources here refer to information which can be acquired from reading materials such as newspaper, magazine, advertisement, film, radio, television and computer. It is generally agreed that exposure to children to healthy and adequate technological resources will improve their rate of cognitive, emotional and social development. On the other hand, if children were too expose to technological resources which contains violent, unhealthy or

aggressive elements, then it is easy for them to develop negative attitude and undesirable personality. Obviously, because of poor facilities, pupils in rural environments will be less well informed than pupils in the urban areas. As such, rural pupils are much weaker in terms of academic performance. (e) Teachers and School Teachers and school environment also pose great influence on the development of pupils in terms of physical, intellectual, emotional and social aspects. Teachers who are empathetic and efficient in organizing teaching-learning activities in class will be able to produce educated, competent, good behaviours and responsible pupils. They will be able to acquire knowledge and skills achieve which enable them to contribute towards the building of a harmonious and progressive nation. Similarly, school with conducive environment as well as sufficient teaching-learning facilities will help to develop optimally the cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspects of the pupils.

Implications of Individual Differences in Teaching-Learning

As explained above, genetics and environmental factors influence human development, producing individuals who are different in physical, emotional and social aspects among one another. This implies that every pupil is unique and possesses different characteristics from one another. Thus, teachers ought to plan teaching-learning activities according to the pupils abilities. Besides, Teachers also need to use suitable strategies and approaches such as group, remedial, enrichment activities and so on, to motivate pupils who are different in physical, intellectual, emotional and social aspects. It is suggest that teachers should try to ascertain and develop the intelligences and abilities of pupils based on differences in capability, background, talent, interest and readiness to learn. Thus, teachers are
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expected to plan remedial activities for pupils who are still unable to understand the concept taught earlier, and at the same time, plan and implement enrichment programme for pupils who have already mastered the knowledge or skills acquired in the class.

Reference: Education Studies for KPLI (Theme 1): Educational Psychology, Mok Soon Sang, Multimedia-ES Resources Sdn. Bhd.