B.A. Part- I; SEM.
-II
Unit:III- Development: Concept, Heredity and Environmental Influences. Erikson’s Theory
of Development and Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
We all know that mental functioning, social relationships, and other important aspects of
human nature develop and change throughout the entire life cycle. Development is the pattern of
progressive, orderly, and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout life.
Developmental psychology is the area of psychology that is concerned with changes in physical
and psychological functioning that occur from conception across the entire life span. The task of
developmental psychologists is to find out how and why organisms change over time.
Development is different from the term ‘growth’. The term ‘growth’ is used in purely
physical sense and it refers to changes which are observable and can be measured and quantified.
Development, on the other hand, refers to overall changes- whether quantitative or qualitative.
According to Crow and Crow ‘growth refers to structural and physiological changes while
development refers to growth as well as change in behaviour’. In the words of Hurlock, the
term ‘development’ means a progressive series of changes that occur in an orderly predictable
pattern as a result of maturation and experience.
Development is a more comprehensive term and growth is just one aspect of development.
Growth does not continue through out life. It stops when maturity has been reached. Development
on the other hand is a continuous process. It keeps going from womb to tomb. It does not end with
the attainment of maturity. It continues through out the life span of an individual. Growth may or
may not bring development. A child may grow in terms of weight by becoming fat but such a
growth may not bring any qualitative change or development. Development is also possible without
growth. A person may not grow physically but still he can have functional improvements in terms of
cognitive, social and emotional development.
Principles of Development:
The changes brought about through the process of development tend to follow some well
defined principles which are given below:
1. Principle of Continuity:
Watson and other behaviorists view development as a continuous process in which the effects
of experience and learning mount gradually with no major sudden qualitative changes. Stage
theorists such as Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget, on the other hand, view development as being
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discontinuous. Such theorists point that biological changes provide the potential for psychological
changes. Development will not occur until we are biologically ready to develop in a certain
direction.
2. Rate of Development is not uniform:
Although development follows continuity, yet its rate is not steady and uniform at all times. It
proceeds more rapidly in the early years of life. Again at the dawn of puberty there is a sudden rise
in the speed of growth and development.
3. Principle of Individual Differences:
According to this principle, there exist wide individual differences among individuals with
respect to their development in various dimensions. Each individual grows at his or her own unique
rate.
4. Principle of Uniformity of Pattern:
Although development does not proceed at a uniform rate and shows marked individual
differences, yet it follows a definite sequence or pattern somewhat uniform and universal with
respects to the offspring of species. For example, the development of language follows a somewhat
definite sequence which is quite common to all human beings.
5. Development proceeds from General to Specific Responses:
The child first picks up or exhibits general responses and learns to show specific and
purposeful responses afterwards. For example, a baby starts waving his arms in a general random
manner and after wards these general motor responses are converted into specific responses like
grasping or reaching out for a particular thing.
6. Principle of Integration:
It is true that development proceeds from general to specific or from whole to parts; it is also
equally true that specific responses or part movements are integrated as the development proceeds. It
is the integration of whole and its parts as well as of the specific and general responses which makes
the development satisfactory
7. Principle of Interrelation:
The development in various aspects like physical, cognitive, social and emotional is
interrelated and interdependent. For example, intelligent children are generally found to develop
physically at a faster rate and they also develop socially and emotionally more quickly.
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8. Principle of Predictability:
Development is predictable. With the help of certain available indicators, we can predict the
general nature and sequence of development. For example, X-Rays of the bones of the wrist of a
child will approximately predict what his ultimate structure and size will be.
9. Principle of Cephalo-caudal and Proximo-distal direction of development:
Direction of development is cephalocaudal and proximodistal in nature. By cephalocaudal
development means the development proceeds from head to foot in a longitudinal axis. First, the
child gains control over his head and arms and then on his legs and feet. By proximodistal
development means growth and development proceeds from centre to the periphery. Control over
the large fundamental muscles is mastered first, afterwards it proceeds towards smaller muscles
resulting in refiner movements. For example, control over fingers comes after the control over the
arms and hands.
10. Development is spiral and not Linear:
Development does not proceed in a straight and linear manner, rather it proceed in a spiral
manner. It means, at a particular stage of development, there is likely to be a period of rest for the
consolidation of the development process achieved till then. In advancing further, therefore,
development turns back and then moves forward again in a spiral pattern.
11. Development results from the interaction of Heredity and Environment:
Developmental psychologists today agree that both heredity (nature) and environment
(nurture) interact to produce specific developmental patterns and outcomes. However, the debate
over the relative influence of the two factors remains an ongoing one (Nature- Nature Controversy).
Heredity and Environmental Influences on Development
The term heredity signifies the biological transmission of genetic characteristics from parents
to the offspring. In the words of Douglas & Holland (1947), “One’s heredity consists of all the
structures, physical characteristics, functions or capacities derived from parents, other ancestry or
species.”
When a male’s sperm cell penetrates a female’s egg cell (ovum) resulting in conception, at
that moment, an individual’s genetic endowment is established for the rest of his/her life. When the
egg becomes fertilized by the sperm, the result is a one-celled entity called a ‘zygote’ that
immediately begins to multiply and develop. The zygote contains 23 pairs of chromosomes which
are rod-shaped structures that contain the basic hereditary information. One member of each pair is
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from the mother and the other is from the father. Each chromosome contains thousands of genes,
which are smaller units through which genetic information is transmitted. Either individually or in
combination, genes produce the particular characteristics of each person.
During the course of prenatal development, the one-celled zygote evolves into an embryo and
subsequently a fetus. Birth typically occurs thirty-eight weeks after conception. Following are some
of the characteristics that are most affected by heredity:
Physical Characteristics Intellectual Characteristics Emotional Characteristics &
Disorders
Height Memory Shyness
Weight Ability as measured on Extraversion
intelligence tests
Obesity Age of language acquisition Emotionality
Tone of Voice Reading disability Neuroticism
Blood Pressure Mental retardation Schizophrenia
Tooth decay Anxiety
Athletic ability Alcoholism
Firmness of handshake
Age of death
Activity level
The process of normal development occurs in about 95% to 98% of all pregnancies. In the
remaining 2% to 5% of cases, children are born with serious birth defects. A major cause of such
defect is faulty genes or chromosomes. Following mentioned are some of the most common genetic
and chromosomal difficulties:
1. Phenylketonuria (PKU): A child born with the inherited disease cannot produce an enzyme.
This results in an accumulation of poisons that eventually cause profound mental retardation.
2. Sickle-cell anemia: This is also an inherited disease and it gets its name from the abnormal
shape of red blood cells. Children with this disease may have poor appetites, swollen
stomachs, and yellowish eyes; they frequently die during childhood.
3. Tay-Sachs disease: Children born with Tay-Sachs disease, a disorder that most afflicts Jews
of eastern European ancestry, usually die by the age of 3 or 4 because of the body’s inability
to break down fat.
4. Down syndrome: It is a type of mental retardation and is caused when zygote receives an
extra chromosome at the moment of conception (trisomy21).
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Environment and Development:
According to Boring, Langfield and Weld, “The environment is anything that affects the
individual except his genes.” The environmental influences begin even before the child is born. A
number of environmental factors have been found to have an effect on the course of development.
The major prenatal environmental influences include:
1. Mother’s Nutrition and Emotional State:
What a mother eats during her pregnancy can have important implications for the health of
her baby. Mothers who are seriously undernourished cannot provide adequate nutrition to the
growing baby, and they are likely to give birth to underweight babies. Poorly nourished babies are
also more susceptible to disease, and a lack of nourishment may have an adverse impact on mental
development.
Moreover, there is some evidence that mother’s emotional state affects the baby. Mothers
who are anxious and tense during the last months of their pregnancies are more apt to have infants
who are irritable and who sleep and eat poorly.
2. Illness of mother:
There are a number of illnesses like syphilis, diabetes, high B.P. etc. that can have devastating
consequences for the developing fetus when contacted during the early part of a woman’s
pregnancy. AIDS can be passed from mother to child prior to birth.
3. Mother’s Use of drugs:
Drugs taken by a pregnant woman can have a tragic effect on the unborn child. Probably, the
most dramatic example was thalidomide, a tranquilizer that was widely prescribed during the
1960s- until it was discovered that it caused severe birth defects such as the absence of limbs.
Alcohol and nicotine are also dangerous to fetal development. For example, fetal alcohol
syndrome, a condition resulting in mental and growth retardation, has been found in the children of
mothers who consumed heavy amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. Moreover, mothers who take
physically addictive drugs such as cocaine run the risk of giving birth to babies who are similarly
addicted.
4. Birth complications:
Although most births are routine, the process sometimes gets complicated resulting in injury
to the infant.
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Following are some of the environmental factors which affect development:
Environmental Factors Affecting Prenatal Development
Factor Possible Effect
Rubella (German measles) Blindness, deafness, heart abnormalities, stillbirth
Syphilis Mental retardation, physical deformities, maternal miscarriage
Addictive drugs Low birth weight, addiction of infant to drugs, with possible death
Smoking Premature birth, low birth weight and length
Alcohol Mental retardation, lower than average birth weight, small head,
limb deformities
Radiation from X-rays Physical deformities, mental retardation
Inadequate diet Reduction in growth of brain, smaller than average weight and
length at birth
Mother’s age- younger than Premature birth, increased incidence of Down’s syndrome
18 at birth of child
Mother’s age-older than 35 at Increased incidence of Down’s syndrome
birth of child
DES (diethylstilbestrol) Reproductive difficulties and increased incidence of genital cancer
in children of mothers who were given DES during pregnancy to
prevent miscarriage
AIDS Possible spread of AIDS virus to infant; facial deformities; growth
failure
Out of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) which affects development more? It is a
debate of long standing and has been named variously- the nature-nurture debate, the nativism-
empiricism controversy and so on. It is a debate over the relative contributions of experience
(nurture, environment, leaning) and inheritance (nature, heredity, genetic predisposition).
The nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) issue has philosophical roots. English
philosopher John Locke argued in the 1600s that a newborn was, in effect, a blank slate, a ‘tabula
rasa’, on which the environment in the form of experience writes its script. In other words, he
believed that the environment acted as the sole influence on development. In contrast, the French
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philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau suggested a very different conception of development in the
1700s. He believed that people’s “natural” characteristics (namely genetic factors) were most
influential.
Development psychologists today agree that both nature and nurture interact to produce
specific developmental patterns and outcomes. The question has changed from ‘which’ influences
behaviour to ‘how’ and to what degree environment and heredity produce their effects. No one
grows up without being influenced by the environment, nor does anyone develop without being
affected by his or her inherited genetic make-up. However, the debate over the relative influence of
the two factors remains an ongoing one, with different approaches and theories of development
emphasizing the environment or heredity to a greater or lesser degree.
In sum, developmental psychologists take an interactionist position on the nature- nurture
issue, suggesting that a combination of heredity and environmental factors influence development.
Theories of Development
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development:
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) a native of Germany immigrated to the United States in 1933 and
became Boston’s first child psychoanalyst. Erikson coined the term “identity crisis” and is
perhaps best known for his eighth stage theory of psychosocial development. Psychosocial
development involves changes in our interactions with and understanding of one another as well as
our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as members of society.
Erikson’s theory, like the one proposed by Piaget, is a stage theory. It suggests that all
human beings pass through specific stages or phases of development. In contrast to Piaget’s theory,
however, Erikson’s theory is concerned with social rather than cognitive development. Erikson
believed that each stage of life is marked by a specific crisis or conflict. Only if individuals negotiate
each of these hurdles successfully can they continue to develop in a normal, healthy manner.
The first four stages in Erikson’s theory occur during childhood one takes place during
adolescence; and the final three occur during adult years. The eight stages of psychosocial
development are as follows:
I. Trust vs. Mistrust Stage (Birth to 1 ½ years)
In this stage, infant develop feelings of trust if their physical requirements and psychological
needs for attachment are consistently met with and their interactions with the world are generally
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positive. On the other hand, inconsistent care and unpleasant interactions with others can lead to the
development of mistrust and such a child will remain suspicious and cautious forever.
II. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Stage (1 ½ years to 3 years)
In this stage toddlers are learning to regulate their own bodies and to act in independent ways.
If they succeed in these tasks, they develop a sense of autonomy. But if they fail or if they are
labeled as somewhat inadequate by the caregivers, they may experience shame and doubt about their
abilities to interact effectively with the external world. According to Erikson, the key to the
development of autonomy during this period is the amount of control exercised by the caregivers.
If caregivers provide too much control children will be unable to assert themselves and develop their
own sense of control over their environment; if parents provide too little control, children
themselves become overly demanding and controlling.
III. Initiative vs. Guilt Stage (ages 3 to 6):
In this stage, the major conflict is between a child’s desires to initiate activities independently
and the guilt that comes from the unwanted and unexpected consequences of such activities. If
parents react positively to the child’s attempts at independence, they help their child to resolve the
initiative vs. guilt crisis positively.
IV. Industry vs. Inferiority Stage (ages 6 to 12)
This fourth and final stage of childhood occurs during the early school years. During these
years, children learn to make things, use tools and acquire many of the skills necessary for adult life,
be they are social skills or academic skills. Children who successfully acquire these skills form a
sense of their own competence; those who do not, may compare themselves unfavourably with
others and suffer from low self-esteem.
V. Identity vs. Role-Confusion Stage (Adolescence)
This stage emphasizes the search for identity during the adolescent years. This stage is a time
of major testing as adolescence tries to determine what is unique and special about them. They
attempt to discover who they are, what their strengths are, and what kinds of roles they are best
suited to play for the rest of their lives. Because such confusions come at a time of major physical
changes accompanied by societal expectations, adolescents can find this period a particularly
difficult one.
This stage has another important characteristic: a decline in dependence on adults for
information, with more dependence on peer-group for source of social judgments. The peer group
becomes increasingly important.
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VI. Intimacy vs. Isolation stage (early adulthood age 18 to 30)
During this stage individuals must develop the ability to form deep, intimate relationships
with others- not only at the physical level but at the emotional level too. People, who fail to do so,
will live their lives in isolation, unable to form truly intimate, lasting relationships.
VII. Generativity vs. Stagnation Stage (Middle Adulthood)
Generativity refers to a person’s contribution to his or her family, community, work, and
society as a whole. Success in this stage results in positive feelings about the continuity of life, while
difficulties lead to feelings of nothingness and a sense of stagnation or having done nothing for
upcoming generations.
VIII. Ego-Integrity vs. Despair stage (Late Adulthood):
This is the last and final stage of psychosocial development in which people look back and try
to find out what they have achieved in life? Did their life have any meaning? If they feel that they
reached many of their goals and made positive contributions to society and others, they attain a
sense of integrity. If, instead, they find their lives to be lacking in such dimensions, they may
experience intense feelings of despair.
In sum, Erikson’s theory view psychosocial development in terms of discrete phases or stages
and according to Erikson, the major force behind change is a series of crises or transitions we face as
we mature and grow older. The way, we deal with these important turning points determine the
course and nature of our future lives.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development:
Do children think, reason, and remember in the same manner as adults? It was widely assumed
that they do until well into the twentieth century. But these assumptions were challenged by a Swiss
psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980). On the basis of careful observations of his own and many
other children, Piaget concluded that in several important respects children do not think or reason
like adults. Rather, because they lack certain abilities, their thought processes are different not only
in degree but in kind.
Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development is a stage theory- a type of theory that proposes
that all human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of changes. Piaget called his
approach ‘Genetic Epistemology’. The word ‘genetic’ here means genesis or origins and
‘Epistemology’ is the study of nature and acquisition of knowledge. Piaget was interested in
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knowing- how does knowledge grow; what mechanism underlines cognitive development?
According to Piaget, the answer is adaptation- the process of building mental representations of the
world through direct interaction with it. Adaptation in turn, consists of two basic components-
assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation means modifying one’s environment so that it fits
into one’s already developed ways of thinking and acting. Accommodation means modifying
oneself so as to fit in with existing characteristics of the environment. Piaget suggests that it is the
interplay between these two components that fosters adaptation, hence, cognitive development.
According to Piaget the processes of assimilation and accommodation operate in different
ways at different age levels. Research indicates that children in most cultures, throughout the world,
pass through a series of four stages in an approximately similar order. These stages are as follows:
I. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years):
During this stage children learn about the world by physically interacting with it. Objects are
held, put in the mouth and sometimes thrown around. They gradually learn that there is a
relationship between their actions and the external world. They discover that they can manipulate
objects and produce effects. However, they seem to know the world only through motor activities
and sensory impressions, hence the name sensorymotor stage. They have not yet learned to use
mental symbols or images to represent objects or events. For example, if an object is hidden from
view, four months olds will not attempt to search for it. For such infants, “out of sight, out of mind”
seems to be true. By the eighth or ninth month of age, however, the situation changes. Infants of this
age will search for the hidden object. In other words, they have obtained a basic idea of object
permanence, an understanding that objects continue to exist when they are hidden from view.
II. The Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years):
Some where between the ages of 18th and 24th months, babies acquire the ability to form
mental images of objects and events and also start using language symbols. These developments
mark the end of sensorimotor period and the start of preoperational stage.
During this stage, which lasts until about age seven, children are capable of many actions
they could not perform earlier. For example, they begin to demonstrate make-believe play, in which
they enact everyday activities such as eating or sleeping, thus demonstrating that they can represent
everyday activities mentally.
Although children’s thinking is more advanced in this stage than it was in the sensorimotor
stage, still it is qualitatively inferior to that of adults. It is characterized by ‘egocentrism’- the
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inability to distinguish their own perspective from that of others. They have difficulty understanding
that others may perceive the world differently than they do.
Children in the preoperational stage also seem to lack understanding of relational terms such
as darker, larger or harder. They also lack seriation- the ability to arrange objects in order along
some dimension. Perhaps the most important is that they lack the principle of conservation, which
is, knowledge that certain physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though the
outward appearance of the object is altered.
III. Concrete operational Stage (7 to 12 years):
By about the age of seven, the child enters the stage of concrete operations. In this stage
which is marked by the mastery of the principle of conservation, children show the beginning of the
capacity for adult logic. However, their logical thoughts or operations generally involve tangible
objects rather than abstract ideas.
During this stage many important skills emerge. Youngsters gain understanding of relational
terms and seriation. They come to understand reversibility- the fact that many physical changes can
be undone by a reversal of the original action. They also begin to make greater use of concepts in
describing and thinking about the physical world. They will categorize bananas, oranges, apples and
pineapples as fruits, despite major variations in colour, shape and size.
IV. Formal operational stage (12 years to adulthood):
During this stage children can think not only with the real or concrete, they can think in
abstract terms also. This stage is characterized by thinking which is abstract, formal and logical.
During this final stage of cognitive development, children become capable of what Piaget calls
hypothetico-deductive reasoning which involves formulating a general theory and deducing
specific hypotheses from it.
While the thinking of older children and adolescents closely approaches that of adults,
however, Piaget believes that it still falls short of the adult level. Moreover, it appears that many
individuals never reach this stage at all. Most studies show that only 40 to 60% of college students
and adults fully reach it, with some estimates running as low as 25% in the general population. In
technologically less sophisticated cultures this percentage can be further low.
Piaget’s Theory: An Evaluation
No other theorist has given such a comprehensive theory of cognitive development as Piaget.
Still, many contemporary researches believe that it does not provide a completely accurate account
of cognitive development, particularly, with respects to these issues:
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1. The age at which children achieve many milestones of cognitive development.
A large body of evidence indicates that Piaget has underestimated the cognitive
abilities of young children. For example, even infants 4.5 months of age seem to possess a
basic grasp of object permanence. Similarly, children as young as three show some
understanding of the concept of conservation.
2. The discreteness of stages of cognitive development.
Piaget proposed that cognitive development passes through discrete stages and that
these are discontinuous. Children must complete one stage before entering another. Most
research finding; however, indicate that cognitive changes occur in a gradual and continuous
manner.
3. The importance of language and social context.
Young children often talk to themselves as they go about their daily activities. Piaget
called this egocentric speech and suggested that it was a sign of children’s cognitive
immaturity. Piaget, thus, downplayed the importance of such speech in cognitive
development. But the Soviet psychologist Vygotsky (1987) objected strongly to these
beliefs, contending that private speech is not egocentric. On the contrary, it occurs when
young children encounter obstacles or difficulties and represents their efforts to engage in
self-guidance. Vygotsky (1987) felt that this early use of language plays a key role in
cognitive development. Moreover, Vygotsky also emphasized the role of social
communication with the caregiver in the cognitive development.
In sum, there is now general agreement among developmental psychologists that in
certain respects, Piaget’s theory is inaccurate. It gives too little credit to the cognitive abilities
of infants and young children, it overemphasizes the importance of discrete stages, and it
underestimates the role of private speech and social interaction with care-givers. Despite
these problems, however, its impact has been- and remains- profound.
Piaget’s theory has greatly changed our conception of the way children think and
reason and has served as a major framework for research on cognitive development.
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