Psy 280: A Short Summary On Human Development

Human Development
Amirah Shepard
Psy/280
September 1, 2014
Jessica Barch
Human Development
The process of human development starts as early as the embryotic stage and continues to progresses throughout life. These changes have been examined by leading theorist in the Psychology field who were looking to establish guiding principles and concepts. There have been a number of developmental theories that seek to explain the questions that we have related to human development. I will examine these theories, as well as, provide backgrounds for the most influential theorist for each. I will also examine the life span perspective and how heredity and the environment influence the human development.
One of the most leading theories
In order to do this, some researchers began to study only those things that could be measured and quantified. This led to the beginning of learning theories. Learning theories focus on how behavior is learned. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who discovered the term classic conditioning. Classic conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Pavlov conducted his experiment by using mammals, he observed the digestive process in dogs and the relation between salvia and food. His study was extremely influential in establishing triggers (conditioned responses) that stimulated the salvia when feeding the dogs. He came to realize that the dogs began to salivate not only when they saw food but when they saw the scientist in lab coats. The dogs associated food to the white lab coats which triggered the salvation. He also conducted an experiment with the use of a bell. He would ring a bell when it was time to eat and subsequently the same conditioned responses were stimulated and the dogs reacted in the same manner as in the lab coat experiment. His developments influenced American psychologist John Watsons experiment on a nine month old baby named Albert. He wanted to prove that classic conditioning work on humans
This study within psychology is continuous. Lifespan perspective has three developmental domains. These domains are physical domain, cognitive domain, and social domain. Physical development refers to the growth of the body, organs, physical systems, signs of aging, change in motor abilities, and all physical changes (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). The next development has problem-solving, mental process, memory, perception, language, and learning from the cognitive development. The last developmental stage is psychosocial stage; this stage handles the personal and interpersonal aspect of development. The developmental aspects for psychosocial are: emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills, motives, family roles, relationships, and society.
Lifespan development also has five characteristics useful for understanding any age of human development (Berger, 2008). Multidirectional characteristics accounts for change in every direction, as change does not have to be in a straight line. Embedding in lives of human’s context can include constraints, family patterns, and historical conditions this characteristic refers to multi-contextual characteristics. The last of the five developmental characteristics is plasticity, which states that every person has traits that can be altered at any point in life, and change is ongoing (Berger,