Epilogue: Fitting the Pieces Together

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Chapter 17

• Epilogue Fitting the Pieces Together

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• One year from now, we may find that we have
  forgotten more than 50 of what learned from
  this class.
• Whats important is the big picture and major
  principles which we can use in the future.

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Human Development is a Holistic Enterprise

• Human Development is truly holistic
• In a developing infant, physical, cognitive,
  social and emotional development all function
  together.
• One cannot function independently

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• An example of this is an infant that develops
  cognitive schemes for familiar faces and
  discriminates unfamiliar ones.
• She has also developed motor capabilities that
  permit her to crawl to her attachment objects.
• She protests separation form loved ones because
  of object permanence.

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We are Active Contributors to Our Own Development

• Early developmental theorists viewed humans as
  passive A tabulae rasae (Watson, Locke)
• Piaget altered this view by emphasizing how
  children actively explore their environments and
  actively construct new understandings of objects,
  events and people they encounter.

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• Bandura claimed that children actively influence
  how they are treated by their parents.
• Behavioral geneticists argue that we actively
  select environments we are comfortable with
  because they are compatible with our own genetic
  predispositions.

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• In fact, it is the ongoing transaction between an
  active person and a changing environment, each
  influencing the other in a reciprocal way, that
  steers development.

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Continuity and Discontinuity in Development

• Is development stage like, or does it occur in
  small, orderly steps?
• Advances in cognitive and moral development occur
  gradually.
• Transitions from one stage to another do not
  unfold abruptly.
• Environment plays a large role in how children
  progress through development.

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• Looking at population trends, development often
  seems continuous, with earlier development
  predicting later life outcomes.
• Yet it is risky to predict characterological
  traits which an individual adult will display
  from a knowledge of his/her childhood traits.

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There is Much Plasticity in Human Development

• Human beings are resilient organisms who display
  a remarkable capacity to change in response to
  experience.
• Early experiences rarely make or break us.
• There are opportunities throughout life to undo
  damage done by early traumas and to redirect
  young lives along better paths.

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The Nature/Nurture Distinction is a False
Dichotomy

• The Nature vs. Nurture issue has been resolved.
• It is known that both forces play a role in
  development from changes in cell chemistry to
  changes in the global economy.
• Genes and environment interact

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• We also actively seek out experiences which are
  most compatible with our genetically influenced
  character.
• At the same time, our environments can influence
  the course of biological development
• Biology and environment are as inseparable as
  conjoined twins who share a common heart (Diane
  Halpern, 1997).

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Both Normative and Idiosyncratic Developments are
Important

• While we all share normative aspects of
  development, we also display unique,
  idiosyncratic patterns of development.
• Most infants worldwide proceed through
  predictable sequences of development.
• Yet late in toddlerhood, our genetic endowments
  begin to express themselves more fully.

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• No child should be expected to emerge as a copy
  of their parents or siblings.
• Development always proceeds in normative and
  idiosyncratic directions.
• Such diversity is even adaptive from an
  evolutionary perspective.

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• In order to really understand development, we
  must recognize and appreciate developmental
  diversities and must seek to understand the
  forces that underlie both the normative and the
  idiosyncratic changes that children and
  adolescents display.

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We Develop in A Cultural and Historical Context

• Children and Adolescents are embedded in a
  socio-cultural context that affects their
  development.
• Each persons development is influenced by social
  changes and historical events occurring during
  his/her life time.

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Development is Best Viewed From Multiple
Perspectives

• The task of understanding some thing as complex
  as human development requires that we take an
  eclectic approach.
• Many theories have something to offer.
• Our knowledge is always enriched by integrating
  the contributions of researchers from many
  disciplines and diverse viewpoints.

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• Behavioral geneticists have helped us understand
  how genes and hormones influence our behavior.
• Psychologists have explained relationships and
  family systems that influence children.
• Sociologists and economists have taught us much
  about the sociocultural context in which we
  develop.

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Patterns of Parenting (and Adult Guidance)
Clearly Matter

• Some theorist claim that parenting styles really
  dont matter.
• Given an average home, children will display
  normal developmental outcomes regardless of
  child-rearing practices.
• However, patterns of parenting do matter

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Children Need Love, Guidance,and Limits

• Different child-rearing and practices can produce
  very large differences in childrens
  developmental outcome.
• The most effective pattern of parenting is
  authoritative.
• It is characterized by provision of standards for
  children to live up to, reasonable limitations,
  and love.

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• Indigenous patterns of child care throughout the
  world represent largely successful adaptations to
  conditions of life that have long differed from
  one people to another. Adults are good parents by
  the only relevant standards, those of their own
  culture (Louis, Laoga, 1981).

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Parents Must Themselves Be Adaptable

• Raising a child successfully is hard work.
• What works for one, may not work for another.
• Favorable outcomes are more likely to result when
  parents successfully adapt to their child.
• Need to create a goodness of fit between
  parenting practices and childs unique
  characteristics.

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Many Social Forces Conspire to Shape Development

• Although the family may be the primary agent of
  socialization, each of us is exposed to a variety
  of extra familial contexts and experiences that
  can play a major part in shaping our
  personalities and social behaviors.
• TV, personal computers, peers, schools

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• Society of ones peers is an important
  developmental context for acquiring social
  skills, cooperation and teamwork, healthy
  attitudes about competition, a sense of identity
  and self-esteem.
• A sense of belongingness emerges from these newly
  formed relationships.

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Weve Come A Long Way, Baby

• As we enter the 21st century, there is no doubt
  that the field of human development is an
  extremely dynamic one.
• This knowledge we have acquired will definitely
  make us observe ourselves and others closer
• This will help us steer our lives and others in
  healthier directions.