Introduction
The various characteristic attributed to human development area usually addressed by developmental changes that individuals undergo. Human development is based of various factors which determine how successful the growth will be or not. In most case the adaptability to various situations is a major factor that contributes to the development. Lifespan development occurs through knowledge and experience of what is being performed within the immediate surrounding. Both physical and cognitive developments are therefore effective predictors of and adult’s future personality
Physical Development
Throughout early child hood, the child rapidly builds up physically. The child’s intellect and the nervous system develop faster than any other section of the body before birth and the first two years. The intellect continues growing and at the age of six the size of the brain is nine-tenths of an adult’s size of brain. The development of the brain slows down in the late stages of the child’s age. As the brain keeps on developing learning is also experienced primarily since the neurons increase in size and the connection between the axons and the dendrites is intense.
As the changes occur internally during brain development, active motion skills are highly noted. This is termed as motor development and it is clearly pragmatic and measured. These abilities of movement are restricted to impulses (Woodfield, 2004). A child is able to respond to touch by turning it head, opening its oral cavity and search for a nipple. Eventually, the child begins to involuntary move some body parts. This leads to the child movement transformation and is finally able to crawl, walk and even climb. Motor development is greatly influenced by maturation but environmental exposure such as neglect and cultural disparities also have a great effect (Arranz, Olabarriet & Richards, 2010).
During physical development, the child also develops the sensory and perceptual ability. This is evident during breastfeeding. The child is able to make a distinction between the mother’s and another woman’s breast milk. The child is also able to distinguish pain and discomfort through the sense of touch. This is evident from the child’s reaction especially when the skin is pricked during blood test and circumcision. The child’s sight ability also develops with time. This is because; at birth the sight is weak but at the age of two and above, the sight is almost similar to the t of an adult. The child’s hearing ability can not be termed to be a developing ability since this begins at the last stages of pregnancy. The child can perfectly hear noise even when in the womb. This raises the belief that it facilitates the ability of the child to learn. It is evidently proven by the fact that children can easily identify the voice of their mother more easily (Woodfield, 2004).
Cognitive Development
The child’s ability of knowing and viewing things about the world develops the same way as its physical abilities. The intellectual growth develops in different stages and it is catalyzed by the child’s desire to learn more. The cognitive ability deals with our interaction with the environment. This has been defined in three concepts which include assimilation, accommodation and schema. Schemas are the most vital elements of our mind and they manage our relations with the environment. As the child grows from infancy, the schemas are generally motor and they are founded on the reflexes of holding and sucking. This is evident with the presentation of a nipple to the child and the child opens the mouth. Eventually, the schema develops and the child is capable of recognizing solid food for consumption and also is able to define the people around. The schema continues expanding and changing up to adult hood as times change. We begin discovering new ways and products through out our lives.
The other two processes are accommodation and assimilation which facilitate the growth and of the schema. Assimilation involves absorption of new data into already existing schema. As the child grows, it sucks the nipple and eventually begins sucking fingers and blankets. Accommodation involves intake of information by developing new schemas in order to take in the new information. During development, a child tries to feed on solid food by use of a spoon. The child uses the previous schema of sucking a nipple to shape its lips and tongue in order to fit in the spoon.
In cognitive, there is a hypothesis that explains the stages of the development. In every stage a child acquires a certain skill and thus can not be omitted. Sensorimotor stage begins from birth to language acquisition stage. Children are able to develop their schema mainly through senses and motor actions by exploring the environment. During preoperational stage, which is the second stage, children are able to greatly develop their language (Arranz, Olabarriet & Richards, 2010). The child commences to meditate symbolically by use of words. Concrete operational stage follows and the child develops thinking skills. Children at this stage perform activities on physical objects. They begin to recognize the physical attribute of an object that can not be changed, for example volume. This is referred to as conservation. In the final stage, formal operational stage, it occurs from the age of ten and eleven. A Child begins to put into practice abstract data. They begin thinking theoretically and this allows them to create and test these ideas.
Quality of Family context in Cognitive Development
Study has been carried out in research of the connection between the family context and the cognitive development in children. Values like the social economic position of the family, the family maintenance received by the child and the physical environment has an impact on the cognitive growth. A satisfying connection between the socioeconomic status of the family and its quality context is clear. The amount of parental care has also been proved to have an impact on the child’s cognitive growth. Studies also show that parental care would be enough to curb the effects of the family’s assets on the child. The domestic environment also proved to have great impact on the intelligence of a child whose age ranges between 6 and 8 years (Arranz & Oliva, 2010).
It is also evident that there are some family context values that have a negative impact on the child’s cognitive growth. Research on these vices which include less support, parents’ stress and other conflicts within the family has been minimal. Other studies have also proved features such as demise of a relative and socioeconomic status of a family. Some interactive features that include use of punishment by parents could also be a method of evaluating the family context. This is vital because it involves viewing the social and ecological issues that would have an effect on a child’s psychology. Bodily punishment, family strain, low rate of income and insensitive parenting by use of force would cause poor academic performance and cognitive development (Arranz & Oliva, 2010).
Studying Development
The study of development has been accomplished through use of theory. According to this theory, developmental psychology is focused in three different aspects. They include “nature or nurture, continuity or stages, stability or change” (Sunderland, 2008), Nature theorist states that the development of human behavior is dominated by genetically programmed signals through a maturation technique while nurture theorist is argued to be learning through experience and observation. Continuity theory states that development is continuous while the stage theory states that development happens at different rates. The stability or change theory seeks whether a human being has been able to maintain certain characteristics since childhood.
Conclusion
Lifespan development experienced during childhood contributes to the personality development during adulthood. Children well taught and carefully shown certain behavior will tend to emulate the same and stick through adulthood. The motor and physical skills gained during childhood are continuous and hence will be an effective predictor of an adult’s personality. Evaluating the family contects also contribute to a vivid understanding of the social and ecological issues that are effective predictors of aspect which affects the psychology of a child. This factors when altogether established enable the understanding of lifespan development.
References
Sunderland. M. (2008). Studying Development: the value of diversity, theory, and synthesis. Retrieved from embryo.asu.edu/pdf/sunderlanddissertation.pdfon 22nd April 2011.
Arranz, E. Oliva, A. Olabarriet, F, Richards, M, (2010). Quality of family context and cognitive development: A cross Sectional and longitudinal study, UK, eContent Management Pty Ltd, Journal of family Studies, 16, 130-142.
Woodfield, L. (2004). Physical development in the early years, USA, Continuum International Publishing Group.
