Introduction Of Human Growth and Development Assignment

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Human growth and development refer to a particular study that includes the different stages of all human beings. The principal aim of this study is to provide a detailed description of the different stages of growth as well as the development of human beings. Apart from that, this study focuses on the review of several significant factors that has a great impact on human development. This study will identify of different stages of life of a human being and provide a detailed description of different aspects of the human being like social, emotional as well as physical development.

1. Understanding the core components of improvement all over a human lifespan

1.1 Identification of life stages of human improvement

Several stages have been seen in the life span of a human being and every individual stage should be successfully navigated through all the stages several times with every stage. Each stage of human life has its individual challenges or issues (Appiah et al. 2019). The stages of life of a human being can be categorized as per their emotional, social as well as physical development.

• Birth and infancy
• Childhood
• Adolescence
• Adulthood
• Older adulthood
• The final stage

Birth or infancy stage is considered the first stage of human life which lasts up to 3 years. In this stage, a great part of the mental growth has been completed where a conflict is generally seen like trust versus mistrust. It is called the initial psychological stage where the children are fully dependent on their caregivers. The parents or the caregivers look after the requirements and needs of the child in this stage (Nojiri et al. 2020). Apart from that, in this stage, the children learn to observe and trust the people as well as the surrounding world.

The next stage of human life is childhood, which lasts for 9 years. According to physicians as well as psychologists, this is the most important stage of human beings as all the psychological or physical development has been completed in this stage (Hakim et al. 2021). This stage of human being signifies the next level of psychological development where a child has confusion between autonomy and doubt or shame. In this stage, a child enters into the toddler stages and gains a great sense of control to become independent and self-control has increased this stage (Schell and Rousham, 2022). The children learn several things in this stage like using bathrooms, selecting their own foods, and choosing their toys. In this way, they become more independent in their lifespan.

Adolescence is a vital stage for character development as it lasts up to 18 years. In this stage, an individual has a piece of knowledge about self-initiative. In this stage, the parents or the caregivers of an individual should encourage engagement in self-directed activities (Wijaya et al. 2021). A psychological conflict is commonly seen in this stage and a great sense of initiative is observed in an individual.

The Adulthood stage begins at the age of 18 and lasts up to 65 years. The characteristics of this stage are complete self-direction in all activities. Apart from that, in this stage, an individual mainly acts per the practical or results-oriented perspectives (Telfer, 2019). An individual becomes more integrative in terms of knowledge gain and slower in learning new things. An individual applied personal experiences as well as knowledge in each work as a resource.

Older adulthood is an inactive stage of the human being where an individual became mistrustful as well as feels guilt about inabilities. In this stage, an individual feels not much competent rather than others and gradually loses the identification sense (Telfer, 2019). An individual becomes independent of others in this stage.

The final stage is considered the variable stage of the lifespan of a human being when an individual is completely ruined in terms of physical as well as psychological perspectives.

1.2 Description of social, emotional, cognitive or physical improvements within every stage of life

All the stages of life of human being witness some social, emotional, cognitive or physical improvements.

Different development aspects	Engagement of human beings
Social development	The infancy stage is the initial stage of a human being when social improvement is mostly centred on the parents and the caregivers. In this stage, the children learn about basic relationships as well as have a piece of knowledge in terms of right or wrong activities (Prasetyo and Kistanti, 2020). In the childhood stage , all the emotional attachments have been seen including bonding with friends and relatives. In the adolescence stage , social development mainly improved with logic as well as previous experience. In this stage, an individual engages in society with complications as well as here one can explore several new things (Fabrizio et al. 2020). Adulthood is the most significant stage for social development because in this stage an individual engages mostly with friends and relatives. Complex problems of society can be solved through three different abstract theories along with experiences. In this stage, an individual mostly thought through complicated ideas and thoughts (Khan et al. 2018). In the older adulthood stage , individuals become mostly inactive from outer society and prefer privacy.
Emotional improvement	All over the lifespan of a human being, emotional improvement is seen in each stage. It starts in the infancy stage when a child achieves all the feelings of rudimentary cognition along with the development of memory capacities. In this stage, an individual starts to express particular emotions mainly depending on the practical contexts (Prasetyo and Kistanti, 2020). Emotional development refers to the process where a child starts to make out their individuality and start to interact with different people of different emotional stages. Emotional improvement is mostly seen in the adolescence stage whereas emotional conflict is seen in this stage. Individuals in this stage gradually increase their capabilities of perceiving as well as assessing or managing their emotions (Khan et al. 2018). Several biological processes are connected to emotional behaviour. In this stage, the surrounding environment and people mostly influence the emotion of an individual. In the adulthood stage, an individual gains emotional regulation where they tolerate several confrontations along with strong emotions (Ayinde et al. 2020). In this stage, they admit their mistakes and try to be honest, approach anxiety as well as become very proactive. In the older adulthood stage, a great sense of emotional intelligence is seen and this is mostly related to the physical or mental dependence. As in this stage, the physical or mental power is reduced so human being is very emotional in each aspect.
Cognitive development	Several cognitive improvements can be all over the lifespan of a human being. In the infancy stage, the brain or cognitive improvements begin through the learning process of languages as well as memorization. Apart from that, in this stage, a child starts to think and gain some reasoning power from the guidance of parents or caregivers (Abid et al. 2020). In the childhood stage, building skills have been improved into the child where one starts to read languages, and learns some vocabulary as well as numeracy. The cognitive development of the adolescence stage is also seen such as people starting to think as well as learning new things. In the adulthood stage, the children start to consolidate some formal operational learning and continue the integration process through several emotional processes (Ayinde et al. 2020). In this stage, an individual starts different social processes through proper planning as well as problem-solving skills. An individual in the older adult stage retains some semantic memory and has the ability to remember a wide range of vocabulary.
Physical deve lopment	In human beings physical development can be seen during different stages of life. There are 6 stages during a human's life where most physical improvement can be seen. The first stage is the infant, in this stage, the infants learn the first aspects of their mother language along with that they learn how to crawl or possibly walk. Also, in this stage, they became familiar with their environment. This second stage is a toddler. In this stage, their language skills developed rapidly and they proceeded to eat more independently. Along with this they also became more curious about their surroundings and sometimes also acted clingy and shy. The third stage is preschooler or early childhood. In this stage fine motor skills such as colouring drawing as well as using safety scissors develop in the children. Along with this their ability to run, jump, skip and climb also improves. They also become more conscious about their physical care like dressing, eating, bathing and even going to the bathroom on their own. The fourth stage is middle school, in which the experience of extensive physical growth means they get more independent from their family and they focus more on the demands of the school's friends along with independent recreational activities (Werneck et al. 2020). The fifth stage is adolescence. Puberty occurs early in the adolescent stage, this is considered to be a significant physical development because of this they get to know about sexual maturity along with the ability to have children. In this early adolescence day they become more conscious about their body image and compare themselves with others but this changes during the later stages of adolescence. The last and final stage is adulthood but the stage is divided into 3 substages which are young adult, mature adult and older adult. Young other stage is mostly the physical maturation complete but sometimes the height and weight may increase slightly. Young adults are mostly considered to be in their early 20 when they fully developed their muscle strength recreation time sensory abilities along with cardiac function. Mature adults are considered between 25 to 55 age in this stage they can see changes in their vision hearing, joint pains as well as weight gain. They can find their vision may vary significantly. Older adults are considered to be between 75 age to till their death (Barboza et al. 2019). In this stage, most of the physical development can be required as the appearance of wrinkles or skin becomes less elastic and thin.

2. Understanding the theories of human development and growth

2.1 Description of theories of human development and growth

Several theories are closely related to the growth and development of a human being and all the theories discuss specific features of this growing stage.

The theory of “Erikson’s psychosocial development” mostly focuses on several social experiences of a human being that are gained all over the lifespan. Erikson mostly emphasized the social, emotional as well as cognitive development of the human being.

According to this theory, each stage of a human being builds on a preceding stage that paves the way for human growth. In every stage, Erikson had a deep belief in the gathered experience of a person and serves as the turning point in each developmental stage (Abid et al. 2020). As per this theory, the stage of infancy has a great conflict between trust and mistrust. This stage is mainly focused on the dependence on people. Early childhood is the most important stage of a human being where conflict is seen between autonomy and doubt or shame. Apart from that, preschool is a stage where an individual has a conflict between initiative and guilt (Saleh et al. 2020). This stage is mainly based on the exploration of new things in social or emotional aspects and different purposes can be seen in an individual in this stage.

The school age comes after this stage where an individual conflicts between industry and inferiority. In this stage, all the social or emotional development of an individual is centred on school and building confidence (Centeno-Cerdas et al. 2018). The adolescence stage comes after this when a person has a conflict between self-identity as well as role confusion. In this stage, the people learn about the importance of social relationships and engage in several relationships as well as fidelity. In the adulthood stage, people have confused between intimacy as well as isolation when they learn about personal relationships and love (advocatesforyouth.org, 2022). Apart from that, in the later adulthood stage, an individual has confusion between generativity and stagnation. In this stage, people are mainly focused on work along with parenthood. Maturity is the last stage of a human being according to this theory where an individual has a conflict between ego integrity and despair (Centeno-Cerdas et al. 2018). In this stage, people mostly depend on the reflection of life as well as wisdom.

Another important theory related to human development is “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs” where Maslow provided a five-tier model of the requirements of a human being. In this theory, several needs are referred to in a human being such as psychological, safety, love, esteem as well as self-actualization.

According to this theory, physiological needs are the most basic needs that mainly focus on the resources of food, and water as well as mental or physical rest. As per this theory, if a person is not satisfied with these physiological needs anyone cannot perform their function appropriately as well as optimally (Han and Stieha, 2020). The safety needs of individuals are based on the security of different perspectives. Security mainly refers to emotional, physical, social as well as financial security is very important for a person to perform all activities properly.

Belongings and love needs of a person refer to the personal or social relations in terms of inner or outer society. Friendship is another belonging that requires (Centeno-Cerdas et al. 2018). The belonging needs refer to different interpersonal relationships along with connectedness and group involvement. The esteem needs of a human can be classified into two different categories esteem for oneself and others. Individual esteemed refers to individual dignity, achievement as well as independence while other esteemed refers to status and prestige (Zangirolami-Raimundo et al. 2018). Self-actualization needs to be located at the top of human needs which focuses on potential, self-fulfilment and the growth of personal experiences development.

“Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development” is another important theory related to human growth or development. According to this theory, there are mainly four different stages in terms of cognitive development and every stage presents an innovative aspect for thinking and understanding the external environment. Every stage is correlated to the age group up to 12 years. A great sense of intellectual development is seen in each stages and the development will continue up to the mature stage of brain.

Sensorimotor is the initial stage in this theory that refers to the curiosity about the outer world along with the motor responses. Preoperational is the stage that refers to expressing language using the proper syntax (Zangirolami-Raimundo et al. 2018). Imagination becomes stronger through abstract thinking and asking questions of curiosity. The stage of concrete operational focuses on the development of logical as well as organized thinking to understand the situation, space or quantity more specifically (de Abreu, 2020). Another stage is formal operational when a person applies deductive reasoning, abstract as well as the hypothetical process of thinking.

3. Understanding the significance of life events within every stage of human growth

3.1 Explanation of important life events that occurs in every development stage

Stages of life	Life events
Birth and infancy	This stage has only a few events that are memorable to a human being such as reparation from the caregivers or change the nursery (researchgate.net, 2022). This stage also includes separation from the mother’s body and changes in the environment of the nursery. After the separation from the mother’s womb, the infant usually cries out and needs to be fed and this can only be met by the mother, the sole caregiver by feeding and comforting the infant with their needs (maryville.edu, 2022). Apart from that, another event is also seen which the formation of the family with social interactions is.
Childhood	This stage is full of events like school going process and moving to the neighbourhood. During preschool days, the children usually learn to assert themselves as well as become accomplished with a relationship with their peer and develop feelings of strong self-esteem. Besides this, making or losing friends and relatives. The school-going session is very exciting for any child and in this stage some child experience changes or moving houses.
Adolescence	The events of this stage are puberty, mentality change, the transformation of the body and the requirements of sexual partners (verywellmind.com, 2022). Puberty is an important part of this state which refers to the emotional or physical changes of a human being. In this stage, some people are experienced starting work or moving out for education or job purpose. Moreover, in this stage of the lifecycle, an “identity crisis” originated and a sense of developing a sense of self usually took place within the individuals going through this phase of the life cycle (maryville.edu, 2022).
Adulthood	As per the opinion of Han and Stieha (2020), adulthood has no signpost for its onset. The individual is concerned with developing the ability to share the intimacy seeking for a long-term relationship. The events of this stage are marriage or divorce , loss of friends or relatives, relationship changes, having children as well as changing careers or jobs. As per recent research, it can also be evident that divorce is for the one who marries during adolescence period. Buying a new house can happen in this stage.
Later adulthood	The events of this stage are taking retirement from a job, the death of a spouse, coming to the time of an individual's death , possible sickness and health deterioration . It is also evident that retirement brings significant changes in the lifecycle occur as retirement causes significant changes in the roles within the home as well as in the social system (Han and Stieha, 2020).

3.2 Analysis of the consequences of the life event significance of an individual

There is a lot of significance of all these life events on the personal life of an individual like gaining more independence in the different activities of life. These events have a great impact on personal happiness as well as personal satisfaction (Faggian et al. 2019). Reduction of the emotional plan, as well as the ability to accept, is the outcome of these events. These events have a great impact on adaptability skills.

Positive impact: The impact of the life events has a positive impact on the development of skills and knowledge towards the different life skills. The positive impact find new ways of thinking and problem solving capabilities. As per the opinion of Bleidorn et al. (2018), it recognises the impact of their actions and at the same time teaches them to take responsibility for group collaboration and cooperation.

Gaining independence : This is also very helpful in gaining independence towards the positive life skills. It helps the people to live on their own, earn a reasonable income and care for their health. As per the study of Matthews et al. (2022), independent skills are important as they make the people capable of living their own and earn their own living. It creates a feeling of becoming self-dependent by developing a sense of independence that can empower people and provide them the sense of confidence and purpose.

Happiness : The happiness and the individual perspectives also changed with the different stages of life and other life stages of a human being. The happiness is also linked with the willingness to accept change as a part of life that truly makes the people happy in a position to be adaptive.

Personal Satisfaction : It is also one kind of matter that changes during the life stages. Personal satisfaction is anything that brings gratification, contentment or pleasure at various stages of the lifecycle. Personality, self-esteem, outlook on the life of the people are the vital factors that bring changes in the life cycle of the people (Bleidorn et al. , 2018).

Adapting power : Another important thing is the adapting power and this can be increased day-by-day when a person faces the changes during the life stages. One of the most important aspects is human perspective towards the several life events that are adaptability skills that are improved after the individual analysis of the modern period. It is seen that proper identification of the lifespan of the human being reduces the emotional pain and increase the ability in accepting the unpredictable outcomes of human life (Yitmen et al. 2021). On the other hand, there are some negative impacts as well like it increases regression in the initial stages and sometimes human beings are unable to deal with the change as well as inadequate adaptability skills. A feeling of depression, as well as hopelessness, can be increased which leads to inability in progression. By focusing on the negative aspect, it can be stated that inability to progress is one of the most effective factor. This factor impacts the most negatively while communicating in the society.

Ability to accept unwanted outcomes which result in a reduction in emotional pain - There are many uncertain situations a human being faces in the different stages of their life. This answering situation may not always have a positive outcome, sometimes it has unwanted outcomes as well. These unwanted outcomes also cause a reduction of proper emotional reactions which a human should convey regarding these outcomes.

Regression to earliest stages - In the earliest stages of development many human beings face regression due to certain changes in their lifestyle or situation. Regression means throwing temper tantrums or having difficulty sleeping or eating as well as giving immature replies (Bleidorn et al. 2018). Also, this can be seen when a child dress themselves there can be certain aspects that they are missing that they usually like to use.

Not being able to deal with changes - in different stages of life of human beings not everything goes around as per their preferences. They also face some situations that are highly unexpected and uncertain to them. These kinds of situations usually bring changes in their lifestyle as well as physical. Most of the time it can be seen that a child is not able to handle these kinds of changes emotionally mentally as well as physically.

Feelings of depression and helplessness along with not having the ability to progress things - The uncertain situations and the unwanted outcomes human beings face in their different stages of life also sometimes make them depressed or feel helpless (Settersten, 2018). They feel these kinds of emotions mostly because they are unable to process these uncertain and unwanted things which happen in their life. They mostly lose these abilities because they are unable to process the things which are happening in their surroundings which affects them mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically.

Unit summary

Taking into consideration the above study it is seen that the growth and development of a human being can be classified into different stages. At each stage of the human being, there are some social, emotional, cognitive as well as physical improvements can be seen. Apart from that, different theories related to the development of human beings are mentioned in this study. The life events of different stages are discussed in the study along with the consequences. Understating the significance of human development has been discussed in this study.

References

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