STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
It
is clear from the previous discussion that growth, development and behaviour of
an individual have variations at different ages. Psychologists have divided the
life span of an individual into different stages, each of which have certain
common characteristics. Knowledge of
various stages of development and its characteristics is essential for the
teacher so as to make the teaching learning process effective, appropriate, and
meaningful.
Modern
education is based on the psychology of the educand. The educand’s psychology
is conforms to the stage of his development. By knowing the various stages of
development through which an individual child is passing, the teacher can know
his needs, interests and abilities and can plan his teaching strategy
accordingly.
The
different stages in the development of an individual can be classified as
follows:
1. Pre-natal
Stage - From
conception to birth
2. Infancy - From birth
to 3 years
3. Childhood - From 3 to 12 years (in
strict sense
up to the onset of puberty)
a. Early Childhood - 3 to 6 years
b. Later Childhood - 6 to 12 years
4. Adolescence - From 12 to 19
years (from the onset of
puberty to the age of maturity)
5. Adulthood - From 20 to 60 years
6. Old
age -
61 years and above
Although
each stage is different from the other, we cannot draw a clear cut dividing
line between different stages since stage merges with the next and because of
the fact that developmental process is a continuous one. A study of the pattern
of growth and development exhibited by the individuals provides very useful
data for parents and teachers to plan the development and education of the
children.
PRE-NATAL
PERIOD
The pre natal
period extends from conception to birth, normally it is 280 days. The child’s
development within the womb is a very important phase of his entire
development. During this period the developing organism is dependent upon the
mother for the digestion of food, excretion of waste products, external
respiration, body temperature etc. Factors like mother’s health, food,
emotional experiences and certain desires are some of the factors which
influence the development during this period. Birth is merely an interruption
of the normal development. This interruption is characterized by a change in the
environment form that of mother’s womb to that of the world outside.
INFANCY
PERIOD
The first 3
years of the life of a child is the period of infancy. The first two weeks is
known as the period of neonate or the new-born. The period
from the third week to the end of three years is known as babyhood. These 3 years
of life are of tremendous importance in the progress of the individual. It is
at this time that the infant adjusts to the totally new environment out-side
the mothers body and thus learns to be self-dependent.
Physical
and Motor Development: Rapid physical growth are marked in
these years. Boys shown an increased rate in growth than the girls. The trunk grows
faster than the head and the proportion between
the two changes. The bodily functions tend to become stable and
controlled.
Emotional
Development: At
birth, for the expression of emotions like pleasure and pain, the baby is able
to cry only. Later he can express fear, anger, disgust, etc. The child feels
pleasure in the company of his mother and distress in her separation.
Intellectual
Development:
There is rapid improvement in the structure and
function of the sensory organs. Now the child is able to perform all functions
of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching etc. almost as good as a mature
individual.
Social
and Moral Development: Mother
is the first and best friend and socialize of the infant. Other family members
are in the next in position. At the end of this period the child begins to
establish contact with other infants.
Language
Development: Language development of the infant
begins from the birth cry. The 10 month old child is able to use one word. By
the end of the first year he is able to use 3 0r 4 words.
EARLY
CHILDHOOD
[Pre-School
Stage]
Early
childhood, extends from 3 – 6 years, is labeled by the parents as the problem
age or toy age; by the educators as the pre-school age and by the psychologists as the pre-gang age. During this stage children are
obstinate, disobedient, negativistic and antagonistic. Hence most parents
consider early childhood as a problem age. Educationally this is the most
important and impressionable age. This stage plays a significant role in the
development of character and personality. Exploratory age, questioning age,
imitative age etc. are the other names of this period.
Developmental Characteristics of
Early childhood:
Physical
and Motor Development: Early
childhood is a period of slow, steady and uniform physical growth. The average
annual increase in height is three inches and in weight is three to five
pounds. Eruption and replacement of teeth is a remarkable in this period. Brain
has developed 90% of its adult weight. A variety of motor skills like crawling,
walking, running, jumping, climbing etc. are also develops in this period.
Emotional
Development: Emotions
are especially intense during early childhood. The emotional behaviour of the child at this stage is further
differentiated into shame, anxiety, envy, hope, disappointment and affection
for parents and other members of the family. The most primitive sentiment is
his love for his own self. Therefore this stage is called ‘Narcissism’, auto
erotism or self-love. But soon the child extends his sentiments to his parents.
According to Sigmund Freud, Oedipus Complex and Electra
Complex are developed in this period. It is certain that, to a great
extent, a boy has got great attachment to his mother and the girl to her
father.
Intellectual
Development: At
this stage the child has got varied experiences connected with his immediate
environment. He accumulates a heap of knowledge. He understands the basic
functional relationship between things and events. He begins to form concepts
of physical and social reality. Ego-centrism
and fantasy are in a high degree at this stage.
Gradual
development in the perception of size, shape, colour, time; rapid increase in
memory, thinking and reasoning, creativity and imagination etc. are also
develops in this stage.
Language
Development: During the first 8-10 months, the
child’s only mode of communication is babbling and cooing. The first words are
uttered around child’s first birth day. Then
there is a rapid increase in vocabulary. Words are combined into phrases and sentences,
and simple thought are communicated with ease.
Social
Development: During early childhood
the child acquires the preliminary training and experiences needed to become a
member of a group in later childhood. During this stage, children become
increasingly aware of their bodies and learn their sexual identities as male
and female. This self awareness contributes to the development of their
positive and negative self attitudes. During pre-school years children develop
new inter-personal and appropriate relationship with others. They learn to
share and compete with siblings and peers. The social qualities such as
co-operation, sympathy, social approval, teasing, quarrelling etc. are develops in this period. The
important features of socializations during pre-schools years are:
1.
Feelings of autonomy develops in
children
2.
Social environment expands beyond home
3.
Child seeks social approval for his
actions
4.
Children of both sexes play together
without any discrimination
5.
They learn to co-operate with others and
to make friends on shared interests and similar personality traits
LATER
CHILDHOOD
[Primary
School Stage]
Later
childhood extends from the age of six years to the time individual becomes
sexually mature. It spreads from 6 to 12 years. Educationalists call this age
as elementary-school
age and psychologists as gang age or age of conformity. The period is marked by rather slow and
uniform growth. It is in this period,
even the nicest child often begins to behave in the most awful way and hence
requires proper guidance and counselling. At this stage several functional
changes take place in the child. It gradually gains maturity in all physical
and mental spheres. As regards sex, it remain dormant, but emerges with great force only at the end
of this stage. It is why this stage is called latency period.
Developmental Characteristics of
Later Childhood:
Physical
development: Later
childhood is a period of slow and relatively uniform growth until the changes
of puberty begins. The growth is slowest for girls between nine and ten years,
while boys grow slowest between ten and eleven years. The first teeth are
replaced by permanent ones. Bones becomes harder and height and weight
increase. Flattening of the forehead, sharpening of the nose and broadening of
the chest are other notable changes. The most significant physical change occurring
during this period is the lengthening of the limbs.
Motor Development: Motor abilities improve a great deal between sixth and twelfth
year. Improving muscle co-ordination helps the child to acquire new skills and
improve the already acquired ones. They have a reasonably good mastery over the
basic motor skills of sitting, standing, walking and simple finger
manipulation. By the age of twelve, muscle co-ordination is almost
perfect.
Emotional
Development: During
this period the child learns to control emotional expression in social
situations, especially the unpleasant ones and to use emotional catharsis to
clear their pent-up emotions. Fear of many common things slowly disappear, but
fears caused by imaginary stimuli begin in this age. The child experiences more
frustration, and jealousy is
intensified. Desire for acceptance as a
member of the gang is developed and he likes to have company of his own sex.
A catharsis is an
emotional release. This emotional release is linked to a need to release
unconscious conflicts. The individual
may instead release these feelings in another way, such as through physical
activity or another stress relieving activity
Intellectual Development: Primary
school stage is the age of intellectual development. The child develops powers
of observation, attention, reasoning and abstract thinking. They can focus on
more than one aspects of a situation and can globally experience what happens
around. His power of perception becomes
keen and memory become keener. Here he learns the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic. He is able to read books from which he
gathers information and derives pleasure. Rote memory gives place to logical thinking.
This is the period of physical and intellectual stability.
Social and Moral Development:
This period is marked by
greater degree of social awareness. He tires to loosen the control of the
family and becomes more increasingly independent of his parents. He becomes an
active member of a peer group. Peer group becomes an important agent of socialization during this period. He
develops social qualities like co-operation, team spirit etc. to adjust with
the social environment. He believes in
group loyalty and tries to conform to the rules and values maintained by the
group.
Speech
and Language Development: During
the later childhood, all areas of speech – pronunciation,
vocabulary, comprehension and sentence structure – improve rapidly. By the
age of 9 – 10, children develop an increasingly complex understanding of
syntax. Grammatical errors are slowly eliminated and they talk fluently.
ADOLESCENCE
(Secondary or Higher Secondary
School Stage)
Adolescence is that span of years
which boys and girls move from childhood to adulthood mentally, emotionally,
socially and physically. It is a period from the onset of puberty to the age of
maturity. It is a period of rapid physical and biological changes which may
lead to confusions, tensions, frustrations and feelings of insecurity. It is a
period of transition when changes of attitude and behaviour are most rapid. Stanley Hall rightly calls it is the period
of stress and strain, storm and strife. Holling Worth calls this the
period of temporary insanity. It is because of the restlessness and
disturbance due to the nature of development that takes place during this
period.
Adolescence
experiences create conflicts between himself and society. Change of role in
society, shattered relations in home, failure to decide his status in social
settings, difficulty in adjusting with the opposite sex, unnecessary
restrictions on movement etc. give rise to tensions and worries. During this
stage emotions fluctuate very frequently and quickly. He tries to oppose the
views of parents and school authorities, but such efforts often fail.
The
adolescent lives in an intensely emotional life, in which the rhythm of
positive and negative phases of behaviour gets lost. This results in constant
alteration between intense excitement and deep depression. All these create a
considerable degree of stress and strain
in the adolescent.
Adolescent
is also known as the period
of transition because during
this period an individual is neither a child nor an adult. During this period
the individual’s status is vague and there is confusion about the role he is
expected to play. He is often looked upon in an ambiguous manner by the elders.
Sometimes he is expected to behave as an adult and at other times he is treated
as a child. This is the time when the
individual is striving to wean himself away from the family in order to become
a self sufficient and autonomous person. Some may take the drugs or get
addicted to alcohol if their needs are thwarted or denied. Hence Holling Worth calls it a period
of temporary insanity.
It
is a very crucial period when the individual attains maturity physically,
intellectually, emotionally, sexually and socially. The growth achieved, the
experiences gained, the responsibilities felt and the relationships developed
at this stage determine the complete future of the individual.
Psychological Characteristics of
Adolescence
1. Self-consciousness
is too much developed in adolescence.
2. The
adolescent is intensely emotional
3. An
adolescent is essentially a hero-worshipper
4. Adolescent
shows interest in physical attractiveness and good grooming
5. Sex-consciousness
become too intense at this time. They become interested in opposite sex and in
extreme cases homosexuality is
established.
6.
Peer group relationship is too much
intense at this time.
7. Adolescence
is a period of day-dreaming.
8. It
is the period of acquiring the attitudes and values needed for
effective participation in society.
9. The
Adolescent wants to free himself from bondage. There is a tendency to revolt against
authority.
10.
Adolescents have strong desire
to achieve self-sufficiency and make himself quite independent like an
adult member of the society.
Developmental Characteristics of
Adolescence
Physical
and Motor Development: During adolescence the
physical growth reaches its peak and body takes its final shape. The growth and
functioning of organs reach their upper range and the glands become extremely
active. There is a sudden shoot up in
height, weight and size. The arms and
legs their final length. The size of the bones and muscles increase to the
greatest extent possible. Along with these somatic changes, motor activity also
attain its maximum limit.
The
respiratory, circulatory and digestive systems acquire their full development.
Brain gets fully developed. Pimples may appear on the face. There occurs change
in voice among both sexes. The voice of boys deepens and becomes harsher while
the voice of girls become shrill and sweet during this period.
During
adolescence the individual attains biological
maturation which is accompanied by the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics.
There is growth of hair under arms and around genital organs. Boys develop beared and moustaches on their
faces and in girls the growth of breast and widening of pelvis are significant
physical developments. The girls begin
to menstruate monthly and boys has nocturnal emission accompanied by erotic
dreams.
Emotional
Development: Adolescence
is characterized by emotional instability and intensity. It is the period of
heightening of all emotions like anxiety, fear, love, anger, etc. It is because of this fact the adolescence is considered as a period of
stress and strain. Adolescents are not consistent in their emotional
expression. Their emotions fluctuate very frequently and quickly. Sometimes
they appear to be enthusiastic and sometimes moody.
Self
consciousness, self respect and personal pride will be too strong in
adolescents. He is often irritable, easily excited and explode emotionally
instead of trying to control his emotions.
What he feels, he feels it very strongly and when he reacts, he reacts
vigorously. At no stage the individual is so restless and emotionally perturbed
and touchy as in adolescence. He is too sensitive, inflammable and moody.
Intellectual
Development: Adolescence
is a period of great intellectual advancement.
In this period functioning of the cognitive system develops in to its
maximum level. Intellectual powers like
critical thinking, logical thinking and abstract reasoning develop. Span of connection widens, depth of understanding increases and
functioning of memory sharpens.
The
adolescent develops fine imagination. The improper channelization of
imagination may lead an adolescent to day-dreaming. Writers, artists, poets, philosophers and
inventors are all born in this period. The
adolescent learns to reason and seek answer to everything scientifically. Ability to solve problems increasing during
this period. The areas of interest widens and his love for adventure reaches
its climax. All adolescents have one or more hobbies and strong likes and
dislikes.
Social
Development: The
most important characteristics of social development during adolescence is the
increased influence of peer group. The individual develops a strong sense of loyalty towards the group. He wants to be accepted by the members of the group which
he belongs. The friends as well as the peer group selected by an adolescent
shape his behaviour to a great extent. They develop a philosophy of life
regarding values, beliefs, activities, conduct etc. with regards to the
philosophy of the peer group.
Adolescence
is the period of increased social conformity. The individual becomes
self-conscious of his place in the society. They want to become his behaviour
according norms of the society. They seek social status and look for the
approval in the society. They develop a
feeling of social responsibility and are highly critical of social evils and
injustice. During adolescence, boys and girls express a greater need for
independence and strive for total social freedom from their parents. They make
friendship with those who conform to their standard and posses the personality
trait they like. They do not tolerate the interference of others in selecting
friends.
In the beginning of adolescence the
individual critically examines the moral code and asks a number of questions to
establish his view points. Later he develops the ability to differentiate what
is good and what is bad.
Sexual
Development: The
whole personality structure and behaviour of the adolescent is dominated by
sex. During adolescence the individual becomes very conscious of sex. Contrary to the style of behaviour during
childhood, the adolescent exhibit sexual trends in companionship. During
this period the sexual development goes into three stages.
1. Stage
of Auto-erotism: In
the beginning sexual tendency manifests in self-love. Boys and girls fall in
love with themselves. Self decoration and admiring before the mirror is a
common practice. According to Freud this the stage of narcissism. [Narcissus, a
Greek prince of almost unparalleled beauty, fell in love with himself] Self enjoyment by indulging in masturbation is prevalent at this stage.
2. Stage
of Homo-sexuality: During
the adolescence boys and girls are attracted to the members of their own sex. Persons of this age can often be
seen roaming together, praising each other and finding other modes of
expressing their mutual affection.
3. Stage
of Hetero-sexuality: During
later
adolescence, young men and women are seen attracted towards each other.
They are increased to make friendship or even establishing sexual relationships
with the members of opposite sex.
WHAT AND WHY OF ADOLESCENCE
Adolescence
is a Period of Transition or Role Confusion: Adolescence is known as
the period of transition because during this period an individual is neither a
child nor an adult. He has passed through childhood and yet is to become an
adult. During this stage the status of the individual is vague and there is a
confusion about the roles which the individual is expected to play. Sometimes
he is expected to behave as an adult and at other times, he is treated as a
child.
Adolescence
is a Period of Stress and Strain: During
adolescence the individual comes under social pressure and faces new conditions
for which he received little training during childhood. He experiences conflict
between himself and with the society. Change of role in society, unfavourable
relations in home, difficulty in adjusting with opposite sex, unnecessary
restrictions on movements etc. give rise to tension and worries.
During this stage he tries to oppose
the views of parents and school authorities. But he is not always successful
and it makes him restless, moody and emotionally disturbed one. As his emotions fluctuate very frequently, a
considerable degree of stress and strain is created in the individual. That is
why the adolescence is often designated as a period of stress and strain or a
period of storm and strife.
Peer
group influence during Adolescence: The
most important social development during adolescence is the increased influence
of peer group. The adolescent picks up the norms, habits and social qualities
of his companion. His interests, attitudes and values are greatly influenced by
his peers. Peer group is a very powerful instrument in moulding the social
behaviour of the teenagers. As mentioned
in an English proverb “A
cheerful friend is like a sunny day spreading brightness all around”.
The
peer group the adolescent learns to co-operate, to lead and follow, to think
for a common cause and to adjust in the challenging social situation. The peer
group satisfy various psychological needs of children like acceptance,
affection, approval, belongings, fame, recognition, expression of thought and
opinion etc. It is in this peer group the individual continues to formulate and
revise his concept of Self.
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