Nursing 201 Exam 1
Human Development - •Scientific study of age-related changes in behavior, thinking,
emotion and personality.
•Conception throughout the lifespan.
scientific study of age-related changes in behavior, thinking, emotion and personality
and spans the human lifespan from conception through death.
Why do we care about Human Development? - an important topic because it provides
context of how life experiences affect growth and development at each stage within the
human lifespan. Healthcare workers then can provide interventions to promote primary
physical and mental health self-care practices to achieve favorable health outcomes for
clients. The lifespan perspective appreciates that significant changes happen during
each period of human development while using culture and context in which these
changes occur to appreciate the importance of these changes.
Domains of Development - physical, cognitive, social/emotional. •Physical domain
-Changes in the size, shape and characteristics of the body.
•Example puberty: Change in facial, axillary and groin hair growth
•Cognitive domain
-Changes in thinking, memory, problem solving and other intellectual skills.
•Example How do children learn to read? Why do some memory functions decrease
with age?
•Social domain
-Changes in variables that are associated with the relationship of an individual to others.
•Examples- Relationship of an individual to others and beliefs about oneself
Norms - standards that are considered usual or typical. They can be classified by
milestones. for example, starting to use communication in infants or beginning puberty
in adolescence. These are easier to define in children than in adults because the most
rapid period of growth and development occurs during infancy, childhood, and
adolescence.
•referenced tests are standardized tests that compare an individual child's score to the
average score of others his/her age.
Periods Of Development: Prenatal - conception to birth
Periods Of Development: infancy - birth to 2 years
Periods Of Development: early childhood - 2-6 years
,Periods Of Development: middle childhood - 6-12 years
Periods of Development: Adolescence - 12-18 years
Periods Of Development: early adulthood - 18-40 years
Periods Of Development: middle adulthood - 40-60 years
Periods Of Development: late adulthood - 60- death
Original Sin - One of the earliest philosophers that is attributed to the provision of a
perspective on human development is St. Augustine of Hippo. This historical
perspective dates to the 4th century. His tenet, known as 'original sin', stated that
human development is a result of struggle to overcome human tendency to act
immorally when doing so somehow benefits the self. He believed that humans were
born sinful and that this innate tendency could be overcome with both spiritual rebirth
and religious training.
Earliest philosophers like St. Augustine of Hippo were curious as to why infants, who
seem similar, grow up to be very different individuals.
Innate Goodness - In the 18th century, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau
proposed the idea of Innate Goodness. His philosophical views contrasted with the idea
of Original Sin from St. Augustine of Hippo., Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that
humans were born good and seek out experiences that help them grow. They need
both nurturing and protection from caregivers to reach full potential. The environment
(an external force) is a key component of this viewpoint insomuch that poor outcomes
resulted if the environment delivered negative interference with a child's ability to be
nurtured and protected. If children were unable to have experiences that expressed
innate goodness, frustrations resulted and the ability to reach full potential was less
likely. It is important to note that both Original Sin and Innate Goodness look at struggle
between innate internal and external forces.
Blank Slate - John Locke, in the 17th century offered the perspective on Blank Slate.
This philosophy sees child as a passive recipient of environmental influences and that
humans do not have innate tendencies like St. Augustine of Hippo and John-Jacques
Rousseau believed. In contrast, children are molded by their parents as well as the
external environment as passive recipients. It is these experiences, themselves, that
attribute to individual differences of human development. Locke's term
empiricism, in philosophical frameworks, is the view that all developmental concepts
originate in experiences, that all concepts are about or applicable to things that can be
experienced, or that all rationally acceptable beliefs or intentions are justifiable or
knowable only through experiences. In reference to same-sex couples raising children,
earlier developmental theorists thought that if a child was raised in an environment
where they experienced a same-sex relationship, that they too would grow up to want
same-sex relationships.
, Evolution- Charles Darwin - attributed to the human development perspective of
evolution. He believed that all species of organisms arise and develop through the
natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to
compete, survive, and reproduce. This well-known philosophy is known as "survival of
the fittest". Darwin believed that genetic inheritance and interactions within the
environment shaped human development and more specifically human adaptability.
Darwin is also credited with conducting the first organized scientific studies of
development.
G. Stanley Hall - He was also the first researcher to use the objective means to study
large numbers of children through questionnaires and interviews. He also described the
need for norms, which we understand to be average age is at which developmental
milestones are achieved. Norms are particularly important in human development
because we use them to determine whether human development is occurring at the
stages and/or time at which they are supposed to occur.
Arnold Gesell - contributed the idea of maturation which is defined as the gradual
unfolding of a genetically programmed sequence of change regardless of practices or
training efforts maturational development. Maturation always unfolds in fixed sequences
for everyone. For example, embryonic development, cephalocaudal development and
proximodistal development occur in fixed sequences.. He also studied neuromotor
development in children and how to reach certain developmental stages, neuromotor
functioning must first be established. Arnold Gesell also was the first one to use one-
way observation window and camera techniques to study children's behavior. His
contributions became the basis for many norm-referenced tests. Norm-referenced tests
are standardized tests that compare an individual child's score to the average score of
others his or her age.
Maturation - •Gradual unfolding of a genetically programmed sequence of change
regardless of practices or training efforts.
Paul Baltes - The life-span perspective views development as lifelong, multidimensional,
multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual
Comprhensive theory of lifespan development - Paul Baltes contributed the
comprehensive theory of lifespan development. In contrast, to other theorists, he
believed that human development is not completed in adulthood. Thus, " all stages of
the life span equally contribute in the regulation of the nature of human development; no
age period holds supremacy over another." His theory included perspectives on human
aging. He purported that as humans age, they adopt strategies that help them maximize
gain and compensate for losses. In other words, he believed humans were adaptable.
He also contributed the idea of plasticity. The idea behind this is that "there is no single
pathway that must be taken in an individual's development across the lifespan." He
believed that individuals of all ages can have positive change in response to the
environments and are adaptable to environmental cues or triggers. He also wrote about
the importance of the multi contextual nature of development. For example, the
