Human Growth and Development - Essay Example

Human Growth and Development Assignment 8 Question Social and personality development characterizes the growth of an infant. During infancy, the children tend to have a strong attachment to the people around them. Normally, an infant forms the initial relationship with the parents, as well as, family members. Similarly, the infants learn to trust their caregivers in the early stages of development. Primarily, the children respond more to their caregivers. Such infants show signs of separation anxiety when the primary caregiver departs. In contrast, the infants display a lot of fear towards the strangers. Mahmud (2013) contends that infants develop a sense of trust or mistrust depending on how the caregivers meet their needs. Thus, social bonding is of paramount significance for infants to develop trust. The interaction of the infant’s temperament with the experiences in the immediate environment influences the personality development. Hence, the quality of interaction between the infants and caregivers plays a critical role in influencing personality development during infancy. Fundamentally, infants are self-centered, and their primary concern is to satisfy their physical desires. For instance, hunger is a primary concern for infants. The preschool children have patterns of psychosocial, social, and moral development. Notably, the preschool children tend to assert their control, as well as, power over the world by directing social interactions. For instance, the children take charge of their play. Similarly, the successful children in the preschool years feel they have the capacity to lead the others. In contrast, the unsuccessful children display a sense of self-doubt, guilt, and lack of initiatives. Socially, the preschool children will create friends and depart from the side-to-side play with their caregivers. The relationship between the preschool children and immediate people influences the social development (Mahmud, 2013). For example, the children will drift towards particular children and form strong relationships with them. At this stage, the children learn to cooperate with friends while playing and sharing things such as toys. Morally, the children will display empathy (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). The child transits from self-centeredness to embrace empathy. Hence, the child exhibits a sense of consideration. The preschoolers become aware of what is wrong and right. The infancy and preschool phases have similarities, as well as, differences. Notably, the parent-child relationship influences social development during infancy and preschool years. The parent-child relationship is a foundation for building subsequent relationships. The parents are nurturers and providers for infants and preschool children. For example, a primary caregiver will be concerned with feeding, bathing, toileting during infancy stages. The process of socialization characterizes the preschool years. In effect, the parents prepare the preschoolers to become a responsible member of a particular social group. A notable difference between the infancy and preschool phases is the personality development. Whereas the infants exhibit self-centeredness, the preschoolers exercise empathy (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). The preschoolers form relationships with members outside the family, such as friends. Unlike infancy stage, the preschoolers tend to practice assertiveness. For instance, the preschool children will exercise control over their things. In essence, the preschoolers have an enormous desire to direct social interactions as opposed to the infants who interact with the caregivers and the immediate environment. Question 2 The preschool children have physical and intellectual patterns of development. The preschoolers exhibit increased rate of growth. The changes in children’s health, brain, gross and fine motor influence the physical growth. Notably, the physical proportions tend to change, and body parts such as head become smaller (Mahmud, 2013). Similarly, the preschoolers experience an increase in weight and height. The gains in weight and stature are constant during the preschool years. For instance, a three-year-old healthy preschooler weighs about thirty-two pounds. The healthy preschoolers tend to gain approximately four to six pounds annually. The boys gain weight slightly more than girls do. The abdomen flattens and other parts become leaner as lordosis gets less pronounced (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). Likewise, the elongation of the face characterizes the physical growth in the preschool stage. Intellectually, the preschoolers have a tremendous development. For example, the preschoolers exercise self-directed play, as well as, exploration. The child can converse with adults and ask many questions. In essence, the preschoolers are extremely curious. The attention span increases, and can draw recognizable objects. Leaner and athletic appearance characterizes the physical development in middle childhood. The children have improved gross motor skills. The children can walk, jump, and run faster than they could do during the preschool stage. For instance, the children can jump higher with much ease. They have increased flexibility, agility, and balance. In addition, the children can synchronize the movement of various body parts. Cognitively, the children exhibit consciousness and pro-activeness in choosing to pursue goals. The thinking style improves, and children become organized, flexible, and logical (Skuse, 2003). For instance, the children can perform mental arithmetic. The mastery of subtraction and addition operations points to cognitive development. In essence, the mental representations become concretely linked to the things the children touch or interact with during the middle childhood. The adolescents experience remarkable physical growth and development. Notably, the teens gain weight and height. The legs and arms lengthen and become proportion to the body. In boys, the body muscle mass increases due to high levels of hormones such as testosterone (Skuse, 2003). Similarly, the boys develop beards and broaden their shoulders. On the other hand, the girls’ breasts enlarge, and body fats get deposited in the hips, chest, and buttocks (Shaffer & Kipp, 2013). Cognitively, the teens develop complex thinking process. Essentially, the adolescents can think logically and apply principles of reasoning to form new ideas. Similarly, the adolescents develop their view of the world. The preschool, middle childhood, and adolescence stages have similarities and differences. Gains in the height, as well as, the weight characterize the three stages of development. In each stage, notable changes in body mass and height exist. Similarly, the three stages have increased cognitive growth and development. However, the proportionality in physical development differentiates adolescence from the preschool and middle childhood. Likewise, the adolescents can make informed decisions using the developed cognitive abilities. For example, adolescents can think and handle complex problems in a logical way unlike the children in the preschool and middle childhood stages. References Mahmud, J. (2013). Development Psychology. New York: APH Publishing. Shaffer, D. & Kipp, K. (2013). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. New York: Cengage Learning. Skuse, D. H. (2003). Child psychology and psychiatry: An introduction. Abingdon: Medicine Pub. Co. Read More