NCERT Solutions for Class 11th: Ch 4 Human Development Psychology
Page No: 83Review Questions
1. What is development? How is it different from growth and maturation?
Answer
Development is the pattern progressive, orderly and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout life. It mostly involves changes both growth and decline, as observed during old age.
Growth refers to an increase in the size of body parts or of the organism as a whole. It can't be measured or quantified.
Maturation refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence and are largely dictated by the genetic blueprint. Which produces commonalities in our growth and development .For example, most children can sit without support by 7 months of age, stand with support by 8 months and walk by one year. Once the underlying physical structure is sufficiently developed, proficiency in these behaviours requires adequate environment and little practice. However, special efforts to accelerate these behaviour do not help if the infant is maturationally not ready. These processes seems to unfold from within. Following an inner, genetically determined time table that is characterised of the species.
2. Describe the main features of life-span perspective on development.
Answer
The main features of life span perspective on development are as follows:
(i) Development is lifelong i.e, it takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old age. It includes gain and losses which interact in dynamic ways throughout the life span.
(ii)The various processes of human development i.e , biological cognitive, and socio-emotional are interwoven in the development of a person throughout the life span.
(iii) Development is multi-directional some dimension or component of given dimension of development may increases, while other show decrement. For example, the experience of adults may make them wiser and guide their decisions. However, with an increase in age, one's performance is likely to decreases on tasks requiring speed, such as running.
(iv) Development is the concerns of number of disciplines. Different disciplines like psychology, anthropology, sociology and neurosciences study human development, each trying to provide answers to development throughout the life span.
(v) Development is highly plastic, i.e, within person, modifiability is found in psychological development though plasticity varies among individuals.
(vi) Development is influenced by historical conditions. For example, the career orientation of school student today is very different from those students today is very different from those students who were in schools 50 years ago.
(vii) An individual’s responds and acts on context, which includes what was inherited, the physical environment, social historical and cultural contexts. For example, the life events in everyone lives are not the same, such as, death of a parent, accident, earthquake, etc. Affects the course of one life as also the positive influences such as winning an award or getting a good job. People keep on changing with changing contexts.
3. What are developmental tasks? Explain by giving examples.
Answer
Certain patterns of behaviour and certain skills are learned more easily and successfully during certain stages. These accomplishments of a person become the social expectation of that stage of development. They are known as developmental tasks. The newborn in their first week of life are able to indicate what direction a sound is coming from, can distinguish their mother’s voice from the voices of other women sound, and can estimate simple gestures like tongue protrusion and mouth opening.
• As the infants grow, the muscles and nervous system mature which lead to the development of finer skills. Basic physical include grasping, walking and running.
• Newborn have also sensory capabilities. They can here immediately after birth. With development, proficiency at localising sound improves. Newborn respond to touch and can feel pain. Both smell and taste capacities are also present in the newborn.
• The child during infancy experiences the world through senses and interactions with objects through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping.
• Babies from birth are social creatures. An infant starts preferring familiar faces and responds to parents presence by cooing and gurgling. They become more mobile by 6 to 8 months of age and starts showing a preference for their mothers company when frightened by a new face or when separated from their mother, they cry or show distress. On being remitted with the parent or care they reciprocate with smiles or hugs.
4. ‘Environment of the child has a major role in the development of the child’. Support your answer with examples.
Answer
Environment plays vital role in the development of the child. It can be understood with the following example –A child is with genotype that predisposes him/her to be introvert, in an environment that promotes social interaction and extroversion. The influence of such an environment may make the child a little extroverted. Sandra scarr believes that the environment parents provides as for their children depends to some extent on their own genetic predisposition. For example if the parents are intelligent and the good readers they would provide their children with books to read, with the likely outcome that their children would become good readers who enjoy reading. A child own genotype such as being cooperative , and attentive is likely to result in teachers and parents giving more pleasant responses as compared to children who are not cooperative or attentive. Besides these children themselves choose certain environments based their genotype. For example, because f their genotype, children may perform well in music or sports and they will seek and spend more time in environments, which will enable them to perform their musical skills.
5. How do socio-cultural factors influence development?
Answer
Development is influenced by various socio-culture factors. These are:
(i) The Microsystem: It is the immediate environment or setting in which the individuals lives. It is in the setting in which the child directly interacts with social agents such as families, peer etc.
(ii) The Mesosystem: It consists of relations between these contexts. For stance how the parents relate to the teachers, or how the parents view the adolescent friends are experiences, likely to influence an individual’s relationships with others.
(iii) The Exosystem: It includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they influence the child’s experiences in the immediate context. For example, the transfer of father or mother may cause tension among the parents which might affect their interactions with the child or the general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries, medical care, means of entertainment, etc.
(iv) The Macrosystem: It includes the culture in which the individual lives.
(v) Chronosystem: It involves events in the individual’s life course, and socio-historical circumstances of the time such as, divorce of parents or parents’ economic setback, and their effect on the child.
6. Discuss the cognitive changes taking place in a developing child.
Answer
The child’s ability to acquire the concept of object permanence enables her/him to use mental symbols to represent objects. However, the child at this stage lacks the ability that allows
her/him to do mentally what was done physically before. The child gains the ability to mentally represent an object that is not physically present. Children draw designs/ figures to represent people, trees, dog, house. This ability of the child to engage in symbolic thought helps to expand her/his mental world. The progress in symbolic thought continues. Children see the world only in terms of their own selves and are not able to appreciate others’ point of view. Children having a tendency for centration, i.e. focusing on a single characteristic or feature for understanding an event. As the child grows and is approximately between 7 and 11 years of age (the period of middle and late childhood) intuitive thought is replaced by logical thoughts .Concrete operations allow the child to focus on different characteristics and not focus on one aspect of the object. This helps the child to appreciate that there are different ways of looking at things, Thinking becomes more flexible, and children can think about alternatives when solving problems, or mentally retrace their steps if required. The growing cognitive abilities of children facilitate the acquisition of language.
7. Attachment bonds formed in childhood years have long-term effects. Explain taking examples from daily life.
Answer
The close emotional bond of affection that develops between infants and their parents (caregivers) is called attachment. Human babies also form an attachment with their parents or car drivers who consistently and appropriately reciprocate to their signals of love and affection. According to Erik Erikson (1968), the first year of life is the key time for the development of attachment. It represents the stage of developing trust or mistrust. A sense of trust is built on a feeling of physical comfort which builds an expectation of the world as a secure and good place. An infant’s sense of trust is developed by responsive and sensitive parenting. If the parents are sensitive, affectionate, and accepting, it provides the infant a strong base to explore the environment. Such infants are likely to develop a secure attachment. On the other hand, if parents are insensitive and show dissatisfaction and find fault with the child, it can lead to creating feelings of self-doubt in the child. Securely attached infants respond positively when picked up, move freely, and play whereas insecurely attached infants feel anxious when separated and cry due to fear and get upset. A close interactive relationship with warm and affectionate adults is a child’s first step towards healthy development.
8. What is adolescence? Explain the concept of egocentrism.
Answer
Adolescence is commonly defined as the stage of life that begins at the onset of puberty, when sexual maturity or the ability to reproduce is attained. It has been regarded as a period of rapid change, both biologically and psychologically.
Egocentrism is self-focus, adolescent develops a special kind of egocentrism. According to David Elkind, imaginary audience and personal fable are two component of egocentrism. Imaginary audience is adolescent belief that others are as preoccupied with them as they are about themselves. They imagine that people are always noticing them and are observing each and every behaviour of the personal fable is port of adolescent egocentrism that involves their sense of uniqueness.
9. What are the factors influencing the formation of identity during adolescence? Support your answer with examples.
Answer
The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several factors. The cultural background, family and societal values, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status all prevail upon the adolescents’ search for a place in society. Family relationships become less important as the adolescent spends more time outside the home and develops a strong need for peer support and acceptance. Increased interactions with peers provide them with opportunities for refining their social skills and trying out different social behaviours. Peers and parents are dual forces having major influences on adolescents. At times conflicting situations with parents lead to increased identification with peers. But generally parents and peers serve complementary functions and fulfil different needs of the adolescents. Vocational commitment is another factor influencing adolescent identity formation. The question “What are you going to be when you grow up?”, requires the ability to think about the future and to be able to set realistic and achievable goals. In some culture, freedom is given to the young people to choose an occupation, whereas in certain other cultures the option of making this choice is not given to the children. Here, parents’ decision is likely to be accepted by the children. What has been your experience while making a choice in the selection of subjects? Career counselling in schools offers information regarding appraisal of the students for various courses and jobs and provides guidance in making a decision about career choices.
10. What are the challenges faced by individuals on entry to adulthood?
Answer
In adulthood, two major tasks are, exploring the possibilities for adult living and developing a stable life structure
Career and Work : Earning a living, choosing an occupation, and developing a career are important themes for people in their twenties and thirties. Entering work life is a challenging event in anyone’s life. There are apprehensions regarding different adjustments, proving one’s competence, performance, dealing with competition, and coping with expectations both of the employers and ones self. It is also the beginning of new roles and responsibilities. Developing and evaluating a career becomes an important task of adulthood.
Marriage, Parenthood, and Family: The adjustments that young adults have to make when entering a marriage relate to knowing the other person if not known earlier, coping with each other’s likes, dislikes, tastes, and choices. If both the partners are working, adjustments are required regarding sharing and performing roles and responsibilities at home.
In addition to getting married, becoming a parent can be a difficult and stressful transition in young adults, even though it is usually accompanied by the feeling of love for the baby.
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