ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT

Nature vs. Nurture 

  1. When we talk about nature in child development, we are talking about what comes to children through heredity. 
  2. When we talk about nurture, we are referring to the influence of the environment. People who are in favour of nature suggest that only nature is responsible for the development. 
  3. On another hand, those who are in favour of nurture, suggest that the development of an individual depends on the environment, how it nurtures the individual. Thus the issue of nature vs. nurture emerges. But if we analyze the development of the individual, it neither seems to be the product of sole nature nor of sole nurture component, rather it is the product of both nature and nurture.

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

  1. One aspect of the continuity vs. discontinuity issue focuses on whether the changes
    humans undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt.
  2. humans undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt. 
  3. Continuity theory suggests that an individual’s development is a smooth and gradual process. As you can see in the figure 4.4a, the girl is moving from infancy towards adulthood in a progressive manner. The base for the path of all the developmental stage is common. Here, you can observe that the early stage of development provides a base for the consequent stage.
  4. But the discontinuity theory suggests that the change is abrupt during the course of life. It also believes that each stage of development is unique and is characterized by distinct feature. 

For example, if a child is at infancy stage s/he will exhibit the behaviours peculiar to that stage, which will not be the characteristic of the same child at adolescence stage (fig.4.4b). In other words, in the view of discontinuity theory development is stage specific.

Activity vs. Passivity

  1. The first issue of ‘activity‘ assumes that in the development process the individual is active. S/he does not accept what is coming naturally. Rather s/he tries to choose her/his own pathway of development, like a student efforts for improvement in her achievement. 
  2. On the other hand, ‘passivity’ in development suggests that individual accepts as it is whatever is coming in the pathway of development. In other words, the psychologists interpreting development as a product of passivity of individuals consider that individual accepts the change coming naturally. Like student who does not put any effort for improving her scores as s/he is very passive in studies.

Universality vs. Context Specific

We have already studied that development is a continuous process which starts from birth to death. Development of the individual is based on certain principles.
The principle of sequentiality and uniform pattern leads to one important issue of universality.    

Universal assumption of development assumes that the path of development is common to all individuals. 

For example, the stages of development starting from infancy to adulthood are common for all the individuals. In other words, every human being passes through sequential pattern of development irrespective of culture, community and society.

The extent to which the developmental changes are different across cultures, community, society and individuals is an issue of ‘context-specific’ development.
Path of development followed in one culture may be quite different from path followed in another culture. This issue suggests that development takes place in the specific context of the different aspects like society, culture, individual etc. 

For example, an individual from a tribal background may have a set of social behaviours which is different from the individual of urban area. Moreover, the way of greetings, language, art and aesthetics also reflect the context-specific development of individuals.
Therefore, with in a particular culture, the developmental changes may differ from subcultures to subcultures, family to family and individuals to individuals. 

But, it may be observed that despite the context-specific development, individuals pass through the similar developmental stages. 

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