Human Development
Human life begins at conception. Therefore, human development is the systematic changes that occur in the life of an individual from the time of conception to death. Since development is a continuous process, it also involves the reflection of the events that happened in our past life. There are three different domains of human development. These are physical development which is the growth that the body together with all its organs undergo, the cognitive development which is the mental ability and psychosocial development which is the growth in personal aspects for example emotions. The knowledge of human development is very important in my nursing career. With this knowledge, I will be able to know how to handle different people based on their development.
In lifespan development, the adult stage begins at the age of 20years. This is a stage which comes after the adolescence stage of development. According to Sigelman & Rider (2008), this is a stage in which there is a higher probability of the people seeing knowledge as being relative other than being absolute. Thus in this stage, people are more perspective in their thinking. This understanding changes in different contexts. The adult stage can be divided into the early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. As one ages, their abilities mentally decline. Therefore, they may have problems in their thinking. Thus, the understanding that adults have perspective thinking changes since the brain ceases to develop with age and thus the thinking ability declines.
In studying human development, research is very important since it enables an individual to determine the behavior of people, their bodies and relationships. Therefore, one is able to know how to relate differently with different people. In the study of human development, two types of research can be used. These are cross sectional and longitudinal research (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). In longitudinal research, the research uses observation of people as they grow. In this, they are able to observe actual growth and behavior changes that come with growth. In cross sectional research, the researcher uses the method of testing for people at different ages. In research, I have realized that each method has its own shortcomings and thus the researcher should use both to gain enough evidence.
According to Erikson, human beings develop in eight stages. These stages are trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus confusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair ((Kail & Cavanaugh, ). In each stage, there is a psychosocial growth crisis which is unique and resolving a crisis leads to the establishment of a psychosocial strength. In the same way, failure to resolve a psychosocial crisis leads to stunting of development and thus limiting a person’s future crisis resolving ability. Erickson’s theory will influence my nursing career in that it gives information on how psychosocial developments that are important relate in the life of an individual. Thus, it is easier to correlate ones behavior with their developmental stage.
According to Bronfenbrenner, human development is a series of systems that are complex. He says that human being develop in relation to their environmental contexts. According to him the direct effect on human beings is from friends and family members while social systems have an indirect effect. Bronfenbrenner’s work differs from that of Erikson in that Erikson’s work shows that both human beings and other external features have a direct influence on the development of an individual. Further, Erikson shows that human development is a continuous process since the stages of development have relationship with each other. In my career, Erikson’s theory makes more sense. As human beings, we develop in a systematic manner and thus past, present and future developments are dependent on each other.
References
Kail, R.V. & Cavanaugh, J.C. (2008). Human Development: A Life-Span View. 5th Ed. Cengage Learning.
Sigelman, C.K. & Rider, E.A. (2008). Life-Span Human Development. 6th Ed. Cengage Learning.
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
