What is Human Growth and Development About?

         Why are people different from one another? What makes “you” you? Who am I? Why do some succeed in life and others do not? These are a few questions that maybe we have asked at some point in our lives. Human growth and development is a complicated subject that has many variables that include biology, environment, culture, and personal factors that influence who we are. Human growth and development encompass the lifespan from conception to elderhood. It gives us a pathway or stages to follow and an appreciation for growth. Man has been trying to define human behavior and how it fits into human growth and development for centuries. As we evolve as humans, we are coming to understand that there are many factors that influence growth and development. 
         The early 1900’s saw an explosion in the subject of human growth and development with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theory and Carl Jung’s Stages of Life. Soon after, Erik Erikson studied Freud and added a social component to his theory and created the Stages of Psychosocial Development. In an opposing view, behaviorist theory was led by John Watson, the father of American behaviorism, and B.F. Skinner with his operant conditioning model of development. Further theories emerged from these doctrines with the evolution of cognitive theory championed by Jean Piaget, sociocultural theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, social learning theory lead by Albert Bandura, and the ecological systems theory headed by Urie Bronfenbrenner. Other theories include maturationist theory, evolution theory, cultural theory, and biopsychosocial theory. Miller (2011) stated “a developmental theory is a systematic statement of general principles that provides a coherent framework for understanding how and why people change over time concerning their behavior, attitudes, thoughts, philosophies, and physical and psychological capabilities” (Wong et al., 2021, p. 37). Human growth and developmental theories have continued to evolve through the present as researchers gain more insight into the multidimensional analysis of who we are.

Theories of Development

            Many of us are familiar with the work of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theory of human development. Freud theorized that instinctual drives for pleasure influence our psychological behaviors. He proposed five stages in psychosexual development to include the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage, and genital stage. The genital stage, ages eleven to eighteen, was the last stage in Freud’s model. He believed that if sexual development was successful by this stage, then an individual would continue to grow into a well-balanced person (Wong et al., 2021). Over the years, there have been critics to Freud’s model citing the exclusion of any other influences such as environment, culture, or personal experience.
            Erik Erikson studied Freud and was heavily impacted by psychoanalytic theory, more specifically the ego. Erikson built upon Freud’s work adding social factors influencing the growth and development process creating his Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development with an emphasis on children. Wong et al. (2021) stated “Erikson’s theory is an epigenetic theory, which means it focuses on both the biological and genetic origins of behaviors as interacting with the direct influence of environmental forces over time” (p. 26). As a person progresses through each stage, they are expected to successfully complete a developmental milestone, or “crisis”. Maree (2021) explained a “crisis” as more of role confusion during each stage. If the “crisis” is not achieved, then the subsequent stages will be more difficult to pass through. Furthermore, Dunkel & Harbke (2016) conducted a study to determine if a general factor of psychosocial development (GFPD) existed in Erikson’s theory. Their results supported this assertion that Erikson’s stages of development show that intrapersonal ability is a function of interpersonal ability.
            Behaviorist theory championed by John Watson and B.F. Skinner believed that learned behavior, the environment, and experience shapes how a person develops. Watson theorized that healthy infants can be taught to become whatever a parent wants them to be despite genetics. Skinner studied behavior from the point of view of operant conditioning. He believed that you could condition a person’s behavior based on the use of rewarding their actions. Albert Bandura offered another approach to behaviorism through his social learning theory. Bandura opined that a person learns behaviors from observation, imitation, and modeling. With the use cognitive factors, Bandura has been credited with connecting behaviorism and cognitive theories (Wong et al., 2021, p. 29).
            Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are credited with being pioneers in the field of cognitive development. Piaget viewed human development from the process of how a person uses information or “schemas” to shape who they are, how they react, and how they progress through life. He explained this through his creation of the four Stages of Cognitive Development. “For Piaget, the focus was on how mental structures and processes evolved to help individuals make meaning out of their experience and adapt to their changing environment” (Wong et al., 2021, p.31). Vygotsky differed from Piaget and postulated that culture impacts human development though interactions with the environment. He believed that environmental forces could change the formation of the mind.
            An Ecological Systems Theory was generated from the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner. He theorized human development with an emphasis on how the environment shapes a person. Bronfenbrenner postulated five environmental factors called the Ecological Systems Theory in human development. This model includes microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. He examined how environment such as poverty, abuse, or even war can modify how a person thinks or acts (Wong et al., 2021, p. 33).

Conclusion

Erik Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Stages of Development continues to influence the field of human growth and development. He focused mostly on children and how these developmental stages and milestones affect the rest of our lives. “Commencing at birth, these stages end during late adulthood. They are characterized by people’s unique circumstances, including the way they were nurtured, raised, and educated as well as their environments and culture” (Maree, 2021, p.1111). The stages of life build upon themselves, and the successful completion of each stage is a predictor for how well you will adjust to the next stage. Once you get later into adulthood you can look back on your life and see how all the pieces fit together. The Psalmist reminds us “you will show me the Path of Life; in Your Presence is fulness of joy; at Your right Hand there are pleasures for evermore” (King James Bible, 1769/201, Psalms 16:11). Further study needs to be done into the human growth and development process with a focus on how best to prepare ourselves to lead a healthier life and age graceful. 

                                                                References

King James Bible (2017). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1769). 

Maree, J.G. (2021). The psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson: Critical overview. Early child Development and Care, 191(7-8), 1107-1121. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1845163.

Wong, D.W., Hall, K.R., Hernandez, L.W. (2021). Counseling individuals through the lifespan (2^nd. Ed). Sage Publishing.