Development is a continuous process in human beings.
According to
developmental psychology,
Development starts with conception and
ends with death. The development
includes cognitive development,
emotional development, intellectual
development, and social development.
We understand the development process
with the help of principles of
development.
There are many principles of development. And all the principles are
interconnected. Individual differences affect all principles. They are-
1. Principle of Continuity:
In the continuity process, development is
continuous. It starts with conception and
ends with death. It follows all periods of
development. The periods of
development occur between prenatal
development to late adulthood. So, all
principles follow the continuity
approach.
Human life continues till death. And the process of development also goes on
continuously.
2. Principles of development direction:
According to prenatal development, the direction of the development is head to tail
and near to far. This development head to tail is called cephalocaudal trend and
near to far is called the proximodistal
trend. In the prenatal period, the head
develops first than other parts of the
body. In the proximodistal trend,
development starts with the center part
of the body and moves to other parts.
The development follows a specific and
sequential process. This principle plays
an important role in the principles of child development. And development has its
own specific direction.
3. The development follows a fixed pattern and sequence:
The principles of development have their specific pattern. So, development follows
the pattern in a sequence way. In language development, infants are able to
vegetative sounds, cooing sounds, and babbling sounds. These all stages follow the
sequence pattern of sound. In development, all principles follow step-by-step
procedures. One example of language development shows that development
follows fixed sequences.
In this example, a child’s language
development depends on the holophase,
telegraphic and complex period.
This example shows that development
follows a fixed pattern according to
periods.
4. Individual Differences:
The development follows individual
differences. The capacities and abilities
of individuals are totally dependent on
individual differences. Human beings
have emotional, mental health, physical
health, temperament, and cognitive
differences.
Every person has his own qualities. And all qualities lead to individual differences.
So, a teacher also teaches according to these rules.
5. Development general to specific:
In human beings. principles follow the
pattern of general to specific. In
development general behavior leads to
specific behavior. Example:- At birth,
an infant’s crying sound is related to
only feeding. But a toddler’s crying
sound is related to a specific purpose.
So, it is important to know this
principle.
6. Development is predictable:
According to developmental psychologists, the prediction of development is
possible. And, developmental psychologists can apply many psychological tests
and methods to children and predict the children’s future behavior.
The main goal of all
principles is to predict
behavior for the future.
Psychologists explained the
development with
examples.
Example 1:- Jean Piaget’s
cognitive development
theory, conducted many
experiments on children
and explained that
cognitive development
occurs according to four
stages. So, prediction of the development is possible.
Example 2:- Gardner’s theory of multi-dimensional intelligence showed that
prediction of the behavior is possible. Psychologists identified the individual’s
occupation for the future with the help of multi-dimensional intelligence theory.
7. Development is a gradual process:
Development is not always the same process. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial
development theory explained that development is divided into eight stages.
process.
8. Interaction heredity and environment:
The development of children is not possible without heredity and environmental
factors. Because of these two, the complete development of the children is
possible.
9. Principle of Integration:
Children integrate knowledge. Piaget did experiments for children’s integrated
knowledge. They integrate on the basis of previous knowledge.
10. Development is Multidimensional:
Development is presented with the help of multi-dimensional. Multidimensional
includes cognitive, social, emotional, physical, language, and moral development.
According to this principle, only the physical development of children does not
happen. They have overall development.
