In a highly structured survey, subjects are forced to choose from a response set such as “strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, strongly agree”; or “0, 1-5, 6-10, etc.” This is known as Likert Scale. Surveys typically yield surface information on a wide variety of factors, but may not allow for in-depth understanding of human behavior. Child development theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of childhood. These developmental theories center on various aspects of growth, including social, emotional, and cognitive development. Many early theories of human development were created and popularized in the early 1900s. These are referred to as stage theories because they present development as occurring in stages.

1. The ways in which our own culture affects us is often hard to see.
2. The book’s approach to the content is consistent and well organized.
3. We are now beginning to embrace these ways of living in the world.
4. But the drawbacks of high costs and attrition are here as well (Lumen Learning, n.d.).
5. The content and information that is provided is correct and accurate, but this text can certainly benefit from having the latest research added.

What you’ll learn to do: define human development and identify the stages of human development

The pair in which the mother was a Shire had a large newborn foal, and the pair in which the mother was Shetland had a small foal. But both foals were the same size after a few months, and when fully grown both were about halfway between their parents. Human growth is far from being a simple and uniform process of becoming taller or larger. As a child gets bigger, there are changes in shape and in tissue composition and distribution.

Child Growth and Development

As a three to five-year-old, the child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. The achievement gap refers to the persistent difference in grades, test scores, and graduation rates that exist among students of different ethnicities, races, and—in certain subjects—sexes (Winerman, 2011). Research suggests that these achievement gaps are strongly influenced by differences in socioeconomic factors that exist among the families of these children. His cognitive theory seeks to describe and explain the development of thought processes and mental states. It also looks at how these thought processes influence the way we understand and interact with the world. According to the behavioral perspective, all human behavior can be described in terms of environmental influences.

Bandura believed that the conditioning and reinforcement process could not sufficiently explain introduction of growth and development all of human learning. Theorist Jean Piaget proposed one of the most influential theories of cognitive development. Cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a person’s thought processes.

Key Issues in Human Development

They may include forced choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the benefits of having forced choice items is that each response is coded so that the results can be quickly entered and analyzed using statistical software. Analysis takes much longer when respondents give lengthy responses that must be analyzed in a different way. Experiments are designed to test hypotheses (or specific statements about the relationship between variables) in a controlled setting in efforts to explain how certain factors or events produce outcomes.

One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger. The major advantage of the experimental design is that of helping to establish cause and effect relationships. A disadvantage of this design is the difficulty of translating much of what happens in a laboratory setting into real life.

Cultural values change over time, as do policies of educational institutions or governments in certain political climates. We study Freud because his assumptions the importance of early childhood experience provide a framework for later theories (the both elaborated and contradicted/challenged his work). At this stage, all stimulation and comfort is focused on the mouth and is based on the reflex of sucking. Too much indulgence or too little stimulation may lead to fixation. Case studies involve exploring a single case or situation in great detail. The survey method asks individuals to self-report important information about their thoughts, experiences, and beliefs.