Stages of Human Development: Life Cycle, Understanding Psychology

Stages of Human Development
Name
Institution
Introduction
Human development is a process that goes on throughout the life of human beings. According to Brummel-Smith &Mosqueda (2003), human development is defined as a process through which human beings grow from childhood to maturity. Biologically, human development entails growth that takes place from a single-celled zygote to an adult human being. It is important to remember that human development entails social, physical, cognitive, emotional, and cultural changes; and these changes do take place throughout the life of a human being. It is also essential to note that human developmental stages are critical in shaping individual perceptions of the world. Nonetheless, the speed of growth normally depends on different factors. Therefore, there are certain critical needs that should be met and there are consequences if they are not met.This paper explores human development progress beginning from infancy to late adulthood. The paper will further discuss different stages that occur between childhood and adulthood.
Development Life Cycle (Infancy of between 0-5 Years)
There are different theories that explain human development, and particularly, human developmental stages. One of these theories is the Attachment Theory by Bowlby. This theory explains the infancy stage that occurs between zero and five years as a very high dependency stage. Right from the time a child is born, it begins to develop physically. During this period, the baby’s senses begin to develop; he or she begins to concentrate on substances, learning to cling to his or her head high as well as attempting to pull him or herself up with the aim of holding onto the edge of a chair or table. As the baby grows, he or she starts learning to crawl.Given support and encouragement, the baby finally learns to walk. As a result of interaction with parents, caregivers, family members, siblingsand friends; the baby begins to socialize, communicate and play. Through stimulation and play the baby begins to learn to do different things. During this period of infant development; the baby begins to recognize and memorize characters, faces, songs and objects. With consistency, encouragement and communication, the baby begins to learn how to speak, besides other routinebehaviors. Some of the behaviors and routines that children aged between 0-5 years learninclude bedtime and toilet training. For the babies and children within this age group to develop emotionally, they need love, consistent care and parental affection. According to Bowlby’s Theory of attachment is supported by Rutter; beginning from the time a child is born to the age of 5 years, the baby requires constantaffection by at least one steady care-provider. Bowlby further added in the theory that with the sense of safety, being cared for and belonging unconditionally,the baby begins totrust and toview the environment as a secure place for one tolive. Therefore, it’s important to remember that non-functional attachments should be avoided completely (Zambidis et al., 2005).
The Human Development Stage (Childhood 5-12)
This is the stage of human development when a child attains school age and he or she is increasingly becoming more dependent. During this period of development, children are beginning to learn new skills like running, playing ball games, skipping and cycling. During this stage of development the children have progressed socially and have gainedthe ability to develop decide on their friends, finding their interests as well as making their own decisions concerning the activities that they will take part in. During this development stage, children develop an understanding for other needs, and also learn how to share out. At this stage of development, childrenacquire various skills such as affection to other people apart from family members (Lester, Parnell & Carraher, 2003). With regard to cognitive development, children begin to go to school to acquire education and start to acknowledge, appreciate authority, and discipline which are critical for their future development. Most importantly to note, that more often than note children would be able to learn different initiatives without feeling some level of guilt. The term initiative here means that children should be allowed some sense of accountability and also the liberty to study new skills. Children may only attain this cognitive development if parents allowing and heartening them to try out some new dreams as well as allowing them to use their own imagination. Therefore, it is quite important to remember that children should not be made to experience too much guilt over their feelings of being ridiculed; this would lead them to become too much sensitive and therefore they can feel guilty about their own feelings. This human development stage is also supported by Guilt-Erikson theory of eight stages of identity and initiative. One important thing to be noted is that a lot of initiatives and too little guilt may lead to the creation of ruthless individuals; this is because they might find it hard to contemplate or care about ...