Contents

Contents I wish I could travel by the road that crosses the baby’s mind, and out beyond all bounds; where messengers run errands for no cause between the kingdoms of kings of no history; where Reason makes kites of her laws and flies them, and Truth sets Fact free from its fetters. – Rabindranath Tagore associated with the processes of knowing, and experiencing, such as thought, perception, attention, problem solving, etc. Socio-emotional processes that influence development refer to changes in an individual’s interactions with other people, changes in emotions, and in personality. A child’s hug to her/his mother, a young girl’s affectionate gesture to her/his sibling, or an adolescent’s sorrow at losing a match are all reflections of socio-emotional processes deeply involved in human development. Although you would be reading about the different processes in different chapters of this textbook, it is important to remember that the biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional processes are interwoven. These processes influence changes in the development of the individual as a whole throughout the human life-span. Life-Span Perspective on Development The study of development according to the Life-Span Perspective (LSP) includes the following assumptions : . Development is lifelong, i.e. it takes place across all age gr oups starting from M EANING OF D EVELOPMENT When we think of development, invariably we think of physical changes, as these are commonly observed at home with younger siblings, with parents and grandparents, in school with peers or others around us. From conception until the moment of death, we not only change physically, but we also change in the way we think, use language, and develop social relationships. Remember that, changes are not confined to any one area of a person’s life; they occur in the person in an integrated manner. Development is the pattern of progressive, orderly, and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout life. Development mostly involves changes — both growth and decline, as observed during old age. Development is influenced by an interplay of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional processes. Development due to genes inherited from parents, such as in height and weight, brain, heart, and lungs development, etc. all point towards the role of biological processes . The role of cognitive processes in development relate to mental activities If you look around, you will notice that from birth onwards changes of various kinds are taking place in an individual’s life, which continue even during old age. Over a span of time, a human grows and develops, learns to communicate, walk, count, and read and write. S/he also learns to distinguish between right and wrong. S/he makes friends, goes through puberty, gets married, rears children, and grows old. Even though we differ from each other, we share many commonalities. Most of us learn to walk by the first year and talk by the second year. This chapter will familiarise you with the changes observed in people during the course of their life- span in different domains. You will learn about key developmental processes and changes taking place in major periods during the life-span: prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. This would be a journey of personal understanding and self-discovery which should help in your future development. The study of human development would also help you to deal with others better.