Stages of Human Development: What It Is & Why It’s Important (2024)


Tables of Contents

  1. Eight Stages of Human Development?
  2. Theories of Human Development
  3. Human Development vs. Developmental Psychology
  4. What Are the Genetic Factors That Affect Human Growth and Development?
  5. Why Do We Study Human Growth and Development?

Imagine two children born in the same town and the same year to families with similar socioeconomic statuses. One child grows up to be assertive and confident, while the other grows up to be timid and shy. The study of the stages of human development can help explain the reasons for these differences and much more.

What is human development, exactly? Human development is a branch of psychology with the goal of understanding people — how they develop, grow, and change throughout their lives. This discipline, which can help individuals better understand themselves and their relationships, is broad. As such, it can be used in various professional settings and career paths.

Stages of Human Development: What It Is & Why It’s Important (1)

What Are the Eight Stages of Human Development?

If human development is the study of how people change throughout their lives, how and when does this development happen? Many scientists and psychologists have studied various aspects of human development, including ego psychologist Erik Erikson. He examined the impact of social experiences throughout an individual’s life and theorized that psychosocial development happens in eight sequential parts. What are the eight stages of human development?

Stage 1 — Infancy: Trust vs. Mistrust

In the first stage of human development, infants learn to trust based on how well their caregivers meet their basic needs and respond when they cry. If an infant cries out to be fed, the parent can either meet this need by feeding and comforting the infant or not meet this need by ignoring the infant. When their needs are met, infants learn that relying on others is safe; when their needs go unmet, infants grow up to be less trusting.

Stage 2 — Toddlerhood: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

In addition to autonomy versus shame and doubt, another way to think of the second stage is independence versus dependence. Like in the first stage, toddlers go through this stage responding to their caregivers. If caregivers encourage them to be independent and explore the world on their own, toddlers will grow up with a sense of self-efficacy. If the caregivers hover excessively or encourage dependence, these toddlers grow up with less confidence in their abilities.

For example, if a toddler wants to walk without assistance in a safe area, the caregiver should encourage this autonomy by allowing the independent behavior. If the caregiver insists on holding the toddler’s hand even when it’s not necessary, this attention can lead to doubt later in life.

Stage 3 — Preschool Years: Initiative vs. Guilt

During the preschool years, children learn to assert themselves and speak up when they need something. Some children may state that they’re sad because a friend stole their toy. If this assertiveness is greeted with a positive reaction, they learn that taking initiative is helpful behavior. However, if they’re made to feel guilty or ashamed for their assertiveness, they may grow up to be timid and less likely to take the lead.

Stage 4 — Early School Years: Industry vs. Inferiority

When children begin school, they start to compare themselves with peers. If children feel they’re accomplished in relation to peers, they develop strong self-esteem. If, however, they notice that other children have met milestones that they haven’t, they may struggle with self-esteem. For example, a first grader may notice a consistently worse performance on spelling tests when compared with peers. If this becomes a pattern, it can lead to feelings of inferiority.

Stages of Human Development: What It Is & Why It’s Important (2)

The key components of Erikson’s model of human development include stage one, infancy, trust versus mistrust; stage two, toddlerhood, autonomy versus shame and doubt; stage three, preschool years, initiative versus guilt; stage four, early school years, industry versus inferiority; stage five, adolescence, identity versus role confusion; stage six, young adulthood, intimacy versus isolation; stage seven, middle adulthood, generativity versus stagnation; and stage eight, late adulthood, integrity versus despair.

Back To Top

Stage 5 — Adolescence: Identity vs. Role Confusion

The adolescent stage is where the term “identity crisis” originated, and for good reason. Adolescence is all about developing a sense of self. Adolescents who can clearly identify who they are grow up with stronger goals and self-knowledge than teenagers who struggle to break free of their parents’ or friends’ influences. Adolescents who still deeply depend on their parents for social interaction and guidance may experience more role confusion than teenagers who pursue their own interests.

Stage 6 — Young Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation

In young adulthood, which begins roughly at age 20, people begin to solidify their lifelong bonds; many people enter committed relationships or marriages, while others form lifelong friendships. People who can create and maintain these relationships reap the emotional benefits, while those who struggle to maintain relationships may suffer from isolation. A young adult who develops strong friendships in college may feel more intimacy than one who struggles to form and maintain close friendships.

Stage 7 — Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs. Stagnation

In middle adulthood, people tend to struggle with their contributions to society. They may be busy raising children or pursuing careers. Those who feel that they’re contributing experience generativity, which is the sense of leaving a legacy. On the other hand, those who don’t feel that their work or lives matter may experience feelings of stagnation. For example, a middle-aged adult who’s raising a family and working in a career that presumably helps people may feel more fulfilled than an adult who’s working at a day job that feels meaningless.

Stage 8 — Late Adulthood: Integrity vs. Despair

As adults reach the end of life, they look back on their lives and reflect. Adults who feel fulfilled by their lives, either through a successful family or a meaningful career, reach ego integrity, in which they can face aging and dying with peace. If older adults don’t feel that they’ve lived a good life, they risk falling into despair.

Back To Top

Other Theories of Human Development

Although widely used, Erikson’s psychosocial development theory has been critiqued for focusing too much on childhood. Critics claim that his emphasis makes the model less representative of the growth that people experienced in adulthood. Erikson’s model of the stages of human development is only one theory addressing growth and change throughout life, as many other psychologists have researched their own theories of human development, including the following:

Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget developed the theory of cognitive development. Piaget’s theory is widely used in education programs to prepare teachers to instruct students in developmentally appropriate ways. The theory is based on four stages:

  • Sensorimotor — In the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years old), children learn object permanence, which is the understanding that people and objects still exist even when they’re out of view.
  • Preoperational — In the preoperational stage (2-7 years old), children develop symbolic thought, which is when they begin to progress from concrete to abstract thinking. Children in this stage often have imaginary friends.
  • Concrete operational — In the concrete operational stage (7-11 years old), children solidify their abstract thinking and begin to understand cause and effect and logical implications of actions.
  • Formal operational — In the formal operational stage (adolescence to adulthood), humans plan for the future, think hypothetically, and assume adult responsibilities.

Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg created a theory of human development based on moral development concepts. The theory comprises the following stages:

  • Preconventional — In the preconventional stage, people follow rules because they’re afraid of punishment and make choices only with their best interests in mind.
  • Conventional — In the conventional stage, people act to avoid society’s judgment and follow rules to maintain the systems and structures that are already in place.
  • Postconventional — In the postconventional stage, a genuine concern for the welfare of others and the greater good of society guides people.

Psychosexual Theory

Sigmund Freud popularized the psychosexual theory. The theory comprises five stages:

  • Oral — In the oral stage (birth to 1 year old), children learn to suck and swallow and may experience conflict with weaning.
  • Anal — In the anal stage (1-3 years old), children learn to withhold or expel feces and may experience conflict with potty training.
  • Phallic — In the phallic stage (3-6 years old), children discover that their genitals can give them pleasure.
  • Latency — In the latency stage (roughly 6 years old through puberty), they take a break from these physical stages and instead develop mentally and emotionally.
  • Genital — In the genital stage (puberty through adulthood), people learn to express themselves sexually.

Ideally, children move through each phase fluidly as their sexual libidos develop, but if they’re stuck in any of the phases, they may develop a fixation that hinders their development.

Behavioral Theory

The behavioral theory focuses solely on a person’s behaviors rather than the feelings that go alongside those behaviors. It suggests that behaviors are conditioned in an environment due to certain stimuli. Behavioral theorists believe that behavior determines feelings, so changing behaviors is important because this will in turn change feelings.

The attachment theory focuses on the deep relationships between people across their lifetime. An important attachment theory finding is that children must develop at least one strong bond in childhood to trust and develop relationships as adults. The attachment theory comprises four stages:

  • Asocial or pre-attachment (birth to 6 weeks old)
  • Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks old to 7 months old)
  • Specific or discriminate attachment (7-9 months old)
  • Multiple attachments (10 months old or later)

Social Learning Theory

The social learning theory builds upon the behavioral theory and postulates that people learn best by observing the behavior of others. They watch how others act, view the consequences, and then make decisions regarding their own behavior accordingly. The four stages in this theory are:

  • Attention
  • Retention
  • Reproduction
  • Motivation

In the attention stage, people first notice the behavior of others. In the retention stage, they remember the behavior and the resulting consequences. In the reproduction stage, people develop the ability to imitate the behaviors they want to reproduce, and in the motivation stage, they perform these behaviors.

Sociocultural Theory

The sociocultural theory ties human development to the society or culture in which people live. It focuses on the contributions that society as a whole makes to individual human development. For example, children who are raised to play outdoors develop differently from children who are raised to play indoors.

An important part of this theory is the zone of proximal development, which is an area of knowledge and skills slightly more advanced than a child’s current level. The zone of proximal development helps teachers think about and plan instruction, so sociocultural theory plays a large role in preservice teacher training.

Resources: More Information on Theories of Human Development

Back To Top

Human Development vs. Developmental Psychology

What are the differences between human development and developmental psychology? These terms are closely related. In fact, the study of developmental psychology is most people’s entry into human development.

Developmental psychology is defined as a scientific approach to explaining growth, change, and consistency throughout a lifetime. It uses various frameworks to understand how people develop and transform throughout their lives. The goals of developmental psychology are to describe, explain, and optimize development to improve people’s lives. In the real world, developmental psychology is used in the study of physical, psychological, emotional, social, personality, and perceptual development.

The study of developmental psychology can lead to careers in several different fields. Developmental psychologists often work in colleges and universities and focus on research and teaching. Others work in healthcare facilities, clinics, assisted living facilities, hospitals, mental health clinics, or homeless shelters. In these applied settings, their focus is more on assessing, evaluating, and treating people. According to June 2020 data from PayScale, developmental psychologists earn an average annual salary of about $68,000.

Back To Top

What Are the Genetic Factors That Affect Human Growth and Development?

One more key element of human growth and development left to explore is genetics. Genetics influences the speed and way in which people develop, though other factors, such as parenting, education, experiences, and socioeconomic factors, are also at play. The multiple genetic factors that affect human growth and development include genetic interactions and sex chromosome abnormalities.

Genetic Interactions

Genes can act in an additive way or sometimes conflict with one another. For example, a child with one tall parent and one short parent may end up between the two of them, at average height. Other times, genes follow a dominant-recessive pattern. If one parent has brown hair and the other has red hair, the red hair gene is the dominant gene if their child has red hair.

Gene-Environment Interactions

Humans’ genetic information is always interacting with the environment, and sometimes this can impact development and growth. For example, if a child in utero is exposed to drugs, the child’s cognitive abilities may be impacted, thus changing the developmental process. In addition, even if a child’s genes would indicate a tall height, if that child experiences poor nutrition as children, it may impact their height.

Sex Chromosome Abnormalities

Sex chromosome abnormalities impact as many as 1 in 500 births. The following syndromes are examples of sex chromosome abnormalities that can impact development:

  • Klinefelter syndrome is the presence of an extra X chromosome in males, which can cause physical characteristics such as decreased muscle mass and reduced body hair and may cause learning disabilities.
  • Fragile X syndrome is caused by a mutation in the FMR1 gene that makes the X chromosome appear fragile. It can cause intellectual disability, developmental delays, or distinctive physical features such as a long face.
  • Turner syndrome happens when one of the X chromosomes is missing or partially missing. It only affects females and results in physical characteristics like short stature and webbed neck.

Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is another common example of how genetics can impact development. This chromosomal disorder may cause some individuals to experience physical or intellectual development differences. Down syndrome occurs at the 21st chromosomal site, in which people with Down syndrome have three chromosomes rather than two.

Those with Down syndrome often have different physical characteristics and may be prone to physical problems like heart defects and hearing problems. Most individuals with Down syndrome have intellectual impairment, but the degree of this impairment varies from person to person.

Back To Top

Stages of Human Development: What It Is & Why It’s Important (3)

The top reasons for studying human development are to gain an understanding of your own life experience, help others understand what they’re going through, understand the relationship of society and individual growth, lead more effectively, and support the physical and mental health of others.

Back To Top

Why Do We Study Human Growth and Development?

The study of human growth and development offers a wealth of value for personal and professional growth and understanding. Many reasons exist for why we study human growth and development.

Common benefits include the following:

  • To gain a better understanding of one’s own life experiences. This can help people personally reach an understanding of what childhood events shaped their adulthood.
  • To gain knowledge of how social context impacts development. This knowledge can be invaluable for professionals like teachers as they gain a deeper understanding of their students.
  • To help others understand and contextualize the ups and downs of life. This helps therapists and psychologists better aid their clients in self-discovery.
  • To understand how societal change can support growth and development. This understanding helps decision-makers in schools change the educational culture for the better.
  • To become a more effective research, teacher, or leader in many different industries. Understanding human development deeply and in context has many professional benefits that can lead to greater insight.
  • To support the physical and mental health of individuals throughout their life span. Professionals like doctors, nurses, and therapists must understand human growth and development to better support their clients.

Students may choose to study human growth and development because of its array of applications across many professional fields. For example, students who want to become elementary school teachers may take courses on the stages of human development to understand cognitive development and how children’s brains grow and change.

Human development is a wide-reaching and ever-changing discipline. A knowledge of human development can be invaluable to people personally as they continue to learn and grow throughout their lives and professionally as they learn to apply what they’ve learned to their careers.

Back To Top

Infographic Sources

Financial Express, “The Eight Stages of Human Development”

VeryWell Mind, “5 Reasons to Study Human Development”

Stages of Human Development: What It Is & Why It’s Important (2024)

FAQs

Why are the stages of human development important? ›

The top reasons for studying human development are to gain an understanding of your own life experience, help others understand what they're going through, understand the relationship of society and individual growth, lead more effectively, and support the physical and mental health of others.

What is human development and why is it important? ›

Human development is a branch of psychology that studies—and strives to optimize—the elements that help people live healthy and fulfilling lives. This field aims to understand the various changes individuals and their relationships go through as they continue to learn and grow.

What stage in the development of a human do you think is the most important? ›

The most important phase of life is the first few years when you are a child. That's when the brain grows really fast – faster than any other time in our life. The brain makes [more than 1 million] new connections every second!

What are the important stages of development? ›

Developmentalists break the life span into nine stages as follows:
  • Prenatal Development.
  • Infancy and Toddlerhood.
  • Early Childhood.
  • Middle Childhood.
  • Adolescence.
  • Early Adulthood.
  • Middle Adulthood.
  • Late Adulthood.

What is human development in your own words? ›

Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people's freedoms and opportunities and improving their well-being. Human development is about the real freedom ordinary people have to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live.

What have you learned about stages of human development? ›

Human development is a predictable process that moves through the stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In infancy, we rely on others to meet our needs as we begin to gain control over our bodies. In childhood, we begin to develop our sense of independence and learn what we can and cannot do.

What are the stages of human development essay? ›

There are eight periods of human development that include, prenatal period, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. These eight periods make up the three major developmental periods; child, adolescent and adult development.

Why is it important for teachers to understand human development? ›

As children go through their different stages of life, they approach learning in different ways. When an educator has an intricate understanding of human development, they can use that understanding to make assessments about the behaviours of children in the classroom.

What is human development essay? ›

“Human development is, moreover, concerned not only with basic need satisfaction but also with human development as a participatory dynamic process. It applies equally to less developed and highly developed nations”. ADVERTISEMENTS: Human development is a process of enlarging people's choices.

What is the importance of developmental changes? ›

Developmental Changes in Learning: Computational Mechanisms and Social Influences. Our ability to learn from the outcomes of our actions and to adapt our decisions accordingly changes over the course of the human lifespan.

What is the importance of understanding the phases or stages of economic development? ›

Economic development is a critical component that drives economic growth in an economy, creating new job opportunities and facilitating an improved quality of life that includes increased access to opportunities created by economic growth for existing and future residents.

What is important human life? ›

Honesty, integrity, love, and happiness are some of the end values or destination values that human beings seek to attain, practise and live with. On the other hand, values such as health, money, fame, status, intelligence, and so on are the means values or path values which help achieve the end values.

Which aspect of human development is the most important from educational viewpoint? ›

Learning is the major factor which is related to education if you learn new things, then you will educate more and more. Without the education you will not explore the new ideas it means you will not able to develop the world because without ideas there is no creativity and without creativity, there is no development.

Which is the most important time? ›

The most important time is 'Now', the most important person is the person we are with at a time and the most important thing to do is to do that person good.

What is the main focus of human development? ›

Human development – or the human development approach - is about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices.

What is your view about human development? ›

Human development is the widening of people's choices in life. It means having the privilege to choose one's life direction over another because of preference rather than lack of opportunity. Knowledge, health and longevity, livelihood and political freedom provide its bearers with greater chances for a better life.

What is your opinion on human development? ›

Human development is about providing more freedom and opportunity to the people for living their lives as they wish. For this, people should be able to improve and use their capabilities. Human development is a multidimensional concept.

What is the conclusion of development? ›

Answer: Development does not just involve the biological and physical aspects of growth, but also the cognitive and social aspects associated with development throughout life. By better understanding how and why people change and grow, we can then apply this knowledge to helping people live up to their full potential.

What are the characteristics of human development? ›

There are various factors that can be considered as determining human development. Many studies have identified that social infrastructure, industrialization, population density, economic growth, government expenditure, and inequality in income distribution, can determine human development [7–11].

What are the stages of human development PDF? ›

  • Infant Development.
  • Toddler Development.
  • Preschooler Development.
  • Middle Childhood Development.
  • Adolescent Development.
  • Adult Development.

How are relationships important for human development and growth? ›

Loving, stable and responsive relationships are fundamental to your child's development. Through relationships, children learn how to think, understand, communicate, behave, express emotions and develop social skills.

Why is it important to understand child development theories? ›

An understanding of child development is essential because it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood.

What is an example of human development? ›

Here are a few examples of human development: Children develop the ability to process social information during the first few years of life. This allows them to communicate and understand social behavior. Babies build an attachment with their parents, which helps them develop the ability to bond with other people.

What is human development issues? ›

There are three theoretical issues in human development; nature versus nurture, continuity versus stages and stability versus change.

What is development short essay? ›

The real meaning of development is the process of improving the quality of all human lives and capabilities by raising people's levels of living, self-esteem, and freedom. Development is a multidimensional process that involving changes in the social structures, the popular attitudes and national institutions, and the ...

Why is it important for a teacher to understand human growth and development? ›

As children go through their different stages of life, they approach learning in different ways. When an educator has an intricate understanding of human development, they can use that understanding to make assessments about the behaviours of children in the classroom.

Why is it important to study developmental psychology? ›

The study of developmental psychology is essential to understanding how humans learn, mature and adapt. Throughout their lives, humans go through various stages of development. Developmental psychologists study how people grow, develop and adapt at different life stages.

What is important at every age and stage across the lifespan? ›

Physical development also includes puberty, sexual health, fertility, menopause, changes in our senses, and primary versus secondary aging. Healthy habits with nutrition and exercise are also important at every age and stage across the lifespan.

What are the stages of human development essay? ›

There are eight periods of human development that include, prenatal period, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. These eight periods make up the three major developmental periods; child, adolescent and adult development.

How are relationships important for human development and growth? ›

Loving, stable and responsive relationships are fundamental to your child's development. Through relationships, children learn how to think, understand, communicate, behave, express emotions and develop social skills.

How can you help your student achieve optimal growth and development? ›

Establishing the Optimal Learning Environment
  1. Having compassion and empathy. ...
  2. Creating a secure and dependable structure. ...
  3. Ramping up the positive. ...
  4. Supporting academic risk. ...
  5. Teaching active listening. ...
  6. Embedding strategy instruction. ...
  7. Building collaborative relationships.

How does learning affect development? ›

The learning environment plays a significant role in brain development. As adolescents perform complex mental tasks, the neural networks that support those abilities strengthen, increasing their cognitive, emotion-regulation, and memory skills.

What is the importance of studying human behavior essay? ›

The study of human behavior helps us understand how a person interacts within a society. Human behavior is often shaped by culture and customs. In addition to that, experiences also affect a person emotionally and psychologically. Studying human behavior allows us to recognize the factors influencing a persons actions.

What are the two important issues in development? ›

Population explosion and poverty have a great impact on a country's development. Population and poverty are directly and indirectly connected to each other. Rapid population growth reduces per capita income growth which reduces the living standard of the individuals.

What are human development issues? ›

All fields of psychology are faced with theoretical issues. There are three theoretical issues in human development; nature versus nurture, continuity versus stages and stability versus change.

What are the benefits of studying child development? ›

By learning more about how kids grow, parents can help their kids grow in healthy ways and address challenges that might arise. In addition to learning things that can help make you a better parent, you can gain greater insight into how your children behave, think, learn, and feel.

Why is lifespan development important? ›

Once you've studied development, you'll know what's typical at certain ages.” Studying human development can help illuminate atypical patterns in people at any stage in life and help spot developmental challenges that could be inhibiting one's quality of life and seek out solutions.

What is the best stage of life? ›

It is said that childhood is the best phase of our life, yet not for everyone. But throughout time, we learn how to live with every emptiness in life.

What is the purpose of human development essay? ›

“Human development is, moreover, concerned not only with basic need satisfaction but also with human development as a participatory dynamic process. It applies equally to less developed and highly developed nations”. ADVERTISEMENTS: Human development is a process of enlarging people's choices.

What is the conclusion of development? ›

Answer: Development does not just involve the biological and physical aspects of growth, but also the cognitive and social aspects associated with development throughout life. By better understanding how and why people change and grow, we can then apply this knowledge to helping people live up to their full potential.

What are the significant facts about development? ›

10 SIGNIFICANT FACTS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT
  • Early foundations are critical.
  • Role of maturation and learning in development.
  • Development follows a definite and predictable pattern.
  • All individuals are different.
  • Each phase of development has characteristic behaviour.
  • Each phase has hazards.
  • Development is aided by stimulation.
17 Mar 2021

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Tuan Roob DDS

Last Updated:

Views: 5309

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (42 voted)

Reviews: 89% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Tuan Roob DDS

Birthday: 1999-11-20

Address: Suite 592 642 Pfannerstill Island, South Keila, LA 74970-3076

Phone: +9617721773649

Job: Marketing Producer

Hobby: Skydiving, Flag Football, Knitting, Running, Lego building, Hunting, Juggling

Introduction: My name is Tuan Roob DDS, I am a friendly, good, energetic, faithful, fantastic, gentle, enchanting person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.