The Psychological Aspects of Human
Child
Development
The aspects are:
1. Physical Development
2. Mental Development
3. Emotional Development
4. Social Development.
1. Physical Development during Infancy:
- Physical growth and development describe
the physical as well as psychomotor changes
in an individual. The physical development is
very rapid at this stage. At birth a baby is
generally 18 to 20 inches long and seven
pounds (3 kg) in weight.
- He grows about three times after a year. By
the time he is two years of age he attains a
length of 33 inches and a weight of 25 pounds.
At birth the brain is almost one fourth of its final
weight.
Early Childhood Stage:
- Early childhood stage covers from 2/3 years
to 6/7 years. Rate of growth during this stage
becomes slow in comparison to infancy stage.
At the age of six years a child becomes 43 to
45 inches tall. There is an average increase to
3 to 5 pounds of weight annually.
- At six, the child weights 36 to 42 pounds.
Boys are found to be slightly taller than girls.
Body proportions change and head grows at a
slower rate. At six, it attains 90% of adult size.
Hands and feet grow bigger. Muscles grow
larger and stronger. Hand-skills are established
at this stage. Brushing the hair, bathing and
better toilet habits develop.
- The child can draw pictures and can also
point. The child learns to hop, skip, jump, run,
climb and dance during this stage. He learns to
do various things and he is satisfied with this
achievements.
A major development task for a child during six
years of life is to acquire a gender
identification. The environment is the most
powerful factor in shaping the gender identify
among children.
Later Childhood Stage:
- During later childhood period (6 years to 12
years of age) physical growth is initially slow.
Arms and legs grow faster than the trunk and
the child appears tall and thin. He loses his
milk teeth and permanent teeth begin to
appear.
- The sense organ, muscles and brain are
more or less mature. The overall appearance
of the child changes during this stage.
- The child at 12 years is nearly 55 inches in
height. Boys are slightly taller than girls. Sex
differences begin to appear at this stage.
continues to grow in the strength, speed and
coordination needed for motor skills. He climbs
trees, walls etc. He develops precision in
athletic ability.
- The child gains full control over the movement
of his limbs. Being active and participating in
games helps the child to develop a concept of
himself. He gets feedback regarding his
desirability, worth and status from other people.
Adolescence Stage:
- The period of transition from childhood to
adulthood is called adolescence. Adolescence
is very crucial stage of development. In Indian
conditions the period of adolescence may vary
from 12-13 years to 18-21 years.
- A.t. Jersild defines adolescence as “the span
of years during which the boys and girls move
from childhood to adulthood.” All types of
changes like biological, physical, social,
intellectual, moral etc. take place during the
adolescence stage.
- At the early adolescent years, most children
experience the adolescent growth spurt, a
rapid increase in height and weight. Usually,
this spurt occurs in girls two years earlier than
boys. The spurt usually last about two years
and during this time girls gain 6 to 7 inches and
boys 8 to 9 inches in height. By the age of
seventeen in girls and eighteen in boys, the
majority of them have reached 98 percent of
their final height.
- Sex differences become apparent during this
stage. Sex glands start secreting for the first
time and this is responsible for the growth of
boys into manhood and of girls into
womanhood. Primary and secondary sex
characteristics appear at this stage. Pubic hair
grows.
- The voice of boys becomes rough and that of
girls becomes sweet. Certain bodily
appearances make both boys and girls bodily
conscious. Sexual development is the most
remarkable features of adolescence. The boys
and girls are attracted towards the opposite
sex.
- Due to hormonal changes there is an
increase in sexual drive. The early adolescent
involves himself in intense friendship with the
members of either sex. A capacity for mature
heterosexual relationship and true intimacy
develops in late adolescence.
 Aspect # 2. Mental Development:
Mental development includes such abilities as
attending, perceiving, observing, remembering,
imagining, thinking, solving problems and
growth of intelligence as well as of language.
These abilities grow and mature with age or in
different stage.
Infancy:
The child at infancy stage reacts to external
stimuli like light, sound and temperature.
In this age the child can imitate, discriminate
and recognize to some extent. The child is
mostly engaged in manipulation of objects. A
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget called this
stage as sensory-motor period which covers
first 18 months of life.
In this period the infant seeks physical
satisfaction based upon immediate sensory
experience.
At the age of one year he has a vocabulary of
two or more words and he can respond to
simple questions or requests. He gradually
acquires the sense of form, shape, size and
colour.
He recognizes known and unknown persons.
He fails to understand the difference between
fact and fiction. He usually puts many
embarrassing questions to the parents which
shows his inquisitiveness.
Early Childhood:
At this stage child’s contact with environment
increases and he begins to explore things. He
often asks ‘why’ of everything. The child
develops general intelligence, perception,
memory, learning, problem solving and
language.
Jean Piaget named this stage as the stage of
pre-operational stage which covers 1 ½ years
to 6 years of age.
In this stage the child begins to develop
language and is able to talk and form simple
concepts. But he has very little understanding
of operations; particularly it is difficult for him to
understand reversibility of operations.
For example, if water contained in a tall narrow
glass is poured into a small broad glass, the
child will judge that there was more water in the
narrow glass than when it is poured in the
broad glass.
This stage is also marked by ego-centricism.
There is natural shift from the sensorimotor
stage to logical and social egocentricity. He
fails to understand another’s point of view. His
attitude is, “I am I and you are you, and how
can you be I and I be you?”
Animism is another characteristics of this stage
which the child regards everything to be alive
unless it is broken or damaged. Children up to
six years of age regard everything that moves
to be alive.
Later Childhood:
Mental development is rapid at this stage. Child
becomes more and more inquisitive which
indicates his thinking capacity. Thinking and
imagination takes active form in this stage.
The child at this stage develops better
concepts of length, distance, time, area and
volume.
The abilities of understanding, reasoning,
memory, attention and discrimination develop
to a great extent. The child acquires a rich
store of vocabulary. Child’s speech becomes
increasingly socialized and communicative. At
this stage the child is interested in performing
creative and productive work.
Adolescence:
At this stage of adolescent attains intellectual
maturity. The intellectual maturation is the
result of interaction between maturation,
experience, education and training. He also
develops ability to take decisions.
Aspect # 3.
Emotional Development:
The term emotion is derived from Latin term
’emovere’ which means to stir, to agitate to
move. Hence, an emotion is referred to as a
stirred up state of agitation. We feel agitated or
excited when we experience anger, fear, joy,
grief, disgust, etc.
An emotional state consists of feelings,
impulses, physical and physiological reactions.
According to wood-worth, Emotion “is a moved
or stirred up state of an organism. It is
disturbed muscular and glandular activity”. We
find different emotional development at various
stages of human life.
Infancy Stage:
Infants immediately after birth do to display any
distinct emotions. His emotional reactions are
diffuse and gross. He cannot show specific
reactions like anger, fear and love. By the age
two differentiations of emotions are marked.
According to Watson emotions of fear, anger
and love can be identified even in very young
infants.
After the baby is a few weeks old, he starts
smiling and gurgling to give expression to his
feeling of pleasure and contentment.
Early Childhood Stage:
As the child grows, his emotional expressions
are refined, become more definite and grow in
intensity. Now his loves, fears and dislikes
becomes more intense. Curiosity ad
inquisitiveness develops at this stage. The
child feels satisfied when his questions are
answered. With growth and maturity in age
comes decline in overt expression of emotional
reactions.
Later Childhood Stage:
At this stage, the emotional behaviour of the
child is guided by rational expressions. He
experiences intense emotional feelings of love,
hate and fear which lasts for a long period of
time. But he is able to have control over his
emotions. Emotions at wonder dominate the
child at this stage. If anything goes against his
interest he shows anger.
At the age of 10, he becomes obedient and
friendly. Fear is less common in older children.
Older children when become angry, do not kick
things. Instead, they express their anger in the
form of sarcasm, sneers, abuses, and belittling
remarks.
Anger is expressed in refusal to. At this stage,
the children like to be with the persons whom
they love. Joy, pleasure, love, curiosity, grief
and affection appear in this stage.
Adolescence Stage:
Adolescence period is marked by heightened
emotionality due to change of roles in home,
school and society. It is due to the unfavorable
relations in home. Parents and teachers in
most cases are responsible for heightened
emotionality in adolescents because they do
not prepare their children to meet the problems
of adolescence.
When the child becomes an adolescent,
society and parents expect him to think and act
like an adult for which he is not physically and
intellectually matured.
In adolescence there is attraction towards the
member of opposite sex but the adolescent is
not able to understand the correct social
behaviour, how to make friendship with the
members of opposite sex, which create
emotional tensions in him.
Adolescents come in conflict with their friends
and family members who fail to understand
them. School failures cause emotional
disturbance among the adolescents. Vocational
problems also create emotional disturbances.
Major Aspect # 4.
Social Development:
At birth, the child is neither social nor unsocial.
When the child grows up, he develops some
social behaviour which makes him an
acceptable social being. Social development
can be defined by Hurlock as social
development is the “attaining of maturity in
social relationships”.
Garret regards social development as the
process whereby “the biological individual is
converted into a human person.” Social
development is closely associated with mental,
physical and emotional aspects of
development.
An individual’s social and emotional behaviour
is so closely interlinked that feelings of
jealousy, shyness, affection and sympathy
which are primarily regarded as emotional
responses can also be treated as social forms
of behaviour.
Infancy Stage:
During the first few months the child begins to
make active .social contacts with the persons
in his social environment such as mother,
father, grandmother, elders who care for him.
He becomes aware of the individuals, who
stimulate in him the feeling of satisfaction.
The child soon learns to differentiate between
his mother and other persons. Social
responses that starts early in life are those of
smiling and laughing. During the second half of
the first year the child shows negative
response to strangers.
After the eighteen months the infant reacts to
other infants in the environment and after that
he becomes more and more interested in his
playmates. By the age of two years, he can
obey certain commands given to him and call
attention of other persons to objects be feels
interested in.
Early Childhood Stage:
In this period the child usually has one or two
friends with whom he identifies and plays for
short intervals. The young child selects his
playmates of his own age from his immediate
neighbourhood. He selects friends who provide
him friendly companionship ship. The child at
this stage often quarrels and fights.
The child shows his sympathy by helping
others in difficulty. He needs recognition and
praise. He needs approval of adults. Feeling of
being ignored makes him naughty in the hope
of getting attention that he craves for.
Later Childhood Stage:
At this stage the child enters, the school and
wants to have many friends. He is interested
the play activities that involve the group. He
desires to be in the group of friends of his own
age and sex. The peer approval at this stage is
linked with the strong desire for friendship and
leads to cooperative behaviour.
One important development that takes place is
the increasing interest and ability in organized
activities and in team work. They form clubs or
gangs for games, sports and other social
activities.
Adolescence Stage:
The adolescents have a strong loyalty and
devotion to their groups. They are deeply
influenced by peer groups and their decisions.
At this stage, the adolescent acquires many
habits, attitudes, ideals and social skills.
During early adolescent period the close-friend
is usually a member of the same sex. At the
later adolescent period, one usually tries to
seek friendship with a member of the opposite
sex. However, this is not generally permitted in
some cultures, and so same sex friendships
are more common.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
maintains that children go through specific
stages as their intellect and ability to see
relationships matures.
The following chart delineates the development
of infants in sequential order. The ages shown
are averages and it is normal for these to vary
by a month or two in either direction.
Sensorimotor Stage.
This stage occurs between the ages of birth
and two years of age, as infants begin to
understand the information entering their sense
and their ability to interact with the world.
During this stage, the child learns to
manipulate objects although they fail to
understand the permanency of these objects if
they are not within their current sensory
perception.
In other words, once an object is removed from
the child’s view, he or she is unable to
understand that the object still exists.
The major achievement during this stage is that
of Object Permanency, or the ability to
understand that these objects do in fact
continue to exist.
This includes his ability to understand that
when mom leaves the room, she will eventually
return, resulting in an increased sense of safety
and security.
Preoperational Stage.
The second stage begins after Object
Permanency is achieved and occurs between
the ages of two to seven years of age.
This stage is marked by Egocentrism, or the
child’s belief that everyone sees the world the
same way that she does.
A second important factor in this stage is that
of Conservation, which is the ability to
understand that quantity does not change if the
shape changes. In other words, if a short and
wide glass of water is poured into a tall and thin
glass. Children in this stage will perceive the
taller glass as having more water due only
because of it’s height.
Concrete Operations Stage.
Occurring between ages 7 and about 12, the
third stage of cognitive development is marked
by a gradual decrease in centristic thought and
the increased ability to focus on more than one
aspect of a stimulus.
They can understand the concept of grouping,
knowing that a small dog and a large dog are
still both dogs, or that pennies, quarters, and
dollar bills are part of the bigger concept of
money.
Formal Operations Stage.
 the final stage of cognitive development (from
age 12 and beyond), children begin to develop
a more abstract view of the world.
They also develop an increased understanding
of the world and the idea of cause and effect.
By the teenage years, they are able to develop
their own theories about the world.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud was a Viennese physician who
developed his psychosexual theory of
development through his work with emotionally
troubled adults. Now considered controversial
and largely outdated, his theory is based on the
idea that parents play a crucial role in
managing their children’s sexual and
aggressive drives during the first few years of
life in order to foster their proper development.
Psychosexual Stages of Development
According to Freud, children’s pleasure-
seeking urges (governed by the id) are focused
on a different area of the body, called an
erogenous zone, at each of the five stages of
development: oral, anal, phallic,
latency, and genital.
Oral (0-1 years of age):
 During this stage, the mouth is the pleasure
center for development. Freud believed this is
why infants are born with a sucking reflex and
desire their mother’s breast. If a child’s oral
needs are not met during infancy, he or she
may develop negative habits such as nail biting
or thumb sucking to meet this basic need.
Anal (1-3 years of age):
During this stage, toddlers and preschool-aged
children begin to experiment with urine and
feces. The control they learn to exert over their
bodily functions is manifested in toilet-training.
Improper resolution of this stage, such as
parents toilet training their children too early,
can result in a child who is uptight and overly
obsessed with order.
Phallic (3-6 years of age):  levels of consciousness, influencing personality
During this stage, preschoolers take pleasure
in their genitals and, according to Freud, begin
to struggle with sexual desires toward the
opposite sex parent (boys to mothers and girls
to fathers).
For boys, this is called the Oedipus
complex, involving a boy’s desire for his
mother and his urge to replace his father who
is seen as a rival for the mother’s attention.
The Electra complex, later proposed by
Freud’s protégé Carl Jung, involves a girl’s
desire for her father’s attention and wish to
take her mother’s place.
Latency (6-12 years of age):
 During this stage, sexual instincts subside,
and children begin to further develop the
superego, or conscience. Children begin to
behave in morally acceptable ways and adopt
the values of their parents and other important
adults.
Genital (12+ years of age): 
During this stage, sexual impulses reemerge. If
other stages have been successfully met,
adolescents engage in appropriate sexual
behavior, which may lead to marriage and
childbirth.
Freud’s Structural Model
Freud believed that the human personality
consisted of three interworking parts: the id,
the ego, and the superego. According to his
theory, these parts become unified as a child
works through the five stages of psychosexual
development.
The id, the largest part of the mind, is related to
desires and impulses and is the main source of
basic biological needs.
The id operates on the pleasure principle
(Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every
wishful impulse should be satisfied
immediately, regardless of the consequences.
When the id achieves its demands, we
experience pleasure when it is denied we
experience ‘unpleasure’ or tension.
The ego is related to reasoning and is the
conscious, rational part of the personality; it
monitors behavior in order to satisfy basic
desires without suffering negative
consequences.
The ego considers social realities and norms,
etiquette and rules in deciding how to behave.
The superego, or conscience, develops
through interactions with others (mainly
parents) who want the child to conform to the
norms of society.
The superego restricts the desires of the id by
applying morals and values from society. Freud
believed that a struggle existed between these
development and psychopathology.
The superego consists of two systems: The
conscience and the ideal self. The conscience
can punish the ego through causing feelings of
guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id's
demands, the superego may make the person
feel bad through guilt.
The ideal self (or ego-ideal) is an imaginary
picture of how you ought to be, and represents
career aspirations, how to treat other people,
and how to behave as a member of society
Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a stage theorist
who took Freud’s controversial theory of
psychosexual development and modified it as a
psychosocial theory. Erikson emphasized that
the ego makes positive contributions to
development by mastering attitudes, ideas, and
skills at each stage of development.
Trust vs. Mistrust
From birth to 12 months of age, infants must
learn that adults can be trusted. This occurs
when adults meet a child’s basic needs for
survival. Infants are dependent upon their
caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive
and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their
baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will
see the world as a safe, predictable place.
Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore
their world, they learn that they can control
their actions and act on their environment to
get results. This is the “me do it” stage.
For example, we might observe a budding
sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who
wants to choose her clothes and dress herself.
Although her outfits might not be appropriate
for the situation, her input in such basic
decisions has an effect on her sense of
independence. If denied the opportunity to act
on her environment, she may begin to doubt
her abilities, which could lead to low self-
esteem and feelings of shame.
Another example, during this stage children
begin to assert their independence, by walking
away from their mother, picking which toy to
play with, and making choices about what they
like to wear, to eat, etc.
Initiative vs. Guilt
Once children reach the preschool stage (ages
3–6 years), they are capable of initiating
activities and asserting control over their world
through social interactions and play
Initiative, a sense of ambition and
responsibility, occurs when parents allow a
child to explore within limits and then support
the child’s choice. These children will develop
self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose.
Those who are unsuccessful at this stage—
with their initiative misfiring or stifled by over-
controlling parents—may develop feelings of
guilt.
Industry vs. Inferiority
During the elementary school stage (ages 6–
12)
 Children begin to compare themselves with
their peers to see how they measure up. They
either develop a sense of pride and
accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports,
social activities, and family life, or they feel
inferior and inadequate because they feel that
they don’t measure up.
If children do not learn to get along with others
or have negative experiences at home or with
peers, an inferiority complex might develop into
adolescence and adulthood.
Identity vs. Role Confusion
In adolescence (ages 12–18)
Adolescents struggle with questions such as
“Who am I?” and “What do I want to do with my
life?” Along the way, most adolescents try on
many different selves to see which ones fit;
they explore various roles and ideas, set goals,
and attempt to discover their “adult” selves.
Adolescents who are successful at this stage
have a strong sense of identity and are able to
remain true to their beliefs and values in the
face of problems and other people’s
perspectives.
When adolescents are apathetic, do not make
a conscious search for identity, or are
pressured to conform to their parents’ ideas for
the future, they may develop a weak sense of
self and experience role confusion. They will be
unsure of their identity and confused about the
future. Teenagers who struggle to adopt a
positive role will likely struggle to “find”
themselves as adults.
Intimacy vs. Isolation
People in early adulthood (20s through early
40s).After we have developed a sense of self in
adolescence, we are ready to share our life
with others. However, if other stages have not
been successfully resolved, young adults may
have trouble developing and maintaining
successful relationships with others. Erikson
said that we must have a strong sense of self
before we can develop successful intimate
relationships. Adults who do not develop a
positive self-concept in adolescence may
experience feelings of loneliness and emotional
isolation.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
When people reach their 40s, they enter the
time known as middle adulthood, which
extends to the mid-60s. Generativity involves
finding your life’s work and contributing to the
development of others through activities such
as volunteering, mentoring, and raising
children. During this stage, middle-aged adults
begin contributing to the next generation, often
through childbirth and caring for others; they
also engage in meaningful and productive work
which contributes positively to society.
Those who do not master this task may
experience stagnation and feel as though they
are not leaving a mark on the world in a
meaningful way; they may have little
connection with others and little interest in
productivity and self-improvement.
Integrity vs. Despair
From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in
the period of development known as late
adulthood.
He said that people in late adulthood reflect on
their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction
or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of
their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity,
and they can look back on their lives with few
regrets.
However, people who are not successful at this
stage may feel as if their life has been wasted.
They focus on what “would have,” “should
have,” and “could have” been. They face the
end of their lives with feelings of bitterness,
depression, and despair.