Principle of Development in Psychology.
Development has some significant principle. Development always proceeds through these principles. Some main principles of these are as follows:
1) Principle of Continuity,
2) Principle of Individual Difference,
3) Principle of Interrelation,
4) Principle of Interaction,
5) Principle of lack of Uniformity in Developmental Rate,
6) Principle of Uniformity of Pattern,
7) Principle of proceeding from General to Specific responses,
8) Principle of Proximodistal Tendencies,
9) Principle of Cephalocaudal Tendencies,
10) Principle of Predictability,
11) Principle of Locomotion,
Table of Contents
1) Principle of Continuity
Development is a continuous process. The developmental process starts from the conception of the first life in the mother’s womb and it continues till the last day of life i.e. before death. Development in human life never stops. Changes due to development sometimes are noticed directly, and sometimes they are not noticed at all. When developmental changes do not seen directly, it’s mean the developmental process has stopped, that is not true. The process of development continues uninterruptedly till the last day of life.
2) Principle of Individual Difference
The key word of individual difference is that one person is different from another. This distinction is also noticed among persons in terms of the rate of development. It can be noticed from any developmental aspect like physical, mental, social, emotional etc. Each person maintains his or her own rate of development. As a result, we notice differences in the physical size, height, weight, sociality, feeling, learning ability, etc. of boys and girls of a certain age.
3) Principle of Interrelation
Different developmental processes like physical development, mental development, social development, emotional development, moral development are interrelated and interdependent. For example, a child’s early social behavior depends on his physical development. If the child is physically handicapped then his social development will be inconsistent.
4) Principle of Interaction
The development of a person is the result of the interaction of his heredity and environment. Heredity refers to the traits that a child inherits from his or her ancestors. On the other hand, the environment of the child is the environment where the child is born and grows up.
5) Principle of lack of Uniformity in Developmental Rate
Development is a continuous process, yet an inconsistency is observed in the rate of development. The rate of development in different field like physical development, mental development, social development, emotional development, moral development are not always the same. Sometimes the development process is very slow and we can’t notice it directly. Then it is seemed that it has ended. Sometimes the speed of the development process is very high and it is noticed directly.
6) Principle of Uniformity of Pattern
The development process that takes place in each person follows a certain pattern. There is a balance between each person in terms of this pattern. In the developmental process of human behavior, it is pre-determined that which behavior will come after which behavior. For example – every child will sit first, then crawl, then stand and finally walk. This rule applies to all children. Thus, the development process is organized by maintaining a certain universal consistency.
7) Principle of proceeding from General to Specific responses
The development process is always moving from general to special. It is seen in all kinds of development. For example, in the case of language development, children start to do general responses first and then come specific responses. In this case, the children first call all men ‘father’ and all women call mother. But as they get older, they call only father as ‘father’ among all men and call only mother as ‘mother’ among all women.
8) Principle of Proximodistal Tendencies
According to psychologists, there are several special trends in the developmental process. One of these is Proximodistal Tendencies. According to this tendency the developmental process moves outward from the center of the body. Due to this reason the limbs near the center of the body develop earlier. For example, the arms of the body develop before the palms and fingers of the hands. The same fact happens for feet. That is, the thighs develop before the soles of the feet and toes.
9) Principle of Cephalocaudal Tendencies
Along with proximodistal tendencies another important trend that is observed in the developmental process, is Cephalocaudal tendencies. According to this tendency, the developmental process starts from the head and moves through the body to the feet. As a result children are able to control their brain before gaining their ability of standing, then they able to control their hands and then their legs.
10) Principle of Predictability
It is possible to predict the development process. This means that based on the knowledge of the developmental process, we can make predictions about the nature and behavior of the child’s development in different developmental areas, or we can predict the nature and behavior of the child’s development in advance. For example, Based on developmental knowledge, it is possible to estimate a child’s future developmental process by judging child’s current developmental process.
11) Principle of Locomotion
The developmental process of all children of the world proceeds in accordance with the principle of Locomotion. The key word of this principle is that the child’s developmental process proceeds through some certain phases. These phases consist of crawling, standing, walking, and finally running. In the case of developmental process, there may be a difference in the timing of the child’s locomotion but the periodicity remains the same.
So, the above mentioned Principle of Development are the important Principles of Development in Psychology.
⇒ Growth and its characteristics.
⇒ Development and its characteristics.
⇒ Relation and Differences between Growth and Development.
⇒ Stages and Areas of Growth & Development.
⇒ Principle of Development in Psychology.
⇒ Educational Implication of Principle of Growth & Development.
⇒ Factors Influencing Human Growth & Development.
⇒ Growth & Development affecting Special Social Factors.
⇒ Why should a teacher study Growth & Development ?
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