Growth and Development

Growth vs Development in Psychology

“Psychology” is defined as “the scientific study of the mind and behavior.” In this discipline, it also covers the growth and development of human beings. Humans are very interesting subjects. Humans are a mystery and constantly change. This includes their growth and development as interesting areas of this topic. “Growth” and “development” always come in pairs. But what are exactly the differences between growth and development in the field of psychology? Let us all find out in this article.

For a quick differentiation about growth and development, psychology defines “growth” as “the physical change that a particular individual undergoes.” On the other hand, psychology defines “development” as “the overall growth of humans throughout their lifespan.” Development includes the understanding of how and why people change in terms of physical growth, intellectual, emotional, social, and other aspects of human growth. In psychology, there are several principles concerning growth and development. Just by looking at its principles, we can tell the differences between growth and development in psychology.

With regards to development, it always follows a pattern. Development is not a chaotic and immediate process. It takes time, just like growth. For example, the cephalocaudal sequence is a pattern of development. When a baby grows, his activities develop from head to toe. A baby learns how to move his head first before he can walk. Since it follows a pattern, we can say that development is also predictable.

We can say that development is gradual and is the same as growth. Like development, growth is not an immediate process. It is a continuous process. The parts of the body continuously grow given the proper nutrition it needs. Until the parts of the body reach their peak of growth, they will continue growing.

The growth rate of humans is not usually uniform. During a human’s early years, his growth rate is at its peak. However, during the later years, the growth rate becomes slower. When we will look at the parts of the body, we can also say that each part has a different growth rate. When a baby is born, we can notice that the head seems bigger than the length of the body. The head is actually one-fourth of the body’s length in babies.

It is very interesting to watch humans grow and develop. During the development years of humans, development proceeds from general to specific. Let us take a child for example. When a child wants something, he uses his whole hand to point at the thing he wants. But as he grows older, his brain and muscles are developed. With that, he can now use a finger instead of his whole hand when pointing at something. As a child develops, he is being affected by his environment, nutrition, peers, and even his genes. With that, we can say that the development of a child largely depends on his genetic traits and the factors around him.

Growth is more on the physical aspect while development is more on the mental aspect. These two processes are highly correlated with each other. If a child has good physical health, most likely the child also has above average mental capacity. With good physical growth, a child can be more sociable with other people, too.

Growth and Development- Meaning

Human growth is based on biological events that cause you to grow physically that naturally occur during the early stages of your life. Developmental growth, however, is the product of psychological and social growth, emphasized by environmental and individual behavioral factors, sometimes more simply referred to as maturity. While both of these natural processes are vastly different, both growth and development are closely related steps in producing healthy adults.

Difference between Growth and Development

Growth and development is one of the important studies for the teachers and parents. Growth is different from development. But both are correlated and one is dependent on other. We can say that growth is a part of development, which is limited in physical changes.

Growth is physical changes whereas development is overall development of the organism. The main differences between both are-

(1) Growth is change of physical aspects of the organism. Development is overall changes and progressive changes of the organism.

(2) Growth is cellular but development is organizational.

(3) Growth is the change in shape, form, structure, size of the body. Development is structural change and functional progress of the body.

(4) Growth stops at maturation but development continues till death of the organism.

(5) Development also includes growth. Growth is a part of development.

(6) Growth and development go side by side.

(7) Growth and development is the joint product of heredity and environment.

(8) Growth is quantitative and development is qualitative in nature.

(9) Growth can be measured accurately but development is subjective interpretation of one’s change.

Both growth and development are interrelated aspects of psychology. There are some basic differences as per their structure but it is difficult to separate them. They have some basic similarities also. In study of educational psychology study of their differences and similarities have equal importance for a teacher.

Principles of Development

Development although an individual phenomenon, has been found to follow a logical and sequential pattern from conception onward. It seems that it is operated by some general rules or principles. These rules or principles may be named as the principles of development.

Principle of continuity: Development follows the principle of continuity which means that in one’s life it is a never ending process. It starts with conception and ends with death. The changes, however small and gradual, continue to take place in all dimensions of one’s personality throughout one’s life.

Principle of lack of uniformity in the developmental rate: Development, though continuous, does not exhibit steadiness and uniformity in terms of the rate of development in various dimensions of personality or in the developmental periods and stages of life. In passing through the developmental stages, the changes are often so silent and gradual as to be almost invisible over a long duration but sometimes they are as fast as to be noticed quite easily. Thus, instead of steadiness, development usually takes place in fits and starts showing almost no change at one time and a sudden spun at another, as for example, shooting up in height and sudden change in social interest, intellectual curiosity and emotional make-up. \

Principle of individual difference: Every organism is a distinct creation in itself. Therefore, the development which it undergoes in terms of the rate and outcome in various dimensions is quite unique and specific.

Principe of uniformity of pattern: Although there seems to be a clear lack of uniformity in terms of the rate of development and also there are distinct individual differences with regard to the process and outcome of the various stages of development, yet it follows a definite pattern in one or the other dimension which is uniform and universal with respect to the individuals of a species. For instance, the development of language follows a somewhat definite sequence quite common to all human beings. This is true of other cognitive abilities, and physical and psycho-social development follows a somewhat uniform sequence spread over different developmental stages and periods of one’s life.

Principle of proceeding from general to specific responses: While developing in relation to any aspect of personality, the child first picks up or exhibits general responses and learns to show specific and goal-directed responses afterwards. For example, a baby starts by waving his arms in a general random movement and afterwards these general motor responses are converted into specific responses like grasping or reaching out. Similarly, when a newborn infant cries, his whole body is involved in doing so as he develops; it is limited to the vocal cords, facial expressions and eyes etc. In the development of language, the child begins with generalized responses, such as by calling all men daddy and all women mummy but as he grows and develops, he begins to use these names only for his father and mother.

Principle of integration: By observing the principle of proceeding from the general to the specific or from the whole to the parts, it does mean that only the specific responses are aimed for the ultimate consequences  of one’s development. Rather, it is a sort of integration that is ultimately desired. Throwing light on this principle, Kuppuswami (1963)observed- “Development thus involves a movement from the whole to parts and from the parts to the whole” and in this way it is the integration of the whole and its parts as well as the specific and general responses that enables a child to develop satisfactorily in relation to various aspects or dimensions of his personality.

Principle of interrelation: The various aspects or dimensions of one’s growth and development are interrelated. What is achieved or not achieved in one or other dimension in the course of the gradual and continuous process of development surely affects the development in other dimensions. A healthy body tends to develop a healthy mind and an emotionally stable and socially conscious personality. Inadequate physical or mental development may, on the other hand, result in a socially or emotionally maladjusted personality. This is why all efforts, in education are always directed towards achieving harmonious growth and development in all aspects and dimensions of one’s personality.

Principle of interaction: The process of development involves active interaction between the forces within the individual and the forces belonging to his environment. What the organism inherits at the time of conception is first influenced by the stimulation received in the womb of the mother and after birth, by the forces of the physical and socio-psychological environment for its development. Therefore, at any stage of growth and development, the individual’s behaviour or personality make-up is nothing but an end product of the constant interaction between his hereditary endowment and environmental set-up.

Principle of cephalocaudal and proximodistal tendencies: Cephalocaudal and proximodistal tendencies are found to be followed in maintaining the orderly sequence and direction of development.
According to the cephalocaudal tendency, development proceeds in the direction of the longitudinal axis (head to foot). That is why, before it becomes able to stand, the child first gains control over his head and arms and then on his legs. In terms of the proximodistal tendency, development proceeds from the near to the distant and the parts of the body near the center develop before the extremities. That is why, in the beginning the child is seen to exercise control over the large fundamental muscles of the arm and the hand and only afterwards over the smaller muscles of the fingers.

Principle of Predictability: Development is predictable, which means that with the help of the uniformity of the pattern and sequence of development, we can, to a great extent, forecast the general nature and behaviour of a child in one or more aspects or dimensions at any particular stage of its growth and development. That is why we can discuss in developmental psychology the general nature of the development at different stages such as infancy, childhood and adolescence. Not only is such prediction possible along general lines but it is also possible to predict the range within which the future development of an individual child is going to fall. For example, with the knowledge of the development of the bones of a child it is possible to predict his adult structure and size. Similarly, the appraisal of one’s mental ability, emotionality and sociability can tell us a tot about the future trends of one’s development.

Principle of spiral versus linear advancement: The path followed in development by the child is not straight and linear and development at any stage never takes place with a constant or steady pace. At a particular stage of his development, after the child had developed to a certain level, there is likely to be a period of rest for consolidation of the developmental progress achieved until then. In advancing further, therefore, development turns back and then moves forward again in a spiral pattern as illustrated in Figure.

Figure: Spiral pattern of movement in development (as opposed to linear)