Factors Affecting human Development

• Development of a child or a human beings does not depend on one element or factor. Many factors in combination, influence the human development. The development and its speed is affected by diet, fresh air, healthy conditions of life, atmosphere, sun light and seasons. On the otherhand attitudes heredity and social relations also affect human development. These factors affecting human development are mutually related, but nothing can be said about the relative effect of these factors. These factors of human development can be divided into two categories in the context of heredity and environment.

(A) Heredity

• Every human being is born with some definite qualities and potentialities. These inherited qualities or potentialities they receives from their parents and their ancestors. These characteristics and qualities inhereted from parents and which are transferred from generation is called heredity. In other words heredity is a gift to human beings from nature.
• It is heredity which endows a human being with physical characteristic such as face, complexion, eyes, hands, feet, height etc. Not only this much one gets glands and various system which control internal functioning of body, mental characteristies such as instincts, intelligence and aptitudes are in born. All these inborn potentialities fully develop in environment.

(B) Environment

• The environment of human beings is consisted of physical and social conditions in which they are born and develops. Environment plays a very important role indeveloping potentialities ofhuman beings. In the absence of conducive environment the potentialities remain underdeveloped. Many environmental facts do exert great influence on development rate for development and behaviour.

1. Food

• Nutritions and balanced diet is very necessary for general development of human beings. Food must contain all elements necessary for human development otherwise physical weakness, diseases may deter their development. Good food is necessary for the individuals in all the stages of development, but during infancy and childhood it is very essential.

2. Fresh air and sunlight

• From the point of view of the general development fresh air and sunlight are very important. Many diseases are cured simply by sun-bath and fresh air. Particularly during early years of the child health conditions, height, age, maturity are greatly influenced by these. Sunlight provides man with life energy and the bacteria are destroyed by these. Vitamin D is supplied to man by sunlight. Due to the deficiency of vitamin man suffer from rekets and other chemicals such as calcium required us. Sunlight is also necessary for skin diseases. Fresh air purifies blood which is very essential for body. In skin diseases and T.B. (tuberculosis) fresh air is very essential.

3. Culture

• Culture has been contributing to the development of children. Every country has its own culture and culture provides various opportunities to children for development. Every country has different customs and traditions, which change according to time and place. Culture, through socializaing, influences the development of children. An Indian child grows and develops in the spiritual culture, which clearly influences their emotional, moral and spiritual development. That is why they are different from children of material culture of America. The culture of a country is imbibed in its citizens in the form of sanskars. Well­ known psychoanalyst Jung states that the culture plays great role in the development of children. The development of an individual takes place in accordance with the culture of the country. Margret Mead and Bamedict anthropologists have propounded through studies that culture exerts great influence on the development of children. The individuals acquire qualities in same amount as the culture appear to be. For example spirituality can flourish only in our culture and not in western culture.

4. Family

• The family status, child’s place in the family and family conditions influence the development of individuals on the basis of family status child’s mentality and mental set-up are formed. Socio­ economic status of the family plays very important role in the development of child.

5. Society and Social Relations

• The development of child is influenced by his family, society and social environment. According to that the deve lopment of the child b y the culture of his country and the society by determining his social relations gives new direction to his/ her development. The behaviour of the child is influenced by their society as members of their family, neighbourhood and activities of the members of school and on that basis the child makes responses. The effect of all these is exerted on all aspects of childs development.

6. Rearing or Upbringing

• The development of child is more affected by rearing. The ways of rearing give direction to his behaviour. According to psychology the responses of the child are influenced by behaviour, and it depends on rearing which makes behaviour good or bad. Availability or unavailability of rearing facilities affects child’s, development. This affects mutual relations of the child with parents and his status.

7. Incidents and Accidents in Life

• Good and bad incidents oflife and accidents affect human development. Sometime a single incident changes the direction of development for whole life. For example nervous system of a man being injured in an accident, his emotional, social and physical development is badly affected. In this way both heredity and environment affect human development. Both are complimentary to each other. A fully developed human being is the result of mutual interaction of these two, as the basic qualities of a plant are contained in its seed and it is only the seed which determines the developed form of a plant but this plant cannot develop in right way,so long it grows in unfertile land or suffers from the want of water and light. In the same way direction of a child’s development is determined by heredity but the development of its capacities is possible in environment. Hence the development is the result of the interaction of a child’s potentialities and environmental effect.

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Important Points of Human Development :- 

1. Development means proceeding towards more maturity which is not quantitatively measurable but in qualitative change.
2. Development in continuous, systematic and sequential.
3. In each cell of parents there are 23 chromosoms and these constitute 23 pairs.
4. Each choromosom has many genes and each gene determines one or the other trait or characteristic.
5. Heredity provides potentialities to develop. These potentialities develop in environment.
6. Sigmund Freud propounded psychoanalytic theory and Erikson propounded Psycho­ social theory which describe the stages of development from birth to adulthood.

Human Development Questions And Answers

1. What is the meaning of heredity?
(A) Sperm and ovam
(B) Chromosomes and genes
(C) Mitosis and Meiosis
(D) DNA and RNA

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2. Which of the following theory has been propounded by Freud?
(A) Cognitive theory
(B) Psycho-social theory
(C) Stimulus-response theory
(D) Psycho analytic theory

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3. Who out of the following has propounded psycho-social theory?
(A) Sigmund freud
(B) Erik Erikson
(C) E.B. Hurlock
(D) Not any of these

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