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Concept of human Growth and Development

Development Psychology deals with the study of development from conception of child to old age or in other words, it is the study of lifelong physical, mental and behavioral development. The process of development takes place in some or the other form beginning from conception to death. In simple words, Development is related to qualitative changes in the body. Growth is related to the quantitative changes such as increase in weight, height, size of body etc.

Definition of Growth-

General meaning of growth is ‘increase’ or expansion. Growth refers to structural physical changes which occur in a sequence as a person matures. That is to say growth is progressive elongation. Therefore, it represents growth in height, size and weight of an individual.

Definition of Development-

Development deals with an individual’s development starting from conception to death in an inter-disciplinary perspective. In this way, three elements are of prime importance in the above mentioned definition of development:
1. Human development is an individual experience.
2. It is a continuous process.
3. It is an inter-disciplinary study.
Development hints not only towards physical growth but also mental, social, intellectual, psychological, emotional changes. For example, during infancy, increase in weight occurs due to growth of nerves, glands and muscle tissues.

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Important Points :-

1. Growth refers to structural physical changes, like growth in height, weight and size of a person.
2. Development includes qualitative changes like social, mental and intellectual development.
3. Growth and development differ from each other significantly. Like, growth is concrete which can be observed while development is abstract which cannot be observed.
4. There are 8 salient stages of development.
5. Many rules are included in the rules of development, like, it is variable, occurs in a definite sequence, it is a result of maturity and learning. In this the early development is more important than the later stage development. Development is simpler to complex. Continuity is found in development, etc.