NATURE AND CONCEPT OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOR
This lesson will aid the learners to have a brief concept of human
behavior and personality that affects human behaviour. It includes
discussion about the human personality that could lead to criminal
behavior and victimization.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Development - a progressive series of changes that occur as a result of
maturation and experience;
Human development, or developmental psychology, is a field of study that attempts to describe and
explain the changes in human cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capabilities and functioning over the
entire life span, from the fetus to old age.
Humans, like other animal species, have a typical life course that consists of successive phases of
growth, each of which is characterized by a distinct set of physical, physiological, and behavioral
features. These phases are prenatal life, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (including old
age).
The Developmental Changes
• To enable people to adapt to the environment in which they live;
• achieve through self realization or as it sometimes called self actualization.
Because self realization plays an important role in mental health, people who make good
personal and social adjustments must have opportunities to express their interests and desires in ways
that give them satisfaction but at the same time, conform to the accepted standards.
Lack of these opportunities will result in frustrations and generally negative attitudes toward
people and toward life in general
Significant Facts About Development
• 1.Early foundations are critical;
• 2.Roles of maturation and learning in development;
• 3.Development follows a definite and predictable pattern;
• 4.All individuals are different;
• 5.Each phase of development has characteristic behavior;
• 6.Each phase of development has hazards;
• 7.Development is Aided by Stimulation;
• 8.Development is Affected by Cultural Changes;
• 9.Social Expectations for Every Stage of Development; and
• 10.Traditional Belief about People of all Ages
Human Development Stages
1.The Prenatal Period: Begins at conception and ends at birth.
- Approximately 270 to 280 days or nine (9) calendar months
Infancy: Birth to the end of second week
- ÞThe shortest of all developmental periods;
- ÞTime of radical adjustments;
- ÞPlateau in development;
- ÞHazardous period.
3.Babyhood: End of second week to end of second year
3.Babyhood: End of second week to end of second year
a. true foundation of age
b. Age of rapid growth and change;
c. Age of decreasing dependency;
d. Age of increased individuality
e. The beginning of socialization
f. Appealing age
g. Beginning of creativity
h. Hazardous age
4. Early Childhood
4.Early Childhood: two to six years
a. Characteristics:
i. Parents – problem or troublesome age
ii. Educators – preschool age
5. Late Childhood
5.Late Childhood: Six to ten or twelve years
a. Characteristics:
i. Parents – troublesome age/sloppy age/quarrelsome age;
ii. Educators – Elementary school age
iii. Psychologists – gang age/age of conformity
6. Puberty or Pre adolescence
6.Puberty or Preadolescence: Ten or twelve to thirteen or fourteen years
a. ÞOverlapping period
b. ÞShort period
c. ÞDivided into stages (prepubescent, pubescent and post pubescent stages)
d. ÞTime of rapid growth and change
e. ÞOccurs at a variable age
7.Adolescence
7.Adolescence: Thirteen or fourteen to eighteen years
a. ÞAn important period
b. ÞA transitional period
c. ÞA period of change
d. ÞA problem age
e. ÞA time of search of identity
f. ÞA dreaded age
g. ÞA time of unrealism
h. ÞA threshold of adulthood
8. Early Adulthood
8.Early Adulthood: Eighteen to forty years
a. ÞReproductive age
b. ÞProblem age
c. ÞPeriod of emotional tension
d. ÞPeriod of social isolation
e. ÞTime of commitment
f. ÞOften a period of dependency
g. ÞTime of value change
h. ÞTime of adjustment to new lifestyle
i. ÞCreative age
9.Middle Age
9.Middle Age: forty to 60 years
a. ÞA dreaded period
b. ÞA time of transition
c. ÞA time of stress
d. ÞA dangerous age
e. ÞAn awkward age
f. ÞA time of evaluation
g. ÞEvaluated by a double standard
h. ÞThe time of empty nest
i. ÞA time of boredom
The Developmental Tasks
1. Purposes
a. 1.Serves as guidelines that enable individuals to know what society expects of them at
given ages.
b. 2.It motivates individuals to do what the social group expects them to do at certain ages
during their lives
c. 3.It show individuals what lies ahead and what they will be expected to do when they
reach their next stage development.
Developmental Task during the Life Span
1. 1.Babyhood and Early Childhood
a. 1.1Learning to take solid foods
b. 1.2Learning to walk and talk
c. 1.3Learning to control the elimination of body waste
d. 1.4Learning sex differences and sexual modest
e. 1.5Getting ready to read
f. 1.6Learning to distinguish right and wrong and beginning to develop a conscience
1. 2. Late Childhood
a. 2.1Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games
b. 2.2Building wholesome attitude toward oneself as a growing organism
c. 2.3Learning to get along with age-mates
d. 2.4Beginning to develop appropriate masculine on feminine social roles
2.5Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating
- 2.6Developing concepts necessary for everyday living
- 2.7Developing a conscience , as sense of morality, and a scale of values;
- 2.8Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions;
- 2.9Achieving personal independence;
1. 3.Adolescence
a. 3.1Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates or both sexes;
b. 3.2Achieving a masculine of feminine social role;
c. 3.3Accepting one’s physique and using one’s body effectively;
d. 3.4Desiring, accepting, and achieving socially responsible behavior.
1. 4.Early Adulthood
a. 4.1getting started in an occupation
b. 4.2Selecting a mate
c. 4.3Learning to live with a man
d. 4.4Starting a family
e. 4.5Rearing children
f. 4.6Managing a home
g. 4.7Taking on civic responsibility;
h. 4.8Finding a congenial social group
1. 5.Middle Age
a. 5.1 Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
b. 5.2 Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adult
c. 5.3 Developing adult leisure-time activities
d. 5.4 Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person
e. 5.5 Accepting and adjusting to physiological changes of middle age
f. 5.6 Reaching and maintaining satisfactory performance in one’s occupation career
5.7 Adjusting to aging parents
1. 6.Old Age
a. 6.1 Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health;
b. 6.2 Adjusting to retirement and reduced income;
c. 6.3 Adjusting to death of spouse
d. 6.4 Establishing an explicit affiliation with member of one’s age group;
e. 6.5 Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangement;
f. 6.6 Adopting to social roles in a flexible way.
Handicaps to Mastery
- 1.A retarded developmental level
- 2.Lack of opportunity to learn the developmental tasks or lack of guidance in their
mastery
- 3.Lack of motivation
- 4.Poor health
- 5.Physical defects
- 6.A law intellectual level
Aids to Mastery
- 1.A normal or accelerated developmental level
- 2.Opportunities to learn the developmental tasks and guidance in mastering them
- 3.Motivation;
- 4.Good health and the absence
- 5.A high level of intelligence
- 6.creativity
