The Theories of Human Development (Essay Sample)

Developmental psychology
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Developmental psychology
Human beings experience significant changes in every stage of life as they grow from being an infant to an adult, a process that psychologists refer to as human development. Human development has several definitions, but the widely agreed upon is physical, psychological, and cognitive development that occurs to humans throughout the lifespan (Krauss,2012). According to Shaffer & Kipp (2013), certain features of growth are noticed in all three areas of human development; In psychosocial development, growth is expected in social relationships and interactions, emotions, and personality. In physical development, the general body, brain, health sense, and so on are expected to grow and experience development as one gets old. Lastly, in cognitive development, growth is experienced in creativity, learning, memory, reasoning, attention, language, and thinking. To understand human development in a simple and well-functioned manner, theorists develop a different perspective that explains developmental changes in three main areas of human development.
The first theory of human development by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) is the psychosexual theory of development. Freud stated that human personality is developed during early childhood, and it shapes how the personality and behaviors of an adult become at the adult stage (Shaffer, & Kipp,2013). He developed stages of psychosexual development, whereby he believed that human development is discontinuous. In this theory, humans