2.Explain Career and Work as challenges of adulthood.
(Chapter 4 - Human Development)

Ans:

• Earning a living, choosing an occupation, and developing a career are important themes for people in their twenties and thirties.
• Entering work life is a challenging event in anyone's life.
• There are apprehensions regarding different adjustments, proving one’s competence, performance, dealing with competition, and coping with expectations both of the employers and oneself.
• It is also the beginning of new roles and responsibilities. Developing and evaluating a career becomes an important task of adulthood.

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3. Explain concrete operational stage.
(Chapter 4 - Human Development)

Ans:

• The stage of concrete operational thought, which is made up of operations — mental actions that allows the child to do mentally what was done physically before.
• Concrete operations are also mental actions that are reversible.
• Concrete operations allow the child to focus on different characteristics and not focus on one aspect of the object. This helps the child to appreciate that there are different ways of looking at things, which also results in the decline of her/his egocentrism.

4. Describe the role of 'reflexes' in the motor development of newborns.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:

• The newborn's movements are governed by reflexes — which are automatic, built-in responses to stimuli.
• They are genetically-carried survival mechanisms, and are the building blocks for subsequent motor development.
• Before the newborns have had the opportunity to learn, reflexes act as adaptive mechanisms.
• Some reflexes present in the newborn — coughing, blinking, and yawning persist throughout their lives and others disappear as the brain functions mature and voluntary control over behaviour starts developing .

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5.Describe the motor development during the stage of infancy.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:

• The newborn's movements are governed by reflexes — which are automatic, built-in responses to stimuli. They are genetically-carried survival mechanisms, and are the building blocks for subsequent motor development.
• As the brain is developing, physical development also progresses. As the infant grows, the muscles and nervous system mature which lead to the development of finer skills.
• Basic physical (motor) skills include grasping and reaching for objects, sitting, crawling, walking and running.
• The sequence of physical (motor) development is universal, with minor exceptions.

6.Describe the main features of lifespan perspective on development.
OR
State any four characteristics of lifespan development.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
The main feautures on lifespan perspective on development are listed below :

• Development is lifelong, i.e. it takes place across all age groups starting from conception to old age. It includes both gains and losses, which interact in dynamic (change in one aspect goes with changes in others) ways throughout the life-span.
• The various processes of human development, i.e. biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional are interwoven in the development of a person throughout the life-span.
• Development is multi-directional. Some dimensions or components of a given dimension of development may increase, while others show decrement. For example, the experiences of adults may make them wiser and guide their decisions. However, with an increase in age, one's performance is likely to decrease on tasks requiring speed, such as running.
• Development is highly plastic, i.e. within person, modifiability is found in psychological development, though plasticity varies among individuals. This means skills and abilities can be improved or developed throughout the life-span.
• Development is influenced by historical conditions. For example, the experiences of 20-year olds who lived through the freedom struggle in India would be very different from the experiences of 20 year olds of today. The career orientation of school students today is very different from those students who were in schools 50 years ago.
• Development is the concern of a number of disciplines. Different disciplines like psychology, anthropology, sociology, and neuro-sciences study human development, each trying to provide answers to development throughout the life-span.
• An individual responds and acts on contexts, which include what was inherited, the physical environment, social, historical, and cultural contexts. For example, the life events in everyone's life are not the same, such as, death of a parent, accident, earthquake, etc., affect the course of one's life as also the positive influences such as winning an award or getting a good job. People keep on changing with changing contexts.

7.How does socio-cultural factors influence development ?
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
Development does not take place in a vacuum.It is always embedded in a particular sociocultural context.
Following are the different socio-cultural factors that influence development:

• The microsystem is the immediate environment/setting in which the individual lives. It is in these settings where the child directly interacts with social agents - the family, peers, teachers, and neighbourhood.
• The mesosystem consists of relations between these contexts. For instance, how a child's parents relate to the teachers, or how the parents view the adolescent's friends, are experiences likely to influence an individual's relationships with others.
• The exosystem includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they influence the childs’ experiences in the immediate context. For example, the transfer of father or mother may cause tension among he parents which might affect their interactions with the child or the general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries, medical care, means of entertainment, etc.
• Macrosystem includes the culture in which the individual lives. You have read in Chapter 3 about the importance of culture in the development of an individual.
• Chronosystem involves events in the individual's life course, and socio-historical circumstances of the time such as, divorce of parents or parents economic setback, and their effect on the child.

8.Discuss the cognitive changes taking place in a developing child.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
Here is a list of connitive changes that takes place in developing child.

• The child's ability to acquire the concept of object permanence enables her/him to use mental symbols to represent objects.However, the child at this stage lacks the ability that allows her/him to do mentally what was done physically before.
• Cognitive development in early childhood focuses on Piaget's stage of preoperational thought.
• The child gains the ability to mentally represent an object that is not physically present. You may have observed children draw designs/ figures to represent people, trees, dog, house,etc.
• This ability of the child to engage in symbolic thought helps to expand her/his mental world. The progress in symbolic thought continues.
• A salient feature of preoperational thought is egocentrism (selffocus), i.e. children see the world only in terms of their own selves and are not able to appreciate others point of view.
• Children because of egocentrism, engage in animism - thinking that all things are living, like oneself. They attribute life-like qualities to inanimate objects. For example, if a child while running slips on the road, s/he might show animism by saying "road hurt me". As children grow and are approximately between 4 and 7 years of age they want answers to all their questions like: Why is the sky blue? How do trees grow? and so on. Such questions help the child to know why things are as they are. Piaget called this the stage of intuitive thought.
• Another feature of thought during preoperational stage is characterised by children having a tendency for centration, i.e. focusing on a single characteristic or feature for understanding an event. For example, a child may insist on drinking a “big glass” of juice, preferring a tall narrow glass to a short broad one, even though both might be holding the same amount of juice.
• As the child grows and is approximately between 7 and 11 years of age (the period of middle and late childhood) intuitive thought is replaced by logical thought. This is the stage of concrete operational thought, which is made up of operations — mental actions that allow the child to do mentally what was done physically before. Concrete operations are also mental actions that are reversible.

9. Explain Piaget's stages of Cognitive Development.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
The Piaget's stages has been categorized as : Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational and Formal operational.

• Sensorimotor : It takes place from the infancy ie from 0-2 years.Infant explores the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions.
• Preoperational: It goes from age 2-7 years.Symbolic thought develops; object permanence is established; the child cannot coordinate different physical attributes of an object.
• Concrete operational : It goes on from 7-11 years.The child can reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets. Is able to perform reversible mental operations on representations of objects.
• Formal operational : Age 11-15 years.The adolescent can apply logic more abstractly; hypothetical thinking develops.

10. What are the difference between Piaget's Preoperation Thought and Concrete Operation Thought ?.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:

11. Person consider the action of "Blinking your eyes in response to a rapidly approaching object" is an example of _________________.
a) Sensory Movement
b) Motor Movement
c) Reflex Action
d) Synapse
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans: c) Reflex Action

12. Define the major factors influencing development ?
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
The factors influencing development are as follows:

• Genotype : We inherit genetic codes from our parents, which are in every cell of our body. Our genetic codes are alike in one important way; they contain the human genetic code. It is because of the human genetic code that a fertilised human egg grows into a human baby and cannot grow into an elephant, a bird or a mouse. Genetic transmission is very complex.Most characteristics that we observe in humans are combinations of larger number of genes. You can imagine the combinations produced by 80,000 or more genes - accounting for a variety of characteristics and behaviours. It is also not possible to possess all the characteristics made available to us by our genetic structure. The actual genetic material or a person's genetic heritage is known as genotype.
• Phenotype is the way an individual's genotype is expressed in observable and measurable characteristics. Phenotypes include physical traits, such as height, weight, eye and skin colour, and many of the psychological characteristics such as intelligence, creativity, and personality.

13. Discuss the challenges faced by people in Adulthood?
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans: An adult is generally defined as someone who is responsible, mature, self-supporting, and well integrated into society. The challenges faced by people in adulthood are as follows:

• Career and Work: Earning a living, choosing an occupation, and developing a career are important themes for people in their twenties and thirties. Entering work life is a challenging event in anyone’s life. There are apprehensions regarding different adjustments, proving one's competence, performance, dealing with competition, and coping with expectations both of the employers and oneself. It is also the beginning of new roles and responsibilities. Developing and evaluating a career becomes an important task of adulthood.
• Marriage: The adjustments that young adults have to make when entering a marriage relate to knowing the other person if not known earlier, coping with each other's likes, dislikes, tastes, and choices. If both the partners are working, adjustments are required regarding sharing and performing roles and responsibilities at home.
• Parenthood : Becoming a parent can be a difficult and stressful transition in young adults, even though it is usually accompanied by the feeling of love for the baby. How adults experience parenting is affected by different situations such as the number of children in the family, the availability of social support, and the happiness or unhappiness of the married couple.
• Family:Death of a spouse or divorce creates a family structure in which a single parent either the mother or the father has to take up the responsibility of the children. In recent times, women are increasingly seeking employment outside the home thus creating another type of family in which both parents work. The stressors when both parents are working are quite the same as of a single working parent, namely, taking care of children, their schoolwork, illness, and coping with workload at home and in the office, etc. Despite the stresses associated with parenting, it provides a unique opportunity for growth and satisfaction and is perceived as a way of establishing concern and guiding the next generation.

14. Elaborate on contextual view of developement.
OR
Explain Bronfenbrenner contextual view of development.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans: Development does not take place in a vacuum.It is always embedded in a particular sociocultural context.
Urie Bronfenbrenner's contextual view of development emphasises the role of environmental factors in the development of an individual.
As per Urie Bronfenbrenner's contextual view is formed from below systems:

• a) The microsystem is the immediate environment/setting in which the individual lives. It is in these settings where the child directly interacts with social agents – the family, peers, teachers, and neighbourhood.
• b) The mesosystem consists of relations between these contexts. For instance, how a child's parents relate to the teachers, or how the parents view the adolescent's friends, are experiences likely to influence an individual's relationships with others.
• c) The exosystem includes events in social settings where the child does not participate directly, but they influence the childs’ experiences in the immediate context. For example, the transfer of father or mother may cause tension among the parents which might affect their interactions with the child or the general amenities available to the child like quality of schooling, libraries, medical care, means of entertainment, etc.
• d) Macrosystem includes the culture in which the individual lives.
• e) Chronosystem involves events in the individual's life course, and socio-historical circumstances of the time such as, divorce of parents or parents economic setback, and their effect on the child.

15. Describe the main features of development of adolescence.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
Adolescence is commonly defined as the stage of life that begins at the onset of puberty, when sexual maturity, or the ability to reproduce is attained.
Following are the main features of Adolescence.

• Physical Development : Puberty or sexual maturity marks the end of childhood and signifies the beginning of adolescence, which is characterised by dramatic physical changes in both, growth rate, and sexual characteristics.
• Cognitive Developmental Changes : Adolescents thought becomes more abstract, logical, and idealistic; they become more capable of examining their own thoughts, others thoughts, and what others are thinking about them. Adolescents developing ability to reason gives them a new level of cognitive and social awareness. Adolescent thinking becomes more systematic in solving problems — they think of possible courses of action, why something is happening the way it is, and systematically seek solutions. Piaget called this type of logical thinking — hypothetical deductive reasoning.
• Forming an Identity : Identity is who you are and what your values, commitments and beliefs are. The primary task of adolescence is to establish an identity separate from the parents. During adolescence a detachment process enables the individual to develop a personalised set of beliefs that are uniquely her or his own. In the process of achieving an identity the adolescent could experience conflict with parents and within herself or himself.

16. Describe the cognitive developmental changes in adolescence.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
In Cognitive development Adolescents thought becomes more abstract, logical, and idealistic; they become more capable of examining their own thoughts, others thoughts, and what others are thinking about them. Adolescents developing ability to reason gives them a new level of cognitive and social awareness.
Adolescents begin to think about ideal characteristics for themselves and others and compare themselves and others with these ideal standards.
Adolescent thinking becomes more systematic in solving problems — they think of possible courses of action, why something is happening the way it is, and systematically seek solutions. Piaget called this type of logical thinking — hypothetical deductive reasoning.
Adolescents also develop a special kind of egocentrism.As per David Elkind imaginary audience and personal fable are two components of adolescents egocentrism.Imaginary audienceis adolescent's belief that others are as preoccupied with them as they are about themselves. They imagine that people are always noticing them and are observing each and every behaviour of theirs.The personal fable is part of the adolescents’ egocentrism that involves their sense of uniqueness.Adolescents sense of uniqueness makes them think that no one understands them or their feelings.An example to this is you will quite often hear adolescent say to 'you don't understand me'.

17. Describe in breif the identity formation in adolescence.
OR
Explain any FOUR factors influencing the formation of identity during adolescence. Support your answer with examples.
(Chapter 4: Human Development)

Ans:
Identity is who you are and what your values,commitments and beliefs are. The primary task of adolescence is to establish an identity separate from the parents.
In the process of achieving an identity the adolescent could experience conflict with parents and within herself or himself. Those adolescents who can cope with the conflicting identities develop a new sense of self.
Adolescents who are not able to cope with this identity crisis are confused. This 'identity confusion', according to Erikson, can lead to individuals isolating themselves from peers and family; or they may lose their identity in the crowd.
Adolescents on one hand, may desire independence but may also be afraid of it and show a great deal of dependence on their parents. Rapid fluctuations between self-confidence and insecurity are typical of this stage. Seeking an identity involves searching for continuity and sameness in oneself, greater responsibility and trying to get a clear sense of who one is, i.e. an identity.
The formation of identity during adolescence is influenced by several factors. The cultural background, family and societal values, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status all prevail upon the adolescents search for a place in society.
Family relationships become less important as the adolescent spends more time outside the home and develops a strong need for peer support and acceptance. Increased interactions with peers provide them with opportunities for refining their social skills and trying out different social behaviours.

18. Which is the last stage in the Piaget's theory of cognitive development?
(Chapter 4: Human Development) a) Preoperational
b) Sensorimotor
c) Concrete operational
d) Formal operational

Ans: d) Formal operational

19. Meaning of development is
(Chapter 4: Human Development) a) Progressive change
b) Pre-statement change
c) Continous change of human development
d) None of these

Ans: a) Progressive change

20. Define Development.

Ans: Development is the pattern of progressive, orderly, and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout life. Development mostly involves changes — both growth and decline, as observed during old age.

21. The process by which an individual grows and changes throughout the lifecycle is termed as __________.
a) Growth
b) Development
c) Evolution
d) None of the above

Ans: b) Development

22. Name any two reflexes present in the newborn.

Ans: Rooting and Moro.

23. Explain genotype and phenotype.

Ans:
Genotype:The actual genetic material or a person's genetic heritage is known as genotype.
Phenotype is the way an individual's genotype is expressed in observable and measurable characteristics. Phenotypes include physical traits, such as height, weight, eye and skin colour, and many of the psychological characteristics such as intelligence, creativity,and personality.

24. What is development? How is it different from growth and maturation?

Ans:
Following are the various definitions related to development:
Development is the pattern of progressive, orderly, and predictable changes that begin at conception and continue throughout life.
Development mostly involves changes — both growth and decline, as observed during old age.
Development is a process by which an individual grows and changes throughout the life cycle. The term development applies to the changes that have a direction and hold definite relationship with what precedes it, and in turn, will determine what will come after.
Growth refers to an increase in the size of body parts or of the organism as a whole. It can be measured or quantified, for example, growth in height, weight, etc.
Maturation refers to the changes that follow an orderly sequence and are largely dictated by the genetic blueprint which produces commonalities in our growth and development.

25."Adolescence is a period of making choices pressure careers building of self and uncertainties". Describe the psychological changes and the problems that an adolescent may go through during this period of life.

Ans:
Adolescence is commonly defined as a stage of life that begins at onset of puberty when sexual maturity or ability to produce is attained.
Problems or challenges that adolescents face are

• 1. Delinquency : Delinquency refers to a variety of behaviours, ranging from socially unacceptable behaviour, legal offences, to criminal acts. Examples include truancy,running away from home, stealing or burglary or acts of vandalism.
• 2. Substance abuse : Adolescent years are especially vulnerable to smoking, alcohol and drug abuse. Some adolescents take recourse to smoking and drugs as a way of coping with stress.This can interfere with the development of coping skills and responsible decisionmaking.The reasons for smoking and drug use could be peer pressure and the adolescents need to be accepted by the group, or desire to act more like adults, or feel a need to escape the pressure of school work or social activities.
• 3. Eating disorder : Adolescents obsession with self, living in fantasy world and peer comparisons lead to certain conditions where they become obsessed with their own bodies. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation. Bulimia is another form of an eating disorder in which the individual follows a binge-and-purge eating pattern.. The bulimic goes on an eating binge, then purges by self-induced vomiting or using a laxative at times alternating it with fasting.

26."During early years of childhood, some important developments in the self are taking place".
1. State any two developments of that age.
2. Explain any two of them in detail with examples.

Ans:
Important developments are : Physical development, motor development,cognitive development etc.
Physical Development: Early development has two principles : (i) development proceeds cephalocaudally, i.e. from the cephalic or head region to the caudal or tail region.Children gain control over the upper part of the body before the lower part. This is why you would notice that the infant’s head is proportionately larger than her/his body during early infancy or if you see an infant crawling, s/he will use the arms first and then shift to using the legs. (ii) growth proceeds from the centre of body and moves towards the extremities or more distal regions — the proximodistal trend, i.e. children gain control over their torso before their extremities.As children grow, the brain and head grow more rapidly.The growth and development of the brain are important as they help in the maturation of children's abilities.
Motor Development : Gross motor skills during the early childhood years involve the use of arms and legs, and moving around with confidence and more purposefully in the environment. Fine motor skills — finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination — improve substantially during early childhood.During these years the child's preference for left or right hand also develops.

27. According to Piaget, an infant explores the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions. Name this stage of cognitive development.

Ans:The sensorimotor stage

28. What are teratogens?

Ans:An environmental agents that cause deviations in normal development that can lead to serious abnormalities or death. Common teratogens include drugs, infections, radiations, and pollution. Intake of drugs (marijuana, heroin, cocaine, etc.), alcohol, tobacco, etc. by women during pregnancy may have harmful effects on the foetus and increase the frequency of congenital abnormalities. Radiations (such as X-rays), and certain chemicals near industrial areas can cause permanent change in the genes.

29. Name and describe any two reflexes observed in new born.

Ans:
Here are some reflexes in newborn:
Rooting : Turning the head and opening the mouth when touched on the cheek.Disappears between 3 and 6 months.
Moro : If there is a loud noise, the baby will throw her/his arms outward while arching her/his back, and then bring the arms together as if grasping something. Disappears in 6 to 7 months (although reaction to loud noises is permanent).
Grasp : When a finger or some other object is pressed against the baby's palm, the baby's fingers close around it.Disappears in 3 to 4 months; replaced by voluntary grasping.
Babinski : When the bottom of the baby's foot is stroked, the toes fan out and then curl.Disappears in 8 to 12 months.

31.What does Cephalocaudal Development indicate?

Ans: Cephalocaudal Development indicates that growth takes place from the cephalic or head region to the caudal or tail region. Children gain control over the upper part of the body before the lower part. Hence you will notice that the infant's head is proportionately larger than her/his body during early infancy or if you see an infant crawling, s/he will use the arms first and then shift to using the legs.

31.When children see the world in terms of their own selves and are not able to appreciate other’s point of view they exhibit _______________.

Ans: egocentrism