UNIT 6 DIMENSIONS OF CHILD

DEVELOPMENT
Structure
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Objectives
6.3 Concept of the Dimensions of Child Development
6.3.1 Physical Development
6.3.1.1 Characteristics of Physical Development
6.3.2 Emotional Development
6.3.2.1 Characteristics of Emotional Development
6.3.3 Cognitive Development
6.3.3.1 Characteristics of Cognitive Development
6.3.3.2 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
6.3.4 Moral Development
6.3.4.1 Characteristics of Moral Development
6.3.4.2 Piaget and Moral Reasoning
6.3.4.3 Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
6.3.4.4 Gilligan’s Stages of Ethics of Care
6.3.5 Psychosocial Development
6.3.5.1 Theory of Psychosocial Development- Erik Erikson
6.4 Holistic Understanding of Development
6.5 Role of the Teacher in Facilitating Development of Children
6.6 Let Us Sum Up
6.7 Unit–End Exercises
6.8 Answers to Check Your Progress
6.9 References and Suggested Readings

6.1 INTRODUCTION
In Unit 5, you have studied about human growth and development and the stages of
child development. The main stages of child development include infancy, childhood,
and adolescence. Each stage reflects some common dimensions of child development.
We can classify these dimensions into physical, emotional, cognitive, social and moral
development of a child. Each dimension has its own significance with respect to
different stages. For example, if by the age of one, the child babbles two or three
words then by the age of two s/he joins two to three words in sentences, and gradually,
by the age of six s/he starts speaking fluently. So, you identify that the dimensions or
aspects of child development can be characterized by a combination of various
milestones of child development. In this unit, we will discuss these milestones in the
context of childhood and adolescence stages. We will also try to understand the
holistic approach of development and the role of a teacher as a facilitator, in this
Unit.

6.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you should be able to:
 explain the concept of dimensions of child development.
 discuss the physical, emotional, cognitive, social and moral development of a
44 child.
 illustrate the various dimensions of child development with real life examples. Dimensions of
Child Development
 understand the holistic approach of development.
 analyze the role of teacher as a facilitator in the development of a child.

6.3 CONCEPT OF THE DIMENSIONS OF CHILD

DEVELOPMENT
Looking back at our lives, we have memories that remind us about the changes we
have faced over time and it is a fact that humans grow and change throughout their
entire lifespan. For example, Riya is just now learning how to talk and walk, while
her teen age sister Shivani is learning how to handle stress better. This is all about
development and this development is multidimensional which means that change
happens across many different aspects of a child’s life. Physical, cognitive, emotional,
moral or psychosocial changes- all take place at the same time. Therefore, these
aspects are actually the various dimensions of development. Therefore, these
dimensions of development are those aspects of human life, which change throughout
the life span. To understand this concept more, let us begin with physical development.

6.3.1 Physical Development

Prior to the concept of physical development, let us imagine a process. Consider a
newborn baby. Right now s/he has no control over her/his movements, but within 18
months s/he will be walking, in another year running, and soon after, jumping and
throwing and kicking things. In the first two years, a child develops physically at a
faster rate than at any other time in her/his life. This physical development forms a
significant basis for the developments in cognition and emotion.
Physical growth and development refers to a process which brings bodily and
physiological changes- internal, as well as external- in a child from conception till
death (Fig 6.1). Here, in this topic, while we are not going to discuss infant’s physical
development in detail, it forms a foundation for a child’s development- not only
physical, but also social, emotional and cognitive- in later years. Let us first discuss
the characteristics of physical development during childhood and adolescence.

Fig. 6.1: Stages of physical growth and development

6.3.1.1 Characteristics of Physical Development
During childhood there are changes in a child’s height, weight and body proportion.
The pace of this growth is more in later childhood (7-12 years) than in early childhood
stage (3-6 years). Legs lengthen rapidly and there is increase in height. A gradual
improvement in speed, steadiness of movement and accuracy also form significant
features of physical development in early childhood while at a later stage they get
weary after physical activity, but also show a great interest in competitive games
which require skill. This stage of childhood is now going to be transformed into the 45
Growing Up : Infancy to blossoming period of child development, which is known as adolescence. Let us
Adulthood
now try to explore the characteristics of adolescence stage.
As we all know, at the adolescent stage (13-18 years), noticeable changes take
place in many domains like height and weight, bodily proportions, change in voice,
increase in motor performance and sexual changes. Both boys and girls have a
growth spurt caused by the production of hormones. A boy’s growth spurt is usually
later than the girls. The most important physical development in adolescence is puberty,
when they become sexually mature. Girls can experience puberty from around the
age of 11 years, for boys this is slightly later.
Girls at this stage show a continuous growth in height, but at a slower pace than
earlier. Prominent changes can be seen in bodily proportions with the broadening of
pelvic bone, circular wrist, while the arms and legs grow in length and become finer.
The voice becomes sweet and shrill. In terms of secondary sex characteristics, the
sex organs in girls acquire maturity. The growth in breast, hair growth at pubic and
armpits, and change in gait are some significant features of adolescence in girls.
Apart from this, the girls start going through menstruation cycle (average age varies
from 12 to 16 years). Researches show that the girls seem to mature earlier than
boys do in physical aspects.
If we look into the distinguished characteristics of adolescent stage among boys,
these include rapid growth in height and weight (continues until age 18 or 19),
development of muscles and increase in strength. The changes in bodily proportions
can be seen in the form of rounded shoulders, broadened chest and developed
muscles. The maturity of the larynx can be noticed with broken and deepened voice.
Besides, genital organs in boys grow in size. Other significant features of adolescent
boys include hair growth in pubic, armpits and facial areas.
Let’s Think Over
You have been appointed as the class teacher of Class VIII, when the children
are in their thirteens. You have to orient the class in terms of the physiological
changes which they are going to face in their coming years. What points would
you like to discuss in common? Would you like to orient girls and boys separately?
If yes, on what points and if no, why so?
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The physiological changes occurring commonly in both boys and girls include full
growth of all internal systems, pulse rate, and complete brain development. The skin
becomes oily and acne and sweating may be problematic. Rapid growth may cause
clumsiness and lack of coordination. They always feel hungry and their appetites
seem to be great. Sexual desires and fantasies also increase in both boys and girls.
However, these changes occurring in the body of a child are influenced by some
factors which may be hereditary or environmental.
Check Your Progress 1
Notes: (a) Write your answers in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
(i) Mention the noticeable changes in physical development of a child in early
and later childhood.
46 ..................................................................................................................
 Dimensions of
.................................................................................................................. Child Development

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(ii) Differentiate between the sexual maturity in girls and boys, with suitable
examples.
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6.3.2 Emotional Development

Emotion has been defined differently as ‘a stage of agitation’, ‘disturbance of
equilibrium’, ‘intense random and disorganized response to a stimulus’. In modern
life, emotions demand greater understanding because of their pervasive effects on
behaviour, personality and health.
6.3.2.1 Characteristics of Emotional Development
At the childhood stage, children experience feelings of love, hatred and fear which
last for long. There is the formation of sentiments and complexes. They develop a
sense of autonomy, combat, doubt and shame. In other words, they accept themselves
if they succeed in their own eyes and develop a sense of inferiority, if they fail.
By the time the children enter the stage of adolescence, there are some noticeable
changes in their emotional behaviour. The adolescents often struggle with a sense of
identity and question about themselves. The common observable behavioural patterns
at this stage are moodiness, anger, depression, anxiety and state of dilemma. Their
trust therefore shifts to friends and the opinions of others seem to be important.
Moreover, ‘crushes’ on movie stars, models, pop artists, etc. can easily be found
and therefore, they are found to be sexually attracted to people.
Let us try to understand this emotional change through case studies.
Case 1: Nalini worked hard on improving her dancing skills. If she missed a
single move, she did not believe she was ready for a stage performance. She
was not satisfied with anything less than cent percent.
Case 2: Sachin is 12 years old. Everyday, for one or the other reason or
argument, he feels that his Science teacher doesn’t treat him fairly. He is so
stressed out over this problem with his teacher; he gets angry with everyone in
his life including his mother and younger sister.
Activity 1
Based on the above-mentioned cases, write down your reflections in the space
provided.
a. What was Nalini’s state of mind?
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Growing Up : Infancy to
Adulthood
b. What is wrong with Sachin?
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If the emotional development of a child moves towards equilibrium, then it leads to
another stage of development: Cognitive development, which we will discuss in the
next section.

6.3.3 Cognitive Development

Does a child’s cognition refer merely to the achievements in academics? Is there any
role of cognition in developing other dimensions of a child’s personality? Child’s
cognitive development forms the foundation of many other developments like
language, social, moral and emotional development. But the question arises, what is
this cognitive development? Cognitive development involves mental processes that
are associated with taking in, organising and making sense of information processes
that include perceiving, attending to, understanding and recalling information. The
mental functions are part of what is referred to as cognition. Let us explore this
dimension of cognitive development in terms of general characteristics and Piaget’s
theory of cognitive development.
6.3.3.1 Characteristics of Cognitive Development in Childhood and
Adolescence

Fig. 6.2 A tray containing geometrical figures of different shapes, sizes

and colours
Shreya, a 5 year old girl, can classify the things as given in Fig.6.2 on the basis of
shapes, while her elder sister Kriti, who is 8 years old, can classify the same with
respect to their shapes, size and colour, when asked. In early childhood, therefore,
children start categorizing things, copying shapes, following instructions, and
understanding concepts of days, time, money, and space. They enjoy reading books
on their own. Later childhood witnesses the cognitive development in terms of
increasing capability for social conscience and for abstract thought. They also start
thinking about their future careers and seek information and knowledge from peers
and media. On completing later childhood, the children enter the stage of adolescence.
When we think about adolescence, we often focus on the biological changes of
puberty or socio-emotional changes.
Case 3: Harish, a 16-year-old boy got into an argument with his Physics teacher.
He was saying that everything in this Universe was formed because of some
48 scientific reason. There is a scientific theory behind every evolution. He was
not ready to agree upon any thing without evidence. What is Harish’s stage of Dimensions of
Child Development
cognition? Is he forming his own opinion or arguing just for the sake of
argument? To find similar answers, let us study Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development.
At adolescence stage, between the ages of 13 and 16 years, there seems to be a
progression in skills like arguing, abstract thinking, deductive reasoning, and decision-
making. They can now distinguish fact from opinion, learn to focus on future
development, mixed with some fantasy and develop a conscience. When the children
enter the stage of later adolescence (16-18 years), they develop an ability to think
more abstractly, hypothetically, reflectively, and critically, and therefore, form their
own opinions. They are more concerned with reasons and proofs. Although, most
have not made the connection between learning and life’s experiences, they desire
to do something well. Therefore, everything seems to be a big deal for young teens.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980), while working in Binet’s test lab became interested in
how children think. Piaget’s training as a biologist influenced his theory of cognitive
development.
6.3.3.2 Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Before we begin with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, take a moment to
solve these three problems:
1. Here are eight wooden beads. Six of these are black and two white.

Are there more black beads or more wooden beads?

2. If all children are human beings,
And if all human beings are living creatures,
Then must all children be living creatures?
3. If all children are tennis balls,
And if all tennis balls are chocolates,
Then must all children be chocolates?
You undoubtedly found the first problem easy; there are, of course, more wooden
beads than black beads. You were probably able to infer the second problem quite
quickly that, yes, all children must be living creatures. The third problem is quite
tricky because though it follows the same kind of reasoning as the second problem,
its conclusion that yes, all children must be chocolates, contradicts the truth in reality.
Jean Piaget, in his theory, introduced a number of ideas and concepts to describe
and explain the changes in logical thinking that he observed in children and adolescents.
Piaget’s Basic Tendencies in Thinking
Piaget identified that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds. To make
sense of the world, they organize their experiences and adapt their thinking to
include new information.
Organization is an ongoing process of arranging information and experience into
mental systems or categories. Piaget termed these mental concepts as schemas. A
schema is a mental concept that is useful in organizing and interpreting information.
49
Growing Up : Infancy to As an individual’s thinking processes become more organized and new schemes
Adulthood
develop, behaviour also becomes better suited to the environment.
Piaget found that children adapt their schemas through two processes- assimilation
and accommodation. Assimilation means fitting new information into existing
schemas or what we already know. For example, if the child knows about the horse,
then when the first time he/she sees a camel, he/she may call it a “horse”. On the
other hand, accommodation is altering existing schemas or creating new ones in
response to new information. Children demonstrate accommodation when they add
the scheme for recognizing camels to their other systems for identifying animals.
During this process, children experience disequilibrium in their attempt to understand
the world. Gradually, they reach in a balanced state of thought known as equilibrium.
This shift in thought from one state into another is termed as equilibration.
Let us now study, the four stages of cognitive development, proposed by Piaget.
Four Stages of Cognitive Development
According to Piaget’s theory, children progress through a sequence of four major
developmental stages: (a) the sensorimotor stage of infancy- involving the senses
and motor activity; (b) the preoperational stage of early childhood- the stage before
a child masters logical mental operations; (c) the concrete operational stage of middle
childhood- mental tasks are tied to concrete objects and situations; and (d) the
formal operational stage of adolescence to adult- mental tasks involving abstract
thinking and coordination of a number of variables. Now, let us study the major
features of all the four stages through table 6.1.
Table 6.1 : Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Stage Approx. Major Developmental milestones

Age features
Sensorimotor Birth-2 years Object Begins to understand that objects
permanence do not cease to exist when they
are hidden. Eg.: Showing the
child a toy, hide it under a
cloth. The child would take out
the toy by removing the cloth.
Goal-directed Actions that are produced
actions consciously to achieve a desired
end. Eg.: Hitting a musical toy
to elicit a sound
Preoperational 2-7 years Semiotic Begins to use gestures, signs,
function sounds and words to represent
and convey meaning. Eg.:
Waving goodbye; pointing to
something of interest.
One-way logic Able to think operations through
logically in one direction. Eg.:
Students treat addition and
subtraction as two unrelated
processes.
Lack of Believes that amount changes
conservation when a substance is reshaped or
rearranged, even when nothing

50
 is added or taken away. Eg.: Not Dimensions of
understanding that there will Child Development
be same amount of paper, even
if it is torn into several pieces.
Egocentricism Have difficulties seeing things
from another person’s point of
view, they think their own
perspective is the only one
possible. Eg.: If a little boy is
afraid of dogs, he may assume
that all children share this fear.
Concrete 7-11 years Reversibility Understands that certain
operational processes can be reversed. Eg.:
Students start recognizing that
subtraction is the reverse of
addition.
Conservation Recognizes that amount stays
the same if nothing has been
added or taken away, even if a
substance is reshaped or
rearranged. Eg. Students can
prove that there will be same
amount of paper, even if it is
torn into several pieces, by
taping the pieces back
together.
Classification Recognizes that objects may
belong to several categories
simultaneously. Eg. A student
may acknowledge that a
mother can be a doctor, a sister
and a spouse.
Deductive Able to draw a logical conclusion
reasoning from two or more pieces of
information. Eg:If all children
are human beings and if all
human beings are living
things, then all children must
be living things.
Formal 11-adult Abstract and Ability to reason about abstract,
operational hypothetical hypothetical, and contrary-to-
reasoning fact ideas. Eg. A student
understands negative numbers
and is able to use them
effectively in mathematical
procedures.
Adolescent Understand that others may
egocentrism have different perceptions and
beliefs; they become focused on
their own ideas, beliefs and
attitudes. Eg. “The whole class
thought my answer was
dumb”.
Source: Adapted from Woolfolk, A. (2006). Educational Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson
Education, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd, p. 66.
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Growing Up : Infancy to Based on the above description, let us perform the following activities:
Adulthood
Activity 2
i) In the figure, part- 1, the boy
was asked if both the glasses
have same amount of juice or
different. The boy replied ‘same’.
In part-2, the juice of one glass
was poured into another glass. In
part-3, on asking same question
again, the boy replied that taller glass has more amount of juice. Which stage of
cognitive development is the boy at and why?
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ii) Which of these items will float and
which will sink? Try this task with
some children aged 4-6, 8-10 and
12 years or older. Note down the
results and report your findings. Do
you get the same results for the
younger and older children? If not,
can you explain why?
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However, recent studies found that children’s cognitive performance is not
homogeneous; it may vary considerably as a function of changes in tasks. A reflection
of these changes can also be seen in the moral behaviour of the children. Let us
discuss this topic.
6.3.4 Moral Development
Every day, we come across many situations which demand our reasoning of right or
wrong. For example, you are already late for school and on your way you find a red
signal at a square. If you do not reach on time half of your salary gets deducted.
What will you do? There are such situations in our daily life which make us realize
how far we can uphold our attitude of being self. In these situations, we need to
extend and challenge our thinking about what is ‘moral’. Actually, being moral or
morality refers to the fundamental questions of right and wrong, justice, fairness
and basic human rights.
These questions or components of moral development have emerged out of social
contexts. However, Piaget proposed that there are cognitive developmental
approaches which emphasize moral reasoning, along with the impact of social context.
We will discuss Piaget and his moral reasoning later in this text. First, let us find out
certain characteristics of moral development at the stages of childhood and
52 adolescence.
6.3.4.1 Characteristics of Moral Development Dimensions of
Child Development
Moral development is concerned with how people grow in understanding moral
issues and in making moral decisions. In early childhood (4-6 years), children are
more often concerned about their own personal well-being when they make moral
decisions. They think in terms of distributive justice or fair sharing of any stuff. But
by middle childhood (roughly 6 to 9 years of age), children begin to develop more
empathetic and abstract methods of moral reasoning.
Moreover, adolescents develop an understanding of the complexity of moral issues
like question values, cultural expressions, and religious teachings. At this stage,
individuals also show impatience with the pace of change, and underestimate how
difficult it is to make social changes. They, therefore, need to be influenced by adult
role models who will listen and be trustworthy. Besides, they judge others quickly,
but accept one’s own faults slowly. Yet, they show compassion and have special
concern for animals and environmental issues. Now you know, adolescents’ cognitive
development, in part, lays the groundwork for moral reasoning, honesty, and pro-
social behaviours such as helping, volunteerism, or caring for others. Let us discuss
the role of cognitive development in developing moral reasoning among young children
through Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning.
6.3.4.2 Piaget and Moral Reasoning
Before we try to understand Piaget’s concept of moral reasoning, let us consider
two illustrations.
Case 4:Rajat is a very young boy. His younger brother is very hungry, but
Rajat has no money left after buying medicine for his mother. His brother
starts crying because of hunger. Rajat goes to a snack-stall and requests the
shopkeeper to give kachori for his hungry brother. But he refuses. Finally,
Rajat becomes desperate and steals two kachoris. He, then, runs out and gives
that to his brother.
Case 5: Shivani goes to a shop. She sees a pretty piece of hair band hanging
there in a shelf. She imagines that it would look very nice on her dress. So,
while the salesgirl turn back, she steals the hair band and runs away at once.
Are these children equally guilty? We will try to find the answer after studying Piaget’s
theory of moral reasoning. Here, Piaget called such situations as moral dilemmas,
the problems that require individual judgments and moral reasoning based on our
cognition. Therefore, Jean Piaget developed his theory of moral reasoning. He
proposed two types of moral reasoning, which are closely related with cognitive
development- ‘heteronomous morality’ and ‘autonomous morality’.
Heteronomous moralities are those moral decisions which are based on the rules
of people with supreme authority such as parents. Children who reason about moral
issues using heteronomous morality hardly care about the motives or intentions behind
actions. However, this type of moral reasoning may be found in some adults too.
Besides, another type of moral reasoning is Autonomous morality, which is the
ability to reason that appreciates the perspectives of others and the motives behind
their words and actions. According to Piaget, autonomous morality develops parallel
to the development of the stage of formal operations and abstract thinking.
Now, let us answer the question asked above on the moral dilemma regarding the
subject of stealing, mentioned in above two short stories. The people of typical
heteronomous morality, would respond that Rajat is guiltier than Shivani because 53
Growing Up : Infancy to two pieces of kachori costs more than a piece of hair band. While, people supporting
Adulthood
autonomous morality would respond that Shivani is guiltier because she is being
deceitful and Rajat has good intentions of sustaining his younger brother.
Check Your Progress 2
Notes: (a) Write your answers in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
(i) What differences do you observe in the two responses given in cases 4 and 5?
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(ii) If you were to respond to the question who is guiltier- Rajat or Shivani- what
would be your choice and why?
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Moreover, Piaget’s work on moral reasoning also inspired Lawrence Kohlberg,
who too believed that moral reasoning was closely linked to cognitive development.
Let us explore Kohlberg’s theory of moral development to find out more.
6.3.4.3 Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Before dealing with Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, let’s read the case
below:
Case 6: Atul was not prepared for his Physics Exam, so he wrote some important
formulae on a slip of paper which he put in his pocket before the test. Just
before the test began, the teacher informed the class that any student caught
cheating would automatically fail the test. Even though Atul needed to use the
information he wrote on the slip, he didn’t use it because the teacher stood too
close to his desk during the entire exam.
What was the reason that stopped Atul from cheating in the examination? There are
many such moral dilemmas systematized by Kohlberg under different stages in his
theory of moral development. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) got inspired by
Piaget’s work and particularly his method of observing and interviewing children.
Therefore, he also used a similar methodology of interviewing children and adolescents
to collect his data on moral issues. Kohlberg’s theory started from self-centeredness
and moved towards others’ centeredness.

Self-centeredness Others-centeredness
Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a detailed sequence of six stages of moral reasoning,
classified into three levels. His three levels of moral development included:
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(I)Pre-conventional Level- At this level, judgment is based solely on a person’s Dimensions of
Child Development
own needs and perceptions. Here, right and wrong is based primarily on external
circumstances (punishments and rewards). The first two stages are included in this
level:
Stage 1: Punishment-Obedience Orientation
I might be caught and punished
if I cheated!
At this stage (lowest) you try to avoid breaking rules for fear of punishment because
a good or bad action is determined by its physical consequences. Here, the conscience
that works is ‘self-protection’.
Stage 2: Personal Reward Orientation
Maybe he really had to pass because he might get a reward on
scoring well. Nevertheless, maybe he should not cheat because
the teacher would then fail him.

At this stage personal needs determine right and wrong and so, the conscience
seems to be ‘cunning’. Your behaviour is determined primarily by what will earn you
a reward.
(II) Conventional Level- At this level, the judgment is based on other’s approval,
family expectations, traditional values, the laws of society, and loyalty to country.
This level includes stages 3 and 4.
Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation
He just wanted to pass the test and for this, he was taking help of that slip of
paper. It doesn’t mean he had no knowledge of Physics. It’s all about the
pressure of the examination! He just wanted to fulfil his parent’s expectations.

This stage is the stage of social approval. Your behaviour is determined by what
pleases and is approved by others. Here, mutual relations of trust and respect should
be maintained provided they conform to your expected social role. The conscience
at this stage is loyalty.
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation
It is wrong to cheat in exams because it is against rules of examination in school.

You are expected to respect the authority and maintain the social order. It is right to
contribute to the society and fulfil social duties. Here, the conscience is good
citizenship.
(III) Post-conventional Level- The last two stages (5 and 6) are at this post-
conventional level. At this level, judgments are based on abstract, more personal
principles that are not necessarily defined by society’s laws.
Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation
It is not right to cheat in examination because it is against moral values.
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Growing Up : Infancy to This stage is the stage of social utility and individual rights. Your loyalty is towards
Adulthood
truth. At this stage, you are not only aware of the social contract between individuals,
but also of the different moral perspectives of others. The conscience of this stage is
reason.
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
This is the highest stage of morality. At this stage you realize to follow self chosen
ethical principles. Your choices are grounded in genuine moral interest in the well-
being of others, regardless of who they are. Therefore, the conscience at this stage
is personal integrity.
In order to understand Kohlberg’s theory of moral dilemma in a better way, let us go
through the story of Heinz, which he entitled as ‘Heinz Dilemma’.
Heinz Dilemma
A woman in Europe was diagnosed with a kind of cancer and was near her
death. Only one medicine could save her as per doctors’ opinion which was a
kind of radium, discovered by one of the pharmacists in that town. But that
pharmacist was charging nearly ten times the cost of the radium, i.e. $2000 and
that too for a small dose. Heinz, the sick woman’s husband tried hard to collect
money but could arrange for only half the amount. He requested the pharmacist
to lend him the medicine because his wife really needed it but the latter didn’t
help. Heinz got so distressed that he broke into the pharmacist’s shop to steal
the medicine for his wife.
Let us study Heinz dilemma at all levels of morality by Kohlberg.
Stage 1: Heinz should not steal the medicine because he might be caught and
punished or Heinz won’t go to prison because he was not stealing something big
and more importantly, he asked for it first and was ready to pay.
Stage 2: Heinz might steal the medicine to give happiness to his family at home
by saving his wife. But he might get sentenced for a long term in prison which he
could not stand.
Stage 3: Heinz was not doing wrong. He just wanted to save his beloved wife. It
was the pharmacist who overcharged. He won’t get a hard punishment because
the judge would look at all sides of the situation.
Stage 4: Heinz should not have stolen because it was against the law or if he had
to steal then he must be ready to take the punishment; otherwise, there would be
a chaos if everybody sets up everybody’s own beliefs.
Stage 5: Life is more important than property and Heinz should save his wife
even if he had to steal. Let the moral and legal standpoints coincide or Heinz
should not have stolen because even though his wife was sick, it couldn’t make
his action right.
Stage 6: Heinz should steal the medicine because human life has more value than
the property rights of some person or Heinz should not have stolen because any
other person might have needed the medicine more badly.
Source: Adapted from Kohlberg (1963, p. 19).

Let us practice more by solving a few cases:

Activity 3
i) As Purab’s mother was leaving for work in the morning, she asked Purab to
56 clean out his room some time during the day. Purab responded, saying he
 Dimensions of
already had plans to play badminton with his friends that day. Around noon, Child Development
Purab and his two friends made some plans that required Purab to borrow
his mother’s car that evening. Purab decided to skip playing badminton and
clean his room first.
At what stage do you think Purab’s decision was? Why?
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
ii) Try out the Heinz dilemma on any of your students who is unfamiliar with
Kohlberg’s research. Interpret her/his response according to Kohlberg’s
stages.
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................................................................................................................
So now, you know why Kohlberg and Piaget are considered cognitive developmental
theorists. However, there is another perspective of moral development which was
proposed by Carol Gilligan, a former student and co-researcher of Kohlberg at
Harvard University. What was Gilligan’s research on moral development? How
was her theory different from the theory of Kohlberg? Let us discuss.
6.3.4.4 Gilligan’s Stages of Ethics of Care
Carol Gilligan (1982) has proposed a different sequence of moral development in
the form of “ethics of care”. She debated that Kohlberg’s theory of stages are
biased in favour of males, in a male dominant society and do not represent the way
moral reasoning develops in women because he conducted a longitudinal study of
men only. According to Gilligan, women are likely to think of right and wrong in
terms of care and relationships, whereas men tend to think in terms of rules and
justice. She describes three stages of moral reasoning:
Stage 1 Pre-conventional Morality: The goal of this stage is individual survival.
This is a transitional stage from selfishness to responsibility to others. You are motivated
to act by deciding what is best for yourself.
Stage 2 Conventional Morality: This stage says that self-sacrifice is goodness. At
this stage, transition is from goodness to the truth of the situation. You are motivated
to perform actions which are based on what will care for and benefit others.
Stage 3 Post-conventional Morality: This stage favours the principle of nonviolence.
It proposes not to hurt others or the self. You learn that it is just as wrong to ignore
your own interests as it is to ignore the interests of others. You come to understand
that a relation involves two people, and if either one is affronted, it troubles the
relationship.
Check Your Progress 3
Notes: (a) Write your answers in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
(i) If your motivation for keeping the law is primarily your fear of punishment,
you are said to be operating at the level of:
(a) postconventional morality (b) preconventional morality
(c) conventional morality (d) nonconventional morality 57
Growing Up : Infancy to
Adulthood (ii) Gilligan argues that, compared with men, women tend to express the following
primary motivation for behaving morally:
(a) a concern for justice (b) compassion and care for others
(c) a concern about doing (d) a concern about what their family
what is right will think
(iii) Why Gilligan’s stages of “ethics of care” are a feminist voice?
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Moral reasoning develops us as individuals who reside in a social environment with
one’s personal moralities. This again, leads us to another dimension of child
development, which is ‘psychosocial development’.

6.3.5 Psychosocial Development

Psychosocial development reflects an interrelationship between psychological
developments, emotional needs and the way individuals interact with their environment.
Who am I? What my close friends think about me? How am I different from others?
Am I a kid, or an adult? You know that these questions are not usually concerned in
childhood but during adolescence stage. Adolescents clamor for answers to such
questions of identity. Erik Erikson was the first to realize how central such questions
are to understanding one’s identity. We will discuss about Erikson’s theory in the
next section.
6.3.5.1 Theory of Psychosocial Development- Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson (1963, 1972) described a series of eight ‘psychosocial’ stages in which
our selfhood, independence, identity and self-worth may be developed or crushed,
depending on how we resolve issues and interact with others along the way. You can
find Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development in table 6.2, and detailed
description is made on psychosocial crisis at childhood & adolescence.
Table 6.2 Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Stages Approx. Description

Age
1. Basic trust versus Birth to 12- The infant must form a first
Basic mistrust 18 months loving, trusting relationship with
the caregiver or develop a sense
of mistrust if ignored or abused
2. Autonomy versus 18 months The child’s energies are directed
shame/doubt to 3 years toward the development of
physical skills, including walking,
grasping, controlling the
sphincter. The child learns control
but may develop shame and doubt
if not handled well.

58 3. Initiative versus 3 to 6 years The child continues to become

 3. Initiative versus 3 to 6 years The child continues to become Dimensions of
Child Development
guilt more assertive and to take more
initiative but may be too forceful,
which can lead to guilt feelings.

4. Industry versus 6 to 12 years The child must deal with

inferiority demands to learn new skills or
risk a sense of inferiority, failure,
and incompetence.
5. Identity versus role Adolescence The teenager must achieve
confusion identity or confusion in
occupation, gender roles, politics,
and religion.
6. Intimacy versus Young The young adult must develop
isolation adulthood intimate relationships or suffer
feelings of isolation.
7. Generativity versus Middle Each adult must find some way to
stagnation adulthood satisfy and support the next
generation.
8. Ego integrity versus Late The culmination is a sense of
despair adulthood acceptance of oneself and a sense
of fulfillment.
Source: Woolfolk, A. (2006). Educational Psychology. New Delhi.
Pearson Education, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., p. 100.

When children reach elementary school (6-12 years of age), they soon learn that
they can get recognition of adults by producing things- for example, through their
written assignments, art projects, dramatic productions, and so on. When children
are allowed and encouraged to make and do things and when they are praised for
their accomplishments, they begin to demonstrate ‘industry’. Therefore, ‘industry’ is
a pattern of working hard, persisting at lengthy tasks and putting work before pleasure.
But, when children are punished for their efforts or when they find that they cannot
meet their teachers’ and parents’ expectations for their performance, they may develop
feelings of ‘inferiority’ about their own abilities.
Case 7: Neeraj always tried to express his feelings, ideas and thoughts through
poetry. Every time, he wrote a poem, he was motivated and reinforced by his
parents. Gradually, his writing skills improved and one day a collection of his
poetry got published. This is a demonstration of ‘industry’.
Case 8: Ravi is a 10-year-old boy. He is very good at drawing arts but has
some reading and writing difficulties. Neither his parents nor teachers
understand his difficulties. He is always punished and called a careless boy.
He, therefore, always feels ‘inferior’ among a group and gradually, he started
leaving his art of drawing.
The case 7 is an example of ‘industry’ while case 8 demonstrates an example of
‘inferiority’.
However, as children make the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescents
ponder the roles they will play in the adult world. Initially, they are likely to experience
some ‘role-confusion’- mixed ideas and feelings about the specific ways in which
they will fit into society- and may experiment with a variety of behaviours and activities,
like engaging in co-curricular activities at school, affiliating with particular groups,
etc. Eventually, most adolescents achieve a sense of ‘identity’ regarding who they
59
Growing Up : Infancy to are and where their lives are headed. For example, a fifteen year old Riya described
Adulthood
herself as a ‘fashion model’- someone for whom glamour is a way of life as well as
a source of being in the lime-light. She always insisted on wearing branded clothes
and carrying exclusive accessories, reflecting herself as a style-icon among her peers.
Check Your Progress 4
Notes: (a) Write your answers in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
(i) Why is Erikson’s theory viewed as psychosocial perspective?
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(ii) What are Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development for children at
elementary school level and adolescents?
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So far, we have studied almost every dimension of the child’s development. However,
what we studied and discussed was in a disintegrated form. Let us now try to
understand the holistic approach of development which is responsible for the
development of the personality of an individual.

6.4 HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF

DEVELOPMENT
In the above sections, you have studied various dimensions of child development.
But, do you think these dimensions develop separately in a child? What if these do
not interact with one another? If this would happen, the child will not be able to
demonstrate a harmonious relationship with her/his environment. The child will not
get developed as a whole. Let us understand this with the help of a case.
Case 9: Leena is a 13-year-old girl who was an all rounder till her last year of
school. But, a few months ago, a drastic change was noticed in her behaviour.
Under the influence of her friends, she became very much concerned about
her appearance. So, she included gym and excessive exercise in her routine.
She was very particular about her diet and even started skipping meals. Soon,
she lost weight and impressed her friends. However, this greatly affected her
health. Her weight was continuously decreasing and she stopped feeling hungry.
Besides, she started losing concentration in class and her school performance
deteriorated. Social life became less important to her and she started avoiding
her parents and friends too. Her parents showed concern about her health
deterioration and planned to visit their family doctor. Leena responded with
anger and tears and refused to go until her parents insisted. The family doctor
found her critically underweight and advised to consult a paediatrician and a
60
child psychiatrist, who would help in solving the difficulty of separation (from Dimensions of
Child Development
the family) and individuation (becoming her own) which Leena and her parents
are facing with early adolescent stage.
After reading the above case, it might be clear to you that there exists an inter
relationship among various dimensions of child development.

Fig. 6.9: Development of a child as a whole

We can understand this interrelationship with the help of following examples:
(i) A physically unhealthy person is unable to perform one’s duties to oneself,
family and community.
(ii) A child under emotional strain is likely to be physically unhealthy, socially
inefficient and cognitively deteriorated.
(iii) A child with less social interaction, may feel lonely which further may lead to
emotional disturbance along with cognitive and language difficulties.
(iv) The undue emphasis on cognitive development may ignore emotional and physical
side of an individual’s personality.
We may conclude that an individual has to be considered as one ‘whole’. Therefore,
while taking measures for all round development of a child, it must be remembered
that all the dimensions of child development are inter-related and inter-dependent.
To know, what a teacher’s role can be, in facilitating development, let us study the
next section of this unit.

6.5 ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN FACILITATING

DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN
Unbelievably, you as a teacher can really transform the life of a child. Let us now
explore a teacher’s role in facilitating different dimensions of development of children.
While teaching, whenever you come to know about specific physical needs of children,
you should consequently plan your programmes. For example- making a child with
low vision sit at front desk; using larger fonts on chalkboard; high quality audio aids,
etc. Knowledge of the pattern of physical growth and development helps the teacher
to arrange school programmes like co-curricular activities. Besides, you should
emphasize on sitting in right postures, regular medical check-ups, regular exercises,
play activities, and nutritious diet for the children.
The teacher’s facilitation in cognitive development of a child needs great attention.
You should ensure that students maintain cognitive balance between new experiences 61
Growing Up : Infancy to and what is already known; challenge their illogical explanations and ask them to
Adulthood
explain their reasoning; express confusion or explain that others think differently
when students show egocentrism; relate abstract and hypothetical ideas to concrete
objects and observable events and many more. This balanced cognition helps them
develop emotionally.
Stable emotions are important for a harmonious personality of an individual. Your
role as a teacher may include equal treatment to all children in your classroom;
planning dynamic activities; balanced emotional behaviour of yourself; creating a
trustworthy environment; and enabling students recognize emotions of others and
express their own feelings.
Furthermore, the teacher’s role in developing psychosocial behaviours here is to
encourage responsibility among students by assigning group tasks to value their
hard work and task accomplishments while discouraging excessive competition to
avoid feelings of inferiority; promote social interaction among diverse groups like
assigning partners to students with special needs to develop an understanding.
This may help them in developing morally too.
You may facilitate moral development among children by modelling appropriate
moral behaviour. You should talk about reasons why some behaviours are
inappropriate, e.g. throwing chewing gum here and there may spoil somebody’s hair
or clothes. Besides, you may incorporate moral issues and dilemmas during classroom
discussion, e.g. discussion on wars between two countries. A positive reinforcement
to students may also help in encouraging morally desirable behaviours among them.
Check Your Progress 5
Notes: (a) Write your answers in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
(i) Why is it necessary to develop a child ‘as a whole’?
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(ii) What efforts can you plan to facilitate development in a child?
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This is how a teacher may help in the holistic development of a child. Now let us sum
up this unit.

6.6 LET US SUM UP

Human development has been divided into four stages of infancy, childhood (early
and later), adolescence and adulthood. Each stage can be understood through
physical, emotional, cognitive, moral and psychosocial development with some
62
specific characteristics. Childhood (early childhood- 3-6 years and later childhood- Dimensions of
Child Development
7-12 years) extends to advent of puberty. Sense organs and muscles grow to maturity
and there is a significant change in the child’s size, strength and motor skills that turn
towards sexual maturity till the end of adolescence. At childhood stage, children
experience intense feelings of love, hatred, fear, jealousy along with a sense of
autonomy, combat, shame, inferiority, and aggression; while at the adolescence stage
emotions like turmoil, stress, and self-love are at their peak. Cognitively, children
pass through sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete and formal operational stage
covering stages from infancy to adolescence. They move from egocentrism to
decentration and lastly, abstract thinking. Their adaptation to the environment develops
through the two complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation.
Semiotic representation, conservation, reversibility, seriation, classification and
hypothetical deductive reasoning are significant developmental cognitions. Morally,
the children move from a stage of heteronomous morality to autonomous morality,
according to Piaget, while Kohlberg and Gilligan proposed pre conventional,
conventional and post-conventional stages of morality with differences in the
conceptualization by the two. Furthermore, psychosocial development of individuals
includes eight stages proposed by Erikson, who considered a stage of industry vs.
inferiority for childhood and identity vs. role confusion for adolescent children.
All the above developmental dimensions collectively develop a child as a whole by
reflecting an unavoidable interrelationship and interaction among one another. To
facilitate these developments, a teacher can play a significant role by planning teaching
methods, strategies, activities and role modelling, accordingly.

6.7 UNIT-END EXCERCISES

1. Explain the different stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
2. Explain with examples, the characteristics of emotional development at the
adolescence stage.
3. Compare and contrast the ideas of Kohlberg and Gilligan on moral development.
4. Examine the role of a teacher in facilitating development in children.

6.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. (i) In terms of change in height, weight, body proportion, health, movements,
and other physical activities.
(ii) In girls, growth in breast, hair growth at pubic and armpits, broadening of
pelvic bone, menstruation cycle, change in gait and voice. In boys, rounded
shoulders, broad chest, developed muscles; hair growth in pubic, armpits
and facial areas; growth in genital organs; maturity of larynx.
2. (i) With reference to heteronomous and autonomous morality.
(ii) Write your own answer.
3. (i) b. (ii) b
(iii) Gilligan’s theory was based on the argument that Kohlberg’s theory is male
dominant, so she gave a good space to women’s concept of right and wrong in
her theory.
4. (i) Because it involves personal, psychological and social dimensions of a child’s
development.
(ii) Refer table 6.2 63
Growing Up : Infancy to 5. (i) Complete personality development, harmonious relationship with
Adulthood
environment
(ii) Refer section 6.9

6.9 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Baron, R. (2005). Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education Inc.
Bornstein, M. A. (1999). Developmental Psychology: An Advanced Textbook.
New Jersey: Lawrece Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Chauhan, S. S. (2009). Advanced Educational Psychology. Noida: Vikas
Publishing House Pvt Ltd.
Crain, W.C. (1985). Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. Theories of
Development. Prentice Hall Retrieved from http://faculty plts.edu/gpence/html/
Kohlberg.htm on 05/11/2015

Dash, B. A. (2005). A Textbook of Educational Psychology. New Delhi: Dominant

Publishers and Distributers.
Dewey, J. (2011). Psychology. New Delhi: Khel Sahitya Kendra.
Feldman, R. (2004). Understanding Psychology. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Ltd.
Kohlberg, L. (1963). The Development of Children’s Orientations Toward a Moral
Order: 1. Sequence in the Development of Moral Thought. Vita Humana 6, 11-
33.

Krause, K., & Bochner, S. a. (2007). Educational Psychology for learning and
teaching. Australia: Thomson Publications.
Ormrod, J. (2000). Educational Psychology: Developing learners. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall Inc.
Santrock, J. (2007). Adolescence. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company Ltd.
Skinner, C. (2006). Educational Psychology. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India
Pvt. Ltd.
Woolfolk, A. (2006). Educational Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education,
Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.

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