Theories of human development

Please explain the following theories.

Psychodynamic Theory
Behavioral Theories
Cognitive Theories
Ecological Systems Model

ANSWER

Theories of Human Development

Human development theories address the development of humans across the lifespan with physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development from birth to the end of life. Theories offer models that review personality development through the lifespan. The Psychodynamic Theory, Behavioral Theories, Cognitive Theories, and Ecological Systems Models help understand past and current behavior and human growth and development over the years.

Psychodynamic Theory: The psychodynamic theory stated that events in our childhood have more impact on an individual’s adult life, and shapes their personality. Ideally, events that happen in childhood exist in the unconscious and result in problems and behaviors as adults (Stewart, Ranis and Samman, 2018). Therefore, events during childhood have a great impact on adult lives since humans are motivated by unconscious inspirations and forces. Psychodynamic theory has significance in modern psychological thinking since it leads to the influence of childhood on mental health and adult nature.

Behavioral Theories: The behavioral theory states that human behavior is analyzed by the consequences and antecedents of the current individual environment and the learned associations obtained through previous experiences (Kail and Cavanaugh, 2018). This means that personality and human growth are linked to a series of engaged behaviors due to external influences and societal conditioning such as culture, reward, punishment, and upbringing.
Cognitive Theories- The cognitive theory focuses on the development of an individual through thought processes. Cognitive theories show that thought processes influence how an individual interacts and understands things. Therefore, thoughts are the main determinants of behavior and emotions to transform them into constructive behaviors.

Ecological Systems Model: Ecological systems theory argues that human growth and development are impacted by various environmental systems (Utley, 2017). This theory helps in understanding that people may behave differently depending on their environment. People encounter different environments that may impact behavior in varying extents. For instance, family, friends, classmates, neighbors, and other people directly influence a person’s behavior.

Human development and growth has been explained through different theories that show the various aspects of growth and development. The Psychodynamic Theory, Behavioral Theories, Cognitive Theories, Ecological Systems Models have shown that human behavior and actions are influenced by learned associations, environmental systems, and childhood events.

References

Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2018). Human development: A lifespan view. Cengage Learning.

Stewart, F., Ranis, G., & Samman, E. (2018). Advancing human development: Theory and practice. Oxford University Press.

Utley, R. (2017). Human Development Frameworks. Frameworks for Advanced Nursing Practice and Research: Philosophies, Theories, Models, and Taxonomies, 71.