This document provides an introduction to the study of human growth and development by outlining key themes, concepts, and theorists that will be covered. It discusses how human growth and development involves both biological and psychosocial changes across different life stages from prenatal to late adulthood. Major theorists like Piaget and Erikson are introduced who contributed theories about cognitive and socio-emotional development at each stage of life.

1. Introduction to Human Growth
and Development
IHS Unit 6

2. Learning Targets
• Identify themes and ideas we will follow
throughout our study of the human lifespan.

3. Human Growth and Development
• This is where psychology and biology overlap.
– HG&D occurs in two ways:
• Biological (Physical) Change
• Psychosocial (Change that deals with thought,
behavior)

4. Lifestages
• Prenatal
• Infancy
• Early Childhood
• Middle Childhood
• Late Childhood
• Adolescence
• Early and Middle Adulthood
• Late Adulthood and End of Life

5. Theorists We Will Discuss
• Piaget:
– Piaget had a theory about cognitive development
which looks at how children learn.
• Erikson
– Erikson had a theory about social and emotional
development which identified a “task” for each
stage.

6. Themes of HG&D
• Change is always occurring, but the rate
varies.
• Changes from one lifestage impact the
development in the next stage.