Human Development
A Cultural Approach
Chapter
1
A Cultural
Approach to
Human
Development
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Introduction to Human
Development
• Human Development-the way people
grow and change across the lifespan
• Culture- the total pattern of a group’s
customs, beliefs, art, and technology
• Globalization-connections between
different parts of the world in trade,
travel, migration and communication
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Human Development Today
and Its Origins
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.1
World Population Growth, Past 10,000 years What happened in recent human
history to cause population to rise so dramatically? Source: Ember (2007)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Variations Across Countries
• Developed Countries-most affluent
countries in the world
 17% of total world population
• Developing Countries-less wealth than
the developed countries
 83% of total world population
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
United States Variation
• Two reasons the US follows a different
demographic path
 Total Fertility rate is higher than most
developing countries
 United States allows more LEGAL
immigration than most developing
countries
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Map 1.1
Projected Ethnic Changes in U.S. Population to 2050 Which ethnic group is projected
to change the most in the coming decades, and why?
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
More Cultural Variation
• Variations between developing and
developed countries
 Income
 Education
 Cultural Beliefs
- Individualism
- Collectivism
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Map 1.2 Worldwide Variations in Population and Income Levels Developed countries represent
only 18% of the world population yet they are much wealthier than developing countries. At what point
in its economic development should a developing country be reclassified as a developed country?
(continued on next slide)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Map 1.2 Worldwide Variations in Population and Income Levels Developed countries represent
only 18% of the world population yet they are much wealthier than developing countries. At what point
in its economic development should a developing country be reclassified as a developed country?
(continued from previous slide)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Variations Within Countries
• Majority culture-Sets norms and
standards
• Contexts-Settings and circumstances
• SES (Socioeconomic Status)-social
class including educational level,
income level and occupational status
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Variations Within Countries
• Gender-Expectations of male and
female roles
• Ethnicity-Cultural origin, traditions,
race, religion and language
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Human Origins and the Birth of
Culture
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Evolutionary Beginnings
• Evolutionary theory proposed by
Charles Darwin
• Natural selection
 Young are born with variations of
characteristics
 Species change little by little each
generation
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Evolutionary Beginnings
• Humans’ evolutionary beginning shares
ancestry with chimpanzees and gorillas
• Human evolutionary line called hominid
line
• Hominid line split resulting in Homo
species
• Homo species evolved into Homo
sapiens
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.2
Changes in Brain Size in Early Humans
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
The Origin of Cultures and
Civilizations
• Upper Paleolithic Period
 Art appeared, trade, cultural differences
appeared
• Neolithic Period
 Last Ice Age
• Development of Civilization
 Including Egyptian, India, China and
Mediterranean
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.3
Time Line of Human History From Upper Paleolithic Period to the Present
(continued on next slide)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.3
Time Line of Human History From Upper Paleolithic Period to the Present
(continued from previous slide)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Human Evolution and Human
Development Today
• Human development can be understood
by understanding human evolution
 Development is partly based on evolution
 Little biological change since Homo sapiens
 Development of larger brain contributes to
culture and environmental expansion
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Theories of Human
Development
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ancient Conceptions of
Development:Hindu
• Apprentice (0-25)
• Depends on parents and learns adult skills
• Householder (26-50)
• Marriage and own family responsibilities
• Forest Dweller (51-75)
• Grandchildren born and withdrawal from society
• Renunciant (75-100)
• Further withdrawal and preparing for the end of life
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ancient Conceptions of
Development: Greek
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ancient Conceptions of
Development: Jewish Talmud
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ancient Conceptions of
Development: Jewish Talmud
(Continued from previous slide)
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ancient Conceptions of
Development
• Similarities in all three
 Youth is for preparation
 Adulthood is for experience
 Old age is for wisdom and peace
• Difference is found in division of
lifespan
 Lifespan not cleanly divided by biology but
culturally and socially based
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Scientific Conceptions of Human
Development
• Scientific theories have been around for
a short time
• The major theories of conceptualizing
development are:
 Psychoanalytic theory
- Psychosexual-Freud
- Psychosocial-Erikson
 Ecological Approach
- Bronfenbrenner
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
• Based on Freud’s belief of sexual desire
as the driving force behind human
development
• Driven by three psychic structures
 Id-Basis is pleasure principle
 Superego-Basis of conscience
 Ego-Basis of reality
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Freud’s Psychosexual Theory
• Psychosexual stages focused on areas
of sensation and fixation
• Limits include: Complexity of human
behavior and Freud’s research
methodology
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Table 1.1
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
• Focuses on social and cultural
environment and not sexuality
• Continued throughout lifespan and not
limited to first six years as Freud
• Eight stages of development
characterized by crisis and resolution
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Table 1.2
Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
Theory
• Focuses on multiple influences that
shape behavior and is not a stage
theory
• Five levels:





Micro System-Immediate environment
MesoSystem-Interconnections
Exosystem-Social Institutions
Macrosystem-Cultural Beliefs
Chronosystem-Time
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
Theory
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Stage Theory
• Prenatal
Development
• Infancy
• Toddlerhood
• Early childhood
• Middle Childhood
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
• Adolescence
• Emerging
adulthood
• Young adulthood
• Middle adulthood
• Late Adulthood
How We Study Human
Development
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Scientific Study of Human
Development
• The scientific method
 The scientific method is composed of 5
steps
-
Identifying a question
Forming a hypothesis
Choosing a research method or design
Collecting data
Drawing conclusions
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.5
The Steps of the Scientific Method
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
The Five Steps of the Scientific
Method
1. Every study starts with an idea or
question
 Can come from previous research, a theory
or personal observation
2. Forming a hypothesis
 The researcher’s idea about a possible
answer to a research question
 Will dictate research methods, design, and
analysis
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
The Five Steps of the Scientific
Method
3. Choose a research method and design
 The way hypotheses are investigated
4. Collecting data
 Researchers try to collect a sample that
represents the population
5. Draw conclusions
 Data is inferred and peer reviewed
 Can lead to theory modification or changes
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Ethics in Human Development
Research
• Institutional Review Boards work to
prevent ethical violations
• Ethical guidelines include
 Protection from physical and psychological
harm
 Informed consent prior to participation
 Confidentiality
 Deception and debriefing
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Methods and Designs in Research
• Researchers use various methods to
investigate human development
 Questionnaires
- Close or Open ended





Interviews-qualitative
Observations
Ethnographic Research
Case studies
Biological Methods
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Table 1.3
Research Methods: Advantages and Limitations
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Methods and Designs in Research
• Researchers use multiple methods, but
it is important that they have reliability
and validity
 Reliability-Consistency of measurement
 Validity-Truthfulness of the measure
- Does it measure what it claims to measure?
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Methods and Designs in Research
• Research design allows researchers to
examine changes over time
 Cross-sectional
- Gathers information from wide age range at
a single time
 Correlation
- Positive
- Negative
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.6
Physical Health and Exercise Are Correlated—But Which Causes Which?
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Methods and Designs in Research
• Longitudinal design follows same
persons over time
• Can focus on how people change over
time
• Can deal with cohort effects to SOME
degree
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Figure 1.7
Religiosity Changes With Age—But Is It an Age Effect or a Cohort Effect?
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Methods and Designs in Research
• Experiments help to establish cause
and effect
• Tend to have basic components




Experimental Group
Control Group
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
• Natural experiments
Human Development: A Cultural Approach
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett