Discuss how theories of human growth and development can help understand human behaviour.

Human growth and development is studied and researched with differing perspectives. There are many ways human growth and development can be looked at. Certain disciplines, such as, biology, psychology and sociology all have opposing viewpoints on the subject. The psychological viewpoint concentrates on the different processes of the mind, whereas, the biological approach is centred on genetics and environmental factors. The sociological viewpoint, however, focuses on individual thoughts and feelings as being socially constructed (Beckett and Taylor, 2010). Human growth and development is researched across the whole lifespan, however, for this …show more content…

This was an experiment carried out by Ainsworth whereby, children between the ages of 12 and 18 months were joined with their mother is a playful environment and then left alone when their mother would leave the room and then be reunited back with their mother. The research was seen as reliable and took into account various variables; such as, the home environment, relationships, the level of bonding between child and caregiver and the way in which the care giver responded when re-entering the room and also how the caregiver responded with absence and the effect this had on the child and how emotions were displayed.
Ainsworth believed that Bowlby’s ideas were too set in stone and believed that there may be individual differences in attachment. Ainsworth set upon her research into individual attachments. Ainsworth study identified three main areas of attachment; secure attachment, anxious- avoidant insecure attachment and anxious- ambivalent- insecure attachment. Main and Soloman (1986) later founded the insecure disorganised attachment theory, (Howe, 1999). The secure attachment theory is a child who is seen to be securely attached to the caregiver; will play freely whilst their caregiver is present and will involve in play with strangers when the caregiver is in the room (Brodie 2012). The child will also show profound emotion when the caregiver leaves, but is content when the caregiver returns. Anxious- ambivalent insecure