8/13/2019 Physical, Cognitive and Social-Emotional Human Development

1/2

Physical, Cognitive and Social-Emotional HumanDevelopmentThe three areas of human development are physical, cognitive and social-emotional. These areas are

different in many ways, but they also influence one another.

Physical development is characterized by patterns of physical growth and maturation. Other forms of

physical development occurs in the genetic basis for some human characteristics and abilities,

neurological

(brain) development, the acquisition of motor skills. Physical developments also manifest themselves

in the form of healthy and unhealthy behaviors.

Cognitive developmentis associated with the changes in a person's reasoning. Cognitive

developments are also reflected by a change in language. Developments of the cognitive sort also

refer to memory, and concepts. An example of this is how a child's answers to a simple question may

be very simple and an adult's answers are more complex, and use stronger vocabulary.

Social-emotional developments relate to the changes that occur in a person's feelings, ability to

handle feelings and situations, and moral ideas. These developments also occur in relation to a

person's social relationships. An increase or decrease in self confidence is a direct example of a

social-emotional development.

It may appear that all of these areas are separate, but they are extremely closely related. For example"physical development (e.g., neurological growth) allows cognitive advancements to take place, and

increases in the ability to look at situations from multiple perspectives (a cognitive ability) make

possible more effective social

relationships" (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004, p. 6).

Imagine Johnny is a five-year-old boy attending his first year of school. Johnny will be changing and

growing a lot in his first year of school. Physically he will be growing and getting taller. His motor

schools will improve and he will be able to use his hands much better. Emotionally he will be

learning how to interact in a controlled environment. He will be learning social skills such as sharing,

and working together. He will also learn how to deal with emotions in group settings. Cognitively he

will begin processing more information and learning the rules of the classroom environment. Johnny

will be learning rights and wrongs and how to make decisions based on them.

As Johnny changes, this will cause an impact on his behavior in the classroom. Johnny will be

growing and may be bigger or smaller than most kids. This may cause Johnny to be shy or it may

http://voices.yahoo.com/topic/36419/cognitive_development.htmlhttp://voices.yahoo.com/topic/36419/cognitive_development.htmlhttp://voices.yahoo.com/topic/36419/cognitive_development.html

8/13/2019 Physical, Cognitive and Social-Emotional Human Development

2/2