Human Development: Emphasis on the Environment's Influence

The book "Theories of Human Development" presents three major families of theories that attempt to account for the "how" and the "why" we are the way we are. The three categories are biological theories, environment-based theories, and theories that emphasize an interaction between biological environmental and self-directed forces. I gave special attention to the theories that emphazised the environmental forces that shape human growth; namely the Learning Theory and the Social Role Theory. In the Learning perspective, a phenomenon called "Social Learning" is explained. Here, Albert Bandura suggested that "much learning takes place[...]because of the person's tendency to ovserve and imitate other people's behavior." I can see how this is true, as we see many teenagers today dressing up and acting like their favorite celebrities, young athletes always trying to be the hero, and young children playing "doctor." The theory also suggested that modeling depends on the conditions in the environment and the type of model; and can take place at any age so long as the model is influential enough.

In Social Role Theory, we see that there is movement through age roles. In other words, as one ages, they are forced to change and take on different roles in society. These social roles are "meaningful, demanding, and compelling aspects of [...] identity." This theory accounts for the differences in behavior between parents, children, teachers, competitors, lovers, salesmen -- the list goes on. There is an emphasis on the environment as a determining factor in one's acquisition of new skills that allow them to adapt to the restrictions and opportunities of a new age role. When we achieve these new age roles, we have to give up our old ones. It is this theory that accounts for why we tell our tattle-tale classmate to "stop being such a baby" and why we criticize old people that get facelifts and hair transplants for not "growing old gracefully."