As an exercise in your human development class, your teacher proposes a new developmental theory of personality development. She states that personality is markedly different in adulthood than in childhood, is completely determined by the environment, and develops pretty much the same across cultures. Describe the three recurring issues in human development and where this new theory stands in

Question

relationship to these three issues.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The three recurring issues noted by the chapter are nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, and universal and context-specific development. The nature and nurture debate attempts to assess the relative contribution of both biological and genetic factors as well as environmental influences to development. The continuity and discontinuity issue explores whether development is a smooth progression throughout the lifespan (gently easing out of one stage and into another) or a series of abrupt shifts (several "starts and stops"). The universal and context-specific development question asks whether there is just one path that is common to all people or whether there are several developmental paths that may be seen at different times and different places.
The theory postulated by the teacher in this question advocates for a model that emphasizes universal and discontinuous development that is primarily affected by nurture.