PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT: Robert J Havighurst life, concept of developmental task, What is Developmental Task, Characteristics of Developmental Task, Intellectual Contribution, Havighurst identified six major stages in human life covering birth to old age, Sources for Developmental Tasks, Developmental Tasks, Educational implications, Teacher role in Developmental task, Parents role in Developmental task, Conclusion, Reference.

1. 2021-22
Hard core Paper– 2
Psychology of Learning and Development
A seminar on
Development Task by Havighurst in the process of Development
Submitted to:
Dr. S S Patil
Professor
Department of Post Graduates
And Research in Education.
Submitted by:
Puneethkumar G B
M.Ed 1st Semester
Shankaraghatta.

2. Robert J. Havighurst
Developmental Tasks

3. His Life:
 Robert J. Havighurst was born in 5th June 1900 in De Pere,
Wisconsin.
 He was Chemist and physist, educator and expert on
human development and aging.
 Havighurst worked and published well into his 80s.
 He died of Alzheimer’s disease in 31st January 1991 in
Richmond, Indian at the age of 90.

4. Concept of Developmental Task:
The term Developmental Tasks was introduced
by Robert.
Development is the process by which organisms
grow and change systematically over the entire
life period.

5. What is Developmental Task:
Robert J. Havighurst(1953) developed theory of
development task
 He emphasised the inter relationship between Physical,
social, emotional, intellectual aspects of development.
 A development task is a task to performed or achieved
during a certain period of person’s life.
 It consists of set of skill and competency that re-acquired
as the person gain increased mastery over the
environment.

6. Characteristics of Developmental
Task:
Developmental tasks are based on the aspirations and need
of the society.
Every society or culture has certain norms.
Every society expects its members to follow these norms.
These norms in terms of certain essential skill. Mastery
over these skills leads happiness and failure leads to
unhappiness.
Some tasks are same for everyone, regardless of where he
lives as they are about human biology.

7. Example : Learning to crawl and walk.
Some tasks are different in different societies.
Example: task of getting occupation in some
cultures at very young stage.
The tasks in different age levels depend up on
the person and the society he lives in.

8. Intellectual Contribution:
Educational theory before Havighurst was
underdeveloped. Children learned by rote and
little concern was given to how children
developed. From 1948 to 1953 he developed his
highly influential theory of human development
and education. The crown jewel of his research
was on developmental tasks.

9. Havighurst identified six major
stages in human life covering birth to
old age:
 Infancy & early childhood (Birth - till 6 years
old)
 Middle childhood (6– 12years old)
 Adolescence (13–18 years old)
 Early Adulthood (19–30 years old)
 Middle Age (30–60 years old)
 Later maturity (60 years old and over)

10. Sources for Developmental Tasks:
 Physical Maturation:
Learning to walk, talk,
control of bowel and urine, behaving in an
acceptable manner to opposite sex, adjusting
to menopause.
 Personal Values:
Choosing an occupation,
figuring out one's philosophical outlook.

11.  Pressures of Society:
Learning to read, learning
to be a responsible citizen.
The developmental tasks model that Havighurst
developed was age dependent and all served
pragmatic functions depending on their age

12. Developmental Tasks:
At Infancy & early childhood (Birth till 6
years old):
Learning to
 Crawl
 Walk
 Take Solid Food
 Talk
 Control the elimination of body waste
 Achieving physical stability

13.  Getting ready to read
 Forming concept
 Learning language to describe social and physical
reality.

14. Middle childhood (6–12years old):
Learning to
 Get along with age mates
 Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary
games
 Developing fundamental skills- reading, writing
and calculating
 Developing attitude towards social group and
institutions
 Learning appropriate masculine and feminine
social role

15.  Developing concepts necessary for everyday
living
 Developing conscience, morality and a scale of
values
 Achieving personal independence.

16. At Adolescence (13–18 years old):
Learning to
Achieving new and more mature relations with
age mates of both sexes
 Accepting one’s physique and using the body
effectively
 Extremely concerned with appearance
 Achieving emotional independence of parents and
other adults
 Trying to establish self –identity.

18. At Early Adulthood (19–30 years
old):
Learning to
 Physical development
 Achieving new and more mature relations with
age mates of both sexes
 Achieving emotional independence of parents
and other adults
 Selecting a life partner (marriage)
 Learning to live with marriage partner

19.  Getting started in an occupation
 Taking a civic responsibility

20. At Middle Age (30–60 years old):
Learning to
 Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
 starting a family
 Caring children
 Managing home
 Establishing and maintaining an economic
standard of living
 Love and acceptance still take a major role

21.  Physical Changes begin to occur:
 Hair begins to thin and gray
 Hearing and vision decrease
 Wrinkles appear
 Muscles lose tone.
 Main concerns: children, health, job security,
aging parents and fear of aging.

22. At Later maturity (60 years old and
over):
Learning to
 Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and
health
 Adjusting to retirement and reduced income
 Adjusting to death of a spouse
 Establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age
group
 Physical deterioration (brittle bones, poor
coordination)

23.  Some memory problems
 Very concerned with health and finance
 Establishing satisfactory physical living
arrangements.

24. Educational implications:
 Teacher must have knowledge to deal infants,
grownup children and they must adopt different
methods of treatment of the students in various
classes.
 Student should not be taught with the same
method in the same atmosphere. Must adopt
modern and effective method of instruction.
 Teacher should be careful in providing learning
opportunities and learning.

25.  Emotional development is useful for balanced
personality.
 Social and cultural activities help in social
development.
 Whether the development of the students is taking
place on the right both or not, can be known
through the principles.
 Development of problem solving attitudes.
 Training should be given to the students in social
living.

26. Teacher role in Developmental task:
 Teaching them to solve problems so they can deal
with conflict and life’s challenges
 Encouraging activities that reflect their interests,
build skills, and increase their confidence and
sense of accomplishment
 Allowing, encouraging, and helping them to
finish tasks
 Praising them for trying to do things.
 Being a reliable source of information

27. Parents role in Developmental task:
 Parents are the child’s first role model
 A parent is their child’s first teacher and should
remain their best teacher throughout life
 To provide encouragement, support and access to
activities that enable the child to master key
development tasks.

28. Conclusion:
Hope you must have understood about Developmental Tasks, special
need from infancy to adolescence. In this study we had seen about child developmental
task from infancy to later maturity period, each stages have their own multi
developmental aspects. Understanding human development is essential for many
reasons. For one, it helps we gain a better understanding of our self. Knowing what
factors played role in your childhood development can help you understand the person
we are today. Learning human development can also help us better to better understand
our own children. Whether we are currently a parent or a planning to become one
knowing the psychology behind our child’s growth can be greatly beneficial. We will
gain a better understanding of how to interact with children. Studying human
development will also give you a greater appreciation of our own development
through life.

29. Reference:
1. Atkinson, Richard C., Et.Al (1983). Introduction To
Psychology, Harcount Brace Joranovich Inc., New York.
2. Bigner J.J., Human Development. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Co., 1983.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Havighurst
4. www.slideshare.net

30. Thank You….