Theories And Complications And Challenges Of Human Development

Human Development poses questions and explores possibilities and challenges around the ‘human’ and ‘development’. Human development can be defined as a process of enlarging a person’s freedom and by improving their well-being (Measure of America, 2016). Human development is informed and shaped by the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and philosophy. Each of these three subjects helps in our understanding of what human development is. The discipline of psychology is the study of the human mind and of human behaviour. Within psychology, there are many sub-fields that can be studied for example human development, social behaviour and cognitive processes (McLeod, 2011). “Sociology is an organized endeavor to increase human self-knowledge and understanding through the systematic study of our social life” (Goldthorpe,1985, p.3).

Almost everyone has an idea about what power means. Scientists still have to come up with a statement of power “that is rigorous enough to be of use in the systematic study of this important phenomenon” (Dahl, n.d, p.201). But it can be defined as an ability to act in a certain way or as a relationship between people. The idea of power is as an ancient as any other social theory (Dahl,n.d). Power can help us understand human development and helps us understand the three disciplines within it. The topic of power is relevant to human development because it revolves around one person or a group of people having control over others or being able to act in a certain why. This can lead to the person with the power receiving satisfaction from their control and can lead to the person who has less power to feel bad about themselves. An example of power taking over a person can be seen in the Stanford Prison experiment of 1971. The experiment was led by Philip Zimbardo who was a psychology professor at Stanford University. This was when a group of students became guards of the pretend prison and another group become the