Developmental Task Theory
Concept of the developmental task theory lies from examining the changes in
your own life span you can see that critical tasks arise at certain times in our lives.
Mastery of these tasks is satisfying and encourages us to go on to new challenges.
Difficulty with them slows progress toward future accomplishments and goals. As a
mechanism for understanding the changes that occur during the life span.
Havinghurst (1972) defines a developmental task as one that arises at a certain
period in our lives, the successful achievement of which leads to happiness and
success with later tasks; while failure to do so leads to unhappiness, social disapproval,
and difficulty with later tasks. Havighurst uses lightly different age groupings. He
identifies three sources of developmental tasks (Havighurst, 1972):
Tasks that arise from physical maturation. For example, learning to walk, talk,
and behave acceptably with the opposite sex during adolescence; adjusting to
menopause during middle age
Tasks that from personal sources. For example, those that emerge from the
maturing personality and take the form of personal values and aspirations, such as
learning the necessary skills for job success.
Tasks that have their source in the pressures of society. For example, learning to
read or learning the role of a responsible citizen.
Havighurst has identified six major age periods:
infancy and early childhood (0-5 years),
middle childhood (6-12 years)
adolescence (13-18 years),
early adulthood (19-29 years),
middle adulthood (30-60 years), and
later maturity (61+).
The developmental-task concept occupies middle ground between two opposed
theories of education: the theory of freedom—that the child will develop best if left as
free as possible, and the theory of constraint—that the child must learn to become a
worthy, responsible adult through restraints imposed by his society. A developmental
task is midway between an individual need and societal demand. It assumes an active
learner interacting with an active social environment
What is an outstanding behavior/trait of each stage?
a. Infancy and early childhood (birth till 6 years old)
-in this stage, the child begins to learn different physical activities like walking, crawling
as well as starting to read and forming concepts.
b. Middle childhood (6-12 years old)
-middle childhood is then where the child learns different physical skills for simple
games; as well as developing concepts for everyday living.
c. Adolescence (13-18 years old)
-during the adolescence period, the child achieves more mature relations with others.
The child gets to knows oneself and prepares himself for the coming years.
d. Early adulthood (18-30 years old)
-here one is now ready to settle down and begin a family as well as a new life. One
looks for a career to help in raising himself and his family; practicing as well socially.
e. Middle age (30-60 years old)
- the middle age, is where one is able to see clearly to his future, here one is then able
to help his children as well as other teenagers to become more responsible. Here one
also is able to adapt to everything that is happening to him physically, emotionally even
socially.
f. Later maturity (60 years old and over)
- in this stage, one is adjusting to the happenings of his life. Here, one needs to adjust
to understand everything especially in death.
Does a developmental task in a higher level require accomplishment of the lower level
developmental tasks?
According to havighurst, Yes - development is sequential, with later skills building upon
earlier skills. For example, fine motor development that is appropriate for young children
leads to later skills - stringing beads, using tweezers, all those games using the fingers
improving their strength and dexterity, eventually make handwriting much simpler -
more controlled and less tiring.
References
Cieslak, M. (2019). Psychometric properties of the Developmental Tasks. Springer Link,
1172–1180 (2020).
Merriam, S., & Mullins, L. (2015). What is the Havighurst Developmental Tasks Theory?
Sage Journals, 57-66.
Uhlendoff, U. (2004). The Concept of Developmental-Tasks and its Significance for
Education. Research Gate, 10-24.
