human development

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Human Development as Exemplified by Oprah Winfrey

Paula King

Walden University

Lifespan Development (6215)

Dr. Matthew Hertenstein

April 14, 2018

Human Development as Exemplified by Oprah Winfrey

So many things influence human development. There are those influencing factors that are biologically passed from parents to children, and there are those that are acquired because of interactions with different aspects of the environment (Rubman, 2017). Oprah Winfrey is one of those influential people that have had a high development process owing to her early childhood life to the current life that she is living. This paper is examining the role of nurture and nature, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional changes in the life of Oprah Winfrey. So many things influence human development. There are those influencing factors that are biologically passed from parents to children, and there are those that are acquired as a result of interactions with different aspects of the environment (Rubman, 2017). Oprah Winfrey is one of those influential people that have had a high development process owing to her early childhood life to the current life that she is living. This paper is examining the role of nurture and nature, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional changes in the life of Oprah Winfrey.

Apart from nature and nurture, there are also other factors that have influenced on who people become. Cognitive development is one of those factors, and it allows people to process the sensory information they collect from the world. That includes the ability to evaluate, calculate, recall experiences, retain information, make comparisons and determine action. Most of the cognitive skills must be learned and, in most cases, do not have an inherent component. Through various theories of cognitive development, personality development has been created and used in understanding the personality of Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey has in her motivational talks always brought back her past life regarding stories. From this, she can recall her past experiences, make comparisons, and determine actions. As mention earlier in the paper, Oprah has engaged in so many charitable activities. The decision to get involved in philanthropic activities can be said to be determined by her past life experience, which she would not want anybody else to go through. Therefore, she is striving to ensure that every person in the society has a good life at his or her childhood stages of life.

In working hard to become the successful woman she is, she must have made individual decisions and choices. Most of these choices are a result of her cognitive ability to calculate and evaluate whether such choices made are helpful or have effects that are worthwhile. Through here past experienced she has learned so many things that have influenced that decisions she has been making since then. Oprah way of making choices can be said to be through the characteristic function as put forward in the Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Through illustrative purpose, one can think that it is mentally representing an object that is not present.

Physical development is also an influential factor in who a person becomes. Growth is the most obvious indicators of physical development in early childhood. Deviations in the brain and nervous system are part of physical development (Acero, 2004). At this stage what is essential in healthy cognitive development, which is through healthy diet and nutrition. Ethnic and genetic factors have influenced the physical growth; however, food also plays an important role.

One of the physical traits of Oprah Winfrey is the motor skills. Through learning of specific physical activities such as crawling, she has been able to grow to the extent that she can walk, run, sit up, roll over and move from one place to another. It is through the growth of muscles that people can develop motor skills. Oprah brain development has aspects of physical development as there are stages of brain development in the physical sense. That is where nerve cells are covered with the substance known as myelin through a process known as myelination. She must have undergone this stage of brain development.

Socioemotional development is also one of the factors that have influenced in who one becomes. Social experiences also very affected by who a person becomes. It has been highlighted in the paper that apart from what is inherent, the interactions of people with the society through social experiences are very crucial in determining who people become. Family and environment have a tremendous impact on the development of a person. The experiences with family and background have the lifelong effect on personality, emotions, and socio-emotional health, whether good or bad.

Oprah Winfrey family and environmental experienced through the stories she tells show how much the family and environmental experiences have influenced her. It is through her family experiences that she has been able to uplift many families so that they do not fall under the family challenges that she went through as a child. In conclusion, it is said that nature and nurture, cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development have influenced on who a person become as exemplified in the life of Oprah Winfrey.

References

Acero, V. (2004). Human growth development and learning. Washington, D.C.: Rex Book Store.

Kelley, K. (2010,2011). OPRAH: A BIOGRAPHY. I I. B. Productions, Inc.; Three Rivers Press: Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., Ne

Rubman, C. (2017). Human Development. New York: McGraw Hill Education.