What is the study of human development?
Human development is a branch of psychology that studies—and strives to optimize—the elements that help people live healthy and fulfilling lives. This field aims to understand the various changes individuals and their relationships go through as they continue to learn and grow.
The more complex definition of human development in psychology is that it’s a multidisciplinary study of the psychological, biological, and sociological factors that impact people from infancy through adolescence to adulthood.
The study of human development came to prominence in the 1970s. The human development index was created as an alternative to measuring nations by their GDP. People believed that the economy wasn’t enough to reflect what life was like for a nation’s population. The human development index includes health, education, and income. A healthy environment and access to health care, educational opportunities, and a decent standard of living are all keys to freedom and self-actualization.
Why study human development?
Human development is a broad, multi-disciplinary field. While this expansiveness might intimidate some, it’s a wonderful field to study if you’re interested in how different subjects impact, influence, and relate to each other.
Because the study of human development includes biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics, you can further your knowledge in all of these areas. Plus, you can also focus on the interplay of these factors. For example, a human development student could study how factors like how access to health care impacts high school graduation rate or whether nutrition has an impact on test scores.
A human development degree also applies to a wide spectrum of career paths. If you obtain a human development degree, you can go on to work in healthcare, education, public policy, business, law, and so on.
You can tailor your human development degree to focus on areas like childhood psychology or organizational psychology. These specializations can help guide you to specific careers like working in child care, social work, community activism, or human resources.
Human development programs at Pacific Oaks
Pacific Oaks College offers a diverse selection of human development programs. Whether you want to pursue a B.A. or an M.A. or you wish to specialize in social change or early childhood education and development, Pacific Oaks has a program suited for you.
Human Development Psychology Programs at Pacific Oaks College
- B.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Active Learning Across the Lifespan
- B.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Early Childhood Education and Development
- B.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Social Change
- B.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Working with Adults
- M.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Early Childhood Education & Development
- M.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Leadership in Education and Human Services
- M.A. in Human Development at Pasadena: Social Change
- Online B.A. in Human Development: Active Learning Across the Lifespan
- Online B.A. in Human Development: Early Childhood Education and Development
- Online B.A. in Human Development: Social Change
- Online B.A. in Human Development: Working with Adults
- Online M.A. in Human Development: Early Childhood Education and Development
- Online M.A. in Human Development: Leadership in Education and Human Services
- Online M.A. in Human Development: Social Change
Are you interested in learning more about Pacific Oaks College? Fill out the form below to request more information, visit our academic programs page, or you can apply today through our application portal.
