One’s development is influenced by biological, psychological as well as social factors. Scientists agree that, in a person’s development, both nature and nurture play a role (Ross, 2000). This is commonly referred to as the bio-psycho-social dimension of development. What scientists do not agree on, however, is the amount of influence each has on human development (Dodge & Petit, 2009). They agree that there is an interrelation between psychological, biological and social factors. The relationship between these three factors plays an important role in determining one’s personality.

During infancy, one develops self view of himself and others around him. This internal representation of oneself is what is known as self concept. One also forms an internal concept of other people around him (Ross, 2000). How one views himself and other people around him play a great role in how a person organizes himself and also influence his motivation and behavior (Dodge & Petit, 2009). Once infants begin to develop emotions for their caregivers their image of self develops in relation to their relationship with the other person. For instance, if the caregiver is threatening the child develops a weak self image. The relation between the child and the caregiver influences the child’s development as time goes on.

Other than social factors, biological dispositions also influence the development of a person’s development. For instance, if there are genetic abnormalities, say Down’s syndrome, the child may not have normal development. Frequent illness during a child’s early stages also affects a child’s development. The interaction between bio-psycho-social factors has a great impact on the development of the child (Dodge & Petit, 2009).

Good treatment of children helps them have a good self concept as well as self worth. If a child is treated coldly, he develops a feeling of insecurity. Whichever treatment they receive affects them psychologically (Ross, 2000). They learn to mistrust authorities and learn to anticipate mistreatment. As a result, they do not learn to regulate their emotions. When such feelings combine with biological and social factors they may even lead to personality disorder in the child. Hence the bio-psycho-social interaction plays a big role in one’s development.

Humans come from varied backgrounds. People are different in terms of gender class, race, age, religion, sexual preferences and such other factors (Barbujani, 2005). There are also individual differences as personality, preferences, interests, attitudes, emotions and such other factors. Whenever one fails to see differences in other people, say preferences, or the difference in lifestyle, the differences always manifest themselves as conflicts.

They see these as problems; as reasons why they should not participate in activities being carried out by others. On the other hand, recognizing that people are different becomes a source of insights solutions and new activities that people can participate in (Barbujani, 2000). These relationships in return end up enriching the culture and further equipping the participants. Diversity demands that everyone get included despite whatever differences there might be.

Cultural competence refers to one’s ability to work across various cultural situations. This requires that one develop behavior attitudes and policies that are in line with the cultural situation that he is dealing with. A cultural competent person can deal with people who speak differently, come from a different culture, religions and various other religions (Barbujani, 2000). Cultural competence enables one relate well with people from diverse cultures. A culturally competent person has a clear knowledge of own cultural identity. This way, he can learn and build on the diverse cultures around him as opposed to fighting cultures that are different from his. One can understand the diversity in culture among the group he is dealing with. Cultural competence enables one navigate easily in an environment that full of human diversity.

General systems theory is one of the frameworks that can assist in perceiving and analyzing situations. It’s an important tool to agents of social change when looking at social change (Boulding, 2004). At simple level general systems theory can be viewed as elements; some that are in exchange and others that are bound. All this happens within an environment. The system is related to the environment and can even be in harmony with the environment. The idea of a system is applicable when looking at how people interact. Humanity can be looked at as a system of people who communicate and share goals (Boulding 2004). Here the community is seen as a system and the people as the elements.

Social order is the idea of society structure and relations that are expected to bring about peace and calmness in the society. Decision making in societies involves two systems where the one in power seeks strategies that can enable it remain in power while the one that is not in power seeks a chance for it to ascend into power (Boulding, 2000). Decisions in communities are made in hierarchies with the highest making the most important decisions. Hence social institutions run through the system. Families, work, and social groups can be taken to be part of a larger system. In most cases bringing about change in the system involves influencing the top decision makers (Boulding, 2000). Hence the society can be viewed as a system where bringing about social order requires influencing all the systems within.

References

David Ross (2000). A method for developing bio-psycho-social formulation. Retrieved from http://cchs.ua.edu/wp-content/cchsfiles/psych/BIOPYCHOSOCIAL.pdf

Guido Barbujani (2005). Human Races: Classifying People vs. Understanding Diversity. Retrieved from http://www2.webmatic.it/workO/s/113/pr-465-file_it-Current%20Genomics%204.pdf

Kenneth A. Dodge and Gregory S. Pettit (2009). A Bio-psycho-social Model of the Development

Of Chronic Conduct Problems in Adolescence. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755613/

Kenneth E. Boulding (2004). General systems theory: The skeleton of science. Retrieved from

http://emergentpublications.com/eco/ECO_other/Issue_6_1-2_18_CP.pdf?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1