Human Development : By Jared Diamond

Some of the psychological effects are paranoia, depression, or suicidal thoughts. Some physical effects are rapid heartbeat, sleepiness, HIV, hepatitis from sharing needles, and respiratory problems. “Once you get started, it can be very hard to stop”. (Calabria et al., 2010, as cited in Cooner & Mitterer, 2016, p. 181). For example, I know someone that decided to try marijuana for the first time. What he did not know was the person had put cocaine in with it. After trying it that first time he did eventually become addicted to drugs and he even started doing heroin. Drugs affect three parts of the brain the cortex, limbic system, and the brain stem. Drug addiction affects the way the brain communicate and the way neurons send, receive, and process information. “Addictive drugs increase dopamine activity.” (Boyd, Harris, & Knight, 2012, as cited in Cooner & Mitterer, 2016, p.

In the early 20th-century, interest in the field of child development emerged. Researchers and theorists studied the ways in which children grew, learned, and, in some instances, were shaped by societal influences (Weiland, 1993). The study of child development enables us to appreciate and understand the social, emotional, physical, educational, and cognitive growth that children go through from birth to early adulthood. Grand theories attempt to organize and arrange concepts and aspects of development using a step approach. Such as that of Erik Erikson’s theory, the Psychosocial Identity Development theory, in which he addresses the development of personal, emotional, and social progression in an individual through stages (Pretorius et al., 2015). Erikson’s model for the approach of development involves the focus of overcoming conflicts that individuals encounter over the span of their childhood that influence their ego identity, or the conscious sense of self that develops and constantly changes due to new experiences and information that is acquired through daily interactions with others and events. In Erikson’s theory, he believed that each person experienced a conflict that served as a defining moment in their development that essentially shaped who they would become later on in life; he believed that unresolved problems of adult life echoed unresolved conflicts of one’s childhood (Berger, 2011).

Diamond describes the early parts of human history in a broad scope towards the beginning of the book. He focuses on both the evolution and spread of human beings, arguing that some civilizations had a head start over other ones because of when the period of human evolution took place. He explains how different environments shaped human history through an a example of how populations which inhabited the Polynesian islands developed differently due to the different environments and then by telling the stories about what happened as populations with better geographical advantages encountered more disadvantaged populations in the Americas. Diamond explains the many factors that influenced the historical progression of different societies. Diamond argues how food production was very much a primary factor in the advancement of each society. Societies

Diamond explains that our worst mistake was the transition from hunter-gathers to farmers. Diamond believes that humans were better off chasing our food rather than planting it due to the consequences that followed after such a dramatic change of life. His reasoning expands further out than one might think of about this subject. He talks about the social changes that were created when agriculture began. Diamond spews empowering points that leave a reader pondering if he is correct. People are only sure of how the world is now but the possibilities are endless on what our world could have been if agriculture had not begun.

Many geographers have attempted creating a unified theory explaining why cultures advance much more readily than others. Very few have actually reached mainstream society and even fewer seem reasonable. However, Jared Diamond shines where most do not. His book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, proposes an idea that has long been established called environmental determinism. Most view environmental determinism as a racist theory attributing a peoples’ intelligence only to their oppressive climates and geographical barriers. Diamond instead has created a theory that applies environmental determinism to only a peoples’ technology—not the people themselves. This has given researchers valuable tools that allow them to explain why some nations have

One of the most significant mile-stones in the human race is agriculture. Ten-thousand years ago, the practice of farming, cultivating land and soil to produce crops, and domesticating and rearing animals to produce food, wool and other products, opened a door for the beginning of civilization. In the article, “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race”, written by Jared Diamond, Diamond contradicts the fact that human history has been a long tale of progress. He argues that agriculture is the reason that the human race is cursed with social and sexual inequality, disease, and despotism. Diamond uses many examples to prove his statement.

Until the recent year of 1987 people often saw the neolithic age as a glorious turning point that made us the great spices we are today, but Jared diamond a brilliant scientist of his age wrote an article for discover magazine called The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by Jared diamond which presented a rare idea of the neolithic age being a mistake by our ancestors. He talked about how with agriculture came biased and disease like a real pandora's box. Disease was mostly caused by things like an unhealthy diet, and biased was caused by an unnecessary social classes. A few years ago a blogger and a supporter and student of traditional farming countered Jared diamond’s article with rage due to him believing that everyone was siding with Jared Diamond.Although his argument is sloppy and could not be called a scientific paper. Jared diamond was and is more convincing than Jim Woods in arguing that the neolithic age should be a considered a negative turning point in human history. This is because with agriculture came the faults of humanity such as racism, sexism, biased, etc., the very problems that humanity has been

Intimacy versus isolation is stage six in Erik Ericksons eight stages of human development. This stage takes place from approximately 19-40 years of age (Orlofsky, Marcia, & Lesser, 1973). The big question that people face in this stage is will I be loved or will I be alone. During this stage people start to develop more long term relationships. Friendship, dating, marriage and family play a big role in the happiness of this stage. This is when we leave the people that we grew up with and start our own lives. By establishing

Jared Diamond is a professor at UCLA, a biologist by training, and a specialist in human physiology. He is trying to figure out how the Europeans developed advantages of military power, lethal microbes and advanced technologies in the first place. His quest was to uncover the roots of inequality.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, attempts to explain why history progressed differently for people from various geographical regions. Diamond introduces his book by pointing out that history followed different courses for different people because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves. Through his convincing explanation for how civilizations were created and evolved throughout the course of history, he argues that environmental factors gave some societies advantages over others, allowing them to conquer the disadvantaged societies. While I agree with Diamond’s argument that the orientation of continental axis, availability of potential

The published work I selected for this essay was Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. His work delves into the discussion of the development of European, Asian, and North African societies (using the landmass as a whole termed Eurasia) over history, and using the three mentioned lexemes in the novel’s title to explain the most important aspects of societal development- militant technological advancements, ecosystems/ecophysiology, and geopolitics, respectively. Diamond argues that contrary to popular belief, biology is not the generally accepted factor that determined the global cultural hierarchy. Diamond refutes the biological

When reading the title of Jared Diamond’s, “Guns, Germs, and Steels,” the readers must initially think how do these three connect? After starting the first few chapters they will realize that Diamond is referring to the proximate and ultimate factors in that lead to the advancement of society. When Diamond talks about proximate and ultimate factors, he is explaining the cause of European dominance in the world. The proximate factors are the one that directly led to the European dominance and the ultimate factors are the ones that let to proximate factors. I believe that this book is referring to the Homo sapiens revolutionizing through the years, through the Neolithic Revolution through agriculture and industrialization.

Many human development specialists have examined memory loss of adults later in life. During the past fifty years, there have been many studies in children’s cognitive development and earlier childhood memory loss. Ernest G. Schachtel conducted studies on why people forget childhood memories as they grow older. He described the processes that could be involved in early memory loss (Crain, 2005). He was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s cognitive theory (Crain, 2005). Lev S. Vygotsky, however, described children’s early memory development as a holistic process that involved society, physiological, cultural, and economical environments. (Vygotsky,

Jared Diamond is a professor of Geography at UCLA and a world traveler. He believes that in the past 13,000 years of human history, agriculture has lead humans to conquer, develop and prosper and therefore cause the rise of civilizations. In 1972 he was in New Guinea when he met a local named Yali who asked him a simple question that took years for Diamond to answer. Yali said “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo [goods] and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own”. [Work cited 7] Diamond was profoundly puzzled and couldn’t answer right away. In fact it took him many years to come up with what he thinks is the right answer. ‘Yali’s question’ plays a central role in Professor Diamond’s enquiry into ‘a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years’, leading him into a wide-ranging discussion of the history of human evolution and diversity through a study of migration, socio-economic and cultural adaptation to environmental conditions, and technological diffusion. (Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel, p. 22-23)

There are three foundations of human development. The foundations are the biological development, psychological development, and social development. The concept of human diversity and cultural competences demonstrates how different people can be. General systems theory and social order are connected in some way.