Difference Between Growth and Development

in biology, the Basic difference between growth and development is that growth is qualitative, objectively observed, and measured. it only increases the size of the organism while development is quantitative, can’t be measured, and continuous in mental activities. growth occurs in different parts and development changes in the organisms. in other words, it is a completer process in which the organisms start developing from a single cell to complex multicellular organisms.

They are used in the same sense, but, according to psychologists, Growth and development are basically two different terms.

Growth is regarded as the change of human body structure or texture, according to this sense, height, and weight increase. On the contrary, the name of the human character is the name of modification, change, or development.

in the eyes of some experts, Growth is the change in human structure, which continues to reach puberty and development is a change in human character that persists in the last breath of life.

According to the theory of Frank, the physical increase of the body of an individual, the height and the weight of the body, is called growth while development is the name of unity and organization among the various aspects of the development.

Self-determination refers to the overall changes in the individual, whereas reality is part of the sign that is only related to physical changes.

Here are some points to clarify more in detail the difference between these two.

Difference Between Growth and Development in Tabular Form

Growth	Development
It is used in a totally physical sense and generally refers to an increase in length and size.	It implies an overall and complete change in shape, structure, and form which results in improved personality, working, or functionality.
It is an irreversible increment of size.	Development is also known as irreversible.
Growth changes the quantitative aspects which come into the domain of growth.	Development changes the quality or character instead of quantitative aspects in the domain.
It is a simple term.	It is a broad term that involves growth too.
Typically we can say that growth involves body changes.	While development impact functioning and behavior and with the result of it qualitative changes brings up
Deals on with the size of an organism	Being a broad term deals with the structure, size, and different abilities of organisms.
It can be measured.	While development can be judged.
No specific stages can be found in growth.	It has divided into various stages.
It depends usually on food like materials and life-growing products.	It refers to physical activities like education and social interaction etc.
An irreversible increase in size occurs in growth that increases the size and number of cells.	In this process the organism change from a single cell to a more complex multicellular organism.
Related to one aspect of personality.	It is generally related to all aspects of personality.

Growth vs Development – Summary

most often common people in daily life and especially biology students consider development and growth the same in meaning. but, you’ll be surprised that they possess a huge difference in their meaning and applications.

from both of them, the growth is an irreversible process or increment in the size of the cell of the organism. on the other hand, development is considered a process applied to single-cell for changes to more complex multicellular organisms. in this way, growth is a miner or single term and specifically, development known as a broader term.

now…!

you should be clear about their differences.  Let’s discuss Growth and Development one by one in Detail.

What is growth?

as we discussed above, growth is an irreversible increase or change in the organism’s size. it also increases its number and cell size with the help of cell division or mitotic cell division. as a result, the elasticity of cells, water contents, and size of vacuole also increase in a particular time.

initially, it is a slow process but from time to time it increases rapidly but turns as negative on body age and growth.

Growth is slow at first but increases over time. But as the body ages, growth turns negative. During old age, cell replacement does not occur frequently, that is, cells begin to die and break down. On the other hand, during puberty, humans experience a rapid growth phase. The genetic makeup of an organism also affects its growth.

In humans, if a person’s family line is made up of tall people, it is most likely tall as well. In the case of plants, water and light play the most important role in growth. Furthermore, light and gravity also affect the direction of growth which is known as “tropism” and gravitropism. Growth can be easily measured in terms of its biomass, that is, an organic matter of an organism.

What is development?

In biology, development is related to the transformation of an organism. It is a process in which a specific organism turns from a single cell into a more complicated multicellular organism. An organism is made up of different important organ systems such as the respiratory system, the reproductive system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system, etc. All of these systems are shaped by the development process.

Development takes place in a specific period of time. It includes the differentiation process. During this process, each cell differentiates to form a specialized system or part of the body. Each organism has its specific developmental stages such as cleavage, blastula, morula, gastrula, and organogenesis, etc.

Furthermore, some organisms also change to different forms after birth, that is, metamorphosis. It also has different stages such as egg to larva, larva to pupa, and pupa to adult. For example, the frog, which is born as a tadpole and metamorphoses into an adult frog.

Key differences

1. the number and size of cells in an organism increases in growth. hence, it is known as an irreversible process. while, in development, the cell divides in a specific organism from a single cell to a more complex multicellular organism.
2. Growth is known as a simple term while development is a broad term that covers growth also.
3. growth only deals with an organism’s size but the development deals with the structure, functions, organism’s abilities, and their sizes with many other things.
4. the growth is measured in terms of biomass like organic matter without water content while the development is measured in terms of measuring biomass.
5. the development is categorized into various specific stages but growth has no specific stages.

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