Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is the study of how individuals change and grow over the course of their lives. It focuses on the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development that occurs from infancy through adulthood. This field examines various factors that influence development, such as genetics, environment, and social interactions.
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11 Key excerpts on "Developmental Psychology"
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- The English Press(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter-1 Developmental Psychology Developmental Psychology , also known as human development , is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field exa-mines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation. Developmental Psychology includes issues such as the extent to which development occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge versus stage-like development, or the extent to which children are born with innate mental structures versus learning through experience. Many researchers are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors including social context, and their impact on development; others take a more narrowly focused approach. Developmental Psychology informs several applied fields, including: educational psychology, child psychopathology, and forensic Developmental Psychology. Develop-mental psychology complements several other basic research fields in psychology including social psychology, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and compara-tive psychology.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- College Publishing House(Publisher)
______________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ______________________________ Chapter 7 Developmental Psychology Developmental Psychology , also known as human development , is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation. Developmental Psychology includes issues such as the extent to which development occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge versus stage-like development, or the extent to which children are born with innate mental structures versus learning through experience. Many researchers are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors including social context, and their impact on development; others take a more narrowly focused approach. Developmental Psychology informs several applied fields, including: educational psychology, child psychopathology, and forensic Developmental Psychology. Developmental Psychology complements several other basic research fields in psychology including social psychology, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and comparative psychology.
eBook - PDF- Bassant Puri, Ian Treasaden(Authors)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Jean Piaget’s epistemological account of cognitive devel-opment is considered in more detail in other sections of this chapter. Based predominantly on the observations of his own children, Piaget developed a stage theory of cognitive devel-opment that emphasized the interaction between biological predispositions and environmental influence. His work also encompassed other aspects of development (e.g. moral devel-opment); however, it is his cognitive model of development that has been particularly influential. One of the most impor-tant contributions that Piaget made was to establish the child as playing a dynamic role in his or her own development, through interaction with physical and social worlds, that is driven by simple, inherited predispositions. Summary Understanding human development requires consideration of the relative influences of inherited biological dispositions and of environmental factors on phenotypic expression. This is referred to as the nature–nurture debate, and it is now accepted widely that genetic and environmental fac-tors are not simply additive but interact in complex ways. Generally, it is believed that an individual may vary on any given characteristic within limits determined by their geno-type, while the variation within these limits is determined by the environment. Stage theories have been employed to explain many important aspects of human development. They describe qualitative changes that occur at various periods during development. Individuals pass through developmental stages in a fixed order, with attainment of the characteristic skills of one stage being required before the individual can pass on to the next. Although sometimes criticized for their rigidity, stage theories have been extremely influential and describe behaviours that are often readily observable in the developing child.
eBook - PDF- Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould, Adrian Furnham(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
As we will see later in the chapter, there is a trend towards a longer human lifespan, and this has given greater prominence to fields of study such as gerontology or the psy- chology of ageing (Overton & Lerner, 2010). We will also think about how development can take an atypical course, an area in which another revolution has been brewing. A relatively new field of study called developmental psychopathology has provided a new way to help us focus on the factors over the course of a person’s lifetime that contrib- ute to their atypical development, a development that then follows a different developmental trajectory. This may result from brain damage, genetic disorder or a neuropsychiatric problem. Understanding How We Develop LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 Understand the key debates underlying research and theory in child development. Before we discuss what happens in development, it would be useful to consider some of the key issues that concern developmental psychologists. These issues are often foun- dations for theory, research and clinical work, but they are not always directly tested. As you work through the chapter, you may want to think about how the theories we will discuss later fit with these big ideas about human development. What Drives Change? Nature versus Nurture As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, the key debate in human development centres on how much of our growth, personality and behaviour is influenced by nature (i.e. our genetic inheritance) and how much is influenced by nurture (i.e., the environment around us as well as our experiences as we grow). Scientists who take a strong view of the influence of genetics or biology on development are said to view development endogenously (Porges & Carter, 2010). They look at development as biologically programmed to hap- pen sequentially, a process known as maturation .
eBook - PDF- Siri Carpenter, Karen Huffman(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
CHAPTER PLANNER ✓ ✓ ❑ Study the picture and read the opening story. ❑ Scan the Learning Objectives in each section: p. 230 ❑ p. 234 ❑ p. 243 ❑ ❑ Read the text and study all figures and visuals. Answer any questions. Analyze key features ❑ Psychological Science p. 231 ❑ p. 239 ❑ ❑ Process Diagram, p. 235 ❑ Psychology InSight, p. 237 ❑ Study Organizer, p. 245 ❑ Applying Psychology, p. 248 ❑ What a Psychologist Sees, p. 249 ❑ Stop: Answer the Concept Checks before you go on: p. 233 ❑ p. 243 ❑ p. 251 ❑ End of chapter ❑ Review the Summary and Key Terms. ❑ Answer the Critical and Creative Thinking Questions. ❑ Answer What is happening in this picture? ❑ Complete the Self-Test and check your answers. Nina Leen/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images, Inc. Studying Development LEARNING OBJECTIVES e begin our study of human devel-opment by focusing on some key theoretical issues and debates, along with several research ap-proaches unique to this field. Keep in mind that development does not stop after child-hood. Developmental Psychology studies how we grow and change throughout the eight major stages of life ( Table 9.1 ). 1. Summarize the three most important debates or questions in Developmental Psychology. W Nature or nurture The issue of “nature versus nurture” has been with us since the be-ginning of psychology (Chapter 1). According to the nature position, human behavior and development are gov-erned by automatic, genetically predetermined signals in a process known as maturation . Just as a flower unfolds in accord with its genetic blueprint, we humans crawl before we walk and walk before we run. Furthermore, there is an optimal period shortly after birth, one of several critical periods during our lifetime, when an organism is especially sensitive to certain experiences that shape the capacity for future development.
eBook - ePub- Elliot Hearst, Eliot Hearst, Elliot Hearst, Eliot Hearst(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
1. Developmental concepts are destined to play an increasingly visible role in efforts to understand the functions, controls, and evolution of behavior and cognition. Their neglect during critical phases in the establishment of experimental psychology has been a serious handicap for the organization and analysis of psychological phenomena, both basic and applied.2. In physiological and comparative psychology, the enthusiasm for developmental analyses will not diminish. Indeed, the payoffs have just begun (see Gottlieb, 1976). The application of developmental concepts at both the central and peripheral levels is likely to continue to be a key factor in unraveling the regulation of sensory and motor systems.3. Biological constraints have been shown to play a major role in accounting for differences among species in what is learned and perceived. Differences across ages within a species—comparing neonatal infants and young children and adults—appear to reflect the operation of “developmental constraints” in language, perception, memory, and learning. Such constraints are not constant in development; they are modified over time. The gains to be made from this new view of children as “prepared,” adaptive, and developing organisms are just beginning to be realized in cognitive research.4. The resurgence of evolutionary interpretations of behavior and consciousness in ethology and sociobiology has reminded psychologists of some unfinished business. Having avoided the issues for a half-century, the science is reconfronted with the matters that Darwin, Romanes, J. M. Baldwin, and Binet considered to be central for the new science. They were correct. The recent attempts to unravel developmental contributions to behavioral evolution, and vice versa, will move to the center of the program of theoretical and empirical analysis. The relationship between developmental timing (heterochrony) and evolution has been predicted by Gould (1977) to be the central problem for developmental and evolutionary biology in the 1980s. It may reach the same position for developmental and evolutionary psychology by the 1990s.
eBook - PDF- Catherine A. Sanderson, Karen R. Huffman(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
© jfairone/iStockphoto 235 © Pojoslaw/Shutterstock 236 CHAPTER 9 Life Span Development TABLE 9.1 Life Span Development STAGE APPROXIMATE AGE Prenatal Conception to birth Infancy Birth to 18 months Early childhood 18 months to 6 years Middle childhood 6 to 12 years Adolescence 12 to 20 years Young adulthood 20 to 45 years Middle adulthood 45 to 60 years Late adulthood 60 years to death 9.1 Studying Development LEARNING OBJECTIVES Retrieval Practice While reading the upcoming sections, respond to each Learning Objective in your own words. Review Developmental Psychology’s theoretical issues and key research approaches. • Define Developmental Psychology. • Discuss the three key theoretical issues in Developmental Psychology. • Contrast the cross-sectional research design with the longitudinal research design. Just as some parents carefully document their child’s progress throughout his or her life, the field of Developmental Psychology studies growth and change throughout the eight major stages of life—from conception to death, or “womb to tomb” (Table 9.1). These studies have led to three key theoretical issues. Theoretical Issues Almost every area of research in human development frames questions around three ma- jor issues: 1. Nature or nurture? How do both genetics (nature) and life experiences (nurture) influence development? According to the nature position, development is largely governed by automatic, genetically predetermined signals in a process known as maturation. Just as a flower unfolds in accord with its genetic blueprint, humans crawl before we walk, and walk before we run. In addition, naturists believe there are critical periods, or windows of opportu- nity, that occur early in life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences is neces- sary for proper development. For example, many newborn animals, and theoretically humans, form rigid attachments to particular stimuli shortly after birth, a process called imprinting (Figure 9.1).
- Michele Hoffnung, Robert J. Hoffnung, Kelvin L. Seifert, Abi Brooker, Sonja Ellis, Damien Riggs, Wayne Warburton, Elyse Warner(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
As people grow older, they experience cognitive changes in control processes, metacognition and their knowledge bases. Cognitive theories help us to understand and foster intellectual development, problem-solving abilities and critical thinking skills throughout the lifespan. 2.5 Describe how contextual approaches to development have broadened our view of developmental change. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory proposes that the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem form inter- active and overlapping contexts for development. Vygotsky empha- sises the contribution of history and culture to development, which takes place within a child’s zone of proximal development. Lerner’s contextual approach emphasises the dynamic, interactive, reciprocal relationships between individual development and changes in the contexts in which development occurs, such as education, work and family. Elder suggests education, work and family create the social trajectories, or pathways, that guide individual development. Etholog- ical theory focuses on the developmental roles of behavioural disposi- tions and traits, such as temperament and attachment, that are thought to have evolutionary survival value for the human species. These theories are very useful in explaining how development throughout the life course interacts with and is influenced by the context in which the development occurs. 2.6 Compare and contrast how adult developmental changes differ from child and adolescent developmental changes. Normative-crisis theories focus on fairly predictable changes that occur over the lifespan, particularly during the adult years. Timing- of-events theory emphasises the role of both normative and non- normative transitions in an individual’s life course and how social expectations may be internalised in a ‘social clock’ against which we judge our own development.
- Lance Workman, Will Reader, Jerome H. Barkow(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Evolutionary developmental psychologists recognize the importance of childhood and the adaptations natural selec- tion have shaped to survive childhood and prepare children for adulthood. These evolved characteristics develop via continuous and reciprocal bidirectional gene–environment interactions that emerge over time. Evolutionary develop- mental psychology emphasizes the importance of examin- ing development through an evolutionary lens and of considering the interaction between a child and all levels, from genes to culture. From this perspective, we are able to see that not only does “nothing in biology make sense except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky, 1973), but that the same applies for psychology and human development. REFERENCES Abravanel, E., & Sigafoos, A. D. (1984). Exploring the presence of imitation during early infancy. Child Development, 55, 381–392. Anzures, G., Wheeler, A., Quinn, P. C., et al. (2012). Brief daily exposures to Asian females reverses perceptual narrowing for Asian faces in Caucasian infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112(4), 484–495. Bardi, L., Regolin, L., & Simion, F. (2014). The first time ever I saw your feet: Inversion effect in newborns’ sensitivity to biological motion. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 986. Beier, J. S., & Spelke, E. S. (2012). Infants’ developing under- standing of social gaze. Child Development, 83(2), 486–496. Belsky, J., & Most, R. K. (1981). From exploration to play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior. Developmental Psychology, 17(5), 630. Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experi- ence, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62(4), 647–670. Belsky, J., Steinberg, L. D., Houts, R. M., et al. (2007). Family rearing antecedents of pubertal timing. Child Development, 78 (4), 1302–1321. Bjorklund, D. F.
eBook - ePub- Ronald Comer, Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Because of his death at the young age of 37 and the chilly political climate between the former Soviet Union and the West, Vygotsky’s ideas have only become more widely studied in North America in recent years. However, developmental psychologists have found numerous ways to apply Vygotsky’s ideas (Trawick-Smith & Dziurgot, 2011). He has become one of today’s most influential developmental theorists (Eun, 2010). Indeed, the ideas of scaffolding and zones of proximal development are now an important part of educational systems throughout North America (Roth & Jornet, 2017; Moll, 2013). When helping children learn to read, for example, many teachers begin by reading books to them, and then gradually turn over responsibility for various reading skills. The children may first follow along with the pictures as the teacher reads the words, then point to letters. Eventually, they learn to read single words, then sentences, and finally entire books on their own, as the teacher provides less and less scaffolding.Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Childhood
While we tend to think of young infants as completely helpless, they actually bring a number of behavioural tendencies to their early interactions with their parents.As we noted in Chapter 1 , many psychological researchers are interested in trying to determine how much of the way we think and act is influenced by our genetic inheritance, a field of study called behavioural genetics. Developmental psychologists are often in a position to examine the influence of genetics. One of the key areas of focus of both behavioural genetics and Developmental Psychology, for example, is temperament , defined as a biologically-based tendency to respond to certain situations in similar ways throughout a person’s lifetime (Trofimova & Robbins, 2016; Chess, 2013) (see photo). Although temperament and personality are related, they are not the same thing. Many personality characteristics are learned or acquired, whereas temperamental traits are considered genetic (Zentner & Shiner, 2015; Buss & Plomin, 2014). In a longitudinal study that began in the 1950s, the New York Longitudinal Study
eBook - PDFLife-Span Developmental Psychology
Methodological Issues
- John R. Nesselroade, Hayne W. Reese, John R. Nesselroade, Hayne W. Reese(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
CHAPTER Developmental Psychology and Society: Some Historical and Ethical Considerations KLAUS F. RIEGEL UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN Ethical issues, as commonly conceived, concern the individual's actions toward other individuals. Thus, the guidelines prepared by the American Psychological Association (1963) provide standards on professional interactions. By and large, they disregard the scientist's responsibility toward the society within which his discipline has emerged. The second ethical consideration concerns this connec- tion and impels the scientist to be engaged in or, at least, to be conscious of social actions. In the following paper, attention will be directed exclusively toward the latter issue. I. Social, Political, and Economic Bases of the Developmental Sciences A. Historical Node Points in the Conception of Man . . . for what everyone wanted was denied by everyone else, and what resulted was what no one had wanted —FRIEDRICH ENGELS 1. Psychological Interpretations Our concern with the history of civilization and, especially, our atempts to answer the question of whether a non-Western Developmental Psychology, for 1 1 2 Klaus F. Riegel instance, a black psychology is possible, might be compared with the attempts of psychoanalysts. Inquiries into the distant past of our society are similar to their attempts at discovering points of choice and/or catastrophe in the life of an individual (Wyatt, 1963). The psychoanalyst essentially restricts his efforts to the discovery of these points; it is left to the patient to reconstruct his life in a new and "healthier" fashion. Similarly, our historical inquiries aim at uncovering points in time at which crucial choices were made. We can trace the history back to these points, but any distinct groups, such as minority groups, would have to construct their own new interpretation of life, a new philosophy of man and his development. A great many writers have expressed similar viewpoints.
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