History and Fundamentals

Developmental Psychology

Human Development

• The scientific study of age-related changes in behavior, thinking, emotion, and personality.
• Interdisciplinary- psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, medicine, neuroscience, education, etc. 
• 3 Domains
  • • Physical Development – motor skills, body size, physical health, etc.
    • Cognitive Development – Intellectual abilities, problem solving, creativity, language, etc
    • Emotional and Social Development – Emotional communication, self-understanding, interpersonal skills, moral reasoning, etc.

• Prenatal Development (conception – birth)
  • most rapid time of change
• Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth- 2 years)
  • Emergence of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities (beginning of language)
  • Infancy – spans the first year
  • Toddlerhood – spans the second year
•  Early Childhood (2 – 6 years)
  • Motor skills are refined
  • Cognitive maturity (thought and language) develop at incredible pace
  • Sense of morality becomes evident
  • Establish ties with peers
• Middle Childhood (6 – 11 years)
  • Master responsibilities that resemble adulthood
  • Academic knowledge and skills (read, writing, math)
  • Greater understanding of the self
• Adolescence ( 11-18 years)
  • Puberty
    • Transition from childhood to adulthood
    • Reach sexual maturity
  • Thought becomes abstract and idealistic
  • Begin to establish autonomy from family
  • Begin to define persona values and goals
• Emerging Adulthood ( 18-25 years)
  • New developmental period in industrialized nations
    • Due to prolonged transition to adulthood.
  • Exploration of love, career, and personal values before making enduring commitments
• Early Adulthood ( 20 to 40 years)
• Middle Adulthood ( 40 – 65 years)
• Late Adulthood ( 65 to death)

Basic Issues

• Theory—an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior.
  • Guide and give meaning to what we observe
  • Verified by research
    • Must be tested by established research procedures
• No single theory can explain the physical, cognitive, emotional and social changes a person goes through.

Nature vs Nurture

• Nature—inborn biological givens
  • Hereditary information received by parents
• Nurture—environmental forces
  • Culture, parenting style, SES, etc.
• Stability—children will remain the same as adults
• Plasticity—open to change in response to influential experiences

One Course of Development or Many

• Development is viewed by contemporary theorists as multi-layered and complex
  • Beyond heredity and biological makeup
  • Considering cultural diversity more than ever

Historical Foundations

• John Locke (1632-1704)—viewed children as “tabula rasa” Latin for blank slate
  • Children are shaped entirely by experience
  • Believed in reinforcing with praise instead of sweets
  • Opposed physical punishment
    • Causes fear and anger
• Jean-Jaques Rousseau (1712-1778)—viewed children as “noble savages”
  • Naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong

• Adult training harms children’s innate morality

• Believed adults should be receptive to children’s needs from infancy through adolescence

• Charles Darwin (1809-1882)—
  • Survival of the fittest
  • Physical and personality traits are genetically inherited

• Normative Period—measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development.
  • Foundation of child-study movement
  • Development is genetically determined; process unfolds automatically