Developmental psychology - Developmental issues from life cycle Flashcards
What is development?
Development is an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation.
Development leads to growth –> progress –> advances –> maturity –> Characteristics/ changes –> Decline
Definition of developmental psychology
Psychology in general is the science or
investigation and study of human and animal
behaviour.
• It is a science that seeks to understand and predict
human and animal behaviour.
What is the concern of developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is concerned with
exploring development and change in thoughts,
feelings and behaviours across the lifespan as well as
health and illness patterns that develop during the
lifespan.
The branches of developmental psychology
The branches of study of developmental psychology are •child development, •adolescent development and •adulthood development.
#The field of human development, in its entirety/totality , is regarded as developmental psychology.
Lifespan development
Child psychology focuses on the developmental
changes of children from conception to early
adolescent.
Child psychology is the centre of developmental
psychology since brain & behaviour develops
rapidly in the childhood state.
Adolescent psychology and adulthood psychology
deal with developmental changes, characteristics and
problems that occur especially in adolescence and
adulthood periods.
Six aims in studying human development
How do these influence health and illness patterns. These would be of medical interest.
i) What are the common and characteristic age changes
in brain, physical aspects , behaviour, interests, and goals
from one development period to another;
ii) When do these changes occur;
iii) What causes the changes;
iv) What behaviour changes ;
v) Whether they can or cannot be predicted; and
vi) Whether they are individual or universal
Bio-psycho-social aspects of development
from pre-natal stage to adult stage and old age/senescence
The goal of developmental psychology is to identify how
the individual develops biologically, psychologically and
socially
Psychological development means
-Cognitive (thinking, reasoning, intellectual,
-perception
affectively –feelings and regulation of feelings
Biological Development means
physical & motor
development
Social Development means
-ability to relate constructively to
other humans and the environment/social
maladaptation.
What does developmental psychology emphasize and what does the study include?
Developmental psychology emphasizes the factors affecting
developmental changes, and the orderliness and sequential
nature of human development.
Thus developmental psychology is a special branch of
psychology focusing on physical & mental processes which
involve growth and developmental changes. This relates to
aspects of differentiation, maturation, and learning;
It also includes the integration of biological, cognitive
(thoughts) and affective (emotional) processes (Akinboye et al
1982).
The above study also includes the study of processes that
contribute to foundations of life in terms of fertilisation, zygote
formation, embryonic development leading to the development
of the neonate, the child, adolescent, adult and senescence (old
age)
Mind development in developing brain
- Thought development
- Memory Development
- Attention & concentration
- Perception
- Feelings and Intelligence
The concept of the use defined brain…
-Reflects the idea.. that our brains are shaped by
repetitive neural experiences [RNE]
-RNE result in the formation of strong synaptic connections
(“cells that fire together, wire together”)
-The mind develops in the brain partly,
due to the result of repeated early experience or adaptation
to early conditions that have become synaptically sculpted
(hard wired) into neural circuits.
Freud’s personality structure and Psychosexual stages of development
Freud theorized that as we develop, 3 personality structures emerge. These are the : 1. Id 2. Ego 3. Superego
Freudian Psychological stages of development
- Oral
- Anal
- Phallic
- Latency
- Genital
Oral = 0-2 years
Infant achieves gratification through oral activities such as feeding , thumb sucking and babbling
Anal = 2-3 years
The child learns to respond to some of the demands of society (such as bowel and bladder control)
Phallic 3 - 7 years
The child learns to realize the difference between males and females and becomes aware of sexuality
Latency 7-11 years
The child continues his or her development but sexual urges are relatively quiet
Genital 11 - adults years
The growing adolescent shakes off old dependencies and learns to deals maturely with the opposite sex
Piaget’s Cognitive Development. The four stages of cognitive development
Piaget developed four stages to his theory:
1. Sensori-Motor stage - the discovery of the relationship between sensation and motor behavior. Object permanence and separation anxiety. [0-2]
- Pre-operational stage - Use of symbols to represent objects internally, especially through language. Ability to pretend. Egocentric. [2-6]
- Concrete operational stage - Mastery of logic and development of “rational” thinking. Can add and subtract. The child understands conservation. [7-12]
- Formal operational stage
Development of abstract and hypothetical reasoning. [12-adults]
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
These are in an order of increasing complexity
- Trust vs mistrust [infant -2 years]
- Autonomy vs shame & doubt [2 -3 years]
- Initiative vs guilt [3-5 years]
- Industry vs
inferiority [5-13 years] - Identity vs role
confusion [13 -21 years] - Intimacy vs isolation [21-39 years]
- Generatively vs
stagnation [40 -65] - Ego integrity vs
despair [65- older]
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
I. Pre-Conventional Morality (EARLY CHILDHOOD)
II. Conventional Morality
III. Post-Conventional Morality
Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral development
Post-conventional Morality
Stage 6:Universal Ethics Orientation
Stage 5:Social Contract Orientation
Conventional morality
Stage 4:Law and Order Orientation (EARLY ADOLESCENCE)
Stage 3:Social Conformity Orientation (MIDDLE TO LATE
CHILDHOOD)
pre-conventional morality
Stage 2: Self-Interest Orientation
Stage 1:Obedience or Punishment Orientation.
Theories of Human Development
•Freud’s theory focuses on psychosexual
development;
•Erikson’s theory focuses on psychosocial
development
•Piaget’s theory focuses on Cognitive development
•Kohlberg’s theory focuses on moral development
• Vygotsky’s theory focuses on socio-cultural
influences on human development
•Social learning theory focuses on learning by
modeling or imitating others as most influential in
human development
RESEARCH
&
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
• Various scientific methods are used to gather
evidence to support or refute developmental
theories.
Basic Issues in the human life cycle:
a) Continuous or Discontinuous Development
b) Course of Development
c) Nature (genetic influences) or Nurture
(environmental influences) debate
Stability vs Change
Stability vs. Change, deals with the issue of
whether or not personality traits present
during present during infancy endure
throughout the lifespan. Change. Change
theorists argue that personalities are modified
by interactions with family, experiences at
school, and acculturation
Innate temperament versus personality shaped by environmental
and people [correct these statements]
1.Temperament refers to the different aspects of an individual’s personality like extroversion or introversion. It is regarded as innate or inborn and is not learned. 2.Personality is what
arises within an individual.
Elevator versus stairs
Continuity versus discontinuity/ stages of development
On one hand, the continuity theory says that development is a
gradual, continuous process. On the other hand, the discontinuity
theory says that development occurs in a series of distinct stages
Nature (genetics) versus nurture (environment).
Genetic versus environmental influences
Continuous or Discontinuous Development [view 1]
One developmental view holds that infants and
preschoolers respond to the world in much the same
way as adults do. The difference between the
immature and mature being is simply one of amount
or complexity.
Thus they conclude that development is continuous.
Continuous or Discontinuous Development [view 2]
A second view regards infants and children as having
unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving,
-ones much different from adults.
In other words, development is discontinuous-a
process in which new and different ways of
interpreting and responding to the world emerge at
particular time periods.
Course of Development
Stage theorists assume that people everywhere
follow same sequence of development.
Yet the field of human development is becoming
increasingly aware that children and adults live in
distinct contexts or unique combinations of personal
contexts and environmental circumstances that can
result in different paths of change.
Course of development [Contemporary theorists]
Contemporary theorists regard the contexts that shape
development as many-layered and complex.
On the personal side, they include heredity and biological
makeup. On the environmental side, they include immediate
settings, such as home, school, and neighborhood, as well as
circumstances more remote from people’s everyday livescommunity resources, societal values, and historical time
period, as well as technology.
Finally, a special interest in culture has made researchers
more conscious than ever before of diversity in
development
Nature vs Nurture debate
Each theory describes the course of human development,
and also each theory takes a stance on a major question
about its underlying causes: Are genetic or environmental
factors important in determining development? This is the
age-old nature-nurture controversy.
What do we mean by nature?
By nature, we mean inborn biological givens-the
hereditary information we receive from our parents
at the moment of conception.
What do we mean by nurture?
By nurture, we mean the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our
biological makeup and psychological experiences
before and after birth
