Developmental psychology - Developmental issues from life cycle

Question 1

What is development?

Answer 1

Development is an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation.

Development leads to growth –> progress –> advances –> maturity –> Characteristics/ changes –> Decline

Question 2

Definition of developmental psychology

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What is the concern of developmental psychology

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

The branches of developmental psychology

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Lifespan development

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Six aims in studying human development

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Bio-psycho-social aspects of development

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Psychological development means

Answer 8

-Cognitive (thinking, reasoning, intellectual,
-perception
affectively –feelings and regulation of feelings

Question 9

Biological Development means

Answer 9

physical & motor

development

Question 10

Social Development means

Answer 10

-ability to relate constructively to
other humans and the environment/social
maladaptation.

Question 11

What does developmental psychology emphasize and what does the study include?

Answer 11

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)

Question 12

Mind development in developing brain

Answer 12

• Thought development
• Memory Development
• Attention & concentration
• Perception
• Feelings and Intelligence

Question 13

The concept of the use defined brain…

Answer 13

-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.

Question 14

Freud’s personality structure and Psychosexual stages of development

Answer 14

Freud theorized that as we develop, 3 personality 
structures emerge. 
These are the :
1. Id 
2. Ego 
3. Superego

Question 15

Freudian Psychological stages of development

Answer 15

1. Oral
2. Anal
3. Phallic
4. Latency
5. Genital

Question 16

Oral = 0-2 years

Answer 16

Infant achieves gratification through oral activities such as feeding , thumb sucking and babbling

Question 17

Anal = 2-3 years

Answer 17

The child learns to respond to some of the demands of society (such as bowel and bladder control)

Question 18

Phallic 3 - 7 years

Answer 18

The child learns to realize the difference between males and females and becomes aware of sexuality

Question 19

Latency 7-11 years

Answer 19

The child continues his or her development but sexual urges are relatively quiet

Question 20

Genital 11 - adults years

Answer 20

The growing adolescent shakes off old dependencies and learns to deals maturely with the opposite sex

Question 21

Piaget’s Cognitive Development. The four stages of cognitive development

Answer 21

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]

2. Pre-operational stage - Use of symbols to represent objects internally, especially through language. Ability to pretend. Egocentric. [2-6]
3. Concrete operational stage - Mastery of logic and development of “rational” thinking. Can add and subtract. The child understands conservation. [7-12]
4. Formal operational stage
   Development of abstract and hypothetical reasoning. [12-adults]

Question 22

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

Answer 22

These are in an order of increasing complexity

1. Trust vs mistrust [infant -2 years]
2. Autonomy vs shame & doubt [2 -3 years]
3. Initiative vs guilt [3-5 years]
4. Industry vs
   inferiority [5-13 years]
5. Identity vs role
   confusion [13 -21 years]
6. Intimacy vs isolation [21-39 years]
7. Generatively vs
   stagnation [40 -65]
8. Ego integrity vs
   despair [65- older]

Question 23

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

Answer 23

I. Pre-Conventional Morality (EARLY CHILDHOOD)
II. Conventional Morality
III. Post-Conventional Morality

Question 24

Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral development

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Theories of Human Development

Answer 25

•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

Question 26

RESEARCH
&
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Answer 26

• Various scientific methods are used to gather
evidence to support or refute developmental
theories.

Question 27

Basic Issues in the human life cycle:

Answer 27

a) Continuous or Discontinuous Development
b) Course of Development
c) Nature (genetic influences) or Nurture
(environmental influences) debate

Question 28

Stability vs Change

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Innate temperament versus personality shaped by environmental
and people [correct these statements]

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Elevator versus stairs

Continuity versus discontinuity/ stages of development

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Nature (genetics) versus nurture (environment).

Answer 31

Genetic versus environmental influences

Question 32

Continuous or Discontinuous Development [view 1]

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Continuous or Discontinuous Development [view 2]

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Course of Development

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

Course of development [Contemporary theorists]

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Nature vs Nurture debate

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

What do we mean by nature?

Answer 37

By nature, we mean inborn biological givens-the
hereditary information we receive from our parents
at the moment of conception.

Question 38

What do we mean by nurture?

Answer 38

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