Introduction to development

Question 1

Development

Answer 1

Changes in behaviour over a function of time or age
This can be across or within age groups

Question 2

Ways of defining development (The 4 Ps)

Answer 2

The change has to include these 4 aspects:
Profound
Permanent
Progressive
Pervasive

Question 3

Profound

Answer 3

The change should cause an individuals entire outlook on the world to shift/change

Question 4

Permanent

Answer 4

Changes are not easily/cannot be reversed

Question 5

Progressive

Answer 5

The change occurs in a positive direction and makes you better
(not all psychologists agree on this view)

Question 6

Pervasive

Answer 6

The change affects all areas of life
Cannot just study one developmental domain you have to see development as a whole

Question 7

Developmental psychology

Answer 7

The study of the mind and behaviour.
Links quite obviously with many other areas of psychology.
Focuses on both the why and how of how the mind and behaviour change.

Question 8

Empirical reasons to study development

Answer 8

Allow for comparative studies to other species (understanding our relationship to animals)
Understand the roles of early experience in how we develop as adults

Question 9

Philosophical reasons to study development

Answer 9

Help answer questions like “what do humans bring into the world?” and “What does this tell us about what it means to be human?”
How can consciousness develop from inanimate matter

Question 10

Practical reasons to study development

Answer 10

Research findings can inform:
Advice to give to parents
Developmental difficulty interventions and treatments
Teaching practice
Educational policies

Question 11

History of perspectives on development (Plato)

Answer 11

Believed all ideas and behaviours are innate
We are born with a blue print
Development is discovering what is already known

Question 12

History of perspectives on development (Descartes)

Answer 12

Nativism, mind and body dualism
We are born with certain functions that we just develop into but they are already present

Question 13

History of perspectives on development (Rousseau)

Answer 13

The child is innately ‘good’
develops according to nature’s plans (nativism)
The environment has no impact on development

Question 14

History of perspectives on development (Locke)

Answer 14

Empiricism
Tabula Rasa
Everything the child develops is from the environment
The child is a blank slate that is shaped by the world

Question 15

Emergence of scientific discipline in development research

Answer 15

Darwin used systematic observations to study the development of his son.
Wrote findings in Biological sketch of an infant

Question 16

History of perspectives on development (Darwin)

Answer 16

Development is a progressive adaptation to the environment
Leads back to biological origins of human nature (Genetic and evolutionary inheritance)
Gave rise to stage theories and recapitulationism

Question 17

Recapitulation theory (Haeckel’s maxim)

Answer 17

Theory that stages of embryonic development mirror the morphological stages of evolutionary development characteristics of a species
“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”
Ideas have led to misinterpretations (Hall’s evolutionary hierarchy)

Question 18

Main contributions from Darwin

Answer 18

Idea of development as progressive adaptation to the environment
Systematic methods (no reliance on anecdotal evidence)
Biological origins on human nature

Question 19

Nature and Nurture

Answer 19

Whether development is innate or influenced/determined by the environment