Developmental Psychology: Branch of psychology concerned with changes in physical, cognitive, psychological, & social functioning that occurs throughout the lifespan
Domains of development: physical,cognitive,psychosocial
Goals of human devt: describe, explain, predict, intervene
Periods of the lifespan: prenatal period, infancy & toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood
NATURE: biological/genetic predispositions that impact one's human traits – physical, emotional, & intellectual
NURTURE: describes the influence of learning & other "environmental" factors on these traits
STABILITY: it is a result of heredity & early experiences in life
CHANGE: takes a more optimistic view that later experiences can produce change
CONTINUITY: view that devt is a gradual, continuous process
DISCONTINUITY: view that devt occurs in a series of distinct stages
Normative age-graded influences
are highly similar for people in a particular age group
e.g. Retirement, puberty at age 12 or 14, menopause at late 40s
Normative history-graded influences
are significant events that shape the behavior & attitudes of a historical generation
eg. COVID-19 pandemic, WW2
HISTORICAL GENERATION: a group of people who experienced a major, shaping historical events at a formative time in their lives; it is not the same as age cohort, it may contain more than one cohort
Non normative influences: are unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle
CROSS SECTIONAL: designed to assess age-related differences, in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion
LONGITUDINAL: tracks people overtime & focuses on individual changes with age; the researchers study the same group more than once overtime
SEQUENTIAL: combines 2 approaches to minimize the drawbacks of the separate approaches
Theory: a set of logically related concepts or statements that seek to describe and explain development and to predict the kinds of behavior that might occur under certain conditions.
REACTIVE DEVELOPMENT: a developing child is a hungry sponge that soaks up experiences and is shaped by this input over time.
MECHANISTIC MODEL: people are like machines that react to environmental inputs
ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT: argue that people create experiences for themselves and are motivated to learn about the world around them
ORGANISMIC MODEL: views human development as internally initiated by an active organism and as occurring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages.
Oral: mouth is the erogenous zone
Anal: bowel and bladder elimination
Anal retentive: organized, neat
Anal expulsive: careless, disorganized
Phallic: infant’s libido centers upon their genitalia as the erogenous zone
Latency: libido is dormant during this stage
Genital: sexual interests mature
Psychosocial theory: each stage is marked by an interaction/conflict between two syntonic (harmonious) and dystonic (disruptive) element.
Trust vs mistrust: trust (or mistrust) that basic needs will be met
Autonomy vs shame/doubt: develop a sense of independence
Initiative vs guilt: take initiative on some activities– may develop guilt when unsuccessful
Industry vs inferiority: develop self-confidence in abilities when competent or sense of inferiority when not
Identity vs confusion: experiment w/ and develop identity and roles
Intimacy vs isolation: establish intimacy and relationships with others
Generativity vs stagnation: contribute to society and be a part of a family
Integrity vs despair: assess and make sense of life and meaning of contributions
Operant Conditioning: the use of consequence/s to form or modify the occurrence of behavior.
PositiveReinforcement: behavior is followed by a favorable stimulus