Developmental Psychology (PSY2)

• Learning


  Process through which our experiences produce relatively permanent changes in our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
• Developmental Psychology


  Branch of psychology devoted to identifying and explaining the continuities and changes that individuals display over time
• Ethical considerations in developmental research include protection from harm, informed consent, confidentiality, and deception/debriefing/knowledge of results
• Idiographic Development


  Individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development
• Historical/Cultural Context


  The influence of historical and cultural factors on development
• Development is a holistic process
• Six Broad Theoretical Traditions

  • Psychoanalytic Viewpoint
  • Learning Viewpoint
  • Cognitive-developmental Viewpoint
  • Information-processing Viewpoint
  • Evolutionary Viewpoint
  • Ecological Systems Viewpoint
• Themes

  • Active vs. Passive
• Development is a continual and cumulative process
• Maturation


  Biological unfolding of the individual according to species-typical biological inheritance and an individual person’s biological inheritance
• Normative Development


  Developmental changes that characterize most or all members of a species; typical patterns of development
• Scientific Theory

  • Parsimonious: Simple and concise
  • Heuretics: Discovery-oriented
  • Falsifiable: Capable of being proven false
• Learning Viewpoint Theories

  • Watson’s Behaviorism
  • Skinner’s Operant Learning Theory
  • Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
• Research Strategies

  1. Cross-Sectional Design

  2. Longitudinal Design

  3. Sequential Design

  4. Microgenetic Design
• Development


  Systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception and death
• Plasticity


  The ability for development to be influenced by various factors
• What causes us to develop?

  Maturation

  Learning
• Patterns of Change

  Normative Development

  Ideographic Development
• Some basic observations about the character of development

  A continual and cumulative process

  A holistic process

  Plasticity

  Historical/Cultural Context
• The nature of Scientific Theory

  Parsimonious

  Falsifiable

  Heuretics
• Psychoanalytic Viewpoint

  Sigmund Freud

  Erik Erikson
• Sigmund Freud proposed the Psychosexual Stages
• Erik Erikson proposed the Psychosocial Theory of Development
• Psychosexual Stages

  Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
• Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

  Trust vs. Mistrust

  Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

  Initiative vs. Guilt

  Industry vs. Inferiority

  Identity vs. Confusion

  Intimacy vs. Isolation

  Generativity vs. Stagnation

  Integrity vs. Despair
• Cognitive-Developmental Viewpoint

  Jean Piaget

  Lev Vygotsky
• Jean Piaget

  Sensorimotor

  Preoperational

  Concrete operational

  Formal operational
• Information-Processing Viewpoint

  Memories are associated with strong emotions from sense
• Bioevolutionary basis of behavior and development with a focus on survival of the individual.

  Classical Ethology
• Charles Darwin - Natural Selection

  John Bowlby - Children display a wide variety of preprogrammed behaviors.
• Modern Evolutionary Theory


  Bioevolutionary basis of behavior and development with a focus on survival of the genes
• Ecological Systems Viewpoint

  Urie Bronfenbrenner
• Nature


  Our genetics determine our behavior. Our personality traits and abilities are in our nature
• Nurture


  Our environment, upbringing, and life experiences determine our behavior. We are nurtured to behave in certain ways.
• Continuous Development emphasizes that development and changes in individuals occur gradually
• One continuous development example occurs when examining children and mobility. As children grow up, they start crawling, then sitting, then standing, and, finally, walking.
• Discontinuous development theory refers to the view that development changes can be divided clearly into unique stages.
• Discontinuous Development


  These stages cannot be skipped, and proceeding through them one by one is generally understood as necessary for individuals.
• Continuous Development


  Infancy to Adulthood
• Discontinuous Development

  Infancy, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood