Introduction to Developmental Psychology

• DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

  branch of psychology devoted to identifying and explaining the

  continuities and changes that individuals display over time.
• DEVELOPMENT refers to systematic

  continuities and changes in the individual

  that occur between conception and death.
• What causes us to develop?

  MATURATION

  LEARNING
• MATURATION

  biological unfolding of the individual according to species-typical

  biological inheritance and an individual person’s biological inheritance.
• LEARNING

  the process through which our experiences produce relatively

  permanent changes in our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
• Patterns of Change

  NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT

  IDEOGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT
• NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT

  developmental changes that characterize most or all

  members of a species; typical patterns of development.
• IDEOGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT

  individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of

  development.
• Some Basic Observations about the Character of Development

  A Continual and Cumulative Process.

  A Holistic Process.

  Plasticity.

  Historical/Cultural Context.