lesson 1

• Developmental psychology


  A field of psychology that identifies the biological, psychological and social aspects that interact to influence the growing human life-span process
• Goal of studying human development

  • To describe
  • To explain
  • To predict
  • To intervene
• Domains of human development


  • Physical domain
  • Cognitive domain
  • Psychosocial domain
• Physical domain


  Changes in physical shape and size, brain structure, sensory capabilities and motor skills
• Cognitive domain


  Acquisition of skills in perceiving, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving, as well as development and use of language
• Psychosocial domain


  Pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social relationships
• Recurring issues in human development

  • Nature vs. Nurture
  • Continuity vs. Discontinuity
  • Universal vs. Context-specific development
• Nature vs. Nurture


  The degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are
• Continuity vs. Discontinuity


  Whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity)
• Universal vs. Context-specific development


  Whether there is just one path of development or several paths
• Biology and environment both influence human development
• Maturation


  Developmental changes in the body or behavior that result from the aging process rather than from learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience
• Learning


  Result of a person's interaction with the environment
• Society


  The larger group of individuals within which an individual lives
• Culture


  The beliefs, common practices, language, and norms associated with an individual's society
• Periods of the life span

  A social construction - a concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it, but that in reality is an invention of a particular society
• Normative


  Characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for most people in a group
• Normative influences


  • Normative age-graded
  • Normative history-graded
• Cohort


  A group of people born at about the same time
• Non-normative


  Characteristic of an unusual event that happens to a particular person or a typical event that happens at an unusual time of life
• Key principles of the life-span developmental approach

  • Development is lifelong
  • Development is multi-directional
  • Development is multidimensional
  • Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span
  • Development involves changing resource allocations
  • Development shows plasticity
  • Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context