Devpsy introduction nga

• What is Human Development?

  the process of growth and change that takes place between birth and maturity (until death].
• What is Human Development?

  the scientific study of age-related changes throughout the human life span.
• What is Human Development?

  Examines how and why people change overtime.

  Examines how and why people are both unique and similar to each other.

  Multidisciplinary science based on theories and researchers.
• What is Developmental Psychology?


  Developmental psychology recognizes humans of all societies and cultures as beings who are "in process,” or constantly growing and changing.

  This discipline identifies the biological, psychological, and social aspects that interact to influence the growing human life-span process.
• What is a Norm?


  Developmental Norm and Norms
• Developmental norm.


  A standard based upon the average abilities or performances of children of a specified age.
• Norms


  Averages of growth, development, work-rate or various other abilities observed across populations.
• Ancient times to Middle Ages

  children were seen as inherently evil and discipline was harsh.
• Modern viewpoints on children

  John Locke and Jean-Jaques Rousseau
• John Locke


  tabula rasa
• Jean-Jaques Rousseau 


  children are inherently good, society is bad) but children are still seen as “little adults”
• 1800’s [industrial revolution]


  saw different stages of development according to age (i.e. infancy, childhood, adulthood, old age)
• the early focus of developmental psychology was on child development, or the maturation of children


  Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
• 1950’s – Stanley Hall said that there is between a childhood and adulthood, the stage called
• Developmentalists


  —researchers who study human development— expanded their focus to include the study of the physical, motor, cognitive, intellectual, emotional, personality, social, and moral changes that occur throughout all stages of the life span.
• ASSUMPTIONS WITHIN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

  1. DEVELOPMENT IS LIFELONG
  2. DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIMENSIONAL
  3. DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIRECTIONAL
  4. DEVELOPMENT IS FLUID
  5. DEVELOPMENT IS EMBEDDED IN HISTORY
  6. DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDISCIPLINARY
  7. DEVELOPMENT IS CONTEXTUAL
• DEVELOPMENT IS LIFELONG- development occurs across the full lifespan of the individual, including both growth and ageing, gains and losses, all of which interact in dynamic ways.
• DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIMENSIONAL


  biological, socio-emotional and cognitive aspects overlap within development; for example, intelligence contains many overlapping components such as verbal, spatial, social and nonverbal intelligence.
• DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIRECTIONAL


  some dimensions of development may increase or grow while others decrease. Wisdom, for example, may increase while mental agility may decline
• DEVELOPMENT IS FLUID


  depending on an individual’s life conditions, development may take many paths and there is often potential for change. For example, the reasoning abilities of older adults may be improved through training
• DEVELOPMENT IS EMBEDDED IN HISTORY


  historical conditions are very important. For example, the career orientation of many 30- year-old females today is very different from those of women 40 years ago.
• DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDISCIPLINARY


  sociologists, psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, medical researchers and neuroscientists all study human development from different perspectives.
• DEVELOPMENT IS CONTEXTUAL


  individuals continually respond to and act on various contexts that in turn influence them.
• DEBATES WITHIN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

  1. THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE
  2. STABILITY VERSUS CHANGE
  3. NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
  4. CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
  5. ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY
  6. CRITICAL PERIODS
  7. NORMATIVE INFLUENCE AND NON-NORMATIVE
• THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE


  An approach to human development which examines changes at all ages, through adolescence and adulthood, to late adulthood, up until death
• THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE


  one of the basic approaches of current developmental psychology
• many earlier approaches strongly prioritized the first six years of life as a blueprint that would determine the pattern and course of an individual’s life, most contemporary approaches in developmental psychology—including the life-span perspective— examine the entire life-span.

  THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE
• STABILITY VERSUS CHANGE


  Earlier psychological theory supposed that personality was fundamentally shaped during the early childhood years and remained, in relative terms, the same thereafter.
• STABILITY VERSUS CHANGE


  first five years of childhood influence people permanently.
• STABILITY VERSUS CHANGE


  Children are no longer seen as passive recipients of environmental influences, but as active protagonists in influencing and moderating these environmental factors.
• NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

  • Heredity.
  • Nativism
  • Environmental determinism
• Heredity. Those inborn characteristics which we

  inherit through our genes from our parents.
• The viewpoint that our characteristics and abilities are chiefly determined by our inborn characteristics (often also referred to as genetic determinism). This represents the nature side of the nature-nurture debate.

  Nativism
• Environmental determinism. 


  The view that environmental factors exert the greatest influence on human development. This represents the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate.
• CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY

  Does developmental growth follow a gradual and cumulative pattern (as, for example, a huge tree develops from a tiny seedling), or does growth rather take place in clearly differentiated stages (as a larva transforms into a moth)
• Nature of Developmental changes:

  • Quantitative changes
  • Qualitative changes.
• Quantitative changes.


  Changes in degree or amount; for example, changes in height or weight.
• Qualitative changes


  Changes in kind, structure or organization, which make a fundamental difference to the individual. For example, the preverbal infant is qualitatively different to the toddler who can speak.
• Phylogeny. 


  Application of developmental psychology to the understanding of the development of a wider group of people or ‘species’.
• Ontogeny. Application of developmental psychology to the understanding of the individual development of the specific child or person.