devpsy p2

• Developmental Psychology


  Primarily concerned with CHANGE
• Developmental Psychology


  Concerned with the description and explanation of changes that occur in psychological processes at any point in the life span
• Perspectives of Developmental Psychology

  • Lifelong: womb to tomb; no age period dominates development
  • Multidirectional: The study of change from multiple directions of influence
  • Multicultural: There are many, many cultures around the world that influence individuals
  • Multidisciplinary: We have to use many different fields to effectively study development
  • Plasticity: Developmental changes occur throughout the lifespan and can be drastically altered at any point in time
• Perspectives of Developmental Psychology

  • Multi-contextual: There are many contexts that affect human development (normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, nonnormative life events)
  • Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
• Development


  A co-construction of biology, culture, and the individual
• The brain shapes culture, but it is also shaped by culture and the experiences that individuals have or pursue
• We can go beyond what our genetic inheritance or environment give us
• Development


  The pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life span
• Life-span perspective


  Development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual; involves growth, maintenance, and regulation; and is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working together
• The more you learn about children, the better you can deal with them
• Life-span development allows you to see yourself at different stages of life and think about how experiences influence your development
• Life expectancy


  The average time that a human being is expected to live, based on birth year, current age, and other demographic factors
• Internal factors affecting development- things that are unique to the individual that can influence development


  • Genetics
  • Physical maturation
  • Cognition
• External factors affecting development- things that are outside of the individual that can influence development


  • Socioeconomic status
  • Availability of resources
  • Social influences
• Developmental period


  A time frame in a person's life that is characterized by certain features
• Developmental periods


  • Prenatal period: tremendous growth from a single cell to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities in 9 months
  • Infancy: psychological activities like language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination, and social learning just beginning
  • Toddler: transitional period between infancy and early childhood (1 1/2 to 3 years)
  • Early childhood/preschool: learning self-sufficiency, developing school readiness skills, spending time playing with peers
  • Middle and late childhood: mastering fundamental skills of reading, writing, arithmetic, and being formally exposed to the larger world and its culture
  • Adolescence: rapid physical changes, pursuit of independence and identity, more logical and abstract thought, more time spent outside the family
  • Emerging adulthood: transitional period from adolescence to adulthood (18-25 years)
  • Early adulthood: establishing personal and economic independence, advancing in a career, selecting a mate, starting a family
  • Middle adulthood: expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility, assisting the next generation, maintaining satisfaction in a career
  • Late adulthood: life review, retirement, adjustment to new social roles and diminishing strength and health
• Developmental period - refers to a time frame in a person's life that is characterized by certain features
• Developmental psychologists study how heredity and environment interact to produce change from conception throughout the lifespan.
• Biological Processes 


  produces changes in an individual's physical nature. genes inherited from parents, the development of the brain, height and weight gains, changes in motor skills, nutrition, exercise, the hormonal changes of puberty, and cardiovascular decline are all examples of biological processes that affect development.
• Cognitive Process


  refer to changes in the individual's thought, intelligence, and language.
• Socioemotional processes


  involve changes in individual's relationships with other people, changes in emotion, and changes in personality.
• Development


  the pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life span.
• Life-span perspective


  the perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual; involves growth, maintenance, and regulation; and is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working together.
• the importance of studying life-span perspective

  the more you learn about them, the better you can deal with them