Unit 1 Devpsy

• Developmental Psychology


  A branch of psychology primarily concerned with the description and explanation of changes that occur in psychological processes at any point in the life span
• Developmental Psychology


  • Studies how heredity and environment interact to produce change from conception throughout the lifespan
• Perspectives of Developmental Psychology


  • Lifelong: womb to tomb; no age period dominates development
  • Multidirectional: The study of change from multiple directions of influence
  • Butterfly Effect: One small action or event set of a much larger chain of major events
  • Multicultural: There are many, many cultures around the world, each one influential with separate values, traditions, living standards, etc. that influence the individuals of that society
  • Multidisciplinary: We have to use many different fields in order to effectively study development
  • Plasticity: Developmental changes occur throughout the lifespan and can be drastically altered at any point in time
  • 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 is a Co-construction of Biology, Culture, and the Individual
• Biological processes


  Changes in an individual's physical nature (genes inherited from parents, development of the brain, height and weight gains, changes in motor skills, nutrition, exercise, hormonal changes of puberty, cardiovascular decline)
• Cognitive processes


  Changes in the individual's thought, intelligence, and language (watching a colorful mobile, putting together a two-word sentence, memorizing a poem, imagining, solving a crossword puzzle)
• Socioemotional processes


  Changes in the individual's relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality (infant's smile, toddler's aggressive attack, school-age child's assertiveness, adolescent's joy, elderly couple's affection)
• Developmental Stages


  • Prenatal: Conception to birth
  • Infancy: Birth at full term to about 18 months
  • Early childhood: About 18 months to about 6 years
  • Middle childhood: About 6 years to about 11 years
  • Adolescence: About 11 years to about 20 years
  • Early adulthood: About 20 years to about 40 years
  • Middle adulthood: About 40 years to about 65 years
  • Late adulthood: About 65 years and older
• Development is the pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth, although it also includes decline brought on by aging and dying.
• 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 importance of studying life-span perspective is that it can help parents and teachers better understand and deal with children, and help individuals understand how their past experiences influence their present and future development
• Life expectancy


  The average time that a human being is expected to live, based on his or her birth year, current age, and other demographic factors such as gender and country of birth
• Internal Factors affecting development


  • Genetics
  • Physical maturation
  • Cognition
• External Factors affecting development


  • Socioeconomic status
  • Availability of resources
  • Social influences
• A developmental period refers to a time frame in a person's life that is characterized by certain features

  
• The prenatal period involves tremendous growth from a single cell to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities, and takes place in approximately a 9-month period
• During infancy, many psychological activities like language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination, and social learning are just beginning
• The term toddler is often used to describe a child from about 1 1⁄2 to 3 years of age and in a transitional period between infancy and early childhood
• During early childhood or preschool years, young children learn to become more self-sufficient, develop school readiness skills, and spend many hours playing with peers
• During middle and late childhood, children master the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and they are formally exposed to the larger world and its culture
• Developmental Psychology


  A branch of psychology primarily concerned with the description and explanation of changes that occur in psychological processes at any point in the life span
• Adolescence begins with rapid physical changes and the pursuit of independence and an identity. Thought becomes more logical, abstract, and idealistic, and more time is spent outside the family
• Developmental Psychology


  • Studies how heredity and environment interact to produce change from conception throughout the lifespan
• The transition from adolescence to adulthood has been referred to as emerging adulthood, the period from approximately 18 to 25 years of age
• Perspectives of Developmental Psychology


  • Lifelong: womb to tomb; no age period dominates development
  • Multidirectional: The study of change from multiple directions of influence
  • Butterfly Effect: One small action or event set of a much larger chain of major events
  • Multicultural: There are many, many cultures around the world, each one influential with separate values, traditions, living standards, etc. that influence the individuals of that society
  • Multidisciplinary: We have to use many different fields in order to effectively study development
  • Plasticity: Developmental changes occur throughout the lifespan and can be drastically altered at any point in time
  • Multi-contextual: There are many contexts that affect human development (normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences, nonnormative life events)
• Early adulthood is a time of establishing personal and economic independence, advancing in a career, and for many, selecting a mate, learning to live with that person in an intimate way, starting a family, and rearing children
• Development


  Involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation of Loss
• Middle adulthood is a time of expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility, of assisting the next generation in becoming competent, mature individuals, and of reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career
• Late adulthood is a time of life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles and diminishing strength and health. Late adulthood has the longest span of any period of development, and the number of people in this age group has been increasing dramatically
• Development is a Co-construction of Biology, Culture, and the Individual
• Biological processes


  Changes in an individual's physical nature (genes inherited from parents, development of the brain, height and weight gains, changes in motor skills, nutrition, exercise, hormonal changes of puberty, cardiovascular decline)
• Cognitive processes


  Changes in the individual's thought, intelligence, and language (watching a colorful mobile, putting together a two-word sentence, memorizing a poem, imagining, solving a crossword puzzle)
• Socioemotional processes


  Changes in the individual's relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality (infant's smile, toddler's aggressive attack, school-age child's assertiveness, adolescent's joy, elderly couple's affection)
• Developmental Stages


  • Prenatal: Conception to birth
  • Infancy: Birth at full term to about 18 months
  • Early childhood: About 18 months to about 6 years
  • Middle childhood: About 6 years to about 11 years
  • Adolescence: About 11 years to about 20 years
  • Early adulthood: About 20 years to about 40 years
  • Middle adulthood: About 40 years to about 65 years
  • Late adulthood: About 65 years and older

  
• Development is the pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth, although it also includes decline brought on by aging and dying.
• 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 importance of studying life-span perspective is that it can help parents and teachers better understand and deal with children, and help individuals understand how their past experiences influence their present and future development
• Life expectancy


  The average time that a human being is expected to live, based on his or her birth year, current age, and other demographic factors such as gender and country of birth
• Internal Factors affecting development


  • Genetics
  • Physical maturation
  • Cognition