Dev-Psych (Study of Human Development)

• Human Development


  The scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people
• Developmentalists or Developmental Scientists

  • Study processes of change and stability in all domains, or aspects, of development throughout all periods of the life span
• Development


  • It is coherent and organized (systematic)
  • It is aimed at dealing with internal and external conditions of existence (adaptive)
• Life-span Development


  Comprising the entire human life span from conception to death, or the concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically
• Development can be positive (potty-trained kids) or negative (wetting the bed after a traumatic event)
• Timing of parenthood, maternal employment, and martial satisfaction are now studied as part of developmental psychology
• Disciplines that students of human development draw from

  • Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Sociology
  • Anthropology
  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Family science
  • Education
  • History
  • Medicine
• Goals of Human Development

  • To Describe
  • To Explain
  • To Predict
  • To Intervene
  • Modification
• Domains of Human Development

  • Physical Development
  • Cognitive Development
  • Psychosocial Development
• Physical Development


  Growth of body and brain, including patterns of change in sensory capacities, motor skills, and health
• Cognitive Development


  Pattern of change in mental abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity
• Psychosocial Development


  Pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social relationships
• Social Construction


  A concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it, but that is an invention of a particular culture or society
• The concept of childhood is a social construction, the form it takes varies across cultures
• Example of social construction of childhood


  • Canadian Arctic parents believe that young children are not yet capable of thought and reason therefore lenient when their children cry or become angry, but parents on the Pacific Island of Tonga regularly beat 3- to 5-year-old whose crying is attributed to willfulness
• Periods of Human Development

  • Prenatal Period
  • Infancy and Toddlerhood
  • Early Childhood
  • Middle Childhood
  • Adolescence
  • Emerging and Young Adulthood
  • Middle Adulthood
  • Late Adulthood
• Adolescence


  A unique period of development in industrial societies
• Influences on Development


  • Individual Differences
  • Heredity and Biological Process (Nature)
  • Environment (Nurture)
  • Maturation
• Individual Differences


  Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes
• Heredity and Biological Process (Nature)


  Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents
• Environment (Nurture)


  Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development
• Maturation


  Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes
• Contexts of Development


  • Nuclear Family
  • Extended Family
  • Socioeconomic Status
  • Risk Factors
• Nuclear Family


  Household unit consisting of one or two parents and their children, whether biological, adopted, or stepchildren
• Extended Family


  Multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household
• Socioeconomic Status


  Combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation
• Risk Factors


  Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome
• Life Span Development Approach (Paul Baltes)

  • Development is lifelong
  • Development is multidimensional
  • Development is multidirectional
  • Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the lifespan
  • Development involves changing resource allocations
  • Development shows plasticity
  • Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context
• Human Development


  The scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people
• Systematic processes


  A series of actions that work together to achieve a specific goal