Notes

• Human development


  The process of growth and change that takes place between birth and maturity [until death]

  
• Developmental psychology


  The scientific study of age-related changes throughout the human life span
• Norm


  A standard based upon the average abilities or performances of children of a specified age
• Assumptions within developmental psychology

  • Development is lifelong
  • Development is multidimensional
  • Development is multidirectional
  • Development is fluid
  • Development is embedded in history
  • Development is multidisciplinary
  • Development is contextual
• Life-span perspective


  An approach to human development which examines changes at all ages, through adolescence and adulthood, to late adulthood, up until death

  
• Debates within developmental psychology

  • Stability versus change
  • Nature versus nurture
  • Continuity versus discontinuity
• Quantitative changes


  Changes in degree or amount
• Qualitative changes


  Changes in kind, structure or organization, which make a fundamental difference to the individual
• 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
• Critical period


  A specific time during development when a given event has its greatest effect
• Readiness


  The point at which an individual can be said to have matured sufficiently to benefit from a particular learning experience
• Normative


  An event is normative when it occurs in a similar manner for most people in a given group
• Non-normative


  These are unusual events that have a significant impact on an individual's life
• Biopsychosocial model/framework


  The interaction of biological, psychological, and social aspects of developmental psychology form the essence of the holistic biopsychosocial perspective

  
• Contexts for development


  • Biological context
  • Social context
  • Cultural context
  • Historical context
  • Economic context
  • Intellectual context
• Criticisms of developmental psychology

  • Developmental psychology as a means of social regulation and control
  • The 'normalizing' effects of developmental psychology
  • The 'colonialism' of normalization
  • The 'blameworthy mother'
  • An isolated focus on the individual child
• Psychoanalytic approaches


  Observe the significance of childhood in the development of personality

  
• Cognitive development


  The processes involved in acquiring, organizing, manipulating and using knowledge
• Developmental psychology is a branch in Psychology, primarily concerned with the description and explanation of changes that occur in psychological processes at any point in the life span
• Several perspectives of developmental psychology

  • Lifelong
  • Multidirectional
  • Multicultural
  • Multidisciplinary
  • Plasticity
  • Multi-contextual
• Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
• Biological, cognitive, socioemotional processes

  • Biological processes
  • Cognitive processes
  • Socioemotional processes
• 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


  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 more you learn about children, the better you can deal with them. Life-span development is intriguing enough and filled with information about who we are, how we came to be this way, and where our future will take us
• 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
• Factors affecting development


  • Internal factors (genetics, physical maturation, cognition)
  • External factors (socioeconomic status, availability of resources, social influences)
• Developmental periods


  • Prenatal period
  • Infancy
  • Toddlerhood
  • Early childhood
  • Middle and late childhood
  • Adolescence
  • Emerging adulthood
• Stages of human development

  • Early childhood
  • Middle and late childhood
  • Adolescence
  • Emerging adulthood
  • Early adulthood
  • Middle adulthood
  • Late adulthood

  
• Early childhood/preschool years


  • Young children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves
  • Develop school readiness skills (following instructions, identifying letters)
  • Spend many hours playing with peers
• Middle and late childhood


  • Children master the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic
  • Formally exposed to the larger world and its culture
• Adolescence


  • Rapid physical changes (gains in height and weight, changes in body contour, development of sexual characteristics)
  • Pursuit of independence and an identity are preeminent
  • Thought is more logical, abstract, and idealistic
  • More time is spent outside the family
• Emerging adulthood


  The period from approximately 18 to 25 years of age
• Early adulthood


  • Establishing personal and economic independence
  • Advancing in a career
  • Selecting a mate, learning to live with that person in an intimate way, starting a family, and rearing children
• Middle adulthood


  • Expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility
  • Assisting the next generation in becoming competent, mature individuals
  • Reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career
• Late adulthood


  • Time of life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles and diminishing strength and health
  • The longest span of any period of development, with the number of people in this age group increasing dramatically
• Natural selection is the process by which those individuals of a species that are best adapted survive and reproduce
• Darwin proposed that natural selection fuels evolution
• Adaptive behaviors


  Behaviors that promote an organism's survival in the natural habitat