Developmental Psychology Overview

Developmental Psychology Overview

• Developmental psychology investigates age-related changes in behavior and mental processes from conception to death.
• The field examines various life stages, including prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and later adulthood.

Lecture Overview

• Studying development includes examining: Physical development, Cognitive development, Social, moral, and personality development, and Living psychology (meeting adult challenges).

Life Span Development

• A table outlining different developmental stages and their approximate ages is presented:
  • Prenatal: Conception to birth
  • Infancy: Birth to 18 months
  • Early Childhood: 18 months to 6 years
  • Middle Childhood: 6-12 years
  • Adolescence: 12-20 years
  • Young Adulthood: 20-45 years
  • Middle Adulthood: 45-60 years
  • Later Adulthood: 60 years to death

Studying Development: Theoretical Debates

• Nature vs. Nurture: The role of heredity versus the environment in development.
• Continuity vs. Stages: Gradual change versus distinct stages of development.
• Stability vs. Change: Consistency versus change in characteristics across the lifespan.

Studying Development: Interactionist Perspective

• The interactionist perspective is preferred by psychologists.
• It has evolved into the biopsychosocial model.

Prenatal Physical Development

• Prenatal development begins at conception.
• Prenatal development comprises three periods:
  • Germinal period: From conception to implantation in the uterus.
  • Embryonic period: After implantation (up to 8 weeks).
  • Fetal period: From 8 weeks to birth

Hazards to Prenatal Development

• Teratogens: Environmental agents causing prenatal damage (crossing the placenta).
• Categories: Legal and illegal drugs, diseases, malnutrition, exposure to X-rays, and stress.
• Various maternal factors like malnutrition, stress exposure, exposure to X-rays, and certain diseases can have damaging effects on prenatal development.

Early Childhood Physical Development

• Early childhood physical development focuses on changes in the brain, motor skills, and perceptual development.

Brain Development

• Neuron size and dendrite/axon numbers increase during early childhood.
  • Growth illustrated in figures from birth to 24 months.

Motor Development

• Motor skills emerge in a specific order.
• Examples: Chin up, rolls over, sits with support/alone, stands holding furniture, walks holding on, stands alone, walks alone, walks up steps.
  • Timeframes associated with each milestone are provided (e.g., 2.2 mo, 2.8 mo).

Sensory and Perceptual Development

• Senses of smell, taste, touch, and hearing are well-developed at birth.
• Vision is relatively underdeveloped at birth.

Adolescence and Puberty

• Adolescence is marked by significant physical changes.
• Examples of physical changes include underarm and pubic hair growth, breast development, uterine enlargement, onset of menstruation, facial/underarm hair growth, and the enlargement of the larynx and growth of the penis and testes, with the beginning of ejaculation.
• The endocrine system (and hormones released by adrenal, pituitary, and other glands) trigger these changes.

Adulthood

• Middle age: Women experience menopause, a significant life event; men experience the male climacteric.
  • Late adulthood: Includes primary (gradual) aging and secondary (diseased-related) aging.

Cognitive Development

• Jean Piaget proposed stages of cognitive development in infancy and beyond.
• Schemas: Basic units of intellect, organizing interactions with the environment.
• Assimilation: Absorbing new information into existing schemas.
• Accommodation: Adjusting existing schemas or creating new ones to fit new experiences.
• Piaget's four stages of cognitive development are: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational.
• Each stage is characterized by specific cognitive abilities and limitations, with ages indicated for each stage.

Social, Moral, and Personality Development

• Social development: Includes attachment (a strong emotional bond with others), illustrated with Harlow's research with monkeys.
• Attachment Styles: Includes securely attached, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent attachment styles.
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure is discussed for classifying different attachment types.
• Moral development, as per Kohlberg, based on observed responses to moral dilemmas.
• Stages of moral development (preconventional, conventional, postconventional) are discussed. Specific stages and level examples are provided, (e.g., punishment-obedience orientation, good child orientation, law and order orientation).

Personality Development

• Erikson's eight psychosocial stages of development are discussed and described. Each stage is associated with a particular psychosocial crisis or challenge affecting development, with ages provided for each stage (e.g., trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt).

Death and Dying

• Coping with death and dying. Cultural differences, and age-related variations in coping with death are mentioned.
• Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.