Developmental Psychology Quiz

Developmental Psychology Review

• PSY 4329 is a course covering developmental psychology.
• The course material reviews topics such as nature and nurture, research methods, developmental theories, and principles.
• Development is framed as a lifelong process, studied scientifically & interdisciplinary.
• Developmental psychology examines change and stability throughout the human life span.
• Early approaches to studying development include baby biographies.
• The traditional approach focused on change mostly up to adolescence.
• The life-span approach emphasizes change across the entire life span.
• Current life expectancy is approximately 78 years.
• Developmental issues include those dealing with health, well-being, and parenting, alongside cultural, socioeconomic status, and gender.
• Core developmental tasks involve dealing with physical, cognitive, and socioemotional domain development.
• The study of development touches on biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes, as well as social policy.
• Critical components of contextual factors include heredity, environment, and maturation, major contextual influences, and contemporary concerns like health and well-being within the domain of parenting and education.

Introduction to Birth

• Human development is the scientific study of change and stability from conception to the end of life.
• Early approaches to the study included baby biographies.
• The life-span perspective emphasizes a lifelong process of change and growth.
• Current life expectancy is approximately 78 years.
• The study of human development is interdisciplinary.

Context and Contemporary Concerns of Development

• Contextual influences occur within a setting, including normative age-graded and history-graded influences, and non-normative life events.
• Contemporary concerns of development cover health, well-being, parenting and education, and sociocultural contexts.
• Health and well-being is a significant topic area of concern.
• Socioeconomic status and diversity, which include culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, are important topics for research.

Developmental Processes and Changes

• Developmental changes are a result of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes.
• Qualitative change describes a difference in kind: e.g., nonverbal to verbal communication.
• Quantitative change is a number or amount: e.g., increasing height.
• Stability is the ongoing constancy in a person's personality and behavior.
• Periods of development include prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.
• Domains of development, a dimension of development (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial), encompasses these periods.

The Nature of Development

• Key periods of development include prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle and late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.

Developmental Psychology Theories

• Key theories of development and their focus are presented:
  • Psychoanalytic (Freud's, Erikson’s)
  • Cognitive (Piaget’s)
  • Cognitive-Developmental (Vygotsky’s)
  • Behavioral and social theories
• Each theory offers unique viewpoints to understanding human development.

Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory

• Piaget's theory emphasizes stages of cognitive development.
• Key concepts include:
  • Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
  • Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
  • Concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
  • Formal operational stage (11 years & beyond).

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

• Vygotsky's theory emphasizes social interaction in cognitive development.
• Critical concepts include:
  • Zone of proximal development (ZPD): The difference between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance.
  • Scaffolding: Supportive learning and problem-solving strategies.
• Development is socially constructed.

Information Processing

• Information processing approach emphasizes a gradual increase in processing capacity.
• Stages include: Sensory, Working, and Long-Term memory.

Theories of Development (other than Piaget, Erikson)

• Key components of behavioral and social cognitive theory (Skinner, Bandura).
• Classical and operant conditioning— key learning mechanisms.
• Key concepts of ethological theory.
• Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory— considers multiple levels of environment (e.g., microsystem, exosystem, macrosystem).

Research Methods in Developmental Psychology

• Research methods in developmental psychology can range from observation studies to larger-scale quantitative studies (surveys):
  • Observation (structured, naturalistic)
  • Interviews
  • Standardized tests
  • Case studies
• Ethical considerations in conducting research involve informed consent, avoiding deception, minimizing risks, and providing debriefing.

Developmental Issues

• Nature vs. nurture refers to the role of genetics vs the environment on development.
• Stability/change (continuity/discontinuity) are factors of development over time.
• Social construction: Societal shared perceptions or assumptions about the nature of reality.

Prenatal Influences on Development

• Prenatal development involves three stages: germinal, embryonic, and fetal (conception to birth).
• Environmental factors, including malnutrition, maternal or paternal diseases, exposure to harmful substances, can significantly impact development.
• Prenatal care refers to the medical care provided during gestation.

The Neonate, Infancy into Toddlerhood

• The neonate period is the first month or so after birth.
• Infancy extends into toddlerhood, from the early months of life to about two years of age.
• Developmental processes cover physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains.
• Key developmental milestones, such as speech, motor skills, and social interaction, are highlighted.
• Developmental issues, such as temperament, attachment, and the development of a sense of self, are presented.

Early Childhood

• Key developmental aspects of early childhood, from ages 2 to 6 years, are detailed including physical development, language development, cognitive development, and socioemotional development.
• Developmental issues, such as moral development and gender differences, and the context of early childhood environments are discussed.
• A variety of factors involved in child care and parental influences are analyzed.

Middle Childhood

• Development, including physical, cognitive, and socioemotional, are detailed for ages 6 to 12 years.
• Developmental issues, such as moral reasoning, peer relationships, gender differences, and influences of culture/society are presented.

Adolescent Development

• Physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development of adolescents (ages 12 to 18), including puberty, cognitive changes (formal operational stage), and identity formation, are described.
• Developmental issues, such as identity development, peer relationships, and the impact of culture/society, are presented.

Adulthood Stages

• Physical, cognitive, and socioemotional aspects of adult development are discussed, particularly for early, middle, and late adulthood stages.
• Developmental issues, such as career development, marital relationships, parenting, and health, are highlighted.