Introduction to Development

Developmental Science

The scientific study of patterns of growth, change, and stability in humans, aiming to understand how humans develop across the lifespan and what factors shape those trajectories.

Physical Development

Body’s physical makeup including the brain and nervous system, senses; influenced by nutrition, stress, and sleep.

Cognitive Development

Changes in intellectual abilities, attention, learning, memory, and problem solving across the lifespan.

Social and Personality Development

Personality development involves behavioral differences between individuals, while social development concerns interactions and relationships with others.

Emerging Adulthood

The period proposed by Jeffrey Arnett where adolescence extends into the mid-twenties.

WEIRD biases

The criticism that much of developmental research has been conducted with participants who are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, making it difficult to claim universality of findings across all populations.

John Locke (Tabula Rasa)

Philosopher who believed children are a blank slate shaped by environment and experience, emphasizing nurture over nature.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Noble Savages)

Philosopher who believed children have innate morality and are inherently good, emphasizing nature over nurture.

Baby biographies

Detailed parental records of milestones from the late 1700s in Germany; an early methodological study of development.

Charles Darwin

Used baby biographies to apply evolutionary theory to infancy, suggesting infants possess traits that aided survival.

Alfred Binet

Pioneered the study of intelligence and proposed ideas about its measurement and cognitive abilities.

G. Stanley Hall

Pioneered questionnaires for children and highlighted adolescence as a distinct developmental period.

Leta S. Hollingworth

A pioneer in gifted education who challenged myths about gender differences in intelligence.

Maria Montessori

Opened a preschool (1907) promoting prepared environments, multi-age classrooms, freedom with limits, and intrinsic motivation.

Nature vs Nurture

The core debate in developmental science concerning whether development is primarily influenced by genetics and biology (nature) or by environment and experiences (nurture).

Genetic Determinism

The conceptual view that genes are the primary determinants of physical traits, behaviors, and social outcomes, with environmental and cultural factors downplayed.

Environmental Determinism

The opposing view to genetic determinism, asserting that environment, culture, upbringing, and life experiences are the primary forces shaping traits and behaviors.

Interactionist/Middle Ground

The modern synthesis perspective suggesting that genes and environment dynamically interact, where the environment can influence gene expression without changing the DNA sequence.

Critical Period

A specific time during development when a particular event has lasting consequences, or when certain outcomes can occur only if a specific exposure happens then.

Sensitive Period

A time when an organism is especially receptive to certain stimuli, where deficits can sometimes be overcome if exposure occurs later, though it may be harder.

Plasticity

The degree to which development can be modified by experience.