Week 4 Lecture 1 - Intro to Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology

Study of change and continuity in the things that fundamentally affect how people understand and interact with the world

Studies of human growth across lifespan

• Changes

• Factors that affect development

• Child psychology versus lifespan psychology

Factors could be:

• Biological

• Neurological

• Genetic

• Psychological

• Social

• Cultural

• Environmental

Why study child development?

To understand human nature

• How do genetics and environment affect children’s development?

• How do we change across out life span?

• How do we stay the same?

To shape social policy

• How can we conduct research with children while protecting their human rights?

• How do we recover from trauma?

• What supports are effective, for whom?

To enrich human life

• What can psychology tells us about effective child-rearing and child mental health?

• To what extent do we actively shape out lives or passively respond to surroundings?

Four types of change

1. Continuity

2. Discontinuity

3. Continuous change

4. Discontinuous change

Continuous

Stability

Eg. A person’s name

Discontinuous

Change

Eg. A person’s title; Miss.. Ms.. Dr..

Continuous change

Quantitative, reversible

Eg. Height, capacity for memory (how many words people can remember in a minute)

Discontinuous change

Qualitative, irreversible

Eg. Puberty, Theory of Mind

Mechanisms are needed for developmental change to occur?

Changes in species - migration, genetic drift, natural selection

Change sin behaviour - pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, relapse

Developmental across cultures

• Universal across contexts & cultures

• Exclusive to specific contexts & cultures

How do children with a shared background become different from each other?

May take different messages from the same experience; one child may learn that crying will not solve the problem, snatching will not solve the problem

Two people’s experiences of any given event are never the same

Nature and nurture shaping development

Through a dynamic, intertwined relationship where genetic predispositions (nature) interact with environmental influences (nurture)

How do children shape their own development?

Through active engagement with the world, driven by their unique temperament, interests, and relationships with others

7 enduring themes - offer unique perspectives of developmental issues

1. Nature & Nurture

2. Continuity & Discontinuity

3. Mechanisms of Change

4. Universality & Context Specificity

5. Individual Differences

6. Research & Children’s Welfare

7. The Active Child