This document provides lecture notes on the following topics: •
• Introduction to Developmental Psychology and its main theories
• Genes, Environment and Development
• Prenatal development and birth
• Postnatal environment
• Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
• The development ...
Covers the following topics:
Introduction to Developmental
Psychology and its main theories
Genes, Environment and
Development
Prenatal development and birth
PSY2013F: DEVELOPMENTAL
Postnatal environment
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
The development of language
PSYCHOLOGY CLASS NOTES The development of self-
understanding
Social Cognition
Moral Development
Gender Development
The Family
Peer relationships
Risk and resilience
, PSY2013F
Developmental Psychology:
Section 1: Understanding Human Development:
Section outline
Introducing developmental psychology
Developmental theories
Doing developmental research
Lecture 1: Introducing Developmental Psychology:
Lecture outline
What is development?
Goals of studying development
Central issues in developmental psychology
What is development?
Systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between
conception and death
Developmental psych uses scientific method to study development – not just
changes but also continuities
Continuities – the ways that we stay the same, not just about how we change
Goals of studying human development:
Description – describe development- what kinds of behaviours people show and how
these change
Prediction – predict how they will change
Explanation – why people change? Why some people different from others
Optimisation – how to help people fulfil their potential and develop in best ways
possible
Central issues in developmental psychology:
Nature and nurture
Continuity and discontinuity
Universal and context-specific development
1. Nature and Nurture
, - Sheep picture: Dolly was a sheep that was cloned - first mammal to be successfully
cloned from adult cell
Is development determined by:
biological factors (heredity),- we inherit many of our psychological characteristics in
the same way that we inherit physical characteristics
environmental factors (e.g., social influences, culture), or – influenced of our family,
schools, etc
from nurture perspective: clone would look like me, but would be very different
because of different socialisation characteristics
the equally important contributions of both?
Example: Bias in South African Developmental Psychology pre WW2:
“African children only 50% as mentally efficient as whites …. Their schooling should
be designed to suit their mentality.” (Loram,1923) – black intelligence attributed to
nature, whereas poor white intelligence attributed to nurture
“School under-achievement in poor white children is a result of poor nutrition and
education… improve access to education, and implement school feeding.” (Carnegie
Commission, 1932)
Most developmental psychologists agree to both nature and nurture and look at the
interaction between the two.
2. Continuity and discontinuity
- how we describe developmental changes
(a) Are the changes we undergo over the life span:
gradual and quantitative, - like steady gradual growth of tree
abrupt, qualitative, and stage-like, or – like the ay a caterpillar changes int a butterfly
sometimes gradual, and sometimes stage-like?
Example of continuous development:
- changing the amount of something that exists
- infants, school children, adults are just the same – just more complex versions of
each
- gradual slope – gradual change
- continuous development is like the growth of a plant – it happens gradually over
time
, Example of discontinuous development:
- totally different ways that new forms of info are brought about – completely
different from the previous stage
- an example of this is having gone through puberty – completely different from
previous stage – not just a degree/ amount of something
- changes in kind – makes individual different from how they were.
- change in stages – each stage being completely different
- series of steps
How have I changed since 10
- short hair- discontinuity – less shy – continuous – not in school - continuous
(b) Is early development:
closely connected to later development, or
largely unrelated to later behaviour?
3. Universal and context-specific development
Do different people:
follow the same developmental path, or
develop in unique ways?
Today’s lifespan perspective:
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