DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION


DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY PREDICT


➔ scientific study of processes of change and ➔ They then attempt to explain how children
stability throughout the human lifespan acquire language and why some children
➔ It's the study of how people change and how learn to speak later than usual.
they remain the same over time.
DESCRIBE
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
➔ This knowledge may make it possible to
➔ The science of human development reflects predict future behavior, such as the
the complexity and uniqueness of each likelihood that a child will have serious
person and each person’s experiences as speech problems.
well as commonalities and patterns across
people.
INTERVENE (CONTROL)
➔ firmly grounded in theory and research as it
seeks to understand human behavior.
➔ Finally, an understanding of how language
develops may be used to intervene in
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
development, for example, by giving a child
speech therapy.
➔ “womb to tomb”
◆ comprising the entire
INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
human life span from
conception to death
➔ As the field matured, it became HEREDITY
clear that development included
more than infancy and childhood.
➔ development can be either positive ➔ Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from
(e.g., becoming toilet trained or the biological parents.
enrolling in ➔ conceptualized as the genetic roll of the dice.

a college course after retirement) or ENVIRONMENT
negative (e.g., once again wetting the bed
after a traumatic event or isolating after
retirement). ➔ Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential,
influences on development.

GOALS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
MATURATION

EXPLAIN ➔ unfolding of a natural sequence of physical
and behavioral changes, including readiness
➔ To describe when most children say their first to master new abilities.
word or how large their vocabulary is at a
certain age, developmental scientists
observe large groups of children and
establish norms, or averages, for behavior at
various ages.

, CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT ETHNIC MINORITIES


➔ Ethnic groups with national or cultural
FAMILY
traditions different from the majority of the
population.
NUCLEAR FAMILY
➔ Two-generational kinship, economic, and
RACE
household unit
➔ consisting of one or two parents and their
biological children, adopted children, or ➔ A grouping of humans distinguished by their
stepchildren. outward physical characteristics or social
qualities from other groups. Not a biological
EXTENDED FAMILY construct.
➔ Multigenerational kinship
➔ network of parents, children, and other
NORMATIVE & NONNORMATIVE INFLUENCES
relatives, sometimes living together in an
extended- family household.
➔ Polygamy - Family structure in which one ➔ biological or environmental events that affect
spouse, most commonly a man, is married to many or most people in a society in similar
more than one partner. ways and events that touch only certain
individuals

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES)
NORMATIVE

● Combination of economic and social factors
describing an individual or family, including ➔Characteristic of an event that occurs in a
income, education, and occupation. similar way for most people in a group.
NORMATIVE AGE-GRADED
➔ influences are highly similar for people in a
CULTURE
particular age group.
➔ The timing of biological events is fairly
● A society’s or group’s total way of life, predictable within a normal range. (Going to
including customs, traditions, beliefs, school, getting married, starting a career,
values, language, and physical having your first friends)
products— all learned behavior, passed on
from parents to children. NORMATIVE HISTORY-GRADED INFLUENCES
➔ are significant events (such as World War II
INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURE or the COVID-19 pandemic) that shape the
➔ people tend to prioritize personal goals behavior and attitudes of a historical
ahead of collective goals and to view generation: a group of people who
themselves as distinct individuals. experience the event at a formative time in
COLLECTIVISTIC CULTURE their lives.
➔ people tend to prioritize collaborative ➔ A historical generation is not the same as an
social goals ahead of individual goals and to age cohort, a group of people born at about
view themselves in the context of their social the same time.
relationships ◆ A historical generation may contain
more than one cohort, but cohorts
are part of a historical generation
ETHNIC GROUP
only if they experience major,
shaping historical events at a
➔ A group united by ancestry, race, religion, formative point in their lives.
language, or national origins, which
contribute to a sense of shared identity