DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

I. INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Psychology also known as Human Development or Lifespan Development, is the

scientific study of ways in which people change, as well as stay the same, from conception to death. This
includes physical and other psychophysiological processes, cognition, language, and psychosocial
development, including the impact of family and peers.

Lifespan Perspective

Paul Baltes identified several underlying principles of the lifespan perspective.

1. Development is lifelong. Lifespan theorists believe that development is life-long, and change is
apparent across the lifespan. No single age period is more crucial, characterizes, or dominates human
development.
2. Development is multidirectional. Humans change in many directions. We may show gains in some
areas of development, while showing losses in other areas. Every change, whether it is finishing high
school, getting married, or becoming a parent, entails both growth and loss.
3. Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical,
cognitive, and psychosocial. The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, sensory
capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness. The cognitive domain
encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problemsolving, memory, and language.
The psychosocial domain focuses on changes in emotion, selfperception and interpersonal relationships
with families, peers, and friends. It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and
prompt changes in the other domains.
4. Development is multidisciplinary. Human development is such a vast topic of study that it requires the
theories, research methods, and knowledge base of many academic disciplines.
5. Development is characterized by plasticity. Plasticity is all about our ability to change and that many
of our characteristics are malleable. For instance, plasticity is illustrated in the brain’s ability to learn from
experience and how it can recover from injury.
6. Development is multicontextual. Development occurs in many contexts. Baltes (1987) identified three
specific contextual influences:
a) Normative age-graded influences: An age-grade is a specific age group, such as toddler,
adolescent, or senior. Humans in a specific age-grade share particular experiences and
developmental changes.
b) Normative history-graded influences: The time period in which you are born shapes your
experiences. A cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a
particular society. These people travel through life often experiencing similar circumstances.
c) Non-normative life influences: Despite sharing an age and history with our peers, each of us also
has unique experiences that may shape our development. A child who loses his/her parent at a
young age has experienced a life event that is not typical of the age group.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a way to identify families and households

based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation.
Poverty level is an income amount established by the government that is
based on a set of income thresholds that vary by family size. If a
family’s income is less than the government threshold, that family is
considered in poverty.
Culture is the totality of our shared language, knowledge, material
objects, and behavior. It includes ideas about what is right and wrong,
what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well
as what kinds of emotions are called for in certain situations.
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Ethnocentrism - belief that our own culture is superior and is a normal

byproduct of growing up in a culture. It becomes a roadblock, however,
when it inhibits understanding of cultural practices from other
societies.
Cultural relativity - appreciation for cultural differences and the
understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the
standpoint of that particular culture.

Lifespan vs. Life expectancy

Lifespan or longevity, refers to the length of time a species can exist
under the most optimal conditions. For instance, the grey wolf can live
up to 20 years in captivity, the bald eagle up to 50 years, and the
Galapagos tortoise over 150 years. The longest recorded lifespan for a
human was Jean Calment who died in 1994 at the age of 122 years, 5
months, and 14 days (Guinness World Records, 2016).
Life expectancy is the predicted number of years a person born in a
particular time period can reasonably expect to live.

Conceptions of Age
The number of years since your birth, or what is called your
chronological age. So years since birth is not the only way we can
conceptualize age.
Biological age: Another way developmental researchers can think about
the concept of age is to examine how quickly the body is aging, this is
your biological age. Several factors determine the rate at which our
body ages. Our nutrition, level of physical activity, sleeping habits,
smoking, alcohol consumption, how we mentally handle stress, and the
genetic history of our ancestors, to name but a few.
Psychological age: Our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to
others of our chronological age is our psychological age. This includes
our cognitive capacity along with our emotional beliefs about how old
we are. An individual who has cognitive impairments might be 20 years
of age, yet has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old. A 70- year-old
might be travelling to new countries, taking courses at college, or
starting a new business.
Social age: Our social age is based on the social norms of our culture
and the expectations our culture has for people of our age group.
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II. PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT

1. Prenatal Development: Conception occurs and development begins. All

of the major structures of the body are forming, and the health of the
mother is of primary concern. Understanding nutrition, teratogens, or
environmental factors that can lead to birth defects, and labor and
delivery are primary concerns.
2. Infancy and Toddlerhood: The first two years of life are ones of
dramatic growth and change. A newborn, with a keen sense of hearing but
very poor vision, is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within
a relatively short period of time. Caregivers are also transformed from
someone who manages feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving
guide and safety inspector for a mobile, energetic child.
3. Early Childhood: This period is also referred to as the preschool
years and consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede
formal schooling. As a two to six-year-old, the child is busy learning
language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is
beginning to learn the workings of the physical world.
4. Middle and Late Childhood Starts at six years of age and continues
until the onset of puberty comprise middle and late childhood, and much
of what children experience at this age is connected to their
involvement in the early grades of school.
5. Adolescence: Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change
marked by an overall growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as
puberty. It is also a time of cognitive change as the adolescent begins
to think of new possibilities and to consider abstract concepts such as
love, fear, and freedom. Ironically, adolescents have a sense of
invincibility that puts them at greater risk of dying from accidents or
contracting sexually transmitted infections that can have lifelong
consequences.
6. Emerging Adulthood: The period of emerging adulthood is a
transitional time between the end of adolescence and before individuals
acquire all the benchmarks of adulthood. Continued identity exploration
and preparation for full independence from parents are demonstrated.
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Although at one’s physiological peak, emerging adults are most at risk

for involvement in violent crimes and substance abuse.
7. Early Adulthood: The twenties and thirties are identified as early
adulthood. Intimate relationships, establishing families, and work are
primary concerns at this stage of life.
8. Middle Adulthood: The forties through the mid-sixties is referred to
as middle adulthood. This is a period in which aging becomes more
noticeable and when many people are at their peak of productivity in
love and work.
9. Late Adulthood: Late adulthood is sometimes subdivided into two
categories: The young-old who are from 65-84 years and the oldest-old
who are 85 years and older. One of the primary differences between
these groups is that the young-old are still relatively healthy,
productive, active, and the majority continue to live independently.

Issues in Developmental Psychology

1. Nature and Nurture: For any particular feature, those on the side of
nature would argue that heredity plays the most important role in
bringing about that feature. Those on the side of nurture would argue
that one's environment is most significant in shaping the way we are.
2. Continuity versus Discontinuity: Stage theories or discontinuous
development assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct
stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set,
universal sequence. At each stage of development, children and adults
have different qualities and characteristics. Information processing
theorists, assume development is a more slow and gradual process known
as continuous development. For instance, they would see the adult as
not possessing new skills, but more advanced skills that were already
present in some form in the child. Brain development and environmental
experiences contribute to the acquisition of more developed skills.
3. Active versus Passive: Some theorists see humans as playing a much
more active role in their own development. Piaget, for instance
believed that children actively explore their world and construct new
ways of thinking to explain the things they experience. In contrast,
many behaviorists view humans as being more passive in the
developmental process.
4. Stability versus Change: Some theorists argue that the personality
traits of adults are rooted in the behavioral and emotional tendencies
of the infant and young child. Others disagree, and believe that these
initial tendencies are modified by social and cultural forces over time.
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Historical Theories on Development

1. Preformationist View: Preformationism, or the belief that a tiny,

fully formed human is implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and
then grows in size until birth, was the predominant early theory.
Children were believed to possess all their sensory capabilities,
emotions, and mental aptitude at birth, and as they developed these
abilities unfolded on a predetermined schedule. The environment was
thought to play no role in determining development.
2. John Locke (1632-1704): a British philosopher, refuted the idea of
innate knowledge and instead proposed that children are largely shaped
by their social environments, especially their education as adults
teach them important knowledge. He believed that through education a
child learns socialization, or what is needed to be an appropriate
member of society. Locke advocated thinking of a child’s mind as a
tabula rasa or blank slate, and whatever comes into the child’s mind
comes from the environment.
3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): Like Locke, Rousseau also
believed that children were not just little adults. However, he did not
believe they were blank slates, but instead developed according to a
natural plan which unfolded in different stages (Crain, 2005). He did
not believe in teaching them the correct way to think, but believed
children should be allowed to think by themselves according to their
own ways and an inner, biological timetable. This focus on biological
maturation resulted in Rousseau being considered the father of
developmental psychology.
4. Arnold Gesell (1880-1961): He studied the neuromotor development of
children. Gesell believed that the child’s development was activated
by genes and he called this process maturation . Further, he believed
that development unfolded in fixed sequences, and he opposed efforts to
teach children ahead of schedule as he believed they will engage in
behaviors when their nervous systems had sufficiently matured.
5. Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of early
childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior. In our
natural state, we are biological beings and are driven primarily by
instincts. During childhood, however, we begin to become social beings
as we learn how to manage our instincts and transform them into
socially acceptable behaviors.
6. Psychosocial Theory: Erik Erikson presents eight developmental
stages that encompass the entire lifespan. According to Erikson,
successful development involves dealing with and resolving the goals
and demands of each of these psychosocial crises in a positive way.
These crises are usually called stages, although that is not the term
Erikson used. If a person does not resolve a stage successfully, it may
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hinder their ability to deal with later stages. However, most

individuals are able to successfully complete the eight stages of his
theory.

7. Learning Theory: Also known as Behaviorism, is based on the premise

that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore
psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior
itself. The most famous behaviorist was Burrhus Frederick (B. F.)
Skinner. He used the ideas of stimulus and response, along with the
application of rewards or reinforcements.
8. Social Learning Theory was developed by Albert Bandura (1977). His
theory calls our attention to the ways in which many of our actions are
not learned through conditioning, as suggested by Skinner.
9. Bandura (1986) suggests that there is interplay between the
environment and the individual. We are not just the product of our
surroundings, rather we influence our surroundings. There is interplay
between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they
influence us. This concept is called reciprocal determinism.
10. Cognitive Theory: The cognitive theories focus on how our mental
processes or cognitions change over time. Three important theories are
Jean Piaget’s, Lev Vygotsky’s, and Information-processing.
11. Jean Piaget (1896-1980). He was inspired to explore children’s
ability to think and reason by watching his own children’s development.
He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which
children's intelligence differs from that of adults (Piaget, 1929). He
became interested in this area when he was asked to test the IQ of
children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong
answers. He believed that children's intellectual skills change over
time and that maturation, rather than training, brings about that
change.
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