Tiêu đề (New) Developmental Psychology Reviewer (PAPALIA).pdf ✅

1 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEWER CHAPTER 1: THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Human Development: An Ever-Evolving Field The field of human development focuses on the scientific c study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people. Developmental scientists (or developmentalists)— individuals engaged in the professional study of human development—look at ways in which people change from conception through maturity as well as at characteristics that remain fairly stable. Which characteristics are most likely to endure? Which are likely to change, and why? These are among the questions developmental scientists seek to answer. An understanding of adult development can help people understand and deal with life transitions: a woman returning to work after maternity leave, a person making a career change, a widower dealing with loss, someone coping with a terminal illness. STUDYING THE LIFE SPAN Life-span development Concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically. Life-span development to be from “womb to tomb,” comprising the entire human life span from conception to death. For these reasons, events such as the timing of parenthood, maternal employment, and marital satisfaction are now also studied as part of developmental psychology. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT TODAY As the field of human development itself developed, its goals came to include description, explanation, prediction, and intervention. For example, to describe when most children say their first 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. They then attempt to explain how children acquire language and why some children learn to speak later than usual. This knowledge may make it possible to predict future behavior, such as the likelihood that a child will have serious speech problems. Finally, an understanding of how language develops may be used to intervene in development, for example, by giving a child speech therapy.
2 The Study of Human Development: Basic Concepts DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT Developmental scientists study three major domains, or aspects, of the self: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health are parts of physical development. Learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity make up cognitive development. Emotions, personality, and social relationships are aspects of psychosocial development. PERIODS OF THE LIFE SPAN Division of the life span into periods is a social construction: a concept or practice that is an invention of a particular culture or society. There is no objectively definable moment when a child becomes an adult or a young person becomes old. By the 1920s, with the establishment of comprehensive high schools to meet the needs of a growing economy and with more families able to support extended formal education for their children, the teenage years became a distinct period of development (Keller, 1999).
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4 Influences on Development INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES  Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes Every person has a unique developmental trajectory, an individual path to follow. One challenge in developmental psychology is to identify the universal influences on development, and then apply those to understanding individual differences in developmental trajectories. HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT, AND MATURATION Heredity  Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents. Environment  Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development. Maturation  Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes.