Humans change throughout their course of life. There are different aspects of change, such as physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional developments. These are in turn influenced by your biology, upbringing, and environment. Developmental psychology is a branch in psychology that attempts to understand such changes, their causes, and their implications.
- What is developmental psychology?
- What are important concepts and theories in developmental psychology?
- What are some issues in developmental psychology?
A Definition of Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is a branch of the discipline that dissects the changes that happen over the course of human life. It is primarily concerned about how humans develop, as well as factors that influence these changes over time. Developmental psychologists assess the cognitive, social, and emotional development of individuals to create recommendations needed to improve life outcomes.
Fig. 1 Parent and child illustrating human development, pexels.com
What are the Goals of Developmental Psychology?
The different areas of developmental psychology have three main goals.
Evaluating Individual Development
People who seek the help of developmental psychology experts will often undergo evaluations, which seek to describe the individual's current concerns. By doing so, experts can create an explanation that would help in formulating the right strategies or treatment.
A parent seeks help for her child who does not like conversing in school and other public settings, preferring to talk only within private spaces such as the home.
Explaining Individual Development
In order to formulate a customized treatment or strategy for each individual, it is essential to explain the potential causes of concern. Understanding people's backgrounds, upbringing, associated health conditions, and other essential details can help in creating an explanation regarding the individual's development.
The developmental psychologist discovers that the family has a history of anxiety disorders, and the child's symptoms point to a condition called selective mutism.
After assessing and finding the causes of concern, the next goal of developmental psychology is to find solutions. These include therapy, environmental modifications, home interventions, and other strategies.
The child is recommended to take age-appropriate behavioral therapy. Progress will be assessed throughout the course of treatment.
Areas of Developmental Psychology
Human development is evident in different aspects. In developmental psychology, these are what we call domains or areas of study.
Physical
Physical development covers the areas of gross motor, fine motor, as well as sensory acuities. There are different gross motor and fine motor milestones that experts assess in a child, such as learning how to:
These physical milestones are observed per age range, to know if the individual exhibits typical development.
Cognitive
Cognitive development covers the individual's mental capacity and skills. Like physical development, the cognitive domain also looks into certain milestones that are seen through the individual's abilities to comprehend, solve problems, or use language to demonstrate mental capacity.
Examples of cognitive development include:
Learning to grasp objects and switch between hands
Object permanence
Begins thinking of abstract ideas and follows directions
Playing pretend using imagination skills
Turning door handles or opening jars.
Social and Emotional
The social and emotional domains are deeply tied with each other. Emotions are usually displayed through social interaction, while emotional states also affect social development. Children learn to interact with others through play, as nurtured by their caregivers. Some things that experts asses in this domain include:
Fig. 2 Children socializing with each other, pexels.com
Language
Language is another unique domain in developmental psychology, as it deals with the child's ability to communicate with others. In many ways, it is tied to one's physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development, but it assesses distinct aspects of communication.
Some children can comprehend language but have difficulties creating speech sounds. Others have very verbose language skills, but can have issues in having appropriate conversations. These are examples of what experts look into when evaluating the language domain.
Developmental Psychology Concepts
Many concepts in developmental psychology arise from the well-known theories surrounding human development. There is no single theory that can fully explain human development, but rather a combination of theories that give an in-depth understanding of people's multifaceted natures.
Examples of Developmental Psychology: Theories and Illustrations
Let's look at the following examples.
Theory of Psychosexual Development
Introduced by Sigmund Freud, this theory holds that having a healthy adult personality hinges upon the satisfaction and completion of each previous stage in psychosexual development. Freud was one of the first proponents of how early childhood experiences can shape adulthood personalities.
Theory of Psychosocial Development
Elaborating upon the theory of Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson focused on a different area of child development, namely, "socio-emotional milestones" (Huitt, 2008).
According to Erikson, each stage of human life has certain points of conflict, wherein they must succeed to feel adequate. The failure to succeed in such a conflict can be a potential cause of the crisis. The theory of psychosocial development was highly regarded during the 20th century, due to its ability to interpret the growth and changes across an individual's total lifespan.
Behavioral Child Development Theory
There are several developmental psychologists who believe external stimuli can shape human behavior. Behaviorism, or the Behavioral Child Development Theory as introduced by John Watson seeks to explain that human development is an overall result of positive and negative reinforcements. These reinforcements, such as rewards and punishments, can strengthen or weaken certain behaviors throughout the course of human life.
Cognitive Development Theory
Jean Piaget introduced the concept of cognitive development as a pillar of human growth and change. According to this theory, there are certain ways that children learn to think across different age ranges.
Starting from relying on sensory experiences and motor skills, children move from concrete thinking towards the understanding of abstract concepts.
Attachment Theory
John Bowlby explained that children develop certain types of attachment with their caregivers. According to Attachment Theory, children have an innate need to feel secure and attached to their caregivers, who in turn provide them with care and support.
The types of attachments formed throughout childhood lead to the kind of adults relationships that individuals will form later in life.
Fig. 3 Parent comforting child, pexels.com
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory was proposed by Albert Bandura as an expansion of Behaviorism. He believed that reinforcements do not fully explain growth and changes in humans; it also occurs through observing others' behaviors.
Bandura stated that motivations for learning do not necessarily need classic conditioning interactions, but also observation of others within the social context. Children can learn from their parents, teachers, peers, and other people in their environment spontaneously, without the need for direct reinforcements.
Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural Theory by Lev Vygotsky states that learning is deeply embedded in social experiences. Children learn best when they are given hands-on experiences. This is where individuals form paradigms about their understanding of the world.
Vygotsky also explained that there is a Zone of Proximal Development in the learning process; a stage where an individual can learn something with assistance, until they can master it on their own. This concept has influenced many educators on how teaching methods can be improved.
Major Issues in Developmental Psychology
Many of the theories mentioned above were proposed in response to the major issues within developmental psychology. These issues include:
Effect of Genetic and Environmental Factors on Human Development
Developmental psychologists have long been debating if human development is a result of nature vs. nurture. A lot of the theories explain the importance of the environment, social experiences, and resolving conflict, which displays the importance of "nurture" in developmental psychology.
However, it is hard to deny that genetic factors also play a role in human growth, as evolutionary developmental psychology holds. Certain genetic adaptations were necessary throughout the course of evolution; these are evident in human development. Hereditary conditions such as disabilities and diseases also impact lifespan and the developmental process.
Pace of Human Development
A lot of earlier theories supported the separation of each stage in human development, but more recent understanding shows that there is evidence for continuous change. Psychology shows us that there are some aspects of growth and change that are gradual, such as puberty, or cognitive development during infancy.
Other supporting theories show us that external stimuli such as experiences can also continuously shape our personalities, which is outside the bounds of the life stages explained by earlier beliefs.
Personality Change
Certain personality traits are believed to be ingrained from infancy, such as those observed within child temperament psychology. Some theories also explain (directly and indirectly) how environment shapes personality, as laid out in social learning, behaviorism, and caregiver attachment.
Developmental Psychology: Understanding the Spectrum of Human Growth and Change
Developmental psychology is a branch of the discipline that is crucial in understanding growth and changes across an individual's lifespan. By understanding theories in development, how we learn, and how we are shaped by genetics and external influences, we get a deeper sense of the full spectrum of human growth and change.
Developmental Psychology - Key takeaways
- Developmental Psychology is a branch of the discipline that dissects the changes that happen throughout human life.
- The domains of developmental psychology are Physical, Cognitive, Socio-emotional, and Language.
- The theories in human development explain the various ways individuals change as a result of environmental factors, genetic traits, as well as the stages of maturity found in each domain.
- The three major issues in developmental psychology include how genetic or environmental influences affect human growth and change, how development is gradual or continuous across the lifespan, and how personality traits are stable or changing throughout life.
References
- Huitt, W. (2008). Socioemotional development. Educational psychology interactive.
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