Developmental Psychology

An Introduction
Human Development
Study of HOW and WHY
people change over time

• Normative Development
• Ideographic Development
Periods of Development
Prenatal • Middle Childhood

Infancy & Toddlerhood • Adolescence

Early Childhood
• Emerging Adulthood
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Nature vs. Nurture?
• Nature • Nurture
• Inherited tendencies • Effects of environment
• Maturation • Includes physical and social
environment
• Human growth sequence
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Nature AND Nurture: Interactionist Perspective
• How do nature and nurture work together to shape development
• e.g. language development, intelligence
• Epigenetics
• Study of how nature and nurture interact
• How environmental factors change an individual’s genetic expression without changing the DNA
• Genome: each individual’s entire set of genetic information
• Methylation patterns:
• Increasing methylation turns off the expression of specific genes
• e.g. maternal stress increases methylation of DNA in children; increases risk of depression and
anxiety in later life.
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Is the Child Active or Passive in Their own Development?
• Is the child a passive recipient of external forces that influence their development?
• e.g. Freud, Skinner
• More recent theories view children as playing an active role in their own development
• e.g. infants shape their own development through selective attention
• Helps them to learn about important parts of the world
• Pay more attention to objects that move and make sounds – helps them to learn about different
types of objects e.g. animals, vehicles etc
• Pay more attention to faces, esp. mother’s face
• Eventually, when babies coo, babble, and smile, they will get a reaction particularly from the
parent. Helps to build attachment relationship.
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
Continuous Development
• Changes with age occur gradually, in
small increments.
• Change is quantitative
• Development occurs skill by skill and
task by task.
Discontinuous Development
• Changes with age include
occasional large shifts.
• Qualitative differences occur.
• Piaget, Freud, Erikson were stage
theorists.
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Mechanisms of Change – How does Change Occur?
• Mechanisms of developmental change involves: brain activity, genes,
learning experiences
• e.g. effortful attention
• Physiological explanations: connections between limbic system, anterior cingulate,
& prefrontal cortex – important in setting and attending to goals
• Genetic alterations that influence production of neurotransmitters – produces
changes in performance in activities requiring effortful attention
• Learning: can change brain connections that are involved in effortful attention –
effects of training on activity of anterior cingulate
Enduring Themes in Child Development
The Sociocultural Context
• Includes the physical, cultural, economic and historical circumstances that the child grows
up in.
• Includes the people the child interacts with e.g. parents & siblings, relatives, peers, teachers,
neighbors etc.
• Physical environment: home, school, neighborhood etc
• Less tangible sociocultural factors
• The historical era: 50 years ago, far fewer children attended childcare centers
• The economic structure: far more opportunities today for women with young children to work
outside the home
• Cultural beliefs: e.g., that receiving childcare outside the home does not harm children
• Cultural values: e.g., the value that mothers of young children should be able to work outside
the home if they wish
Enduring Themes in Child Development
Individual Differences
• 4 factors that account for individual differences between children (including
those from the same family……even identical twins!)

1. Genetic Differences

2. Differences in treatment by parents and others

3. Differences in reaction to similar experiences

4. Different choices of environment (remember the ACTIVE child!)