ADULT DEVELOPMENT

* SADIA AWAN
 INTRODUCTION
• DEVELOPMENT REFERS TO SYSTEMATIC CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES IN THE INDIVIDUAL
THAT OCCUR BETWEEN CONCEPTION AND DEATH.
• DESCRIBING CHANGES AS “SYSTEMATIC” WE IMPLY THAT THEY ARE ORDERLY, PATTERNED,
AND RELATIVELY ENDURING
• SO THAT TEMPORARY MOOD SWINGS AND OTHER TRANSITORY CHANGES IN OUR
APPEARANCES, THOUGHTS, AND BEHAVIORS ARE THEREFORE EXCLUDED.
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
• BRANCH OF PSYCHOLOGY DEVOTED TO IDENTIFYING AND EXPLAINING THE CONTINUITIES
AND CHANGES THAT INDIVIDUALS DISPLAY OVER TIME.

• IS THE LARGEST OF THESE DISCIPLINES, MANY BIOLOGISTS, SOCIOLOGISTS, ANTHROPOLOGISTS,

EDUCATORS, PHYSICIANS, AND EVEN HISTORIANS SHARE AN INTEREST IN DEVELOPMENTAL
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE AND HAVE CONTRIBUTED IN IMPORTANT WAYS TO OUR
UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH HUMAN AND ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT.
 HUMAN
DEVELOPMENTAL AGE
• PLASTICITY
• CAPACITY FOR CHANGE; A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL
TO BE SHAPED BY EXPERIENCE.
ERICKSON THEORY
 COGNITIVE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
• SCHEME
• AN ORGANIZED PATTERN OF THOUGHT OR ACTION THAT A CHILD CONSTRUCTS
TO MAKE SENSE OF SOME ASPECT OF HIS OR HER EXPERIENCE; PIAGET
SOMETIMES USES THE TERM COGNITIVE STRUCTURES AS A SYNONYM FOR
SCHEMES.
• ASSIMILATION
• PIAGET’S TERM FOR THE PROCESS BY WHICH CHILDREN INTERPRET NEW
EXPERIENCES BY INCORPORATING THEM INTO THEIR EXISTING SCHEMES.
• ACCOMMODATION
• PIAGET’S TERM FOR THE PROCESS BY WHICH CHILDREN MODIFY THEIR
EXISTING SCHEMES IN ORDER TO INCORPORATE OR ADAPT TO NEW
EXPERIENCES.
PIAGET STAGES