Developmental Psychology Paper

There are three main theories of development that I shall discuss in this assignment, 'Cognitive', the main theorist being, 'Piaget', (1896 - 1980), The, 'Psychosocial Theory', 'Erikson', (1902 - 1994), and, The 'Psychosexual', of, 'Freud', (1856 - 1939).

Developmental Psychology is the ways that people change throughout their lifespan. Studies include the psychological affects, physical and social growth, intellectual, emotional and perceptual changes that occur. Developmental Psychology focus on a wide range of behavior changes beginning with prenatal development. Developmental Psychology also focuses on developmental disabilities and the effects it might have on people’s behavior. As with many fields related to psychology, a developmental psychologist must obtain a doctorate for most positions; some positions at the university level requires a PhD.

When an infant arrives in the world they are helpless tiny humans who depend on adults for every need from love, to feeding them. It is amazing how these tiny babies grow into adults able to make decisions and become self-dependent. There are many theories about how children develop and what roles the environment plays, what people affect their lives and how events can shape their personalities. Some of these children have and easy life and some have a harder time making that journey to adulthood.

Developmental psychology denotes to the psychological ways in which human beings progress from birth to adulthood. For the purposefulness of this paper, the focal point will be on childhood developmental psychology. The subject perceived will be my five-year-old nephew Richard Tafoya. Furthermore, the interactive methods utilized throughout my observations will include: games, test of conservations, interviews, and cognitive assessments. This paper will indicate which physical actions were observed, verbal statements given, and what activity the child was doing in relation to one or more of the various theories of development.

According to Cliff Notes, Developmental psychology is the scientific study of age-related changes throughout the human life span. A discipline of scientific inquiry, developmental psychology recognizes humans of all societies and cultures as beings who are “in process,” or constantly growing and changing. This discipline identifies the biological, psychological, and social aspects that interact to influence the growing human life-span process. Within the last 25 years, developmentalist’s researchers who study human development expanded their focus to include the study of the physical, motor, cognitive, intellectual, emotional, personality, social, and moral changes that occur throughout all stages of the life span (cliff notes).

According to studies there has been an increase of unprotected intercourse in adolescents that leads to sexually transmitted diseases, psychological disorders, and the use of substance abuse (Jemmott, Fong, G. T. (2005)). Adolescents typically go to the use of drugs to throw away the feelings they encounter in everyday situations. Studies also show that most adolescents that involve their selves in intercourse at an early age will have a larger number of sexual partners, and use condoms less often when engaged in intercourse.

Developmental theories state that an individual's propensity to crime is an ebb and flow over the course of their lives (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). These theories, often referred to as “life theories” are based on a person’s individual development (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Developmental theories also argue that there are other factors which influence an individual’s likelihood to commit crimes (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). These theories also assert that although there may be a significant or influential factor in an individual’s life at one point in time, that same factor may not have any significance or importance at a different stage of their life (Bohm & Vogel, 2011).

Developmental psychology focuses on development during the course of one’s life. How personalities and behaviors change over the course of someone’s life.

Development psychology refers to the scientific study of the systematic psychological changes that normally occur to human beings throughout their growth period from birth to old age. It was originally concerned with children and infants, but it has since expanded to include the entire life span of mankind including adolescence and adulthood. Development psychology covers the extent to which human development occurs through gradual accumulation of knowledge, and the extent to which children born with inmate mental structures learn through experience. Several psychological theories and approaches like the behavioral, humanistic, psychoanalytic, biological, and cognitive approaches have been developed to explain the

One thing that I found interesting in Jensen article on developmental psychology as it relates to spatial cognition in children and adults on whether or not they're knowledgeable about their environment and where they come from. In the article, she references how one culture’s spatial cognition could differentiate between one another. For example, she states that “Namibian 8-year-olds and an adult were found to use allocentric reasoning whereas Dutch 8-year-olds and adults used egocentric reasoning” (Jensen, 2012 p. 101). This proves a point that spatial cognition is not that same everywhere and is heavily influenced by different cultural backgrounds. This also ties into the fact the psychologist has to be willing to do research universally

Developmental Psychology has widened my perspective and knowledge of the nature of development from humans’ infancy to adolescence and emerging adulthood. Although I have learned about biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes and periods of development, I am especially interested in socioemotional development in infancy because it is the foundation for a child’s future development. That is to say, if children have a healthy socioemotional development from infancy, they will have a healthy life later on. By understanding the developmental process in infancy, I will be fully prepared when I have children or when my family’s members do.

The answer in (3) is also incorrect because the effects of the mother's diabetes and malnutrition differ (compare the effects of malnutrition on p. 100 with those of high blood glucose levels on p. 105).

There are many theories on how a human develops. Most babies follow a certain pattern of development but the controversy is which person 's developmental pattern of development is correct? Erik Erickson, Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget 's developmental theories are similar. Each of the theories goes through a human 's development chronologically, giving a guideline of when certain developments happen. For example when a child is supposed to walk or when a child is going to speak. It is only a guideline and these theories are not supposed to be held too strictly.

Developmental Psychology is the study of how people change throughout their lifespan. Studies include psychological affects, physical and social growth, intellectual, emotional and perceptual changes that occur. Developmental Psychology focus on a wide range of behavior changes beginning with prenatal development. Developmental Psychology also focuses on developmental disabilities and the effects it might have on people’s behavior. As with many fields related to psychology, a developmental psychologist must obtain a doctorate for most positions; yet, some positions at the university level requires a PhD.

Week one started off with developmental psychology, which is defined as identifying and explaining the continuities and changes individuals display over time. There are two ways that cause humans to develop, these are by maturity and learning experiences. A person that observes developmental psychology are known as developmentalist.