Compare And Contrast Developmental And Developmental Psychology

The objective of this paper is to briefly discuss how the study of human development emerged as a discipline over the centuries, and to compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of the major research methodologies utilized within developmental psychology.

Developmental psychology is referred to as a scientific study surrounding the psychological changes that occur within people as they age. Developmental psychology is also referred to as life-span psychology, the branch of psychology that is focused on the cognitive, motivational, psycho physiological, and social functioning that occurs throughout the human life span (Britannica, 2006). When traced back to the early 19th and 20th centuries, the primary focus of developmental psychologists was on children. Starting around 1950 the focus changed to include relationships between personality variables, child rearing, and the meaningful stages of adult psychology. (Britannica, 2006). In the last part of the 20th century developmental psychologist started to broaden their horizons to include the relation of heredity and environment, continuity and discontinuity in development, and the behavioral and cognitive elements in the development of the total person (Britannica 2006). Now
Included in observational research are case studies, ethnographic studies and ethological studies among others. Observational research is often qualitative in nature and surveys are often classified under this heading. Observational research can be problematic if it is not conducted very carefully. Once again, there could be problems with internal validity because the individual can be described but causation can not. The other problems with observational research can include construct validity, incomplete background work, and observer and experimenter biases or preconceived