Developmental Psychology Chapter 1 Summary

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT? 1. Development * Systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception and death 2. Changes are systematic because they are orderly, patterned, and enduring * Temporary mood swings and other transitory changes in our appearances, thoughts, and behaviors are excluded 3. Continuities in development * Ways in which we remain the same or continue to reflect the past
WHAT CAUSES US TO DEVELOP? 4. Two important processes that underlie developmental change: maturation and learning 5. Maturation * Biological unfolding of the individual according to species-typical biological inheritance and an individual person’s
Three major goals of the development sciences * Describe * Explain * To optimize development

8. Description * Human developmentalists observe the behavior of people of different ages, seeking to specify how people change over time * They focus on typical patterns of change (normative development) and on individual variations in patterns of change (ideography development) * Normative development are developmental changes that characterize most or all members of a species * Ideographic development are individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development * They seek to understand the important ways that developing humans resemble each other and how they are likely to differ as they proceed through life 9. Explain * Determine why people develop as they do and why some people develop differently than others * Centers both on normative changes within individuals and on variations in development between individuals 10. Optimize development * Optimize development by applying what they have learned in attempts to help people develop in positive directions * Breakthroughs: * Promote strong affectional ties between fussy, unresponsive infants and their frustrated
A continual and cumulative process * First 12 years are important for setting the stage for adolescence and adulthood * Human development is a continual and cumulative process * The one constant is change, and the changes that occur as each major phase of life have major implications for the future 12. A holistic process * Unified view of the developmental process that emphasizes the important interrelationships among the physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects of human development * Boys who have early puberty are more popular than boys who reach puberty later * Kids who do well in school tend to be more popular than kids who perform poorly * Popularity depends not only on the growth of social skills but also on aspects of both cognitive and physical development * Holistic perspective is one of the dominant themes of human development today * 13. Plasticity * Capacity for change * Developmental state that has the potential to be shaped by experience * EX: Somber babies living in barren, understaffed orphanages become cheerful and affectionate when placed in socially stimulating adoptive