The Concept of Developmental Psychology - Assignment Example

Developmental Psychology It is said that nothing is permanent in this world except death and change. Change is development. As we grow, we also face different things. We ask loads of questions regarding our identity as well as with the world we live in. This is where the psychology of development enters. Different concepts and theories regarding developmental psychology help us to better understand the challenges that we face at every stages of our lives. Developmental psychology is a psychological field concerned with understanding and describing the growth and changes within an individual over time. As development is a life-span phenomenon that starts upon one’s arrival in this world and continues throughout our entire life. (Developmental Psychology) To better understand the concept of psychological development, we must first take a look at the different stages of development in humans. The first is the pre-natal stage which is from conception to birth. Next is the infancy stage, followed by the early childhood, the childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age, and death. These are the stages that are being studied by developmental psychology. (Developmental Psychology) As what has been said, development entails changes. As a child grows, his/her physical appearance also changes. But development goes beyond the physical. It also includes the cognitive development which has something to do with the way we perceive the things around us. Emotional development is also enhance as we open ourselves to different emotions such as guilt, pride, or embarrassment. Another area of growth is the social development which involves our interaction with other people and how we view concepts such as sharing and friendship, as well as caring for others. Each of these domains of development, as they interact with one another, constitute to the whole being of a person. Developmental psychology is the scientific study of the progressive psychological changes that occur in human beings as they become older. It is concerned with children and infants, going to adolescents and adulthood. Simply put, it studies the entire life span of a human being as well as its development. It also examines our psycho-physiological processes, motor skills, conceptual understanding, problem solving capacities, moral understanding, language acquisition, and identity formation. (Developmental Psychology) Development psychology tries to investigate questions such as whether children are different from adults or whether it is simply the lack of experience that adults draw upon. Other issues concerned with developmental psychology is the question of whether development occurs through the shifts or transition from one stage to another, or through the gradual communication and acquisition of knowledge, or whether we are born with innate knowledge, or whether we figure things out by our own experience. The social context of these things is also being studied in social psychology. (Developmental Psychology) Educational psychology, developmental forensics, and child psychopathology are just one of the fields that developmental psychology tackles. Other research fields that developmental psychology complements are cognitive psychology, social psychology, and comparative psychology. (Developmental Psychology) Theories in developmental psychology attempts to explain further the meaning of development when it comes to our psychological being. One of these theories is Behaviorism. This approach in psychology says that our behavior can be studied scientifically without looking at our inner mental states. A lot of behaviorists assume that free will is misleading and illusory. They also believe that our behavior is determined by a combination of genetic factors and environment, and this is done through reinforcement or association. Ivan Pavlov and John F. Skinner are two of the most common psychologist who investigated the conditioning technique. Classical conditioning, which is investigated by Ivan Pavlov, is a type of associative learning. Pavlov described that by pairing two stimuli to condition an animal in giving a certain response. Classical conditioning focuses on our involuntary and reflexive behavior. Operant conditioning by Skinner, on the other hand, is the behavior’s modification brought about by the consequences of the said behavior. Operant conditioning deals with our voluntary behavior, which is explained by its consequences. Skinner’s model is based on the after effects of the action being done, that is, the punishment or reward for the behavior shown. Simply put, behaviorism in developmental psychology deals with the stimulus and response in a person’s behavior. (Cognitive Systems and Information Processing) Another theory in developmental psychology is the intellectual development theory proposed by Jean Piaget. Piaget said that the interaction of hereditary and environmental factors constitute to our intellectual development. According to him, as the child continues to interact and explore the world around him, there is also a continued invention and reinvention of knowledge. Biological sciences strongly ground his theory of intellectual development. He also believed that the intellectual development of a person is controlled by all the aspects of development, may it be social, moral, or emotional. (Piaget) The cognitive theory is another theory that has something to do with developmental psychology. Cognitive psychology studies the internal mental processes such as memory, language, and problem solving. It has the very foundations of Gestalt psychology, which is the theory of mind and brain that says that the operational principle of the human brain is analog and parallel, with self-organizing tendencies. Cognitive psychology studies how people diagnosed, understand, and solve problems that concern themselves. Cognitive theory argues that the solutions to our problems take the form of algorithms - rules that are not necessarily understood but promise a solution, or heuristics – people can understand rules but it cannot necessarily guarantee a solution. In some events, solutions may be found through a sudden awareness of relationships. Cognitive psychology is a point of view which says that the human mind has a certain conceptual structure. (Cognitive Systems and Information Processing The evolutionary developmental theory, on the other hand, is the application of the evolutionary principles of Charles Darwin, who proposes the Theory of Evolution. It particularly focuses on the natural selection, to give explanation to the contemporary human development. It involves the study of environmental and genetic mechanisms that underlie the development of cognitive and social competencies. It also involves the process of adaptation to one’s surroundings. It also assumes that the characteristics of the children’s mind and behavior characterize the over-all behavior of a person. Another theory is the Ecological Systems Theory has four types of systems which influence our behavior – microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem. Microsystem is our immediate environment which includes our family, peer group, school, and other close relationships. The mesosystem is the system which is composed of your connections between immediate environments. The exosystem, on the other hand, deals with the external environment settings which indirectly affects the development, while macrosystem is the larger cultural context. Each of these systems plays an important role in shaping the development of a person. (Ecological Systems Theory) To better understand developmental psychology, it is important to take note of the mechanisms of development. Developmental psychology not only deals with the psychological change over time, but it also seeks to give explanation on the internal workings and principles underlying these changes. Furthermore, the role of experience also plays a vital role in understanding developmental psychology. An important question regarding this is the relationship between the innateness and environmental influence with regards to the particular aspect of development. This is often referred to as the nativism versus the empiricism. A nativist believes that the person’s behavior is innate and is specified in the organism’s genes. An empiricist, on the other hand, argues that interaction with the environment is the factor that can shape an organism’s behavior. Today, developmental psychologists investigate the real relationship between innate and environmental influences. The main issue regarding developmental psychology is the question of whether or not our behavior is a product of our nature, or is it on how other people nurture us. This argument slowly became of interest to many people by way of how people tend to be what they are right now. Are those great painters born or made? Are excellent writers just learn their craft? Is the behavior of criminals innate or is it the society who molded them. Is our genes programmed to make us, or is our environment responsible for what we are right now? This is where developmental psychology enters. Through studying the psychology of development, psychologists can look at the patterns and trends to better understand man’s behavior. Through the understanding of developmental psychology, scientists found out that we indeed have some traits and talents which is innate within us. However, it is with our environment that we develop, enhance, or “kill” the talents and capabilities that we have. A classic example is our artistic abilities. Whether it may be true that some people are born with “artistic hands”, it is still their choice whether they want to enhance it or not. If he choose to develop that talent (and if, by any chance, he is surrounded by people who are artistically inclined), then, there’s a bigger possibility that he will excel in that field. If, on the other hand, he chooses not to practice that inborn talent, there will also be a possibility that he will not excel in that field. All in all, it is safe to assume that our behavior is something that is molded by our environment (i.e. visual stimuli, society, and education), and it is something that we can pass on to the next generation unless we decide to let the future choose to ride their own waves. Language acquisition is also a very important issue on the topic of innateness of the human behavior. One major question is whether or not some properties of human language are genetically specified or whether it can be acquired through learning. Advancement in the cognitive area of development can make other development possible. As the capacity of our minds and thoughts develop, it becomes possible for us to experience more intricate emotions, as we begin to understand our social relationships. Social developments, such as our capacity to cooperate and share have an inference for our emotional development. An example is a child’s way of forming friendships. Through this, a child learns to emphasize and care for others. A cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development interacts with one another, and one area can affect the other area. College courses and textbooks often just describe the different domains of development separately; however, it should be taken into consideration to consider all areas of psychological development simultaneously for us to better understand the process of development in humans. Another implication of how developmental psychology can help us is by studying how the principle of “reward” and “punishment” dictates how a person will react to a certain stimulus. For example, a child can eagerly study if rewards (such as new toys) will be given after he gets a high grades in school. Likewise, he will also pursue to do better in school if punishments (such as being grounded in using television for a week) were given if he doesn’t do well in a certain task. Indeed, developmental psychology helps us to better understand the changes that are happening in our physical, cognitive, or emotional development. It is by understanding the principles of the psychology of development that we can better grasp the human behavior. To conclude, developmental psychology is definitely a powerful tool in knowing the human behavior better. Work Cited: (Developmental Psychology). Retrieved on July 24, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_psychology (Piaget). Retrieved on July 24, 2006 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm (Behaviorism). Retrieved on July 24, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism (Cognitive Systems and Information Processing). Retrieved on July 24, 2006 from http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/illcar03b.php (Information Processing). Retrieved on July 24, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processing (Ecological Systems Theory). 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