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Sychological Development

Developmental psychology studies patterns of growth and change throughout life through the interaction between biological and environmental factors. Nature, meaning genetic inheritance, and nurture, referring to unique experiences and opportunities, both play crucial roles in development. From conception onwards, development is shaped by an intricate interplay between hereditary and environmental influences. Key developmental milestones include language acquisition in childhood, cognitive development progressing through stages outlined by Piaget, and transitions during adolescence and adulthood involving biological changes, social identity formation, and challenges resolving intimacy vs isolation.

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Christine Ann Gamboa
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44 views

Sychological Development

Developmental psychology studies patterns of growth and change throughout life through the interaction between biological and environmental factors. Nature, meaning genetic inheritance, and nurture, referring to unique experiences and opportunities, both play crucial roles in development. From conception onwards, development is shaped by an intricate interplay between hereditary and environmental influences. Key developmental milestones include language acquisition in childhood, cognitive development progressing through stages outlined by Piaget, and transitions during adolescence and adulthood involving biological changes, social identity formation, and challenges resolving intimacy vs isolation.

Uploaded by

Christine Ann Gamboa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Influences on how we grow and mature:


Economic circumstance
Heredity
Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies the patterns f growth and change occurring
throughout life. It also deals with the interaction between the unfolding of biologically determined patterns of behavior and
a constantly changing dynamic environment.
Nature-Nurture Interaction
Nature- genetic inheritance
Nurture our unique experiences and opportunities
Although genetic plays a crucial role in development, the child environment has an equal, if not more impact on
development.
Environmental factors play a critical role in enabling people to reach the potential capabilities that their genetic
background makes possible.
Genetic factors not only provide potential for particular behaviors or traits to emerge, but also place limitations on the
emergence of such behavior or traits
Development is a process of growth and change brought about by an interaction of heredity and environment. Heredity
and environment are entwined in an inseparable relationship called nature-nurture interaction.

The start of life


Prenatal development and growth of brain
Life starts when a males sperm cell penetrates a females egg cell, marking the moment of conception.
Basics of genetics
Female born with immature ova and 1 of 5000 matures old every month and is released through menstruation starting
puberty
Male begins producing sperm cells at puberty. 1000 sperm/sec. for 24 hours a day for the rest of his life.
Egg cell
Sperm cell -

23 chromosomes
XX
23 chromosomes
XY
46 chromosomes

Zygote XX female
XY male
Male development is triggered by a single gene on a Y chromosome, and without the presence of a specific gene, the
individual will develop into a female.

The earliest stage of development


Zygote fertilized egg
It starts dividing and four about 10 days, when it reaches for about 150 divisions, the zygote implants itself in the lining of
the uterus. At this point it becomes an embryo.
All structures that are found in a newborn infant will begin to form. This occurs because the embryos cells specialize a
process called differentiation.
Placenta life support system and screens out many potentially dangerous substances called teratogens
Heartbeat first behavior, appears when the embryo is about three weeks old and six inches long
Fetus after the eight week of development
Maturation

Maturation is the unfolding of genetically programmed processes of growth and development over time. When the
organisms are raised under adequate environmental conditions, their maturation follows a predictable pattern that
includes systematic changes in bodily functioning and behavior that are influenced by both genetic and environmental
factors.
Innate sensory and motor abilities
Neonatal period (newborn period) time from birth to one month old
Aside from their sensory abilities, babies are born with behavioral reflexes that sustain life and provide a biological
foundation for later developments.
Postural reflex
Grasping reflex
Sucking reflex
The neonatal blueprint
Infancy one to 18 months
Infans means incapable of speech
Babies are also born with innate sociability. They only not respond to, but also interact with their mothers.
Developmental tasks of childhood
Three greatest accomplishments in life:
1. Acquiring the native language
2. Developing the ability to think and reason
3. Forming relationships with the important people in life
How children acquire language
Babbling
Beside their ability to perceive speech sounds, infants have tendency to produce sequences of sounds that they will later
use in speaking.
Innate language structures in brain
According to the innateness theory of language, children acquire language not merely but imitating but by following an
inborn program of steps to acquire the vocabulary and grammar of the languages in the environment. Children are born
with mental structures built into the brain that make it possible to comprehend and produce speech. One such
mechanism lies in the Brocas area, the motor speech controller in the cerebral cortex.
Cognitive development
Piagets approach:
Schemes
The interaction of assimilation and accommodation
The stages of cognitive development
Schemes
Schemes are mental structures that enable the individual to interpret events and experiences. They are mental structures
that guide thinking and the building blocks of developmental change.
Assimilation and accommodation
Assimilation is the metal process that modifies new information to fit existing schemes (with what is already known).
Accommodation is a process of restructuring or modifying schemes to incorporate new information.
Assimilation makes new information fit our existing views of the world, and accommodation changes our view to fit new
information.
Piagets stages of cognitive development:
1. The sensorimotor stage
Birth to 2 years old
The child begin to interact with the environment
Children at this stage are capable of simple learning
Mental representation. The ability to make internal mental representations of objects. Children can now
form memories of objects and events that they retrieve later for use in thinking and problem solving.
Object permanence. The child realizes that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.
2. The preoperational stage
2 6 OR 7 years old
Ability to represent the object mentally

Egocentrism, a self-centered focus, causes children to see the world only in terms of themselves and their
own position.
Animistic thinking, involves the belief that inanimate objects have life and mental processes.
Centration, involves the inability to understand an event because the child focuses attention too narrowly,
while ignoring other important information.

3. The concrete operational stage


7 11 or 12 years old
Children understand that many things may stay the same, even when their superficial appearance
change.
4. Formal operational stage
12 onwards
Ability for abstract and complex thought appears
Developmental challenges of adulthood
Nature and nurture continue to produce changes in personality and mental processes throughout the life cycle.
The transitions of adolescence.
The first concrete indicator of the end of childhood is the significant growth spurt. This is also the onset of puberty, the
period during which reproductive system matures.
Between age 12 and 24
Adolescence bridges childhood and adulthood
Puberty: male begins with the production of live sperm cells
Female onset of menstruation
Physical maturation
By the end of the first or second year of the growth spurt, changes have occurred in the body proportions
secondary sex characteristics
primary sex characteristics
as boys pass through puberty, they feel more positive about their bodies whereas girls more likely to have negative
feelings.
Puberty itself does not create psychological maladjustment; but becoming an adolescent means emerging as an adult,
socially and sexually, and this takes some significant adjustment.
Sexuality
Masturbation is often considered an ac are activity to engage in only if no other sexual outlets are available. But despite
the negative attitudes, most experts on sex view masturbation not only as healthy, legitimate and harmless sexual
activity, but also a means of learning about ones sexuality.
Homosexual feelings are much more difficult to resolve during adolescence, most of them are able to accept their sexual
identities in the middle or late twenties.
Sexual intercourse many people engage in this activity before age 17.
Male no emotional attachment with his first sexual intercourse
Female emotional involvement is important ingredient in sexual intercourse.
Social identity and identity crisis
The essential crisis of adolescence is discovering ones true identity amid the confusion of playing many different roles for
different audiences in expanding social world.
Resolving this identity crisis helps the individual develop a sense of coherent self.
Failure to resolve this identity crisis adequately may result in a self0-image that lacks a stable core.
Occupational choices
Deciding on a vocational commitment is central issue of adolescent identity formation.
Anticipating the future mentally imagining its possibilities strongly influences adolescents motivation and abilities to
plan and evaluate life choices.
Socioeconomic background factors affect vocational interests and achievement.
Developmental changes of adulthood
Love and work

Two basic needs of an adult : love and work


Intimacy vs. isolation
Intimacy the capacity to make full commitment - sexual, emotional, moral to another person.
The individual must resolve the conflict between wanting to establish closeness to another person and fearing the risks
and loses such closeness can entail.
Failure to resolve this crisis leads to isolation and the inability to connect to others in meaningful ways.
Generativity vs. isolation
The next major opportunity for growth occurs in the generativity crisis of adult midlife.
For those people who have successfully met the earlier challenges of identity and intimacy, generativity brings a
commitment to make a contribution to family, work, society, or future generations.
Those who have not resolve earlier crisis of identity and intimacy may experience a midlife crisis. Such people question
past choices, becoming cynical and stagnant or reckless.

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