PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH

Psychology Approach

Psychology Approach

Psychological phenomenon

Developmental psychology is concerned with many different components of human psychology and how they change over time. These different aspects of development complement many other areas of psychology, including cognitive psychology and social psychology. Developmental psychology is interested in discovering the psychological processes of development (Slater, 2006). A developmental view of how moral reasoning evolves from a low to a high level. It argues that people with a low moral level are unable to conceive acts of aggression as being immoral and are more likely to engage in such acts. Branch of psychology concerned with changes in cognitive, motivational, and psycho physiological, and social functioning that occur throughout the human life span. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developmental psychologists were concerned primarily with child psychology. In the 1950s they became interested in the relationship between child rearing and adult personality, as well as in examining adolescence in its own right (Glassman, Hadad, 2008).

By the late 20th century they had become interested in all aspects of psychological development and change over the entire life span. The study of age-related changes in behavior from birth to death. Developmental psychologists attempt to determine the causes of such changes. Most research has concentrated on the development of children, but there is increasing interest in the elderly and to a lesser extent in other age groups. Although most developmental work examines humans, there has been some work on primates and other species that would be considered unethical with human beings. Thus the sensory deprivation of kittens and the separation of monkeys from their mothers have provided information about abnormal perceptual and emotional development, respectively. An explanation of developmental changes requires a judgment as to the relative importance of genetically programmed maturation and environmental influences. Although most developmentalists believe that genetic endowment and environmental experience interact to account for behavior, the degree to which either affects a particular behavior is still often debated. This issue has important implications for the success of environmental intervention in the face of genetic constraints. For example, the influence on children of parental speech versus genetic programming in language acquisition is much debated, as is the origin of gender differences in behavior (Slater, 2006).

Developmental psychology is divided roughly between those who study personal-social (emotional) development and those who study intellectual and linguistic development, although there is a small but growing interest in the overlap between these two aspects of personality, known as social cognition. Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of the life span (Slater, 2006). Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept ...