Developmental Psychology 428 Dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 1
Introduction Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 2
Why Study Life-Span Development? You can gain insight to your own life as a child, adolescent, and young adult. You will learn about life through the adult years — middle age, and old age. You may be a parent or a teacher or doctor some day. Life-span development is linked with many different areas of psychology. Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 3
Development is Studied by a Number of Disciplines Psychologists Sociologists Anthropologists Neuroscientists Medical Researchers Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 4
Developmental Psychology Focuses on development across life span – a field of psychology that focuses on development across the life span. Development More-or-less predictable changes in behavior associated with increasing age Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 5
The Nature-Nurture Issue Involves the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture: Nature: An organism’s biological inheritance. الإرث البيولوجي للكائن. Nurture: An organism’s environmental experiences. الخبرة البيئية للكائن. Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 6
Developmental Psychology Nature view dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 7
Developmental Psychology What do they see? Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 8
Laws of Development Human development goes in stages. There are individual differences in growth rates. Human development continuous and connected process. All the individuals going through the same stages of development. The growth rate varies from one stage to another. There are specific pathways of human development. Discontinuities in development are the rule. Parents make important decisions about raising children that impacts on development. Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 9
Factors affecting on development Heredity: Transmission of genetic traits from parents to children. Glands: The effect of hormones on the development and functions of the body. Environment: External influence on development. Food: Building the body's cells, energy, disease prevention. Maturation: Biological process of systematic physical growth. Experience: The big role in development. Developmental Psychology dr. Mohsen Lotfy Ahmed 10