DVT - Development Module Overview

Development

From the moment the sperm meets the egg until a person draws that last breath, each human is changing physically, mentally, and socially. People mature physically in typical order; although some will crawl or walk sooner than others, they all go through stages in the same order. People also develop mentally in a certain order, learning to reason differently as they age. Relationships also change over time. Psychologists research and create theories to explain how people develop through the lifespan. No theory can explain it all, but in this unit you will explore several important explanations for some of the changes that most humans experience during their lifetimes. An understanding of human development will help you know what to expect in your own life and in the lives of those around you.

Essential Questions

What physical changes do people experience between conception and death?
How did Freud explain psychological development?
How did Piaget explain cognitive development?
How did Kohlberg explain moral development?
Why are critical periods significant in human development?
How did Erikson explain psycosocial development?

Key Terms

Developmental Psychology - a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the life span
Conception - the fusion of a single sperm and egg to create a zygote
Zygote - the fertilized egg from date of fertilization through the first two weeks of rapid cell division
Embryo - the developing human organism from about two weeks through eight weeks after conception
Fetus - the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
Teratogens - chemical agents that can harm the baby during prenatal development
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking
Reflex - automatic responses present in newborns, including the rooting reflex and the sucking reflex
Habituation - decreasing responsiveness that occurs with repeated stimulation; as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner
Maturation - biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior; relatively uninfluenced by experience
Autism - a disorder that appears in childhood, and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' state of mind
Cognition - all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development - four stages that focus on how thinking changes as a human ages
Sensorimotor Stage - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
Object Permanence - the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
Preoperational Stage - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 5 or 7 years of age during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Egocentrism - in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty in taking another's point of view
Theory of Mind - people's ideas about their own and others' mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict
Concrete Operational Stage - in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Conservation - the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
Formal Operational Stage - in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Attachment - an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress in separation
Basic Trust - according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy to appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
Self Concept - a sense of one's identity and personal worth; all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "who am I?"
Adolescence - the transition period from childhood to adulthood
Puberty - the period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
Primary Sex Characteristics - the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
Secondary Sex Characteristics - non reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body/facial hair
Menarche - the first menstrual period
Menopause - the time of natural cessation of menstruations; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development - seven stages that each focus on the progression of libido from one part of the body to the next
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development - three stages that each focus on a person's reasoning about why something is right or wrong
Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development - eight stages that each focus on a social conflict
Identity - one's sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles
Intimacy - in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood
Critical Period - an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

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