Developmental Psychology

Change is a fact of life

This course instructs students on the emotional, psychological, physical, and behavioural development of individuals from conception to death. You may utilise this expertise as a foundation for working with and supporting individuals in any situation if you have a thorough understanding of the processes and changes that underpin various life phases.

Developmental psychology’s importance

Studying developmental psychology helps you get knowledge of what might be seen as typical development and what might not be.
You can identify certain people’s problems and how or when they may have arisen by having this kind of knowledge.

The gradual psychological alterations that take place in people as they age are also studied by developmental psychology. For instance, as we age, our senses may become less acute, we may react more slowly, and we may get a little more forgetful. But, dementia, despite affecting a large number of the population, is not typical and has unique issues of its own.

Learn about how we change from infants and children through adolescents and early life to old age by taking this course.

This course looks at changes in a wide range of areas, from relationships, marriage, work-life balance, and retirement, to motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes, conceptual comprehension, language development, problem-solving skills, and identity creation.

This course is designed for those who would benefit from knowing how psychological and physiological changes over the lifespan effect human behaviour and who work in a counselling, supportive, caring, or even teaching capacity.

Students will have a deeper understanding of the problems that pose unique difficulties at many life phases, particularly from youth to old age. to the onset of the a…………

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Theoretical Approaches and Key Concepts
   • Introduction
   • Theoretical Approaches
   • Psychodynamic
   • Freud
   • Virtue
   • Mutuality
   • Ego Identity
   • Role Confusion
   • Piaget’s Stages of Development
   • Egocentrism
   • Locus Of Control
   • Interactionist
   • Assimilation
   • Accommodation
   • Adaptation
   • Zone Of Proximal Development
   • Biological Or Physical Development
   • Cognitive Development
   • Infancy
   • Toddlerhood
   • Maturity And Old Age
   • Ethics In Developmental Research
2. Early Childhood: Cognitive and Social Development in the First 6 Years
   • The Development of Humans and Children
   • Influences Of Prenatal Development
   • Language Acquisition
   • Age
   • Language Skill
   • Theories Of Infant Development
   • Behaviours – Unlearned and Learned
   • Personality
   • Social Relationships
   • Pro-Social or Altruistic Behaviour
   • Can We Encourage Children to Become Altruistic?
   • Aggressive Behaviour
   • Age-Related Changes in Aggression
   • Is Aggression A Stable Attribute?
   • Cognitive Development
   • Autonomy
3. Middle Childhood – Cognitive, Moral & Social Development In The Primary School Years
   • Introduction
   • Language Development
   • What Is the Difference Between Speech and Language?
   • Problems With Speech and Language
   • Relationships With Family & Peers
   • More Sophisticated Thinking: Piaget’s Version
   • Theories of Intelligence
   • Cognitive Processing Theory – Memory
   • Memory Capacity
   • Moral Development
   • Peer Groups
   • Special Children and Special Needs
4. Challenges of Middle Childhood
   • Introduction
   • Physical Changes
   • Variations In Height and Weight
   • Industry Vs Inferiority
   • Trauma And Grief
   • Family Relationships
   • Siblings
   • Adoption
   • Divorce
   • Television/The Internet/Video Games
   • Learning Disabilities
   • Sense Of Self
5. Adolescence: Cognitive, Moral and Social Development
   • Introduction
   • Cognitive Development
   • Piaget’s Formal Operations Stage
   • Physical Development
   • Puberty In Females
   • Puberty In Males
   • Nutrition And Eating Disorders
   • Hormones
   • Physical Activity
   • Identity
   • Moral Development
   • Relationships With Family and Peers
   • Cultural Perspectives
6. Challenges of Adolescence
   • Introduction
   • Body Image
   • Self Esteem
   • Peer Groups
   • Identity Vs Role Confusion
   • The Acquisition of Gender Identity and Sex Role Identity
   • Gender Identity Disorders
   • Curiosity
   • Sexual Orientation, Homosexuality and Heterosexuality
   • Theories Of Sexual Orientation
   • Do People Have a Choice as To Their Sexual Orientation?
   • The “Coming Out” Process
   • Sexual Behaviour
   • Grief And Teenagers
   • Supporting A Grieving Child
   • Case Study – Suicide
7. Adulthood: Cognitive and Psychosocial Development in Early and Middle Adulthood
   • Introduction
   • Attending College/University or Leaving the Nest
   • Marriage/Partnerships
   • Work And Achievement
   • Friendships
   • Adult Thinking
   • Transitions
   • Adult Psychological Development
   • Physiological Changes
   • The Male Menopause
8. Challenges of Adulthood
   • Divorce
   • Trauma and Depression
   • Parenting
   • Impact Of Relationships on Health
   • Stress
   • Social Adjustment
   • Relationship Between Stress & Heart Disease
   • What Happens to The Body When We Experience Stress?
   • Chronic & Acute Stress
   • Why Do Some People Suffer More Damage from Stress Than Others?
   • Alternative Lifestyles
   • Grandparenthood
   • Erikson’s Stage 7 – Middle Adulthood
   • Erikson’s Stage 8 – Late Adulthood
9. Late Adulthood: Cognitive and Psychological Changes in the Older People
   • Introduction
   • Physiological Changes in Late Adulthood
   • Health Related Issues
   • Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease
   • Nutritional Challenges
   • Pseudo-Dementia
   • Memory & Learning
   • Depression
   • Determining The Type of Depression
   • Causes Of Depression
   • Dying And Bereavement
10. Challenges of Late Adulthood
    • Introduction
    • Stereotypes
    • Loss And Mourning
    • Integrity Vs Despair
    • Facing Mortality
    • Grief And the Grieving Process
    • Social Issues
    • Strategies To Deal with Loneliness
    • Physical Difficulties
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Incontinence
    • Problems With the Eyes
    • Hearing Difficulties
    • Factors In Maintaining a H

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Recognize fundamental ideas and theories in the field of developmental psychology.
• Determine the main innate and environmental factors, as well as the cognitive and social components of a young child’s development.
• Explain the main moral, intellectual, and social advancements that occur in middle childhood and how they affect behaviour.
• Determine the typical psychological and physical difficulties that kids between the ages of 6 and puberty experience.
• Determine the changes that will have an impact on adolescent behaviour and thought.
• List the developmental changes that can take place during early and middle adulthood.
• Describe some of the main obstacles that adults confront and how you overcame them.
• Determine the impact of physiologic changes and life experience on the cognitive and psychosocial states of the elderly.
• Determine the main issues that older persons confront and how to address them.

How You Plan to Act

• learn the foundational theories and ideas of developmental psychology;
• enumerate the main ethical issues that arise when studying development and suggest a solution for each;
• the development of a young child’s cognitive and social skills, as well as some important innate and environmental effects;
• Explain the stages of language development in infants and what can have a negative impact on it;
• Explain the main moral, intellectual, and social advancements that occur in middle childhood and how they affect behaviour.
• Throughout middle childhood, contrast short-term memory with long-term memory, and talk about how this affects the child’s capacity for learning;
• List the typical psychological difficulties that kids between the ages of 6 and puberty encounter;
• Consider your own successes, failures, and feelings of competence from middle childhood. Think about how they influenced how you saw yourself as you grew;
• Determine the areas that need to improve in order to affect adolescent behaviour and thought;
• Describe post-formal thought and think about how it can affect a teen’s capacity or desire to make moral decisions;
• Identify adolescent challenges and strategies for dealing with them;
• Individuation, please. Describe its significance and how it can both undermine and strengthen collective identity.
• List the behavioural changes that can take place in early and middle adulthood;
• Describe the “stages of adult thinking” proposed by K. Warner Schaie, and explain why Schaie’s theory may be more useful for understanding adult cognition than Piaget’s cognitive model;
• enumerate some of the major issues adults confront, along with solutions;
• List some changes that are commonly connected with ‘midlife crisis’. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the term “midlife crisis”;
• Determine how the ageing person’s cognitive and psychosocial experiences are affected by physical changes and life experience;
• Describe how the concept of “cognitive plasticity” can effect how well an older person can learn despite the loss of brain cells;
• Investigate senior depression and suicide, as well as methods for fostering a sense of autonomy and independence in older people.
  • In your response, take into account how family members can respect the elderly person’s demand for autonomy.

YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND PEOPLE
….. WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

The human being is a natural being as well, and as such, he or she is gifted with important natural energies that manifest as hereditary traits. Man acquires his existence as a natural person at birth. His anatomical and physiological systems are not fully developed when he is born, but they are genetically preprogrammed to be uniquely human. The infant is not a “tabula rasa” (blank canvas) from which the environment can infer its imaginative spiritual designs. The infant is given more than just instincts via heredity. From the beginning, he has had a rare talent: the capacity to mimic adults in their movements and sounds. He has a natural curiosity and the capacity to enjoy shiny things. He has the capacity to feel anger, disappointment, fear, and delight. Even in prematurely born infants, his inherent smile can be seen. Man has the right to smile. And during his entire future existence in society, these completely human natural potentials are developed. The rounded shape of the head, the intricate structure of the hands, the shape of the lips and the entire facial structure, the upright stance, etc. are all physical manifestations of the social way of life that come about as a result of interactions with other people.

Prenatal development’s effects

The health and physiology of the child can be impacted by a wide range of factors. The health of the parents, their exposure to chemicals, and their surroundings may all have an impact on their reproductive health, and this can begin even before conception. There are additional risk factors that can impact the child’s anatomy and physiology while they are developing in the womb. Danger factors include the mother’s nutrition, stress, and age. Naturally, it is equally essential that the mother avoid tetratogens (these are any agent that can affect the baby). Drugs, illnesses, or environmental dangers are some examples. If there are known genetic disorders that run in the family and that a kid may be at risk of developing, a mother should also check into genetic counselling. Examples of the aforementioned include:

• Genetic disorders due to abnormal chromosomes – Down syndrome
• Medicinal drugs taken by the mother – Thalidomide
• Foetal alcohol syndrome – FAS
• Maternal diseases – rubella or German measles
• Environmental hazards – radiation

The study of our genes is called genetics (our molecular structure containing DNA). The genetic characteristics we inherit from our parents make up our genotype. The set of qualities that an individual actually manifests during development is known as the phenotype and it reflects the evolving results of genotype (nature) and experience (nurture).

These inherited characteristics might be dominant or recessive. Recessive characteristics only have an impact if a dominant trait is absent, whereas dominant traits have a bigger influence on how traits emerge. Examples include the fact that blond hair is recessive and brown or black hair is dominant. These features can be found on the chromosomes, which are rod-shaped structures that carry DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the genetic material from both parents that makes up who we are.

Growing up as an Adult
Surprisingly little research has been done on adulthood given the shorter time we spend there compared to childhood. Given the growing complexity and demands of modern life, the reality that adult lives vary over time, and the lengthened length of time that young people are spending at home with their parents, there has been an increase in interest in recent years.

By delaying marriage and having children and increasing their education, young people are delaying the transition to maturity, and parents are delaying their involvement in their children’s lives as well. Families continue to have a significant impact on their children’s life chances and outcomes as they enter adulthood by, among other things, establishing social and employment ties, paying for college, and offering direct material assistance in the form of time, money, aid, and shared housing.

Teenage years are underappreciated. Nonetheless, the years between the ages of 18 and 30 are a time of dramatic transformation, as this is the time when young adults gain the knowledge and training necessary for jobs and vocations, set up homes and relationships, start families, and start making significant contributions to society.

There are significant differences in terms of competition from interests that may affect the amount and type of life experience, as well as interest in an intentional spiritual journey, if we think about adult stages in terms of issues and challenges of young adulthood, middle age, later adulthood, and old age.

Young adults frequently concentrate on choosing a career that suits them, as well as choices about a companion and starting a family. When someone reaches middle age, their employment and family obligations frequently become routine, sometimes still demanding but well within their capacity, and chances for community involvement frequently rise. After having raised children into maturity and retiring from the workforce, an adult may have more freedom to choose a life that is very different from the one they have known. Many older people continue to participate in community organisations, particularly religious ones, and a select handful find themselves taking on spiritual elder roles.