1 Welcome to Child Psychology
JENNIFER PARIS; ANTOINETTE RICARDO; AND DAWN RYMOND
Welcome to PSY 235 Child Psychology.
Over the next few weeks, we will look at how we change physically over time from conception through adolescence. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over the first 20 years or so of life. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence.[1]
Below you will find a very brief overview of the principles of development. We will be diving deep into Research Principles and Major Theories of Life Span Development in our next module, but I want you to start thinking about your own experiences during each period. Take a moment to reflect on your childhood. In what ways have you changed? In what ways have you remained the same?
Principles of Development
There are several underlying principles of development to keep in mind:
- Development is lifelong and change is apparent across the lifespan (although this text ends with adolescence). And early experiences affect later development.
- Development is multidirectional. We show gains in some areas of development, while showing loss in other areas.
- Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and social and emotional.
- The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, changes in gross and fine motor skills, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness.
- The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language.
- The social and emotional domain (also referred to as psychosocial) focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.
All three domains influence each other. It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains.
- Development is characterized by plasticity, which is our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable. Early experiences are important, but children are remarkably resilient (able to overcome adversity).
- Development is multicontextual.[2] We are influenced by both nature (genetics) and nurture (the environment) – when and where we live and our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to circumstances surrounding us. The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture.[3]
Now let’s look at a framework for examining development.
Periods of Development
Think about what periods of development that you think a course on Child Development would address. How many stages are on your list? Perhaps you have three: infancy, childhood, and teenagers. Developmentalists (those that study development) break this part of the life span into these five stages as follows:
- Prenatal Developm