“Developmental psychology is the scientific study of ‘age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death’ (Weiten, 2008; p. 306)’" The place that Developmental Psychology fills in the occupational field of Psychology is that developmental psychologists study how humans mature so they can guide people and explain what exactly is happening to their psyche and main-frame as they age and mature. Apart from general guidance, research is a rather large field in Developmental Psychology. The main areas of employment for developmental psychologists are universities, research facilities, hospitals, teen outreach programs, psychiatric institutions, elderly assisted living homes, homeless youth programs, and private practices. …show more content…
Some of the best schools to study developmental psychology are Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan. One big thing to consider, though, when picking a school is to think to yourself, “What is the student-to faculty ratio? Will you be able to get individual attention and advice?” (O'Hara 21). These questions are important moreso in psychology than most other fields because the job of being a psychologist is often such a personal one that it is extremely important to know what your educational needs are. This is garnered through an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master's degree. Choosing to be a developmental psychologist can impact your personal life by making you see how people, including your peers, are when it comes to their mental statue with maturation. The starting salary for developmental psychology is approximately $69,000 with the potential to make well over $100,000 though it is difficult to judge how much a person in this field could earn due to the ever-changing opportunity that is given. One controversial theory in the world of developmental psychology is Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual Developmental Theory. Freud's theory insisted that child development occurs in a series of stages that are focused on different pleasure points on the body. One disadvantage to Freud’s theory is that it does involve children and the sexual growth of children and measuring that can verge on grotesque for some. In a progressive notion, each stage follows the previous in which a child arrives at different conflicts that play large roles in the course of their development. If the child succeeds with each stage, the child will live a healthy adult life but if they fail they may incur certain negative traits that may influence their adult behavior. The profession of developmental
Developmental theories are often based on an age-related stages, or milestones, that signify meaningful changes in physical, cognitive, behavioral and social aspects within the human lifespan. One of the most well known developmental theories is Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. Freud, like others after him, theorized that early childhood experiences play an important role in personality development. Although, contemporary developmental theories include adolescence, adulthood, and late adulthood, the theories early focus on childhood development makes this approach particularly useful when working with children.
Development in psychology is the study of changes that occur in human over the course of their life. Studying development of children has been expanding including through adolescent and the entire lifespan. Theorist Piaget and Vygotsky both studied what drives development. Erikson took a different route and studied the psychosocial development of how people feel. All three theorists explains how children learn and what they learn. When looking at the learning process it will also determines their outcome of adulthood. Broken into three topics cognitive, physical, and social development helps each theorist explain their theories.
Psychological development is the development of a person’s emotional, intellectual, cognitive, and social capabilities and functions that they acquire throughout their lifetime. This starts from birth and carries on until death, but how does pregnancy affect the development stage? There are many myths that when women become pregnant their cognitive capabilities begin to decrease and the mother suffers from ‘baby brain’ or ‘placenta brain’. Scientists are interested in this and some wondered what role pregnancy plays in the increase or decrease of a woman’s cognitive function.
The field of developmental psychology is always being questioned and therefore expanded. Thousands of renowned psychologists have contributed to this process, two of which being Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. They both left a hand print on the large and expanding wall of psychology; however they dabbled in very different aspects of development. Their similarities and differences aid in the determination of which gave more to the field of developmental psychology and in doing so gave more to the institution of psychology as a whole.
Child psychology, also known as child development, is the study of psychological growth of children; how these mechanisms develop from infancy to adolescence and why they deviate from one child to the next. Child development is associated with biological, psychological, and emotional diversity that occur in humans. Although there is a different advancement for each child, these developmental changes may be greatly determined by genetic factors and experience during prenatal life. The early years of a child’s life are very important for his or her health and development. Parents, health professionals, educators, and others can work together as partners to help children grow up to reach their full potential.
Freud emphasized that early childhood experiences are important to the development of the adult personality, proposing that childhood development took place over five stages; oral, anal. Phallic, latent and genital. The phallic stage is the most important stage which contains the Oedipus complex. This is where the child (age 4 - 6 yrs) posses the opposite sex parent and wants rid of the same sex parent. Freud argued that if the conflict is not resolved in childhood then it could cau...
Erikson’s developmental theory was very detailed as compared to Freud. His theory describes the influence of social experiences in one’s life; however Freud described development based on sexuality. Another major difference between Freud and Erikson’s developmental theory is the end result of the stages. Freud believed that when fixation occurs in one stage, the problems occur associated with that stage would be permanent. However Erikson claims that the outcome of a particular stage is temporary and can be altered by experiences in later years.
Sigmund Freud developed the psychosexual stages of development to describe the chronological process of development that took place from birth through later adulthood. The stages of psychosexual are oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Freud developed that as children grow they progress from self-pleasing sexual activity to reproductive activity. Through this developmental process one will develop adult personality. Freud put much emphasis on sexual context of how ones libido, which is one sexual desires played a role in each stage of development. Freud emphasizes that individuals will strive to obtain pleasures in each stage of development, which becomes the basis of ones personality.
This may include physical, mental, emotional, and social changes in ones lives. These changes usually come with milestones, which describe an important event in a person’s life. Even though, the most noticeable milestones occur in our childhood and adolescence, adults also go through a series of turning points during their lives. This job is useful to help us understand how a person grows, develops, and ages at different stages in their life. Most people develop or reach a certain milestone at specific ages. For example when a toddler starts to sit, crawl, and walk they have a certain age in which they begin to do it. If any of these don’t occur within that certain age range then the toddler needs to be evaluated in a closer manner. Developmental psychologists generally specialize in certain ages or stages, and with this their responsibilities vary. Taking this information into consideration allows a developmental psychologist to evaluate a person, and determine whether he is on track or not. If a person has not reached their milestone when they should, then the psychologist can determine if a person has a developmental disability. Developmental psychologists have the opportunity to work at hospitals and mental
Developmental psychology is an area of research devoted to explaining the continuing growth and change that occurs over the course of one’s life. Throughout history many varying theories have been used to attempt to explain the complex process of childhood experiences altering who individuals become as an adult.
Wood, A. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2007). Child development: The world of psychology.
In this report I will be discussing the development issues about prenatal development, and the newborn. Developmental psychology is basically a psychology study that focuses on the cognitive, physical, and social change throughout our life span. In prenatal development we learn about nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change. Prenatal Development is the process in which babies develop from one single cell after making a baby into an Embryo and later on a fetus . An Embryo is the process of a human organism for about approximately 2 weeks after the fertilization though the second month.
Out of the massive contributions made to developmental psychology, no psychologist had made a more significant contribution than Erik Erikson. As a young man, Erikson was highly influenced by the Freud family and their school of thought. However, Erikson disagreed with the Freudian concept of psychosexual stages, the idea that humans undergo stages of development and resolve basic conflicts by physical and pleasurable gratification (Santrock, 22). “According to Freud, the primary motivation for human behavior is sexual in nature according to Erikson, it is social and reflects a desire to affiliate with other people,” (Santrock, 23). Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory is a well rounded view of life- span development, it incorporates important conflicts during each stage of development that most people can relate to and apply to their own development.
Freud believed that humans develop through stages based on particular erogenous zones. Freud theorized that to gain a healthy personality as an adult, a person would have to successfully complete a certain sequence of five stages. Within the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual development theory, Freud assumed there would be major consequences if any stage was not completed successfully. The stages, in order, were the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage. In general, Freud believed that an unsuccessful completion of any stage would make a person become fixated on that particular stage. The outcome would lead the person to either over indulge or under indulge the failed stage during adulthood. Freud truly believed that the outcomes of the psychosexual stages played a major part in the development of the human personality. Eventually, these outcomes would become different driving forces in every human being’s personality. The driving forces would determine how a person would interact with the world around them. The results from Freud’s theory about the stages of psychosexual development led Freud to create the concept of the human psyche; Freud’s biggest contribution to
Psychology is simply who we are, how we think, and is composed of several different ideas and theories. After studying just a few of these theories this semester, one that strongly stood out to me was the cognitive development theory. The cognitive development theory refers to the steps and procedures in which we as humans have or will overcome to develop ourselves as we grow older. I find this theory so important because it refers strongly to how each and every single person in the human race have developed their own knowledge and how this can result in how an individual can play a role in society based on their experiences.