1. how Pyschological development proceeds
1.1. VCE Psychology focuses on psychological development. However, physical development and psychological development do not occur independently of each other, The consequences of behaviours resulting from how they think and feel about body image can potentially have a harmful impact on their physical wellbeing, both in the short term and long term.
1.2. continuous vs discontinuous
1.2.1. Some psychologists view development as involving gradual and ongoing change without sudden shifts. Other psychologists view development as a discontinuous process. Psychologists who support this view believe that development involves distinct and separate, step-like stages, with different kinds of abilities occurring in each stage.
1.3. Sequential nature of development
1.3.1. Psychological development occurs in an orderly sequence rather than in a haphazard way. There may be bursts and spurts in development or even loss of a very speci c ability, but the overall pattern is one of an orderly sequence under normal circumstances
1.4. Quantitative and qualitative changes
1.4.1. Psychologists often describe developmental changes in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Quantitative changes are variations in the quantity, or ‘amount’ of a thought, feeling or behaviour.
1.4.2. Qualitative changes are those that vary in ‘quality’, ‘kind’ or ‘type’. They are changes that make the individual different from the way they were before
2. Interaction of hereditary and environment factors in shaping psychological development
2.1. enerally, the various factors in uencing development of our psychological characteristics can be classi ed into one of two broad areas — heredity (nature) and environment (nurture).
2.2. Nature versus nurture
2.2.1. Those who adopted the biological perspective believed that heredity primarily determined our psychological development. Some even believed that, like physical development, every aspect of our psychological development was determined by our genes.
2.2.2. Another group of psychologists believed that heredity had little to do with the development of psychological characteristics.
2.3. role in maturation of development
2.3.1. Maturation is a developmental process which is automatic and internally programmed. Maturation refers to the orderly and sequential developmental changes which occur in the nervous system and other bodily structures controlled by our genes.
3. sensitive and critical periods in psychological development
3.1. Sensitive periods
3.1.1. A sensitive period is a period of time during development when an individual is more responsive (‘sensitive’) to certain types of environmental experiences or learning. Outside this period of time, the same environmental in uences need to be stronger to produce the same positive or negative effects.
3.2. critical periods
3.2.1. A critical period is a specfic period in development during which an organism is most vulnerable to the deprivation or absence of certain environmental stimuli or experiences
4. Twin studies and adoption studies
4.1. Twin studies
4.1.1. Twin studies involve research using identical and/or non-identical twins as participantsv
4.2. adoption studies
5. attachment and emotional development
5.1. Attachment is a relationship between two people in which each person feels strongly about the other.
5.2. Ainsworth and the strange situation procedure
5.2.1. types of attachment
5.2.1.1. According to Ainsworth (1982), infants can form different types of attachment with their caregivers. These can vary in terms of how strong the connection is and the kind of connection.
5.2.1.1.1. secure attachment
5.2.1.1.2. insecure avoidant attachment
5.2.1.1.3. insecure resistant attachment
5.2.2. American psychologist Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999) is one of the best-known researchers and theorists on attachment.
5.3. harlow's experiments on attachment in monkeys
5.3.1. At around about the same time Ainsworth was developing her theory on attachment in human infants, American psychologist Harry Harlow was undertaking research on attachment in rhesus monkeys. Harlow conducted a number of experiments to investigate factors in uencing the development of attachment by infant monkeys to their mothers.
5.3.2. Other animal experiments by Harlow
5.3.2.1. In further experiments, Harlow found that contact comfort was not the only important variable in attachment. For example, Harlow, Dodsworth and Harlow (1965) privated a group of rhesus monkeys to prevent them from having any social contact.
6. Defining development
6.1. development to refer to changes that occur over time. Many who study development focus on lifespan development — from birth through to and including old age
7. areas of development
7.1. Generally, psychologists classify changes which take place in terms of four main areas: physical, social, cognitive and emotional.
7.1.1. Physical development involves changes in the body and its various systems
7.1.2. social development involves changes in an individual’s relationships with other people and their skills in interacting with others
7.1.3. Cognitive development involves changes in an individual’s mental abilities
7.1.4. Emotional development involves changes in how an individual experiences different feelings and how these feelings are expressed
8. development of cognitive abilities
8.1. key principles of Piaget's theory
8.1.1. Piaget (1952, 1960) viewed cognitive development as a process of adaptation to the changing world around us.
8.1.1.1. assimilation
8.1.1.1.1. Assimilation is the process of taking in new information and tting it into and making it part of a pre-existing mental idea about objects or experiences.
8.1.1.2. accomdation
8.1.1.2.1. Sometimes we cannot assimilate new information into a pre-existing mental idea, regardless of how hard we try. It simply won’t t because we can’t change it in any way to link it in with what we already know.
8.1.1.3. schema
8.1.1.3.1. Assimilation and accommodation also enable a child to form a schema — a mental idea of what something is and how to act on it.
8.2. Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development
8.2.1. According to Piaget (1952), we all move through a predictable sequence of four different stages in developing our thinking and other mental abilities.
8.2.2. sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
8.2.2.1. In the sensorimotor stage, infants explore and learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor (movement) activities, hence the term ‘sensorimotor’.
8.2.3. pre-operational stage (2-7 years)
8.2.3.1. The thinking of the pre-operational child is much more sophisticated than that of one- to two-year-olds. As children progress through the pre-operational stage, they become increasingly able to mentally represent objects and experiences;
8.2.4. Concrete operational stage (7–12 years)
8.2.4.1. The child is now capable of true logical thought and can perform mental ‘operations’.
8.2.5. formal operational stage (12+years)
8.2.5.1. The child is now capable of true logical thought and can perform mental ‘operations’.