Developmental psychology
hide'Developmental psychology', also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation.
Developmental psychology includes issues such as the extent to which development occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge versus stage-like development, or the extent to which children are born with innate mental structures versus learning through experience. Many researchers are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors including social context, and their impact on development; others take a more narrowly focused approach.
Developmental psychology informs several applied fields, including: educational psychology, child psychopathology, and forensic developmental psychology. Developmental psychology complements several other basic research fields in psychology including social psychology, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and comparative psychology.
For more information about Developmental psychology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with development
Intel Offers Developer Kit For Future Atom Processor Netbook Apps
Dec 03, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Intel Corporation has made its beta version of the Intel Atom Developer Program Software Development Kit (SDK) available for Microsoft Windows and Moblin operating systems developers. The kit helps software companies and ...
Researchers identify gene that spurs deadly brain cancer
Dec 03, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have identified a new factor that is necessary for the development of many forms of medulloblastoma, the most common type of malignant childhood brain cancer.
Random DNA mix-ups not so random in cancer development
Dec 03, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine have pinpointed a mechanism that may help explain how chromosomal translocations - the supposedly random shuffling of large chunks of DNA that frequently lead to cancer - ...
Rural America more prosperous than expected
Dec 02, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
For many people "rural" is synonymous with low incomes, limited economic opportunity, and poor schools. However, a recent study at the University of Illinois found that much of rural America is actually prosperous, ...
Research Suggests New Approach to Using Assessment Results to Improve Classroom Instruction
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Dec 02, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Education researchers at the University of Arkansas have taken an important first step toward better understanding both formative assessment and how to get the information teachers need to ...
Intensive fungicide use may lead to azole resistance in humans
Dec 01, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from the Netherlands, including Gert Kema of Plant Research International, published an article in the Lancet Infectious Diseases about the relationship between fungic ...
New source discovered for the generation of nerve cells in the brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 01, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (6) |
0
The research group of Professor Magdalena Gotz of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich (Germany) has made a significant advance in understanding regeneration processes in the brain. The researchers ...
Scientists find clue to mystery of biological clock
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 30, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (2) |
0
How does our biological system know that it is supposed to operate on a 24-hour cycle? Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that a tiny molecule holds the clue to the mystery.
Two molecules affecting brain plasticity
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 25, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- You wouldn't want a car with no brakes. It turns out that the developing brain needs them, too.
Tissue tension regulates tumor progression
Nov 23, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- UCSF scientists have shown for the first time that the rigidity of a tissue can induce cancer. The research team identified an enzyme that is crucial for regulating tissue stiffness and demonstrated that ...
It's a gas: New discovery may lead to heartier, high-yielding plants
Nov 23, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
In a research report published in the November 2009 issue of the journal Genetics, scientists show how a family of genes (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, or ACS genes) are responsible for production of ethyle ...
Researchers identify role of gene in tumor development, growth and progression
Nov 20, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have identified a gene that may play a pivotal role in two processes that are essential for tumor development, growth ...
Study uses brain scans to discover how children 'read' faces
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 20, 2009 |
not rated yet |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University scientists are using brain-scanning technology to understand how we learn to recognise and 'read' faces as children.
Modernization Affects Children's Cognitive Development
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 17, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (6) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Childhood is changing rapidly around the world, and the forces of modernization have a significant impact on shaping the intellectual development of children, researchers at the University of California, ...
Pilot study relates phthalate exposure to less-masculine play by boys
Nov 16, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
9
A study of 145 preschool children reports, for the first time, that when the concentrations of two common phthalates in mothers' prenatal urine are elevated their sons are less likely to play with male-typical toys and games, ...
