Related topics: google
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
Developing Brains: Alcohol Worse than Marijuana
Mar 26, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (34) |
14
(PhysOrg.com) -- It appears that when it comes to teen brain development, parents should be more worried about alcohol abuse than marijuana abuse. Two recent studies have been published showing that alcohol ...
Nature? Nurture? Scientists say neither
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jul 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (25) |
9
It's easy to explain why we act a certain way by saying "it's in the genes," but a group of University of Iowa scientists say the world has relied on that simple explanation far too long.
BPA chemical leaches from plastic drinking bottles into people
May 21, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (19) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles, the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and ...
Cannabis alters human DNA
Jun 16, 2009 |
2.5 / 5 (32) |
41
A new study published by University of Leicester researchers has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer development in humans.
When someone is raised female and the genes say XY
Sep 12, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (18) |
38
(AP) -- It's the birth defect people don't talk about. A baby is born not completely male or female. The old term was hermaphrodite, then intersex. Now it's called "disorders of sexual development." Sometimes the person ...
On the move: 'Jumping genes' create diversity in human brain cells
Aug 05, 2009 |
5 / 5 (14) |
3
Rather than sticking to a single DNA script, human brain cells harbor astonishing genomic variability, according to scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The findings, to be published in ...
Obama vows return to US science prominence (Update)
Apr 27, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
15
President Barack Obama pledged Monday to return the United States to a "high water mark" of scientific achievement, announcing a goal to commit three percent of GDP to research and development.
A 200,000-year-old cut of meat
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 14, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (13) |
1
Contestants on TV shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen know that their meat-cutting skills will be scrutinized by a panel of unforgiving judges. Now, new archaeological evidence is getting the same scrutiny ...
US scientists plan greenhouses on the Moon
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 15, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (11) |
1
Astronauts' meals have come a long way from the freeze-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago: now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the Moon.
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, ...
Study strengthens link between sirtuins proteins and life extension
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new paper from MIT biology professor Leonard Guarente strengthens the link between longevity proteins called sirtuins and the lifespan-extending effects of calorie restriction.
Key protein may explain the anti-aging and anti-cancer benefits of dietary restriction
May 22, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (9) |
3
A protein that plays a key role in tumor formation, oxygen metabolism and inflammation is involved in a pathway that extends lifespan by dietary restriction. The finding, which appears in the May 22, 2009 edition of the ...
Dogs, maybe not, but old genes can learn new tricks
May 11, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
2
A popular view among evolutionary biologists that fundamental genes do not acquire new functions was challenged this week by a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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.
Baby's first dreams: Research reveals sleep cycles in early fetus
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 13, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (8) |
3
After about seven months growing in the womb, a human fetus spends most of its time asleep. Its brain cycles back and forth between the frenzied activity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and the quiet resting ...
