Developmental Psychology Summary 2015
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
In this summary is everything you need for the course, as of 2015.
Stuff in blue is most important and will very likely be asked about in the exam.
Have fun and good luck!
Lecture 1 - Introduction
Development = systematic changes and continuities in an individual
- Physical development
- Cognitive development
- Psychosocial development
2 models of development:
- Inverted-u growth model -> ‘gain-stability-loss’ model
- Linear Growth Model
But, modern view says that each developmental stage includes losses, gains, neutral changes and
stability.
Age grade : socially defined age group in society, with different functions in social, practical and
scientific aspects
- Practical: policy making (drinking from age 18 etc.)
- Social: Age norms: socially defined expectations of an age grade, ´’act your age’
- Scientific: age norms guide developmental-psychology research
What influences the relationship between age grade and age norm?
- Historical context (WWII)
- Socioecnomic status (lower SES-> earlier job, kids etc)
- Cultural differences
- Scientific advancements
Influences on development:
- Nature (Genes, biological aspects)
- Nurture (Environment, learning)
- -> Interaction of these two = plasticity of human development
- -> slow+ permanent effects / immediate+ short-lived effects
Bonfenbrenner’s bioecological model of development:
, Environment as a series of structures, like an onion:
- Microsystem: immediate surroundings
- Mesosystem: connections among microsystems (Parents divorced -> become bad at school)
- Exosystem: settings that affect, but not contain, individual (Partner had bad day at work->
makes your mood as well)
- Macrosystem: broader cultural context of development
- Chronosystem: over time patterns of historical and life events
Study of development:
- Cross-sectional research = compare performances of different cohorts or age groups
- Longitudinal research = study of same individuals of one cohort over time
- Sequential design = combine cross-sectional and longitudinal
Explaining development:
- Pseudo process = succession of casually independent events, so only quasi causation
between events
- Development is a continuous process of causality
Theory classifications:
- Goodness-badness human nature (Tabula Rasa, Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke)
- Activity-passivity = are we a victim of nature, or does nurture shape us? (Watson)
- Continuity-discontinuity = are changes gradual (changes in degree) or abrupt (changes in
kind)?
- Universality-context specificity = are changes to human generalizable or do they differ?
- Trait or state = curiosity can be a trait in children, but a state if it depends on a context you
are interested in
- Broad-narrow = some theories comprise broad are of human development, other specific
- Pathological-typical = some theories are directed at typical development, others at atypical
(pathological) development
- -> example for pathological development: Antisocial Personality Disorder develops from
‘oppositional defiant disorder’ in childhood and ‘conduct disorder’ in adolescence
- ODD: anger guided disobedience against authorities, CD: persistent pattern of behavior in
which rights of others are violated, APD: Pervasive pattern of violation of the rights of others
Piaget’s cognitive development stages:
1. Sensorimotor (birth-2 years)
2. Preoperational (2-7 years)
3. Concrete operational (7-11 years)
4. Formal operational (adolescence-adulthood)
Erikson’s theory on identity development:
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
In this summary is everything you need for the course, as of 2015.
Stuff in blue is most important and will very likely be asked about in the exam.
Have fun and good luck!
Lecture 1 - Introduction
Development = systematic changes and continuities in an individual
- Physical development
- Cognitive development
- Psychosocial development
2 models of development:
- Inverted-u growth model -> ‘gain-stability-loss’ model
- Linear Growth Model
But, modern view says that each developmental stage includes losses, gains, neutral changes and
stability.
Age grade : socially defined age group in society, with different functions in social, practical and
scientific aspects
- Practical: policy making (drinking from age 18 etc.)
- Social: Age norms: socially defined expectations of an age grade, ´’act your age’
- Scientific: age norms guide developmental-psychology research
What influences the relationship between age grade and age norm?
- Historical context (WWII)
- Socioecnomic status (lower SES-> earlier job, kids etc)
- Cultural differences
- Scientific advancements
Influences on development:
- Nature (Genes, biological aspects)
- Nurture (Environment, learning)
- -> Interaction of these two = plasticity of human development
- -> slow+ permanent effects / immediate+ short-lived effects
Bonfenbrenner’s bioecological model of development:
, Environment as a series of structures, like an onion:
- Microsystem: immediate surroundings
- Mesosystem: connections among microsystems (Parents divorced -> become bad at school)
- Exosystem: settings that affect, but not contain, individual (Partner had bad day at work->
makes your mood as well)
- Macrosystem: broader cultural context of development
- Chronosystem: over time patterns of historical and life events
Study of development:
- Cross-sectional research = compare performances of different cohorts or age groups
- Longitudinal research = study of same individuals of one cohort over time
- Sequential design = combine cross-sectional and longitudinal
Explaining development:
- Pseudo process = succession of casually independent events, so only quasi causation
between events
- Development is a continuous process of causality
Theory classifications:
- Goodness-badness human nature (Tabula Rasa, Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke)
- Activity-passivity = are we a victim of nature, or does nurture shape us? (Watson)
- Continuity-discontinuity = are changes gradual (changes in degree) or abrupt (changes in
kind)?
- Universality-context specificity = are changes to human generalizable or do they differ?
- Trait or state = curiosity can be a trait in children, but a state if it depends on a context you
are interested in
- Broad-narrow = some theories comprise broad are of human development, other specific
- Pathological-typical = some theories are directed at typical development, others at atypical
(pathological) development
- -> example for pathological development: Antisocial Personality Disorder develops from
‘oppositional defiant disorder’ in childhood and ‘conduct disorder’ in adolescence
- ODD: anger guided disobedience against authorities, CD: persistent pattern of behavior in
which rights of others are violated, APD: Pervasive pattern of violation of the rights of others
Piaget’s cognitive development stages:
1. Sensorimotor (birth-2 years)
2. Preoperational (2-7 years)
3. Concrete operational (7-11 years)
4. Formal operational (adolescence-adulthood)
Erikson’s theory on identity development:
