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Explore the key aspects of developmental psychology, including the roles of genes and experiences, the debate between gradual vs. stage-based development, and the balance between stability and change over time. Understand the perspectives of prominent researchers like Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson, and examine evidence on personality development and behavioral changes from infancy to adulthood. Gain valuable insights on the complexities of human development and how individuals evolve over the course of their lives.
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Reflections on Two Major Developmental Issues • Any survey of developmental psychology must consider three points • How development is controlled though interactions of genes and experiences • Whether development is a gradual continuous process or a series of distinct stages • Whether development is characterized more by stability over time or by change
Continuity and Stages • Researchers who emphasize experience and learning see development as one slow, continuous process • Those who emphasize biological maturation tend to see development as a series of distinct steps • Caterpillar -> Chrysalis -> Butterfly • Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson propose that such stages do exist • However there are speculations that these stages do not exist • Some children have been found or attributed with characteristics not found in their own respective stages but of older stages
Stability and Change • Another point theorizing on development psychology is: Stability or change • Evidence have been found on both causes • Personalities are usually constant and stabilizes over time • And • Life is a process of change and of becoming
Researcher’s Agreement • Researchers have though come to an agreement to the following points: • The first two years provide a poor basis in predicting a person’s eventual traits. • Delinquent children have been found to turn out to be successful adults regardless of their past habits • As time goes on, personalities stabilize • Characteristics such as temperament are more stable than others such as social attitudes • Research on 1000 New Zealanders from age 3 to 26; have found out that there is a consistency of temperament and emotionality across time. Thus coming to a conclusion that there is stability within temperament and emotionality alike • In ways more than one, all people change with age • Shy, fearful babies begin opening up at the age of 4 • People become calmer, more self-disciplined, understandable, and confident after adolescence • 20 year old goof offs have turned into 40 year old business leaders or cultural leaders • A hard driving teenager’s determination may weaken as time goes by, yet later still be a relatively hard driven elder
