Understand key questions/themes that are of interest to development psychologists - created from Mind Map

development psychology is the discipline that seeks to identify and explain the changes that individuals undergo from the moment of conception until they die

what are the sources of development changes? nature vs nurture nature: development primarily driven by genetic processes nurture: development is influenced by the social environment that the child experiences development proceeds as an INTERACTION of biological and environmental factors it is clear that genetic contribute to behavioural development, but to what extent and thus what is the extent of the contribution of the environment

can the course of development change, and to what extent? early experience vs later experience to what DEGREE and under what CONDITIONS does experience influence development critical periods: period of time during development when certain experiences are crucial for a particular feature to develop sensitive period: period of time during which experience is optimal for the development of a particular function, but is not crucial

what is the nature of developmental change? continuous vs discontinuous continuous = gradual change discontinuous = different stages which are clearly defined development is lifelong development is multi-dimensional development is flexible can be affected by predictable and unpredictable elements is useful for knowing when a child should achieve a milestone stages are ages at the beginning of the stage the child doesn't have the ability fully developed but throughout will achieve this

paths to development are influenced by? universal vs cultural universal = will happen to all children cultural = the environment in which the development takes place will influence the development

Understand key questions/themes that are of interest to dev…