"Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives."
Study of the psychological changes across the lifespan, including childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Prenatal development: The study of how a fetus develops from conception to birth.
Infant cognition and perception: The study of how babies learn to process and understand their environment.
Piaget's cognitive developmental theory: The study of how children's thinking processes develop as they age.
Attachment theory: The study of how early relationships with caregivers affect a child's emotional and social development.
Socialization: The study of how children learn the norms and values of their society.
Language development: The study of how children learn to understand and use language.
Moral development: The study of how children learn to distinguish right from wrong.
Adolescent development: The study of how teenagers develop physically, emotionally, and socially.
Identity development: The study of how individuals form and maintain their sense of self.
Aging and development: The study of how people change and develop as they grow older.
Nature vs. nurture: The debate over how much of a person's development is due to genetics and how much is due to environment.
Culture and development: The study of how cultural values and practices influence development.
Gender and development: The study of how gender roles and expectations affect development.
Developmental disorders: The study of conditions that can affect development, such as autism and Down syndrome.
Parenting styles: The study of how different parenting styles can affect children's development.
Therapy and intervention: The study of how therapy and other interventions can help children and adults struggling with developmental issues.
Resilience: The study of how some individuals are able to overcome adversity and thrive despite difficult circumstances.
Trauma and development: The study of how traumatic experiences can impact development.
Brain development: The study of how the brain develops and changes throughout a person's lifespan.
Epigenetics: The study of how environmental factors can impact the expression of genes and affect development.
Cognitive Developmental Psychology: Focuses on how a person’s mental faculties develop and evolve over time, with a particular interest in language acquisition, problem-solving, and memory.
Social and Personality Developmental Psychology: Studies the ways in which social relationships and individual personality traits are formed and develop over time. Research in this area might focus on topics like attachment, identity formation, and self-esteem.
Emotional Developmental Psychology: Looks at the development and regulation of emotions throughout childhood and adolescence. It examines how emotional expression, recognition, and regulation change over time and what impact different experiences have on emotional development.
Moral Developmental Psychology: Explores the process by which individuals acquire a sense of right and wrong, examining different perspectives on morality, such as those of social learning theory, cognitive development, and cultural influences.
Physical Developmental Psychology: Studies the biological, cognitive and socio-cultural aspects of growth and development throughout the lifespan, including topics like motor skills, brain development, and developmental changes associated with puberty and aging.
Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology: Focuses on the ways in which early experiences and unconscious conflicts shape personality and behavior throughout the lifespan. It draws from Freudian theories of psychoanalytic psychology, as well as other theorists.
Neuropsychological Developmental Psychology: Examines the interactions between the nervous system and environmental factors influencing underlying functions resulting in developmental outcomes, including cognitive functions, social and personality traits, and physical attributes.
Environmental and Behavioral Developmental Psychology: Studies how environmental factors shape development throughout the lifespan, including topics such as learning and conditioning, socialization and environmental effects on physical growth and disease.
Cross-Cultural and Indigenous Developmental Psychology: Aims to understand how culture influences individual development, including how cultural values and beliefs shape an individual’s sense of self, interpersonal relationships, and cognitive and physical development.
Educational Developmental Psychology: Examines how learning occurs over time, and how cognitive and behavioral changes throughout the life cycle have an impact on the learning process.
"The field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan."
"Developmental psychologists aim to explain how thinking, feeling, and behaviors change throughout life."
"The three major dimensions are physical development, cognitive development, and social-emotional development."
"Within these three dimensions are a broad range of topics including motor skills, executive functions, moral understanding, language acquisition, social change, personality, emotional development, self-concept, and identity formation."
"Developmental psychology examines the influences of nature and nurture on the process of human development, as well as processes of change in context across time."
"Many researchers are interested in the interactions among personal characteristics, the individual's behavior, and environmental factors."
"Ongoing debates in regards to developmental psychology include biological essentialism vs. neuroplasticity and stages of development vs. dynamic systems of development."
"At the moment, researchers are working to understand how transitioning through stages of life and biological factors may impact our behaviors and development."
"Developmental psychology involves a range of fields, such as educational psychology, child psychopathology, forensic developmental psychology, child development, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and cultural psychology."
"Influential developmental psychologists from the 20th century include Urie Bronfenbrenner, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Jean Piaget, Barbara Rogoff, Esther Thelen, and Lev Vygotsky."