What is Developmental Psychology?

Developmental Psychology studies the changes we go through throughout life, from birth to death. The central idea is that we all have stages of development that are common, stages that we share with all of humanity.

From this initial idea, however, several theories arise to explain what these phases are, what they are like – what happens in them and when there is a change to the next phase.

The main theories are those of Freud, Erik Erikson, Vygotsky and Jean Piaget.

We can study in developmental psychology the changes that occur in the body, in intelligence, in memory, in cognition, in morals, in feelings, in personality, in behavior, in the unconscious.

And precisely because it encompasses the human being as a whole, the question of development is not only of interest to psychology, but also to other human sciences: sociology, anthropology, pedagogy and philosophy.

In developmental psychology, the main questions are:

– What is innate and what is acquired? Is there an influence of the environment on the changes?

– Are we born with a pattern of development or is it the means that allows the change to the next phase?

– What is the influence of the environment in which we live? The culture, the country, the family?

– Is the development a continuum or does it present ruptures?

Do we move from one phase and leave the previous phase behind, or do we take the previous phase with us into the next phases?

– Does childhood fully influence the adult?

– What you lived as a child will mark you for life? Or can the adult totally change what he experienced in childhood?

– Can we talk about 4 phases? Childhood, adolescence, adult and old age? Or are there more stages?

These are very important questions!

Imagine that you have a son or a daughter. Over the years the child will go through certain stages. Each month brings something new, a change, a growth. Then the questions begin:

– Is this and that behavior normal (meaning all other children go through this)?

– What can I do, for him or her, to grow well and healthy?

– What is the best way to educate?

What will the child feel and experience in childhood mark for life?

Do you agree with me that such questions are very important? Yes, and within the area of ​​Developmental Psychology we study all of them, the main approaches and theories that were elaborated through decades and decades of research in schools, laboratories, offices.

In the next posts we will talk more about the main theories, among them the theories elaborated by Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson and Vigotsky.

Also take the Developmental Psychology course

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