A PSY 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Face Perception, Empiricism, Ontogeny
13 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Day 1: Why do we Study Child Development?
Why Study Development?
• Provides insight to the mature form!
• Clarifies foundational frame work for adult behaviors!
Developmental Psychologists study:
• What problems and challenges are confronted by children at diff. Ages
• How children acquire new skills, abilities, behaviors, and expertise
• What factors lead to successful or unsuccessful outcomes
• To inform social policy…
o Understand the mental functions of children
o Understand what healthy experiences are important for healthy development
Periods:
1. Prenatal
a. Conception until birth
2. Infancy
a. 0-18 months
3. Preschool
a. 19 months- 4 years
4. School age
a. Young (5-7) and old (8-12)
5. Adolescence
a. 13- 20 years
6. Adulthood
a. Young (21-30 years); middle (31-60); late (60- Death)
Areas of Development:
• Perceptual:
o How does our ability to pick out and use information from the world change?
o Face perception, sound perception, integrating information from multiple modalities
• Cognitive:
o How do our thoughts and beliefs about the world change? Includes both knowledge (like
math) and abilities (like remembering things)
• Moral:
o How do beliefs about good and bad actions change over time? Development of ethics
• Social:
o How do interpersonal relationships change?
• Action:
o How we use our bodies and move in the world: reflexes, walking, catching a ball, and so
on
• Emotional:
o How do emotions change over development? What emotions do babies (versus adults)
experience? Sometimes also includes motivational changes (since we’re often motivated
by our feelings)
Quantitative vs. Qualitative?
• Quantitative:
o Numerically different (Growing an inch)
• Qualitative:
o Structurally different (you turned into a frog)
o Stages of development
