Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Romanian Orphans, Classical Conditioning, Erik Erikson

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Prof

Document Summary

Examines changes in biological, physical, psychological, & behavioural processes through age: nature & nurture. Extent to which development is product of heredity (nature) or product of environment (nurture) Nature and nurture interaction: critical & sensitive periods. Age range in which certain experiences must occur for development to proceed normally. Optimal age range for certain experiences, but if those experiences occur at another time, normal development will still be possible: continuity versus discontinuity. Development continuous and gradual or discontinuous, progressing through qualitatively distinct stages: stability versus change. Address this by plotting (describing) developmental functions that portray how different processes change with age: 5 developmental functions. Ability not present or very immature at birth. Relatively rapid shifts from lower level performance to higher level. Developmental psychologist: describe these functions and explain their existence, use special research designs to plot these age functions, cross-sectional design. Compare people of different ages at same point in time.