Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology encompasses the study of the behavior of organisms from conception to death. In this unit, students will learn to examine the processes that contribute to behavioral change throughout a person’s life. The major areas of emphasis in the course include prenatal development, motor development, socialization, cognitive development, adolescence, and adulthood. Developmental psychologists seek to understand how changes in our biology and social situations over a lifespan influence our behaviors and mental processes. Development can be studied from several different perspectives, including biological or cognitive perspectives. Developmental psychologists may focus on one or more developmental periods or the entire course of a lifespan, using cross-sectional and longitudinal research methods.
Please refer to the CED for the unit here for specific information on what you will need to know as well as what you will need to be able to do with it on the exam.
Please refer to the CED for the unit here for specific information on what you will need to know as well as what you will need to be able to do with it on the exam.
Unit Resources
Powerpoint for Development
Practice MC questions on Childhood development Practice MC Questions for Development (general) Practice MC questions on Gender and Sexuality "Trippy Text" for development *****Timeline Project Assignment Sheet***** Chart of stage theories in developmental psychology |
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Daily Activities
Day One: Today we will begin our discussion on development. In an effort to help us understand our journey through life, we will begin our discussion by looking at the ultimate destination for us all, death. We will talk about the 5 stages of grief as identified by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
The following video has proven a great way for students to see a comic example of the 5 stages.
The following video has proven a great way for students to see a comic example of the 5 stages.
We will then discuss physical development, beginning with conception and continuing to death. We will use the following page of the "Trippy Text" to help us with this material in addition to the Powerpoint for the unit. We will review the Nature V. Nurture material we discussed in the previous section of the course. We will end the discussion today by examining Puberty.
Day two: We will wrap up our discussion on physical development from adolescence to death and then mote on to discuss the roots of our social development with the most basic social relationships we have, our attachment to our parents. We will use this page of the "Trippy Text" to help. We will specifically take note on the research of Mary Ainsworth and her "Stranger Paradigm" and the attachment styles she came up with and the research of Harry Harlow and his research on infantile development. We will view the following video clip on Harlow. If time permits, we will discuss Freud's psycho-social stages of development.
Day two: We will wrap up our discussion on physical development from adolescence to death and then mote on to discuss the roots of our social development with the most basic social relationships we have, our attachment to our parents. We will use this page of the "Trippy Text" to help. We will specifically take note on the research of Mary Ainsworth and her "Stranger Paradigm" and the attachment styles she came up with and the research of Harry Harlow and his research on infantile development. We will view the following video clip on Harlow. If time permits, we will discuss Freud's psycho-social stages of development.
Day 3: Today we will review any Freudian questions you have and cover Erikson's Psycho-Social stages of development. How do these stages differ from Freud's? The "Trippy Text" will guide us in this discussion. We will then recap any lingering issues or questions you may have from last weeks discussions on physical, psycho-sexual and social development, We will then move onto Cognitive development, using the "Trippy text" to guide our discussions.
Day 4: Today you will discuss Moral Development and the research my Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of moral development.
As before, we will use the "Trippy text". Today we will sum up most of our discussion on Development by viewing a film that examines a case in which a young girls was discovered in California and all the the issues from neglect during her young life. Consider what you have learned on physical, social and cognitive development and the concept of critical periods.
If the video below fails to play, please click this link
Day 4: Today you will discuss Moral Development and the research my Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of moral development.
As before, we will use the "Trippy text". Today we will sum up most of our discussion on Development by viewing a film that examines a case in which a young girls was discovered in California and all the the issues from neglect during her young life. Consider what you have learned on physical, social and cognitive development and the concept of critical periods.
If the video below fails to play, please click this link
The timeline project is designed for you to apply all of the content from this unit. Too many times we think of development in a compartmentalized way. The timeline will have you align everything so that when you pick an age, you can trace all the various aspects of development and what state w are at in each type of development.