Developmental Psychology

There’s nothing more practical than a good theory (Lewin)

Central issues of developmental psychology

Basic nature of humans
Basic nature of humans pose a phylosophical question about the basic charactersitcs of human functioning, but gives a strong theoretical framework for interpretation of human development. There are three basic views abiut this nature: mechanistic, organismic and contextual.

Mechanistic view: World is like a machine made of parts that make up the whole. Theoretically we may predict all the states if we know the parts. Development means a passive acquisition of reality, and is mainly gradual and quantitative. Typical example: learning theory.
Organismic view: World is like any living system, composed of organized wholes,

Piaget (1896-1980): cognitive development: Constructivist theory: children have an active role in constructing their own cognitive development, base don their experiences with the world. Methods: interviews, experiments. Development goes through matching experiences from the world with existing schemas.

Schema: a mental structure that provides a model for understanding the world
Assimilation: individuals incorporate new experiences into their existing schemas, strengthening those schemas.
Accommodation: individuals modify a schema so it can ve applied to both old and new experiences.
Equilibration: process of achieving equilibrium between the child”s present understandibg of the world and his/her new experiences, a back-and forth process of the search for a fit between existing schemas and new experiences. (by Lightfoot, Cole, Cole, 2009, p.22-23.)

The biggest differences between older and younger children can be found in the field of constancies, the process of decentralization and the use of operations.
On the basis of these differences Piaget states that there are four major periods in cognitive development.
1. Sensorimotor (Birth-2): Understanding the world through sensory perceptions and mtor

Concrete operational (6-12): Invariance, operations with objects that are present or have a direct experience with. Mental operations, internalized actions that fit into a logical system.
4. Formal. Operational (12- ): abstract thinking, hypothesis testing, problem solving, mental manipulation. Ability to think systematically.

L. Vygotsky (1896-1934): sociocultural theory.
The Russian psychologist, Vygotsky was the first to emphasize the role of a wider context for development. He argued that biologica and social factors both play an important role in development. In addition to the constructive nature of cognitive development, he also added the importance of culture. He claims that nature and nurture interact indirectly through culture. He also examined the relationship between language and mind, which is an example of how the environment shapes the development of these areas. This theory emphasizes the social interaction as the main source of development.

One of his most important concepts is the zone of proximal development that gives a framework of how to help a child appropriately in development, and describes the necessary assistance that goes a little beyond the child’s current