Developmental Psychology Paper

Children and adolescents begin developing from the moment they are conceived, and will continue to change as they grow older. Certain aspects of a child may change as they get older while others remain consistent. Developmental researchers study these aspects and how they affect a child's or adolescent's life. The way a child develops is very different compared to when developmental studies first began. Developmental psychology became scientific once more children were surviving with advances in medicine. As children began to live longer, researchers are now able to study the changes in development. This paper will discuss recent societal changes that may affect development and the different theories about development.
Many recent changes in

Their first perspective is the psychoanalytic perspective proposed by Sigmund Freud. Freud theorized that humans were born with biologically based drives, including: hunger, sex, and aggression (Martorell, Papalia, and Feldman, 2014, pg 27). Children would learn ways to satisfy these needs in a way that is socially acceptable. Psychologists have modified some of Freud's theories to include more developmental stages than being born with an already formed personality. The second perspective is the learning perspective which includes theories from Ivan Pavlov and Albert Bandura. The learning perspective states that development results from learning, which can happen from society or the environment (Martorell, Papalia, and Feldman, 2014, pg 31). Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, which is when a person can be trained to react a certain to a stimulus that had no effect on them before. Albert Bandura developed the social learning theory in which children will learn the proper way to act by observing others. The third perspective is the cognitive perspective which includes theories from Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. The cognitive perspective focuses on how behavior reflects certain thought processes (Martorell, Papalia, and Feldman, 2014, pg 33). Jean Piaget proposed the cognitive-stage theory which says that children learn about the world through their environment in developmental stages. Lev Vygotsky proposed the sociocultural theory which is similar to Piaget's, but says that children learn in stages through social interactions. The fourth perspective is the contextual perspective which includes Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory. The contextual perspective says that development is only understood in a social context (Martorell, Papalia, and Feldman, 2014, pg 36). The bioecological theory separates the environment into different systems that affect a child's