Developmental Changes Over the Course of Ones Life - Essay Example

Your full March 6, Developmental changes over the of one’s life Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with development in thoughts and behavioral patterns during the whole life cycle (Berryman et al. 1). It differs from child psychology in that, child psychology studies the physical, mental and psychosocial development of a child from birth to adolescence. Piaget believes that children learn to develop emotional attachment right from their infancy with the help of “a number of attributes that help them to maintain contact with others” (Shaffer 142).

One component of Piaget’s theory is egocentrism, which states that a child imagines that whole world thinks like him and shares his beliefs. Kohlberg believes that moral development has three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional (Woolfolk 114). One aspect of his theory is conventional morality, in which growing children learn to base their moral judgments on the expectations of family and society. This makes them learn good interpersonal relationships, like love, sympathy, and trust.

As one enters into adulthood, fluid intellectual abilities (abilities gained through genetic factors, like problem-solving) start to decline, but crystallized intellectual abilities (abilities learnt through knowledge and experience, like remembering the names of oceans) do not decline (Alexander and Winne 118). Fluid intellectual abilities further decline in late adulthood because of physiological changes in brain resulting in mental mal-functioning. Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which analyzes an individual’s personality and behavior while he experiences eight psychosocial crisis stages in early life, cannot be ignored.

One of the stages is trust vs. mistrust (birth to year one), in which a child learns to trust others if he is well cared for, and learns to mistrust others if he is insulted or not loved by the caregivers. Works Cited Alexander, Patricia A., and Philip H. Winne. “Intellectual Development in Adulthood.” Handbook of Educational Psychology. USA: Routledge, 2006. Berryman, Julia C., Smythe, Pamela K., Lamont, Alexandra, and Richard Joiner. “What is Developmental Psychology?” Developmental Psychology and You.

USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002. Shaffer, David R. Social and Personality Development. USA: Cengage Learning, 2008. Woolfolk, Anita. “Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.” Educational Psychology. India: Pearson Education India, 2003.