Developmental Psychology

Achieve Test Prep: Developmental Psychology

2. Infancy: birth- 2 years old 3. Early Childhood: 2 -5 years old 4. Middle Childhood: 6 -11 years old 5. Adolescence: 12 -18 years old 6. Early Adulthood: 19 -34 years old 7. Middle Adulthood: 35- 64 years old 8. Late Adulthood: 64 years old and up

In addition to these categories, death and the dying process are part of the lifespan and need to be studied accordingly. The ages in the above categories are not rigid, but are general guidelines to help divide the lifespan into ages. Domains of Development: In Developmental Psychology, three main perspectives are used and best studied when broken into their respective components: 1. Biosocial Domain: the combination of the studies of the brain and body changes (“bio”) with societal influences (“social”). This combination can be seen in the dilemma concerning how access to adequate nutrition affects physiological development. This dilemma combines concepts related to socioeconomic status/societal influences with biological concepts. The result of this dilemma is: If a child does not have access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods, this child may have stunted growth and a myriad of other health problems. a. Potential Development: the maximum a child could grow and develop in ideal conditions b. Actual Development: how much a child actually grows and develops 2. Cognitive Domain: Deals with the areas of cognition, such as thought, perception, language, and other mental activities. Researchers in this field would ask such questions as: How do children acquire language and how is perception influenced throughout development? 3. Psychosocial Domain: The combination of personality, emotions, relationships (“psych”), and societal influences (“social”). A researcher may ask the question: How can individuals interact with society throughout development?; Or they may study how

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