Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is concerned with the behavioral changes which occur in an individual from birth till death. It also helps us to understand how individuals grow and change over during their life. Developmental psychology is a subfield in psychology which focuses on the study of age-based behavioral changes.

Developmental psychology is also known as human development, (i.e. the scientific study of the psychological changes which occurs in the individual’s life during their life span.

Developmental psychologist study people of all ages, looking at behavior from the womb until death The Developmental psychologist in this field examines the changes across a broad range of topics which includes the following: motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development such as problem solving, moral understanding and conceptual understanding; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation.

The Researchers in this field initially collect evidence through observation. Experimentation under controlled circumstances may be used by some researchers, but most of them give their attention in watching the individuals in natural environments and learning about the ways in which development can be influenced or altered.

Developmental psychologists are very much interested in the emotional, intellectual, and moral development of people throughout their lifespan. They analyse everything from the age when the infant first responds to a specific stimuli until the behavioral changes which occurs in the elderly. If a child is experiencing problems like failing to meet the targets or has difficulty in the normal development it needs to be addressed at an early stage.

Since the development begins from conception, all the events during pregnancy also play a major role in developing our psychological state. If the child is missing parental force or attention, he/she is lacking in his/her development.

In the year 1991 Farrington has mentioned some of the factors, which narrate the psychological development to risk of becoming criminal. They are Poor parent-child communication, lack of guilt in the child, maternal depression, poverty/low socio-economic status, maltreatment, television violence, early onset of other disruptive behaviour, poor academic achievement amongst many others. At last, how we grow throughout our life, plays a fundamental role in us becoming a deviant and likely to commit a crime.

Questions

• What do you think will be the factors that affect the psychological development in an individual?