Introduction
Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that targets the development of people and their behavior over time. The research in this field touches upon various theoretical areas, including biopsychology, social psychology, studies of emotions, and cognitive psychology (McLeod, 2012, sec. 1). Despite being a relatively new approach, developmental psychology has many applications and can be used to explain various processes in both children and adults.
History
In 1882 a German physiologist William Preyer published his book The Mind of the Child, which marked the start of developmental psychology as a separate discipline (McLeod, 2012, sec. 2). In the next few years, developmental psychology has spread across Europe and North America with more scientific publications (McLeod, 2012, sec. 2). The most influential developmental psychologists of that time are Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Bowlby. Jean Piaget proposed his theory of development, according to which children proceed through four distinct stages in their development from birth to adulthood (Feldman, 2011, p. 405). Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky, on the other hand, suggested a substantial influence of culture and environment on children’s development: “Vygotsky argues that cognitive development occurs as a consequence of social interactions in which children work with others to jointly solve problems” (Feldman, 2011, p. 409). Finally, John Bowlby developed a theory of attachment, which argues that children are biologically programmed to form attachments to a caregiver due to the need for security (Gleitman, Gross, & Reisberg, 2011, p. 564).
Focus
As evident from the history of this approach, developmental psychology focuses primarily on children’s development. Indeed, a huge part of a person’s growth occurs in early childhood, and there is little to no development in adulthood (McLeod, 2012, sec. 1). However, recent research has expanded the field, allowing scientists to focus on the development of people from the moment of conception to the day of death (Feldman, 2011, p, 380). Most importantly, however, developmental psychologists are devoted to exploring and analyzing the interaction between the biological factors affecting human behavior and the environment: “They ask how our genetic background affects our behavior throughout our lives and whether heredity limits our potential. Similarly, they seek to understand the way in which the environment works with—or against—our genetic capabilities” (Feldman, 2011, p, 380). Such focus requires a range of methods to be employed in developmental psychology research. The most popular methods are cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential research (Feldman, 2011, p, 384). A combination of the three methods allows studying people’s development at various stages in life, which in turn provides an opportunity for expanding the range of applications of developmental psychology.
Conclusion
The main application of developmental psychology is in the field of education and learning. Pourchot and Smith (2004) state that exploring not only children’s development but also the developmental patterns in adults and elders makes this approach crucial to the creation of effective learning strategies for adults (p. 69). The extensive knowledge of child psychology and the processes through which children evolve into adults allows developmental psychologists to work in children’s educational institutions as counselors, or independently as a child or family therapists. Overall, developmental psychology is a flexible approach that has various practical applications, as well as extensive research potential. The progress of theoretical research in this field could cause a significant improvement in areas such as education and family therapy, making developmental psychology a valuable approach that could help to improve our everyday life.
References
Feldman, R. (2011). Understanding psychology (10th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Gleitman, H., Gross, J., & Reisberg, D. (2011). Psychology (8th Ed.). New York, NY: Norton.
McLeod, S. (2012). Developmental psychology. Web.
Pourchot, T. L., & Smith, M. C. (2004). Some applications of life span developmental psychology for adult education and learning. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 13, 69-82.