followed children from birth to midlife

study explored the impact of variety of biological and psychological risk of factors, stressful life events, and protective factors

NURTURING

found that they have a stable person to be with

substitute caregivers, grandparents, older siblings, aunts, and uncles

challenged the myth that a child who is a member of a so-called "high-risk" group is fated to fall in life

systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between CONCEPTION and DEATH

(APA 2015)

the progressive series of change in structure, foundation, and behaviour patterns

occur over the lifespan of a human being or other organism

changes are ORDERLY, PATTERNED, & RELATIVELY ENDURING

interested in continuities in development, ways in which we remain the same or continue to reflect our past

excludes TEMPORARY mood swings and other transitory changes in our appearances, thoughts, and behaviour

focus on development from the time of conception to adolescence

little interest in development beyond adolescence because they ASSUME that adulthood is a phase where not much happens in terms of Development

developmental psychology is strongly embedded in a historical and socio-political context

must be understood and interpreted within that context

provides theory for DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES (older people expected to be flexible and adaptable) and is shaped by developmental

coined the term "emerging adulthood"

only fits well in modern-dynamic society

does not make sense in traditional or less advance society

located between adolescence and young adulthood

5 FEATURES OF THIS AGE:

Identity Exploration

Instability

Self-Focus

Feeling in Between

Possibilities

THREE GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

either Normative or Idiographic

What drives development?

Why do individuals develop differently?

apply research findings to the real world

stages of development that the majority of children of that specific age are expected to achieve

an individual who is seen as a unique agent wth unique life story

environment as experienced by an individual at given time

PERSONAL and SUBJECTIVE reality not Objectively

everything with one's field of awareness

every event is necessitated by ANTECEDENT events and conditions together with laws of nature

How can we explain development?

How can we describe and characterize the process of development?

Philosophy behind the approaches? Typical research in developmental science often ignores the issue of the philosophical assumptions

often portrayed as objectively pursuing the truth

an EXPECTATION that research can provide us with straight answers to questions we have

but the NOTION is PROBLEMATIC

made very important contributions to the improvement of professional practice

risk of being based on naive conceptions of the kind of knowledge and advocating simplistic solutions

Fundamental Questions

The strong belief to what they believe is RIGHT

to describe and understand the world

simplifications of reality and do not capture the entire complexity

e.g. Maps

the way we look at reality is strongly driven by fundamental assumptions

FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS can't be justified from within science

all theories and interpretation are based on FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS which can't be proven in Strict Sense

There is no thing such as PURE FACTS

each has its STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES

said that there is no such thing as data free from INTERPRETATION (based on theories)

specific theories are linked to general world views

scientific theories as paradigms

claims that: Philosophy, Theory, Methods are INTIMACY LINKED

shapes research and science

e.g. parenting and same-sex parents

person's mental activities are entirely due to the behaviour of nerve cells, glial cells, and the atoms, ions, and molecules which MAKE them up and INFLUENCE them

everything is a machine following laws of cause and effect

EVERYTHING is an organic complex whole

the WHOLE is more than an addition of it's parts

Watson

Skinner (Behaviourism),

David Klahr (mind as a computer),

Paul and Patricia Churchland (Neurophilosophers), Robert Plomin (Behavioural genetics; no picture)

Piaget,

Kurt Goldstein,

Abraham Maslow,

Fritz Perls, Heinz Werner (developmental psych)

Carl Rogers (clinical psych and therapy)

an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of nucleotide base pairs that make up HUMAN DNA

proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet

METAPHORS:

borrowed from physics, engineering, computer sciences, computer technologies (pressure, force, information flow, storage, etc)

METAPHORS:

relied on disciplines such as biology, (whole, growth, adaptations, complexity)

e.g. Asian and Indigenous Philosophers

Mechanistic View:

the WHOLE can be understand by dividing it up and analyzing it's single most basic parts

Organismic View:

the WHOLE is more than the sum of it's SINGLE parts

reason or explanation for something based on its purpose or goal

behind any developmental process is a goal

the goal guides developmental processes and the processes finally lead to the goal

“teleology is like a mistress to a biologist: he cannot live without her but he's unwilling to be seen with her in public."

the realization of a potential into something in existence

guides the development and functioning of an organism

it needs a certain form or essence or function to complete it

Development is only driven by natural forces

Development is driven by some principle other than natural forces

e.g. YIN AND YANG

coined "Elan Vital" non physical force that responsible for growth, change, and necessary or desirable adaptations

Human Behaviour can be explained by general laws (physics)

but the notion of general laws like in Physics is problematic in Psychology

concerns the questions whether we can reduce the mind to physics, chemistry, etc

concerns the questions whether our decisions are either determined (environment/ internal factors)

Mechanistic: mind is basically the brain and our will is determined

organismic: deny that physics, chemistry, & biology and we have that free will

Question of Free Will played a major role in legal proceedings

Lawyer Clarence Darrow defended them by emphasizing the causal factors that ed to their behaviour

wrote Leviathan

Humans are egoists who are relentlessly after their own goals

they aggressively pursue their ends

Humans are good by nature: what corrupts them is society

strongly influenced by organismic model

Good or Bad?

Freud: Pessimistic

Rogers: Optimistic

Skinner: Neither (depends on learning)

discipline in philosophy that studies knowledge

believed in EMPIRICISM

all knowledge is derived from sense-experience

mind as a blank slate (not entirely correct)

theory of forms, essence, ideas

we have KNOWLEDGE AT BIRTH

His Philosophy: Against Relativism, Immortality Soul, Dualism of Body & Mind

John Locke: Sense Experiences is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge

David Hume: We understand the world through experience

Rene Descartes: we cannot trust our senses

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: significant was in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience

laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs & capabilities

"Kindergarten"

"Transcendent Philosophy"

principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of processes of thoughts

compromise between EMPIRICISM and RATIONALISM

We learn from experience, but what is inborn is the way we look at reality

we are born with glasses that are glued to our face.

We cannot look at reality in any other way.

IT'S PASSIVE

The traditional understanding assumes that brain works like a sponge: information comes in and is “soaked up”.

we need different approaches and perspective for different questions and for gaining a broader understanding