Human development involves changes in behavior and abilities across the lifespan. This week, we look at the emotional, social, mental, and cognitive changes observed during the prenatal stage, early childhood, puberty, adulthood, and old age. We will use a scientific approach to examine how and why humans change over the course of their lives, comparing and contrasting the psychosocial changes associated with each stage of development.
After completing this lesson, students should be able to:
Define developmental psychology
Describe the development of mental abilities during the sensorimotor period
Describe the changes in cognition that occur during the preoperational period
Define conservation
Discuss the criticism of Piaget’s theory of cognition development
Define temperament
Define attachment and discuss how this type of relationship is formed between caregiver and infant
Define and discuss puberty
Define identity crisis
Define and give examples of preconventional, conventional, and postconventional moral reasoning
