Major Concepts and Behavioral Objectives

CONCEPT I: The Process of Development

Developmental psychology studies patterns of growth and change, which are sequential and predictable. This process of development is the result of an interplay between inherited and environmental factors.

1. Define developmental psychology, and discuss its field of study.

2. Discuss the impact of heredity and the environment on human development.

3. Describe the process of transmitting hereditary information from one generation to the next.

CONCEPT II: The Competence of the Human Infant

Despite their appearance of helplessness, newborns are well equipped to respond to their environments. In their interactions with the environment, their cognitive abilities expand and they learn rapidly.

4. Describe the perceptual, sensory, and motor skills of a newborn.

5. Describe the research methods used to demonstrate cognitive, perceptual, learning, and memory capabilities of infants and summarize the major findings in this area.

CONCEPT III: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Childhood

By the age of two or three, most children can represent objects and events symbolically, a vast improvement over their thinking abilities as infants. By adolescence, children can think hypothetically and in abstract terms, much as adults do.

Language develops rapidly and sequentially. In early stages, this development is characterized by primitive grammatical rules, not simply imitation and reinforcement.

Memory develops through the improved effectiveness of utilizing short-term memory and through the development of specific strategies for memory.

6. Compare and contrast a qualitative theory of development with a quantitative theory.

7. Describe the cognitive abilities of the infant and the child.

8. Critique Piaget's stage theory and compare it to Case's integrative theory.

9. Describe the sequence of stages in human language development.

10. Discuss the factors that influence language acquisition.

11. Discuss how strategies for memory and metacognition are related to memory development.

CONCEPT IV: Cognitive Development in Adolescence and Adulthood

Cognitive development continues in adolescence and adulthood but is far less dramatic than development through infancy and childhood.

12. Describe the cognitive abilities mastered in adolescence.

13. Evaluate the research regarding the sex differences that exist in cognitive development.

14. Describe the cognitive changes that occur in adulthood.