PSY 2105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Arnold Gesell, Erik Erikson, Oedipus Complex

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2105
• Professor: Julie Desjardins

Document Summary

Developmental psychology is concerned with changes in behaviour and abilities across the lifespan. Description: identify children"s behaviour at various developmental points. Explanation: determine the causes and processes that govern developmental change. Childhood is a period of rapid physical, cognitive, social, and emotional change. Early experiences, such as those during childhood, are critical in influencing later adult development. Research on children is useful for understanding complex adult behaviors. Children are wondrous creatures that invite study. Argued that children gain knowledge through experience and learning. Environmentalist point of view: children are products of their environment and upbringing. Tabula rasa : the mind is a blank slate at birth; this suggests that all behaviours are learned. Argued that children are born with innate knowledge that drives development (nativism) Examining and evaluating the specifics of a culture is crucial to understanding human development (cultural relativism) Developed concept of natural selection in which traits that confer advantages allow the organism to survive.