Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
He called this process maturation, that is, the process by which development is governed by intrinsic factors, principally the genes. [ 6 ] According to Gesell, the rate at which children develop primarily depends on the growth of their nervous system, consisting of the complicated web of nerve fibers, spinal cord, and brain.
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. [1]
In psychology, maturity can be operationally defined as the level of psychological functioning (measured through standards like the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) one can attain, after which the level of psychological functioning no longer increases much with age.
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated in the second half of the 20th century by Erik Erikson in collaboration with Joan Erikson, [1] is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages that a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood.
The development of the human mind is complex and a debated subject, and may take place in a continuous or discontinuous fashion. [4] Continuous development, like the height of a child, is measurable and quantitative, while discontinuous development is qualitative, like hair or skin color, where those traits fall only under a few specific phenotypes. [5]
Adult development is a somewhat new area of study in the field of psychology. Previously it was assumed that development would cease at the end of adolescence. Further research has concluded that development continues well after adolescence and into late adulthood.
Maturation is a guiding notion in educational theory that argues children will develop their cognitive skills innately, with little influence from their environment. [1] Environmentalism, closely related to behaviorism , is the opposite view, that children acquire cognitive skills and behaviors from their surroundings and environment.
A fetus is a stage in the human development considered to begin nine weeks after fertilization. [4] [5] In biological terms, however, prenatal development is a continuum, with many defining features distinguishing an embryo from a fetus. A fetus is also characterized by the presence of all the major body organs, though they will not yet be ...