Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part I

Foreword

Developmental Psychology Theories 101 articles, as its name states, addresses different theories regarding psychological human development through life-cycle, and provide an approach on how different factors at each development life stage impact the individual's psyché.

Developmental Psychology serves as one of the academic courses in the field of Psychology, and it conceives of a person's development as a combination of maturation and learning. The maturation would come to consist of the biological unfolding according to a plan contained in the genes. On the other hand, learning would be the process through which experiences produce relatively permanent changes in thought, emotions, or behavior.

Therefore, development is a relatively permanent change, a mix between maturation (genes) and learning (experience), and includes:

1. Phylogenetic Development: development of the species.

2. Ontogenetic Development: development of the individual.

Developmental Psychology Theories 101 is the first part of the Developmental Psychology Theories, and it's divided into the following six chapters:

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part I (Baltes & Smith)

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part II (Bronfenbrenner)

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part III (Sroufe)

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part IV (Gopnik & Wellman)

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part V (Piaget)

-Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part VI (Vygotski)

Each chapter will address one different author and their theory regarding the first stage of life: childhood. This series will have a continuation, Developmental Psychology Theories 102, which will deal with the next life stages: Adolescence, Emerging Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, and Elder Adulthood.

Developmental Psychology Theories 101: Childhood Part I (Baltes & Smith)

For this first article, the theory of Baltes & Smith, which is called "Life Cycle Psychology" or "Life Cycle Perspective", will be addressed. But before delving into the ideas postulated by the authors, we must learn a little bit about them.