Psychological development

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The psychological development of the individual today means “the ordered (regular), directed and long-term change in experience and behavior over the entire lifespan.” So in order to be able to speak of development , the changes must last over time; This does not mean short-term changes in mood or changes that occur suddenly (such as accidents). Development processes often occur depending on age. Later changes are related to earlier development steps.

Development - including psychological development - is not a uniform phenomenon. Rather, developmental areas - with sometimes different development processes - can be distinguished, e.g. B. cognitive development and the development of intelligence, emotional and moral development, the development of language, self-concept and personality , development of gender typing and social relationships. In psychology - among other areas - developmental psychology in particular deals with such topics.

Development and Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology today assumes that psychological development is a lifelong process. Both growth and decline of skills are possible, and the dynamics of psychological development can vary considerably between different areas of development as well as within the same area; there can be an increase, a decrease, and a constancy of skills over the same period. After all, development is “plastic” over the entire lifespan, although plasticity is also likely to decrease with age. And development is embedded in contexts; these can be normative age-related influences (for example puberty or retirement), normative historical-cultural (such as globalization or political revolutions), or non-normative influences (such as illness, job loss or the decision to separate from one's partner). People - within given limits - always help shape their development.

Psychological development theories

There are a large number of influential theories that deal with human psychological development. One of the earliest approaches historically is Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory . It assumes that people go through a series of phases in their development in which they have to deal with psychosocial or psychosexual conflicts, the solutions of which drive development forward. According to classical psychoanalysis, the ego has to try to mediate between the demands of the id, which aim at (immediate) instinctual satisfaction, and those of the superego, which stands for the internalized norms of society. Erikson's psychoanalytic conception focuses on the development of identity in the step model of psychosocial development .

Learning theories emphasize the importance of the environment relying on the effect of reinforcement to control behavior. In classical conditioning ( behaviorism ), a stimulus-response connection thatalready exists in the behavioral repertoire isused and coupled with a new trigger. The operant conditioning refers to cases where there is no fixed stimulus-response connection there. In observational learning , social, cognitive and motivational aspects are integrated.

Constructivist approaches rely on people actively developing their environment, perceiving and interpreting it in their own way; so he constructs his picture of the world. Constructivist theories are based u. a. on the theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget . It provides for four stages of development: the sensorimotor, the preoperational, the concrete-operational and the formal-operational phase.

Sociocultural and ecological theories emphasize the importance of development environments and see development as the result of experiences in social contexts, relationships and interactions. The best known of these theories is the eco-systemic approach by Bronfenbrenner .

Action theory approaches assume that development is promoted by certain tasks or by activity. By setting and pursuing goals, people can control their development. The action theory approach is mainly used for development processes in old age.

Information processing approaches describe the processing of information by the human cognitive system. Applying these approaches to development involves changes in information processing skills as the individual develops. This is also about the development of memory .

So far there is no comprehensive and generally recognized theory of (psychological) development.

See also

literature

  • August Flammer: Development Theories . Psychological theories of human development . 4th, completely revised edition, Hans Huber, Bern 2009. ISBN 978-3-456-84607-1
  • Werner Greve, Tamara Thomsen: Developmental Psychology. An introduction to explaining human development . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2019. ISBN 978-3-531-17006-0
  • Frieder R. Lang, Mike Martin, Martin Pinquart: Developmental Psychology - Adulthood . Hogrefe, Göttingen 2012. ISBN 978-3-8017-2186-2
  • Arnold Lohaus, Marc Vierhaus: Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence for Bachelor's . 3rd, revised edition, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2015. ISBN 978-3-662-45528-9
  • Rolf Oerter, Leo Montada (Ed.): Developmental Psychology . 6th, completely revised edition, Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2008. ISBN 978-3-621-27847-8
  • Martin Pinquart, Gudrun Schwarzer, Peter Zimmermann: Developmental Psychology - Childhood and Adolescence . 2nd, revised edition, Hogrefe, Göttingen 2019. ISBN 978-3-8017-2861-8
  • Wolfgang Schneider, Ulman Lindenberger (Ed.): Developmental Psychology . 7th, completely revised edition, Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2012. ISBN 978-3-621-27957-4

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Frieder R. Lang, Mike Martin, Martin Pinquart: Developmental Psychology - Adulthood . Hogrefe, Göttingen 2012, p. 17 ff.
  2. ^ A b c d Arnold Lohaus, Marc Vierhaus: Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence for Bachelor . 3rd, revised edition, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2015, p. 3 ff.