Developmental Psychology Description

Short Description

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that studies the basic laws of human mental development in ontogeny, qualitative features of individual consciousness and activity at different ages.

William Thierry Preyer

The main topics of developmental psychology include “child psychology“, which studies the psychological characteristics of infancy, the early, pre-school and primary school children, “The psychology of adolescence and young adulthood”, “The psychology of maturity” and “Gerontopsychology”.

At the present stage of scientific development the most popular are children, teens and youth psychology, because of the special significance of the early stages of ontogeny in the development of personality and the fundamental qualitative changes that take place.

Developmental psychology perform almost all psychological problems, however, they are analyzed in a specific manner. Problems are treated in the aspect of the genesis, development and formation, are analyzed conditions and mechanisms of personality and cognitive processes.

The most important theoretical problems of Developmental psychology are to learn the basic patterns and determinants of mental development, to build evidence-based periodization of development and to research the role of education in development process.

The main goal of practical developmental psychology is maintaining control over the child’s mental development, diagnosis and correction of violations and deviations in the development, optimization of the processes of learning and growing.

Short History 

Developmental psychology emerged in 1882. Its appearance is associated with the release of the book the eminent German physiologist and psychologist, Wilhelm Preyer, “The Soul of the child“, dedicated to child psychology.

In the 20′s of the 20th century, developmental psychology took shape as a branch of psychological knowledge and become an independent science.

The origins of developmental psychology as a science:

The development of philosophical theories;

• The discoveries of evolutionary biology in the 19th century;
• The socio-historical changes;
• The development of the sciences and humanities;
• In 60-70s, the term “developmental psychology” has firmly established itself in the world of science (synonym – genetic psychology).

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