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Psychosocial development
Personality development
Human growth and development in psychology
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As a developmental psychologist, it is imperative as a professional to provide specific guidelines for the healthy development of infants, children, and adults as they encounter the four main stages of life. These four phases, beginning with pregnancy and birth, leading to infancy and childhood, adolescence, and ending with adulthood, will be discussed in correlation with specific strategies suggested for maintaining a standard rate of growth in an individual as it relates to each particular stage. Serving as the first stage of life, the prenatal and natal phase is the most critical period in relation to ensuring a healthy, lifelong development in a child. During pregnancy, the placenta works to transfer oxygen and nutrients from …show more content…
As billions of neural networks begin to form connections and patterns that will allow the child to important functions of the brain, a process called synaptic pruning gradually weakens or shuts down unutilized neural pathways (Myers & DeWall, 2016). In relation to this notion, childhood encompasses a period where early stimulation is crucial for normal learning behaviors and cognitive brain development (Myers & DeWall, 2016). It is suggested that there be a myriad of engaging stimuli for children before they surpass the critical period at adolescence, so as to avoid the pruning of neural pathways essential to leading a normal and fulfilled life. Such stimuli may include experiences of sounds, sights, and tastes, while premature babies have shown rapid neurological development when provided with skin-to-skin contact with their mothers (Myers & DeWall, 2016). Similarly, a suggestion for parents when handling their infant is to establish familiarity and body contact in order to promote secure parental attachment. Corresponding to the importance of stimuli in a child’s cognitive growth, these aspects of human attachment are highly critical to an infant’s social development as well. In order to promote a secure attachment style, a child must be familiarized with their caregiver through sight, sense, and sound and must be handled for emotional and …show more content…
In order to avoid the physical effects of aging, it is suggested that individuals engage in frequent exercise. Doing so will enhance muscular and cardiac ability, and will reduce one’s risk of various forms of heart disease and obesity (Myers & DeWall, 2016). Due to an increase in oxygen flow, exercise may also stimulate neurogenesis (Myers & Dewall, 2016), a process that promotes growth in hippocampal nerve cells that may result in an improved ability to retain memory. In relation to physical exercise, it is also suggested that adults in middle or late adulthood participate in “brain training” exercises, which have shown to make small improvements in one’s depreciating cognitive development. As a result of the brain’s neural plasticity, such brain exercises have the potential to enhance an individual’s ability to complete control tasks, while other research indicates that it can result in an overall sharpness of the mind (Myers & DeWall, 2016). Despite the onset of an aging mind and body that is characteristic of adulthood, exercise of all forms can induce positive outcomes for older individuals in both their physical and cognitive
Bowlby’s (1969) foundational work on attachment explored the formation of a “secure base” in children through healthy attachment with their parents. This attachment allows those children to explore their world with confidence and security. Ainsworth (1978) built on Bowlby’s foundation, exploring behaviors and attitudes associated with different attachment patterns (Thompson, 2010). Recently, a team of Harvard researchers reinforced the importance of secure attachment with their work on how attachment shapes the architecture of the developing brain (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2011). They describe the architecture of the brain as being composed of highly integrated sets of connections among brain cells. These neural circuits are “wired” under the influences of both genetics and the environment of experiences, relationships, and physical conditions in which children live. Experiences “authorize” genetic instructions to be carried out and shape the formation of the circuits as they are being constructed. The progression of developmental depends on appropriate sensory input and stable, responsive relationships to build healthy brain architecture. Extensive biological and developmental research over the past 30 years...
The first two years of a humans life are bursting with biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development. In the first few weeks after conception to two years after birth a child’s brain experiences more growth than any other organ in the body. During the first two years of a child’s life the brain is very plastic and malleable. In order for children to continue down a path of success and learning there are certain experiences a child must have in order to develop normally. The First Two years of a child life is responsible for the foundation that is layed.
has to stand behind a piece of tape and try to throw the hoops over
First of all, when you get older, the new production of brain cells slows down, and our brain tissue shrinks in time, but only exercise can reverse that process. Cardio boosts blood flow to the brain, which delivers much-needed oxygen (the brain soaks up 20 percent of all the oxygen in your body. A brain scanning study of healthy people aged 60 to 79 showed great increase
“ Prevention is better than cure.” This statement holds true when it comes to the relationship between exercise and the brain. Working your brain may
The human brain is a “thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action” (Russo-Neustadt, Beard, & Cotman, 2000, p.305). It is believed that physical exercise improves the brain’s function and protects against cognitive decline. Studies on exe...
As children grow towards adolescence they go through many stages of development. Child development refers to the stages of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and language growth that occurs from the birth to beginning of adulthood. All aspects of a child's development may be affected by many different factors, including a poor learning environment, lack of social interaction, cultural background differences, abuse, and loss of a parent. All of the before mentioned examples can affect the child's maturation, "a biological growth process that enables orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience" (Myers 172). Children grow and mature at very different rates, some faster than others, which is why it is necessary to understand the importance of the different types of child development. Though all parts of child development are important, it is probably language learning that is most important to a child's development as a whole.
JM is in first grade at Holly Savior Wichita, Kansas and he is so excited about school and his teachers. He has only one best friend at school. JM is a good student he gets A’s and B’s. His favorite class is math and science. He also enjoys reading the books. He stated that when I grow up he want to be a basketball player. He is playing basketball at school. After school JL does his homework and likes to read books for his sister and help his brother with spelling.
describe how you would tailor a coaching session to suit the needs of a child who is 6 years
In the developing stages of a child, psychological factors play a huge role in th...
Developmental psychology addresses a broad range of human development. Covering the period from pre-natal growth to late adulthood, it can offer greater understanding of healthy human development, as well as provide deeper insight into human nature and human behavior. Knowing about other people is essential for cultivating healthy relationships with them. Before one can know other people, however, one must know oneself, and especially, one must know God. John Calvin (1559) acknowledged this truth when he wrote,
Child development and growth observation can be quite fascinating considering the uniqueness of each child. As children grow, they normally develop and acquire new skills whether complex or not. The abilities experienced by each child progresses differently that is it depends on the nurturing given by the parent or guardian and on the characteristics that they inherit. Proper development and growth of the child occurs when basic needs are provided by the reliable adult guardians, including such things as love, food, encouragement, shelter and warmth. The essay evaluates child development and growth through observation conducted by myself on my nephew. The essay will include physical development, general health, emotional development,
(2012), 41 healthy adults older than 65 were trained by physical, cognitive, and relaxation tasks, to observe their executive functional changes by recording electrical activity of their brains and the potential magnitudes of 3 different protein (P3b, Ne,N2) which are associated with neural functions most prone to decline with age. They trained 2 times a week for 1.5 hours over 4 months; they found that there’s improvement in focus, accuracy, speed of tasks, and task-switching; all of which were seen most significantly with the neurocognitive exercises since the increase in the amplitude of potentials was most consistent with this type of training. Their research supports the idea that through demanding stimulation of the cortical areas, gaining higher cognitive ability is possible and by incorporating a variety of methods to evaluate, including subjective questionnaires, the positive impacts are clearly
In this report I will be discussing the development issues about prenatal development, and the newborn. Developmental psychology is basically a psychology study that focuses on the cognitive, physical, and social change throughout our life span. In prenatal development we learn about nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change. Prenatal Development is the process in which babies develop from one single cell after making a baby into an Embryo and later on a fetus . An Embryo is the process of a human organism for about approximately 2 weeks after the fertilization though the second month.
Chemically, the “ benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells” (Godman). This process, known as neurogenesis, counters the primary ramifications of aging on the brain, and helps with mental clarity, decision making skills, and organization. In the long run, this continuous growth of new blood vessels and the survival of new brain cells aid