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Developmental Psychology

Free Developmental Psychology study guide: 9 units with summaries, key ideas, flashcards and 270 practice questions with step-by-step solutions.

Lines up with: College lifespan development course; CLEP Human Growth and Development.

Units

1. UNIT 01

   Theories and Research Methods

   Developmental psychology studies how people change and stay the same from conception to death. This unit gives you the big theories and the research designs that every later unit relies on.
2. UNIT 02

   Genetics, Prenatal Development and Birth

   This unit covers how genes are passed on and expressed, how a single cell becomes a newborn, what can disrupt prenatal development, and what happens at birth. Tests often combine simple inheritance problems with questions on teratogens and prenatal timing.
3. UNIT 03

   Infancy: Physical and Cognitive Development

   The first two years bring the fastest brain and body growth of the lifespan, along with the leap from reflexes to symbolic thought and first words. This unit covers infant brain, motor, perceptual, cognitive and language development.
4. UNIT 04

   Attachment and Early Social Development

   Infants and toddlers build their first emotional bonds and their first sense of self. This unit covers emotional development, temperament, attachment theory and research, and the early self.
5. UNIT 05

   Early Childhood

   Between about ages 2 and 6, children's thinking becomes symbolic, language explodes, and they begin to understand other minds. This unit covers preoperational thought, theory of mind, language, parenting, play and early gender development.
6. UNIT 06

   Middle Childhood

   From about 6 to 11, children think logically about concrete things, become strategic learners and build a sense of competence among peers. This unit covers concrete operations, information processing, intelligence, moral reasoning, self-concept and peer relations.
7. UNIT 07

   Adolescence

   Adolescence brings puberty, a reorganizing brain, abstract thought and the search for identity. This unit covers physical and brain changes, formal operations, identity formation, moral reasoning, relationships and common risks.
8. UNIT 08

   Early and Middle Adulthood

   Adulthood from about 18 to 65 brings peak physical functioning followed by gradual change, new ways of thinking, and the major tasks of love, work and caring for others. This unit covers emerging adulthood, physical and cognitive change, relationships, family life, careers and personality.
9. UNIT 09

   Late Adulthood, Death and Dying

   Late adulthood brings biological aging, changes in memory and thinking, and new social roles, and the lifespan ends with death and grief. This unit covers theories of aging, cognition and dementia, theories of successful aging, and research on dying and bereavement.