Developmental Knowledge Organizer

Here’s a knowledge organizer I’ve created of the most essential terms for developmental psychology in an introductory psychology course. These knowledge organizers are designed to help you identify the most important factual knowledge you need to have in order to engage in the more challenging activities of discussing, writing about, … Read More

Developmental Psychology Practice Questions

This video covers 10 practice multiple choice questions on developmental psychology and includes questions related to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, parenting styles, attachment, and more. I hope this can help you to review your knowledge and understanding, let me know if you have any suggestions for future practice and … Read More

Adulthood & Aging

In this video I describe the changes and challenges associated with adulthood and aging. These include new responsibilities, declines in physical and cognitive abilities, and changes in relationships over time. Despite these changes, however, most older adults see an increase in overall well-being late in life, which is likely due … Read More

Development of Sexual Orientation

In this video I briefly describe research related to development of sexual orientation, with a focus on homosexuality. Despite Freud’s emphasis on identification, there doesn’t seem to be a relationship between parenting and sexual orientation. Twin studies have suggested that genes play a role in sexual orientation, though not a … Read More

Puberty & Adolescence

In this video I describe the changes associated with puberty and adolescence, ranging from the physical to the socioemotional. Puberty causes major physical changes in both primary and secondary sex characteristics as adolescents become capable of reproduction. Cognitive changes include gradually increasing capabilities for complex thought and improvements in self-regulation. … Read More

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

In this video I describe Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and its 3 main stages: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. I also provide a description of the Heinz dilemma and how different responses might be categorized into the levels of Kohlberg’s theory. Next I consider criticisms of Kohlberg’s approach as … Read More

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

In this video I describe Diana Baumrind’s 3 main parenting styles: authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. I also describe the addition of neglectful or uninvolved parenting and the outcomes in children associated with each of these parenting styles. Lastly I consider the difficulty of drawing specific conclusions from these outcomes, as … Read More

Attachment & Bonding

In this video I describe several concepts and theories related to the formation of the relationship between mother and child. These include Konrad Lorenz’s work with imprinting in goslings, Harry Harlow’s work on comfort and security in rhesus macaques, and Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation to assess the quality of attachment. … Read More

Lev Vygotsky & The Zone of Proximal Development

In this video I consider how it is that we improve our skills and abilities and how children make progress through different stages of development. This brings us to the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his notion of the zone of proximal development. This refers to tasks outside … Read More

Cognitive Development: Concrete Operational & Formal Operational Stages

In this video I discuss Piaget’s last two stages of cognitive development; the concrete operational stage and the formal operational stage. The concrete operational stage (from about age 6-11) is characterized by improved understanding of the operations of the physical world but errors in abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking. These … Read More