Developmental Psychology

Theories

What about theories?

Dr. Mary Piñon, Coordinator of MS Programs in Psychology with the School of Psychology at Walden University, shares her views about the importance of theory and the research connection.

Developmental psychology is scientific in nature, which means it is grounded in theory. A theory is empirically based, meaning it relies on research to support it. As more research-based evidence is generated, theories are adjusted to reflect that evidence. In developmental psychology, theories are used to explain physical, cognitive, and/or social emotional changes at different developmental periods. Theories and research go hand in hand, as research shapes theories and theories drive new research.

 

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Theories in Psychology [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Dr. Steve Little, Core Faculty in the Clinical Psychology Program at Walden University, discusses theories that have influenced developmental psychology.

The Research-Theory Cycle

In the following media program, Dr. Sreeroopa Sarkar, Program Director for MS in Psychology Programs with the School of Psychology at Walden University, discusses research and how it contributes to the field of Developmental Psychology. Dr. Sarkar also discusses the theory-research-theory loop that informs research.

 

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016). What is Research? [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY COURSE LIST

Courses in the Developmental Psychology Program that provide perspectives in developmental theory:
DPSY 6111/8111 : Themes and Theories in Developmental Psychology
DPSY 6121/8121: Development in the Digital Age
DPSY 6215/8215: Lifespan Development
DPSY 6218/8218: Gender and Human Development
DPSY 6114/8227: Language and Cognitive Development
DPSY 6217/8228: Social and Emotional Development
DPSY 6228/8229: International Perspectives on Human Development
DPSY 6815/8815: Contemporary Gerontology
DPSY 6111/8111 : Themes and Theories in Developmental Psychology

Documents

 

Websites

DPSY 6121/8121: Development in the Digital Age

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Pabian, S., & Vandebosch, H. (2014). Using the theory of planned behaviour to understand cyberbullying: The importance of beliefs for developing interventions. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11(4), 463-477. DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2013.858626

Cultivation Effects

  • Chung, J. E. (2014). Medical dramas and viewer perception of health: Testing cultivation effects. Human Communication Research, 40(3), 333-349. DOI: 10.1111/hcre.12026

Modeling and Desensitization

  • Funk, J. B., Buchman, D. D., Jenks, J., & Bechtoldt, H. (2003). Playing violent video games, desensitization, and moral evaluation in children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 413-436. DOI: 10.1016/S0193-3973(03)00073-X

Displacement Hypothesis

  • Mutz, D. C., Roberts, D. F., & van Vuuren, D. P. (1993). Reconsidering the displacement hypothesis: Television’s influence on children’s time use. Communication Research, 20(1) 51-75. DOI: 10.1177/009365093020001003
  • Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., Voelker, D. H., & van Vuuren, D. P. (1993). Television and schooling: Displacement and distraction hypotheses. Australian Journal of Education, 37(2), 198-211. DOI: 10.1177/000494419303700207
DPSY 6215/8215: Lifespan Development

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Aldwin, C. M. (2014). Rethinking developmental science. Research in Human Development, 11(4), 247–254. doi:10.1080/15427609.2014.967045
  • Deaton, S. (2015). Social learning theory in the age of social media: Implication for educational practitioners. Journal of Educational Technology, 12(1), 1–6.
  • Keller, H. (2012). Attachment and culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(2), 175–194. doi:10.1177/0022022112472253
  • Meyer, D., Wood, S., & Stanley, B. (2013). Nurture is nature: Integrating brain development, systems theory, and attachment theory. The Family Journal, 21(2), 162–169. doi:10.1177/1066480712466808
  • Nisbett, R. E., Aronson, J., Blair, C., Dickens, W., Flynn, J., Halpern, D. F., & Turkheimer, E. (2012). Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments. American Psychologist, 67(2), 130–159. doi:10.1037/a0026699

 

Media

 

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2010). Cognitive development theories [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
DPSY 6218/8218: Gender and Human Development

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Alexander Street LLC (2016). Psychological Experiments Online. Retrieved from http://search.alexanderstreet.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pexp
    Note: Search Psychological Experiments Online from the Walden Library for psychological experiments or articles related to gender.
  • Bem, S. L. (1997). Transforming the debate on sexual inequality: From biological difference to institutionalized androcentrism. PTN – Psychology Teacher Network, 7(3), 2–4. doi:10.1037/e511152010-002
  • Chaplin, T. M., & Aldao, A. (2012). Gender differences in emotion expression in children: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 139(4), 735–765. doi:10.1037/a0030737.
  • Eagly, A. H., Eaton, A., Rose, S. M., Riger, S., & McHugh, M. C. (2012). Feminism and psychology: Analysis of a half-century of research on women and gender. American Psychologist, 67(3), 211–230. doi:1037/a0027260
  • Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2013). The nature-nurture debates: 25 years of challenges in understanding the psychology of gender. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3), 340–357. doi:1177/1745691613484767
  • Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (1987, August). Gender and the meaning of difference: Alpha and beta bias. In R.T. Hare-Mustin & J. Maracek (Chairs), The future of difference: Representations of gender in psychology. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY. Symposium contribution retrieved from the ERIC database (Accession No. ED292002).
  • Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60(6), 581–592. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581
  • Hyde, J. S. (2014). Gender similarities and differences. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 373–398. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115057
  • Lehmiller, J. J. (2013). Psychology of human sexuality. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
    • Chapter 1, “Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality”
    • Chapter 5, “Gender and Gender Identity”
    • Chapter 6, “Sexual Orientation”
  • Lehigh University, College of Education. (2017). The reverse gender gap. Retrieved from https://coe.lehigh.edu/content/reverse-gender-gap
  • Mars vs. Venus: The gender gap in health. (2010, January). Harvard Men’s Health Watch, 14(6), 1–5. Retrieved from the MEDLINE with Full Text database (Accession No. 20464795).

 

Documents

 

Websites

DPSY 6114/8227: Language and Cognitive Development

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Abutalebi, J., & Clahsen, H. (2015). Bilingualism, cognition, and aging.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 1–2. doi:10.1017/S1366728914000741.
  • Arlin, P. K. (1975). Cognitive development in adulthood: A fifth stage? Developmental Psychology, 11(5), 602–606. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.11.5.602
  • Barney, J. (2016). They’ll have to rewrite the textbooks. The University of Virginia. Retrieved from https://news.virginia.edu/content/researchers-find-textbook-altering-link-between-brain-immune-system
  • Beck, A. T., & Clark, D. A. (1997). An information processing model of anxiety: Automatic and strategic processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35(1), 49–58. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00069-1
  • Carey, S., Zaitchik, D., & Bascandziev, I. (2015). Theories of development: In dialog with Jean Piaget. Developmental Review, 38, 36–54. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2015.07.003
  • Center for Speech and Language Pathology. (n.d.). Early morphological development. Retrieved January 31, 2016, from http://www.speechtherapyct.com/whats_new/Early%20Morphological%20Development.pdf
  • Chomsky, N. (2011). Language and other cognitive systems. What is so special about language? Language Learning and Development, 7(4), 263–278. doi:10.1080/15475441.2011.584041
  • Elkind, D. (1967). Egocentrism in adolescence.Child Development, 38(4), 1025–1034.
  • Fischer, K. W. (1980). A theory of cognitive development: The control and construction of hierarchies of skills. Psychological Review, 87(6), 477–531. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.87.6.477
  • Flavell, J. H. (1982). On cognitive development. Child Development, 53(1), 1. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.ep8587504
  • Gardner, H. (2006). In a nutshell. In Multiple intelligences (pp. 3–24). New York, NY: Basic Books.
  • Gollan, T. H., Salmon, D. P., Montoya, R. I., & de Pena, E. (2010). Accessibility of the nondominant language in picture naming: A counterintuitive effect of dementia on bilingual language production. Neuropsychologia, 48(5), 1356–1366. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.12.038
  • Hallford, G. S., & Andrews, G. (2010). Information processing models of cognitive development. In Goswami, U. (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Child Cognitive Development (2nd ed.) (pp. 697–722). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html
  • Kuwabara, M., & Smith, L. B. (2012). Cross-cultural differences in cognitive development: Attention to relations and objects. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113(1), 20–35. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.04.009
  • Leonard, H. C., Bedford, R., Pickles, A., Hill, E. L. (2015). Predicting the rate of language development from early motor skills in at-risk infants who develop autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 13–14, 15–24. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2014.12.012
  • Lourenço, O. (2012). Piaget and Vygotsky: Many resemblances, and a crucial difference. New Ideas in Psychology, 30(3), 281–295. doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2011.12.006
  • Ibbotson, P., & Tomasello, M. (2016). Language in a new key. Scientific American, 315(5), 70–75.
  • Megalakaki, O., Craft, A., & Cremin, T. (2012). The nature of creativity: Cognitive and confluence perspectives. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 10(3), 1035–1055. Retrieved from http://investigacion-psicopedagogica.org/revista/new/english/ContadorArticulo.php?775
  • Miller, P. H. (2010). Piaget’s theory: Past, present, and future. In Goswami, U. (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Child Cognitive Development (2nd ed.) (pp. 649–672). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Nelson, L. H., White, K. R., & Grewe, J. (2012). Evidence for website claims about the benefits of teaching sign language to infants and toddlers with normal hearing. Infant and Child Development, 21(5), 474–502. doi:10.1002/icd.1748
  • Osborne, L. (1999). A linguistic big bang. New York Times Magazine, 84–89.
  • Peal, E., & Lambert, W. E. (1962). The relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 76(27), 1–23. doi:10.1037/h0093840
  • Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84(2), 127–190. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.127
  • Sundararajan, L., & Fatemi, S. M. (2016). Creativity and symmetry restoration: Toward a cognitive account of mindfulness. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 36(3), 131–141. doi:10.1037/teo0000027
  • Weisleder, A., & Fernald, A. (2013). Talking to children matters: Early language experience strengthens processing and builds vocabulary. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2143–2152. doi:10.1177/0956797613488145

 

Documents

 

Websites

 

Media


Laureate Education (Producer). (2016). Child Language Sample: 3 1/2 year-old Stella [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016). Child Language Sample: 4 1/2 year-old Ethan

Note: These speech samples can help you to calculate the MLU. Retrieved from https://cdn-media.waldenu.edu/2dett4d/Walden/DPSY/8227/CH/mm/language_and_cognitive_development/index.html

DPSY 6217/8228: Social and Emotional Development

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75(2), 317–333.
  • Domenech Rodríguez, M. M., Baumann, A., & Swartz, A. (2011). Cultural adaptation of an empirically supported intervention: From theory to practice in a Latino/a community context. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 170–186.
  • Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. doi: 1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
  • Gendron, M., & Barrett, L. F. (2009). Reconstructing the past: A century of ideas about emotion in psychology. Emotion Review, 4, 316–339.
  • Kandler, C., Riemann, R., & Angleitner, A. (2012). Patterns and sources of continuity and change of energetic and temporal aspects of temperament in adulthood: A longitudinal twin study of self and peer reports. Developmental Psychology, 49(9), 1739–1753. doi: 10.1037/a0030744
  • Kidwell, S. L., Young, M. E., Hinkle, L. D., Ratliff, A. D., Marcum, M. E., & Martin, C. N. (2010). Emotional competence and behavior problems: Differences across Preschool Assessment of Attachment classifications. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 15, 391–406. doi: 1177/1359104510367589
  • Kim, J. E., & Moen, P. (2002). Retirement transitions, gender, and psychological well-being: A life-course ecological model. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57(3), 212–222.
  • Kochanska, G. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72(4), 1091–1111.
  • Marks, A. K., Patton, F., & Coll, C. (2011). Being bicultural: A mixed-methods study of adolescents’ implicitly and explicitly measured multiethnic identities. Developmental Psychology, 47(1), 270–288. doi:10.1037/a0020730
  • Noorden, T. H. van, Haselager, G. J., Cillessen, A. H., & Bukowski, W. M. (2015). Empathy and involvement in bullying in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 44(3), 637– doi: 10.1007/s10964-014-0135-6
  • Resnicow, K., Soler, R., Braithwaite, R. L., Ahluwalia, J. S., & Butler, J. (2000). Cultural sensitivity in substance use prevention. Journal of Community Psychology, 28(3), 271–291.
  • Rispoli, K. M., McGoey, K. E., Koziol, N. A., & Schreiber, J. B. (2013). The relation of parenting, child temperament, and attachment security in early childhood to social competence at school entry. Journal of School Psychology, 51, 643–658.

 

Media

 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016). Research-theory cycle [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Dr. Sreeroopa Sarkar discusses the research-theory cycle.
DPSY 6228/8229: International Perspectives on Human Development

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Arnett, J. J. (2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602
  • Berry, J. W. (2013). Achieving a global psychology. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 54(1), 55–61. doi:10.1037/a0031246
  • Horne, S. G. (2014, June). Psychology in action: My country, my closet: The role of psychology in the growing international divide over GLBTQ rights. Psychology International, 25(2), 4–6. doi:10.1037/e520362014-003
  • Jensen, L. A., & Arnett, J. J. (2012). Going global: New pathways for adolescents and emerging adults in a changing world. Journal of Social Issues, 68(3), 473–492. doi: 1111/j.1540-4560.2012.01759.x
DPSY 6815/8815: Contemporary Gerontology

The following articles can be found in the Walden Library.

Articles

  • Charles, S. T., & Carstensen, L. L. (2010). Social and emotional aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 383–409. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100448
  • Tsai, J. L., & Sims, T. (2016). Emotional aging in different cultures: Implications of affect valuation theory. In A. D. Ong & C. E. Löckenhoff (Eds.), Emotion, aging, and health (pp. 119–143). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/14857-007

 

Web Articles

Menu