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Developmental (7-9%)
Understand that development is a lifelong process. Students should consider physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development through conception, gestation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Contrast the research methods used by psychologists in studying development, including longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. You could give intelligence testing as a salient example of the cohort effect and how it affects cross-sectional designs, or use an example like language development or fetal alcohol syndrome to discuss the role of sensitive (critical) periods during early development. Be aware of such major developmental theorists as Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, Erikson, Kübler-Ross, and Vygotsky. Imagine having preschool-aged children visit your classroom to demonstrate Piaget’s conservation. List the pros and cons of cheating to illustrate Kohlberg’s stages of moral development.
AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:
• Discuss the interaction of nature and nurture (including cultural variations) in the determination of behavior.
• Explain the process of conception and gestation, including factors that influence successful fetal development (e.g., nutrition, illness, substance abuse).
• Discuss maturation of motor skills.
• Describe the influence of temperament and other social factors on attachment and appropriate socialization. Imprinting.
• Explain the maturation of cognitive abilities (e.g., Piaget’s stages, information processing).
• Compare and contrast models of moral development (e.g., Kohlberg, Gilligan).
• Discuss maturational challenges in adolescence, including related family conflicts.
• Explain how parenting styles influence development.
• Characterize the development of decisions related to intimacy as people mature.
• Predict the physical and cognitive changes that emerge as people age, including steps that can be taken to maximize function.
• Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.
• Identify key contributors in developmental psychology (e.g., Mary Ainsworth, Albert Bandura, Diana Baumrind, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Carol Gilligan, Harry Harlow, Lawrence Kohlberg, Konrad Lorenz, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky).
Essential Questions:
How do people grow and develop physically throughout the life span?
How do people grow and develop intellectually throughout the life span?
How do people grow and develop socially throughout the life span?
How do people grow and develop morally throughout the life span?
How do people grow and develop personality throughout the life span?
• Describe the physical development of infants and children from conception to puberty.
• Analyze the cognitive development of infants and children.
• Evaluate the importance of social development in infants and children.
• Define adolescence and evaluate how adolescence has changed over the last century.
• Summarize the physical changes that occur during adolescence.
• Analyze how the reasoning ability of adolescents differs from that of children.
• Describe and analyze Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.
• Describe how nature and nurture affect behavior.
• Describe how developmental psychologists research development over the life span.
• Analyze how sex roles influence individual and social behavior throughout the life span.
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