Developmental Psychology Definition
What is developmental psychology? Developmental psychology is a science that is part of psychology. In the scope of psychology, this science includes special psychology, namely psychology that studies specificity over individual behavior.
What is psychology in psychology?
Psychology comes from the words “psyche” and “logos”; which have a “soul and” knowledge, The author agrees that psychology is defined as a science that investigates and discusses mental processes and human actions or behaviors in order to interact with their living environment. The majority of psychologists agree with the formulation.
Developmental Psychology Concepts
Development indicates a certain process, which is a process that goes forward and cannot be repeated. In human development, there are many changes that are fixed and cannot be repeated. Developments point to changes in a fixed and forward direction.
Experts who prioritize psychology for the benefit of education, prioritizing human beings as objects of psychology. Psychology is a science that talk about human behavior in interacting with their environment.
The behavior in question is an activity that includes the process of thinking, counseling, and decision making. For example, a child who is silent while staring at his teacher who is explaining the tasks that must be completed, means that the child is acting.
Developmental Psychology History
For centuries, psychology was simply the result of introspection and part of philosophy. In The Greek and Roman times, there were already experts who paid attention to the education of children, although at that time the child was not seen as a separate form of man.
At this time, people think about the children, despite the various formulations, but we can conclude, that children are considered as older persons with small sizes.
Based on this assumption, the attitudes and treatments given to children and the expectations and demands directed at children are also equated with attitudes and treatments and expectations and demands directed at older persons. At that time, since childhood, children have been included working together with other persons.
In the 4th century BC, around 387 BC, Plato founded a philosophy school called the Academy. Plato was born in Athens (427-347). He was a student of Socrates, a very famous philosopher of his time. Socrates is the foundation of pedagogical morals, which bases decency of knowledge.
Plato holds that the human soul is divided into the body soul and the spiritual soul. If the body soul is to die with its human body, the spiritual soul never ends, or in other words is eternal. The spiritual soul rests on ratio and logic, and is the highest part of the soul. Therefore, it will never die.
In the 18th century, Jean Jacques Rousseau, born in Moravia (1712-1778) in his book Emile ou I’education, 1762, outlined his thoughts on the education of children who said that everything was good as it was out of the hands of the Creator, everything deteriorated in human hands.
Rousseau’s words contained an understanding that whatever the child obtained according to his nature was always seen as the best for him, but his authenticity would be damaged when handled by man.
How can human intervention affect a child’s development? Human intervention can damage the child’s own development. Therefore, educators need to equip themselves with knowledge about the psyche of their students. Educators who are able to understand the soul of their students, can support educational efforts in their efforts to achieve better goals.
He suggested that teachers should always pay attention to their students’ attitudes when they receive lessons. He prefers the encouragement of learning that comes from the interest of the child himself, not because it is influenced by the environment.
Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi, who was born in Zurich (1746-1827) is known as an educator who pays great attention to children’s education. He wants to improve education in the community by prioritizing education for children. He recommended that the education provided in accordance with the development of the child’s soul.
The lessons are based on experiences that start from an easy level leading to more difficult levels. In addition to being an educator who pays attention to the development of the child’s soul, he is also known as a social educator and father of classical teaching.
Friedrich Frobel (1782–1852) was also known as an educator who paid attention to children’s lives. He founded a kindergarten (Kinder Garten) in Blankenburg. Kindergarten is a place for children to play, sing, and do hand work together.
In addition, kindergartens are seen as places where children practice copyright by using game tools. By playing, children’s activities and creativity are developed. The giving of games (Spielgaben) is still being developed in the kindergarten environment to this day.
Dietrich Tiedeman (1787) who was German introduced the results of his research on the development of his own children.
He was known as one of the pioneers who persistently struggled at that time to try so that later child psychology could be recognized to stand in line with other sciences that had been recognized first. Then many other experts who are interested in following this research, including Wilhelm Preyer.
Finally, Psychology was born officially in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) opened the first laboratory studying human behavior in Leipzig, Germany. Wundt was the first person to use the term experimental psychology using the term introspection (examination of one’s own mental state).
He was credited with elevating empirical psychology into autonomous science, which is why he was also dubbed the “Father of experimental psychology” primarily by experts in the United States. Although he used synthetic-analytic methods, his opinions were considered modems and were widely followed by today’s experts.
Later in 1880, the term paedology was known. Which comes from the words ‘paedos’ and ‘logos’ which have the meaning of ‘child’ and ‘science’.
Child psychology is part of that paedology, as it studies physical and spiritual development, environmental influences, and hereditary influences. Paedology can be used to learn about imaginary images, observations, and ways of thinking in children.
When did child psychology develop?
At the end of the 19th century (1882), the basic for child psychology became stronger after Preyer wrote his book, Die Seele des Kindes. The book became a valuable material for the development of child psychology, so, in the late 19th to early 20th century, child psychology progressed very rapidly.
For three years, Preyer recorded all the important developments in his son’s daily life. Things to look out for include; motor development, language, memory, and the development of his will.
All aspects of the child’s psyche were studied carefully using observation and experimental methods. Thanks to his services, he is considered as the ‘Father of Child Psychology’.
In the 20th century, there were many child psychologists from various countries in Europe and America. And in the 21st century, there are already many figures in the psychology of development from abroad and domestically.
