Development psychology is the scientific study of how we grow and develop throughout childhood in terms of emotional and social factors, how personality and intelligence develop and how children think and communicate in a social world. It is concerned with the processes of how children develop.

Human beings are complex animals, so it is useful to start the study of them by looking at how our evolution and biology has affected behaviour in various ways.

The NATURE view of human development argues that much of our behaviour as well as physical characteristics are INHERITED, which means that they are passed down from generation to generation through our GENES. Genes are types of messenger and each gene carries a particular characteristic such as hair or eye colour. We inherit a mixture of the parents' genes, which they in turn have inherited from their parents and so on. Genes are contained within 23 pairs of chromosomes and each chromosome has something in the region of 20,000 genes. This gives a type of blueprint or plan, which determines what characteristics we will have - this is called a GENOTYPE.

Originally, psychologists thought that characteristics such as personality, intelligence and sex-role behaviour were inherited. This view has since been challenged by modern psychologists who believe that our genotype can be altered by our environment. For example, we may have inherited a gene that would determine our body-size, but if we were born in a poor, underdeveloped country, we may never attain the size that our genotype determines. What we actually become through interaction and adaptation to our environment is called our PHENOTYPE.

So, although we may be born inheriting a certain genotype, what we actually grow up to be will depend on a host of environmental factors such as culture, social setting and personal experiences. This is called the NATURE-v-NURTURE DEBATE.

last update April 5, 2003

© L. Cryer/Northern College 2000