Question

1. What are 3 important milestones in psychology's early development and why?

2. Identify and describe psychology's historic big issue?

3. How can psychological principles help you learn and remember?

4. Explain how hindsight bias, overconfidence, and the tendency to perceive order in random events illustrate why science-based answers are more valid than those based on intuition and common sense.

5. Discuss whether psychology is free of value judgments.

Answer 1

1.

a)Physical milestones: This milestones embrace both large motor skills and fine motor skills. The large motor skills are usually the first to develop and include sitting up, standing, crawling, and walking. Fine motor skills involve precise movements such as grasping a spoon, holding a crayon, drawing shapes, and picking up small objects.

b)Cognitive milestones:This milestones are centered on a child's ability to think, learn, and solve problems. An infant learning how to respond to facial expressions and a preschooler learning the alphabet are both examples of cognitive milestones.

c)Social and emotional milestones: Centered on children gaining a better understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others, social and emotional milestones also involve learning how to interact and play with other people.

2.

a)Nature vs. Nurture: The debate over the relative contributions of inheritance and the environment usually referred to as the nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology.Today, most psychologists believe that it is an interaction between these two forces that causes development. Some aspects of development are obviously biological, such as puberty. However, the onset of puberty can be affected by environmental factors such as diet and nutrition.

b)Early Experience vs. Later Experience: A second important consideration in developmental psychology involves the relative importance of early experiences versus those that occur later in life.Psychoanalytic theorists tend to focus on events that occur in early childhood. According to Freud, much of a child's personality is completely established by the age of five. If this is indeed the case, those who have experienced deprived or abusive childhoods might never adjust or develop normally. Researchers have found that the influence of childhood events does not necessarily have a dominating effect over behavior throughout the life. Many people with less-than-perfect childhoods go on to develop normally into well-adjusted adults.

c)Continuity vs. Discontinuity: A third major issue in developmental psychology is that of continuity. Some theories of development argue that changes are simply a matter of quantity; children display more of certain skills as they grow older. Other theories outline a series of sequential stages in which skills emerge at certain points of development.

d)Abnormal Behavior vs. Individual Differences: Developmental milestones offer guidelines for the ages at which certain skills and abilities typically transpire, but can create concern when a child falls slightly behind the norm. While developmental theories have historically focused upon deficits in behavior, focus on individual differences in development is becoming more common.

5.

No,I think this questioned was posed with the aim of making people think about how psychology, more so than other fields, depends on ideas that cannot be explored using the scientific method. This field contains to many value judgements that can be explored with philosophy and that go beyond the scope of science, and so, in a sense, may not be fully a scientific field.