The two key areas of psychology this essay will compare and contrast are developmental psychology and Cognitive Psychology. The definition of ‘compare’ is to examine in order to observe resemblances or differences. The role of Cognitive Psychologists involves an investigational approach to understanding people’s mental processes for example, perception, attention, memory, language and how people think and learn. In similarity the role of Developmental Psychologists also involves research.
Their concentration is focused on investigating and understanding the changes that result from growth and development most specifically early and later development. Within literature published on developmental psychology there is an abundance of referrals to cognition and equally within literature published on cognitive psychology there is a great deal of referrals to development. The development of mental processes, abilities and skills are the principle hypotheses of Cognitive Psychology. A developmental perspective is essential to the analysis of human cognition, because understanding the built-in architecture of the human mind, the constraints on learning, and how knowledge changes progressively over time can provide subtle clues to its final representational format in the adult mind. ’ (Karmiloff-Smith 1996, p26) Piaget had the opinion that children think in a different way to adults. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development advocates the concept that children go through specific stages as their intellect and ability to see relationships matures.
The Term Paper on Psychology: The Quest for Understanding
... problem solving, memory, and language comprises Cognitive Psychology. This psychological framework has its ... this issue contrasts genetic information against developmental process, instinct against learning, and history ... motivation, belief, and desire. Quest for Understanding 6 Underlying issues within the ... Sigmund Freud partially forged to the development of this issue with his Psychoanalytic ...
These stages are completed in a fixed order with all children, even those in other countries. Heffner. C. L. , (2004) http://allpsych. com/psychology101/development. html It seems that the paradigms of both Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Psychology interconnect with other disciplines, for example neuroscience, linguistics and anthropology. The complex neurodevelopmental disorder Autism is an area where developmental and cognitive paradigms work together in harmony.
Pellicano (2007) reported that ‘researchers have acknowledged that a complete understanding of autism will require the inclusion of multiple scientific perspectives. As such they have adopted an approach that investigates the disorder at three levels of explanation: genetics/biology, cognition and behaviour. ’ Pellicano (2007) also suggests that plotting children’s cognitive skills makes it possible for researchers to pinpoint whether cognitive skills follow a similar developmental pathway to that of typically developing children.
There are however areas where Cognitive Psychology and Developmental Psychology differ greatly. An example of this is seen in how cognitive change in old age is viewed by the varying sections within the fields of both paradigms. In contrast according to Cabeza, Nyberg and Park (2009) the cognitive psychology of aging is focused on investigating the effects of aging on cognition independently of age-related changes in the brain.
