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. 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
References: Cabeza, R.,Nyberg L., & Park, D., (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging, Linking Cognitive and Cerebral Aging, Oxford University Press Heffner. C. L., (2004) Psychology 101, Cognitive Development in Children, Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/development.html Karmiloff-Smith A., (1996) Beyond Modularity, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Pellicano L., (2007) Autism as a developmental disorder, Tracking changes across time, The Psychologist, Vol 4, p216-219 Woolf, L. M.,(1998). Theoretical Perspectives Relevant to Developmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/cognitions.html