Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Prompt for the week of August 26 (Due the 30th at 11:59pm)
Developmental Psychology is all about how humans (and non-humans) change over time. Some of these changes are fairly "normal and stereotyped," such that everyone in a species changes the same way. Other areas of development are highly diverse and influenced by factors such as nutrition, social interaction, etc. Why do you think studying development is important? Do you think there are still things to learn? Are there trends or concepts about human change that you wish you understood better? Another way of addressing this prompt is: Why did you enroll in this course (beyond some requirement)?
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The reason I enrolled in this class, and chose developmental psych over abnormal psych, is because one of the jobs I work. I am a family support assistant for Youth Dynamics. The organization is to help at risk youth develop proper social and behavioral skills. My job as an FSA is to help the child work on his goals through therapeutic mentoring. I felt it would be interesting to learn how different interactions with youth can change the ways they develop as they grow older.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking this class because I'm a nerd, and I think it's fun to learn. I'm particularly interested in the social aspect of development. I think autistic spectrum disorders are fascinating, and I'm curious to see where the research in that field will lead us. I believe the study of development is important because self-awareness is a cornerstone in evolving efficiently. Also, humans are generally pretty weird creatures, so there's that...
ReplyDeleteI am taking this course because I hope to get my psychiatric APRN in the future. For those of you who don't know a Psychiatric APRN has a role much like a psychiatrist. I am also taking the class because i have worked with children in various mental health care settings over the last 10 years. I am currently working with Intermountain Children's Home, most of the children I work with have been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment disorder, but more then all of these reason the brain and how it functions fascinates me. I love that more that is found out about the brain seems to only lead to more unanswered questions.
ReplyDeleteIs reactive attachment disorder applied to children that have parents that are merely absent due to divore or being incapable of caring for their children? Or do they apply it to a parent's death too? I wonder if this would apply to children of military parents that are deployed. I have heard the term before but am not one hundred percent on what situations it is applied to.
DeleteTo be honest I would have rather taken abnormal psych, but my schedule wouldn't allow it this semester. I am planning on taking abnormal as well though. I am fascinated with mental illness and how it effects peoples lives. How our brains can turn on us. What it can make us do.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to this class as well. Studying developmental psychology is important as it can give us a better understanding of ourselves, about others. I am an OSHA major, Applied Health Science option. I am planning on working in the health and fitness industry and I believe that the more knowledge I have on what makes people do what they do. The better I can help future clients become a more healthy person. Psychology is a big part of what I'll be doing. To live healthy you need to work on the mind and the body. If tech offered a minor in psych I think I'd take it to help me with my career even more.
I enrolled in this course because I am very interested in how human minds work. I think that the development of a child is very important to how they react and interact with others as they get older. I catch on really quick to why people make the decisions they do and I feel like this class will help me understand even more. I am looking to go into nutrition and I feel as part of the process I should learn about peoples emotions and why they choose the lifestyle they do and why people choose to eat what they do. Psychology to me goes hand in hand with nutrition you must understand where the person comes from to get to the root of their nutrition problems. I am excited about this class and hope to learn quite a bit to help me in my field.
ReplyDeletePsychology and the eating habits of beings definitely go hand in hand. It would be interesting to better understand the concept of "emotional eating" and why people tend to "eat their feelings".
DeleteI enrolled in this Psychology course because I am interested in the thought processes of the mind and how the mind functions on conscious and subconscious levels. Developmental Psychology is important to me because I believe it is part of the building blocks to gaining a psychological understanding. Studying development will help me better understand myself, have a greater appreciation of development, understand how a child's mind works, and understand what is normal in development and what is not. New discoveries are made everyday in the world and by learning about past discoveries and concepts will help me to, one day, be the one that is doing the discovering.
ReplyDeleteI enrolled in Developmental Psych for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it fulfilled a course requirement and I also enjoyed Dr. Risser's teaching methods in Intro to Psych. Aside from those reasons I am somewhat atypical in that I don't care for children. Very very small doses is really all I can tolerate. Perhaps taking this course will enable me to recognize what the children are going through and seeing through their eyes. Failing that I always enjoy learning and look forward to this semester.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a dog or another kind of pet?
DeleteYes. I have an English Setter. And yes, I'm extremely attached to the pup.
DeleteI found that once I adopted a dog, I learned to tolerate children more. I think it had a lot to do with a change of perspective, as dogs would have a hard time adapting to a life in the wild because they're domesticated - to me, children have the same sort of sad dependency. Mind if I ask why you can only tolerate kids in small doses?
DeleteI have been interested in the field of Psychology and would like to have a career in a field of it but i'm not sure on which one, so i'm testing the water. Developmental psychology is a necessary study to understand how we develop. We will still be learning new things in this field and from our selves because we as a species tend to adapt to our environment which is constantly changing in ways we take for granted. The creation of upgraded technology which makes our lives easier example a computer kids are taught how to use a computer at an early age. Some kids take to typing really easy while others struggle, why? simple questions like this is why developmental psychology is important. That's my opinion at least.
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ReplyDeleteSo, to try this again. I'm not a fan of technology, I find an amazing lack of privacy to it. In any case, I enrolled in this course because my immediate goal (career wise) is to be a teacher. Overall, I enjoy people watching and guessing why individuals behave the way they do. I had no idea that "developmental" psychology was to do with children specifically. I think it is important to study this aspect of it, in that it reminds me of an old saying, "it's called a cliche for a reason". There is a certain amount of probability that can be applied to modern day children based on the history and documentation of the topic. I enjoy children, overall, more than adults as they seem to be more open to new ideas and much simpler in how they view things.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
DeleteI enrolled in this course for several reasons. For one, I think the brain is extremely interesting and obviously very important to understanding myself, others, and the world that we live in. I am always interested in and open to learning new information that will allow me to better understand our world. I really enjoy working with children and love blowing kids minds with nature, science, or really anything that I can teach them and allow them to grow. Taking Developmental Psych will allow me to better understand the actual science and research that has gone into the development of the brain, which will thus allow me to work better with children by knowing certain trends and normalcies of child development. Also, I can use this class to reflect on my own childhood and ongoing development as an adult, which will allow me to understand myself even more, both through my brain physiology, and as a product of my upbringing. There is always more to learn about any subject, and I look forward to gaining some knowledge on the development of the brain, both as a child, and continuing as an adult.
ReplyDeleteI enrolled in this course because I took psychology 100 and really enjoyed the class. I found it fascinating to learn about human development and different societies. It is important for us to learn about human development so we can gain a better understanding of why humans behave in a specific manner. The better we understand human development the easier it will be to assist people in need.
ReplyDeleteI enrolled in this class because I knew this course was going to be interesting. learning about human development and trying understand why people do certain things reguardless if the action is good or bad is very intriguing. But I did not know developmental psychology had to do with children. The further we get into the course we as a class will have a better understanding of human development and most importantly ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAs a Pre-Medical student, the study development is an integral part of my understanding of life, health, and humanity. Without the extensive study that has been done on this topic, knowledge of the results of these studies, and further research, it would be impossible to treat individuals in different stages of life as a healthcare professional. I do believe that there is much to still be learned about development, especially the aging process. I have work as a Certified Nurse Aide for two years now with rehabilitation, dementia, and hospice patients and it is interesting to compare and contrast how people continue to develop as they progress into their later years. In my cell biology major, we have talked a lot about how exposure to toxins, pesticides, and other chemicals in the environment affect the body and I can't help but wonder if and how the introduction of these compounds has influenced modern human development. This is the trend in human development that interests me most. Since changing my own consumership to one of only organic and natural products, I have seen tremendous differences in my own health and wellness. This makes me wonder if careless exposure to carcinogens in the work place, the introduction of harmful pesticides like DDT, increased artificial additives and preservatives to food, and the advent of genetically modified crops throughout recent history has created one of the most diseased generations despite modern medicine therefore negatively impacting our development and by genetics, our children's as well.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article on the topic:
Deletehttp://www.ibcmt.com/2006-03-19-IBCMT-NeuroDegenerative-Memory-Disorders.pdf
I think as humans and other species evolve so do our characteristics, therefore we are always changing from one generation to the next. This outlines the importance of understanding species. As we, as humans, have changed and have learned since way back when, we can expect the same for the future. What will we eventually mutate into as time goes on? Physically and psychologically, we are bound to morph.
ReplyDeleteI enrolled in Developmental Psychology because I am interested in psychology, it is a part of my major, and because learning how we have came to be as well as picturing what might become is quite interesting.
The main reason I took the course is because I’m interested in how do we get from over there, being all pudgy crying and cute, to over here, being people with thoughts, wants, feelings. If that seems vague that’s because it is. Another reason is in the book for intro psych last year there is a story of a young kid asking her dad to make the (already hot bath) “warmer”. Seeming because she wanted it to be closer to warm and not hotter. The change of the use of langue over time is just fascinating, not to mention that is freakin adorable. I guess the third reason is because Risser is a great teacher who really cares about what he’s talking about so you almost can’t help but to care as well and be interested which makes the class just so much more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI chose to enroll in this class because my major is English with an emphasis in Secondary Education, meaning I'll be around young J-ck _ss's (Missing letters are vowels)the remainder of my life. So I would like to use what I learn in this course to control the little trolls and learn the best way to torture them. But on the serious side I would like to use knowledge obtained in the course to understand, communicate, handle, and better relate to future students. I would like to use this opportunity to learn as much as possible about the development of adolescence and how to manage and deal with young adults.
ReplyDeleteDevelopmental Psychology is going to be a critical field of study called upon when the United States Congress begins to look at education reform. Why do American students struggle versus Chinese students? I know in this class, we will go on a journey to study the development of a child from being a toddler to adolescence, and watch them evolve and grow into healthy adults. Sadly we have to do case by case studies, as the Truman Show is unethical to the development of a human being, although the Truman Show may bring tremendous insight into the development of a young child. Psychologists must continue to study the development of human beings because every human child is unique and special. No two children will grow up with the same experiences, enjoy the same foods, enjoy the same smells, or have the same interests as another child. I hope that this class will help me become a better teacher, a better father(in the future), and give me the insight needed to help nurture and develop our next generation.
ReplyDeleteI have enrolled into this Developmental Psychology class because of the career path i am taking. I am going into Physical Therapy. PT will hopefully bring me to points in which i will be dealing with all ages of people, from children to elderly. I am hoping that this coarse will help me be able to understand and help the variety of patients i will be helping in the future. I have also joined it because i find the human as a hole very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have always been fascinated by the mind, and have always wanted to learn more about it. Last semester I took intro to psych and by the end of the year I knew I would definitely keep taking psychology classes and learn as much as i can about not only myself and people around me, but also about my child and how to better myself as a father. I also enjoy psycology because there are many things i have always kind of known, but now i get to learn why it is like like it is, and get to see what methods or experiments were used to show how and why people do what they do.
ReplyDeletePsychology has become one of my favorite subjects to study in school, and with every psych class I take (I've taken psych 101 and abnormal psych, so far) my interest in it grows. I enrolled in developmental psychology to pursue that interest. I like learning about people; how our minds work, develop, change, and in the case of abnormal psychology, are considered different from what is 'normal.' I think a lot of my curiosity about the subject comes from my mother, especially with respect to developmental psych. She works at a treatment center for children and adolescents who have "behavioral, emotional, and psychiatric disorders," so I've grown up hearing about it. Also, I'm a little uncertain about my career path, but I've been considering teaching or a job similar to my mom's, and knowledge of developmental psychology could only be a benefit.
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