Each of us throughout life, grows, matures, becomes mature and ages. All these processes are accompanied by changes in consciousness, in what psychological roles we play, how we react to certain things, and so on. Periodically, in the life of each of us there are age-related crises, when one system of values ​​and views undergoes changes, and is replaced by a slightly different one. This happens throughout life. This is the point. This is evolution. There is also a science that studies the evolution of human consciousness at different ages, it is called " age-related psychology". Naturally, the methods of studying and influencing a person at each age are different, and the developmental psychology of children is fundamentally different from the psychology of an adult. In this article, we offer you to understand why age-related psychology is needed for a modern person.

Developmental and Developmental Psychology

The whole age psychology is based on the fact that every person at a certain age has a so-called “age crisis”, and it exists at 15, and at 30, and at 45, and even at 1 year old! In fact, a crisis arises due to the fact that a person must choose any one solution age tasks from many alternatives. In this context, the concept of "developmental psychology" is often encountered. What it is? What is the difference between developmental psychology and developmental psychology?

These two concepts are related to each other as general and particular. Developmental psychology studies development in connection with the biological age of a person. Developmental psychology is a broader concept, since it studies not only the age stages of human development, it also studies the genesis of mental processes in a person.

Developmental and educational psychology are strongly linked. This is explained by the fact that they study a person as the highest stage in the development of life, as a system in which the physical and mental, genetically conditioned and formed during life, natural, social and spiritual are united and inseparable. How are educational psychology and developmental psychology related? Age psychology studies how the human psyche changes with age, and educational psychology studies how the human psyche changes in the learning process. Thus, educational psychology is impossible without age psychology; it studies a person of a certain age who is in the educational process.

Like any science, developmental psychology has a number of research methods. All methods of developmental psychology can be classified according to the following parameters:

• by duration:

1. a longitudinal method (or a method of longitudinal sections), which tracks the development of the same group of people over a long period of time in order to identify qualitative changes in the human psyche
2. cross-sectional method, which makes it possible in a short time to investigate one or another parameter in groups of different ages and draw a conclusion about its dynamics depending on age (ceteris paribus)

• according to the specifics of the conduct:

1. observation, which is a fixation of existing facts with their further interpretation,
2. survey (in the form of a questionnaire or oral conversation),
3. an experiment in which conditions are created artificially to obtain the desired reaction of the subject,
4. testing necessary to determine the level of intellectual abilities and personal qualities researched,
5. analysis of products of activity (drawings, drawings, musical works, essays, notebooks, personal diaries) for information about inner world man, his relationship to the world and others.

In general, every person goes through certain stages in life. Age periods in psychology can be classified by:

• chronological age - the number of years a person has lived,
• biological age - physical indicators of human health at the moment,
• by psychological age - intellectual, psychosexual, spiritual development of the individual and her sense of self.

For the first time in a person's life, they occur in a year, three and seven years. The fourth crisis occurs at school age, when the child develops industriousness or vice versa laziness, as well as a sense of his status among his schoolmates.

Developmental psychology is most needed in resolving and preventing age-related crises.

The fifth crisis occurs at (12-16 years old), when a person is concerned about identification issues. The sixth crisis is the crisis of 30 years, when a person reconsiders his youthful ideals, ideas about life and his "I", passing into adulthood. The seventh crisis is a midlife crisis (38-45 years). The eighth crisis overtakes a person during the period of aging, when a person's life path ends, and a person is engaged in evaluating how he was passed.

Features of age psychology

A few more words about what the features of developmental psychology are. Both adult and child developmental psychology put a person's age at the forefront, while paying a lot of attention to psychological, mental and emotional development, which often does not coincide with a person's biological age. At the same time, the most important tasks developmental psychology are to identify the basic patterns personal development person, analyze them and develop ways to apply the acquired knowledge in practice.

Thus, age psychology, although complex, is a very necessary field of knowledge, since each of us will sooner or later enter a period of age crisis, and it’s good if there is a person nearby who will be able to help and push on the right actions.

Subject, tasks and main problems of developmental psychology.

Developmental psychology as a branch of modern psychological science: subject, tasks and research methods. Age-related changes in the psyche, behavior, life and personality of a person as an object of developmental psychology. Laws, patterns, tendencies of change in the psyche, behavior, life and personality of a person in the process of his life as a subject of developmental psychology.

The main problems of developmental psychology. The problem of organic (organismic) and environmental conditioning of the mental and behavioral development of a person. Factors of human development and their understanding in developmental psychology. Biologization and sociologization directions. The problem of the relative influence of natural and organized learning and education for human development. The problem is the ratio of inclinations and abilities. The problem of comparative influence on the development of evolutionary, revolutionary and situational changes in the psyche and human behavior. The problem of the correlation of intellectual and personal changes in the overall psychological development of a person.

Methods of age psychology.

Specifics of studies of human age development. The choice of conditions for the study of age development. Laboratory conditions, dependent and independent variables in them. Natural setting. Selecting an experimental design to study changes over time. Basic methods of organizing human development research. Method of longitudinal sections (longitudinal plan). cross section method. Combined (cohort-sequential) plan. Data collection methods. direct observation. Analysis of individual cases. Achievement and ability tests. Self-report methods. Projective methods. Interpretation of data from a psychological study of age development and determination of the boundaries of conclusions. Definition problem. Generalization problem. The problem of mixing the concepts of correlation and causality. Methods for registering perinatal forms of fetal activity (under conditions multiple pregnancy). Methods of psychological research of infants. Methodology for the study of infants on the example of the Bailey test (Bailey test infant development scale, second edition - BSID, 1993). Methods for studying phenomena J. Piaget. J. Piaget's tasks for maintaining the constancy of an object: tasks for preserving volume and quantity, a task for preserving length, a task for classifying. Research methods for children using drawing tests. The Goodenough-Harris "Draw a Man" technique. Methods "House, tree, person" and "Family drawing". Methods for the study of intelligence. Wexler test (children's and adult version). Diagnosis of the character of a teenager. Methodology N.Ya. Ivanova-A.E. Lichko - PDO (Pathocharacterological Diagnostic Questionnaire for Adolescents).

Sources and psychological patterns mental development in ontogeny.

General patterns of mental development in ontogenesis. The ratio of evolutionary and revolutionary age-related changes in the psychology and behavior of people. Biological and environmental factors of development. Heterochronism and contradictions of individual development. The combination of evolutionary and involutionary moments in development. Cyclic development. Law of alternation, periodicity different types activities. Features of mental development at different age stages. Prenatal development, infancy, early childhood, preschool age, middle childhood, adolescence and adolescence. Adulthood, development in middle age. Gerontogenesis. Determination of mental development. Biogenetic and sociogenetic directions in foreign psychology. Activity, cultural-historical, system-evolutionary approaches to the problem of mental development.

Concepts of periodization of age development.

Review of the main theories of development. Social and biological determinants - historical alternatives. Scientific Foundations of Developmental Psychology (Ch. Darwin, W. Pryer, A. Binet, J. Baldwin, S. Hall). Formation of the main schools of developmental psychology. Theories of mental development. biogenetic approach. Theories of recapitulation. Psychoanalytic approach to child development. sociogenetic approach.

Psychology of development of the XX century. The concept of E. Erickson. cognitive theories. Genetic psychology J. Piaget. Personogenetic approach. Ecological model of development. J. Bowlby, The Theory of Attachment (Etechment) and Emotional Development. The works of Ch. Harlow and their influence on J. Bolby's theory of attachment. Basic principles of developmental psychology. Continuum nature of development. anticipatory nature of development. Level organization of developing processes. The theory of stages and transitions in development. The epigenetic landscape of Waddington as a metaphor for the developmental process. Sensitive period as a mechanism of genetic-environmental interaction. The concept of critical and sensitive period. The sensitive period model. Genetic-environmental determination of the development of mental processes. maturation and development. Evolutionary-system approach in developmental psychology. Subject-activity approach. Methods of developmental psychology. Cultural-historical theory of mental development L.S. Vygotsky. The mechanism of mental development of the child. The social situation of the child's development. Leading activity. Crisis of development. Psychological change. The concept of the child's mental development by D. B. Elkonin.

Mental development as maturation (A. Gesell). Psychodynamic concepts of periodization of mental development (Z. Freud, A. Adler, E Erikson, S. Grof). Stages of mental development in the cultural-historical concept of L.S. Vygotsky. Periodization of mental development D.B. Elkonin. Principles ontogenetic development B.G. Ananiev.

Characteristics of the leading activities and their role in the development of the psyche.

Leading activity as a criterion for the periodization of mental development, as an indicator of the psychological age of the child. Research by A.V. Zaporozhets, A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin to determine the dependence of mental processes on the nature and structure of external, objective activity. Studies devoted to the analysis of the main types of leading activity in ontogeny (especially the books of V.V. Davydov, D.B. Elkonin),

Criteria for the allocation of psychological age according to D.B. Elkonin: social situation of development; the main or leading type of human activity during this period; major neoplasms of development; crises as turning points on the curve of age development, separating one age from another.

Signs of leading activity (according to A.N. Leontiev): the emergence and differentiation in the form of leading activity of new types of activity; formation and restructuring in this activity mental functions; dependence on the leading activity of personality changes observed in this activity.

Two groups of leading activities (according to D.B. Elkonin). A group of leading activities that orient the child to the norms of relations between people: the direct-emotional communication of the infant, the role-playing game of the preschooler and the intimate-personal communication of the adolescent. Leading activities, thanks to which socially developed methods of actions with objects and various standards are assimilated: object-manipulative activity of a young child, educational activity elementary school student and educational and professional activities of high school students.

Leading forms of communication. Situational-personal communication. Situational business communication. Extra-situational-cognitive communication. Extra-situational-personal communication.

The problem of crises of age development in psychology.

Age development of a person. The concept of the crisis of age development in psychology. Age-related changes and the problem of development crisis. L.S. Vygotsky on crises of age development. E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development. Crisis of confidence - distrust (during the first year of life). The crisis of autonomy - doubt and shame (2-3 years). Crisis of initiative - feelings of guilt (from 3 to 6 years). The crisis of industriousness - an inferiority complex (from 7 to 12 years). Crisis - personal self-determination as opposed to individual dullness and conformism (from 12 to 18 years). Crisis - intimacy and sociability as opposed to personal psychological isolation (about 20 years). Crisis - concern for the education of a new generation as opposed to "immersion in oneself" (between 30 and 60 years). Crisis - satisfaction with life lived as opposed to despair (over 60).

Crises of age development from infancy to adolescence.

Newborn as a critical stage in a child's life. Childbirth and neonatal crisis. Childbirth process. Newborn. The period of adaptation to new living conditions. Apgar score. Opportunities for the newborn. Reflexes of the newborn. Childbearing experience. Bonding. Revitalization complex as the main neoplasm critical period. auditory concentration.

Crisis 1 year. Features of the mental development of a child of 12 months. Affective reactions of the child. Peculiar autonomous speech- the main acquisition of the transitional period between infancy and early childhood.

Crisis 3 years. Symptoms E. Köhler crisis 3 years. Negativism. Stubbornness. Obstinacy. Willfulness. Adult devaluation. Protest is a riot. The trend towards independence. Phenomenon I am myself. The essence of the restructuring of relationships with adults.

Crisis 6-7 years; its phenomenology and causes. L.I. Bozovic about the crisis of 7 years. The collapse of the former and the formation of new forms of eventfulness. The origin of personality. The birth of the social "I of the child." L.S. Vygotsky about the crisis of 7 years. Summarizing the experiences of the child. Options for the development of 6-7-year-old children according to A.L. Wenger. Verbalism. Anxiety. Demonstrativeness.

Pubertal crisis (crisis of adolescence) (12-14 years). Causes of the emergence, the nature of the teenage crisis. The main phases of the course of the crisis of adolescence. The need for self-assertion. Ways to overcome the crisis of adolescence. Crisis of independence. Crisis of addiction. The concept of identification in adolescence. Identification and egoidentity in the views of E. Erickson. Four main types of development of inadequate identification: withdrawal from close relationships; blurring of time; erosion of the ability to work productively; negative identity. Pathological variants of development in the crisis of adolescence. Violation of the assessment of one's physical appearance. Violation of self-esteem. narcissistic crisis. Egocentrism.

Crisis of early youth (crisis of 17-18 years). The problem of self-determination in early youth. Feeling of individuality, differentness. Feelings of alienation. The effect of inadequacy. Characteristics at emotional, cognitive and psychosocial levels. Internal psychological and external alienation in adolescence. Anomic depression. Anomie and factors that determine it. E. Durkheim on the conditions for the development of anomie.

Crises adulthood and old age.

Classification of crises of adulthood: normative, social, non-normative.

Crisis of intimacy - isolation. The problem of achieving identity and intimacy in early adulthood. Identity is isolation. Closeness is loneliness. Love is a fundamental human emotion.

The crisis of the "sense of reality". The problem of matching the level of professional education and personal maturity young man level of technology and social life of society. Heterochronism of mental and social maturation. Active formation of a system of values. Acceptance of yourself and responsibility for your choice. Finding your own lifestyle. Psychological protection of young people. Sex and age differences in the first phase of adulthood. Assistance in implementation personal growth and self-realization.

Mid-life crisis. Mid-life self-actualization is a dilemma of "free" and "necessary". Generativity as central problem mid life. The concept of S.L. Rubinstein about two modes of existence. Individuality as the main achievement of maturity, consciousness of responsibility and striving for it. Physical maturity, psychological and personal maturity. The nature of the mutual influence of properties and qualities, physical and spiritual in a person. personal meanings. Features of psychological protection in adulthood.

Middle age crisis. Between two generations. The family is like an empty nest. The role of human cognitive development in avoiding a midlife crisis. Wisdom. Acme.

Identity crisis in late adulthood. Retirement and features of his experience as a person. Physical decline.

Death as a Crisis human life. The theory of "desocialization". Consciousness of the finiteness of one's own existence. Fear of death.

This article is intended for a wide range of readers. It will be useful both for people who are fond of psychology and for students of the Faculty of Psychology. Perhaps experienced psychologists will also be able to refresh the memory of long-traveled material and apply it in their practice. And if your dominant psychotype is “Analyst”, then you can enjoy the manner of presenting information.

Throughout life, a person is constantly changing. When a child is small, he is ready to radiate a continuous positive. It is surrounded by a lot of new, unknown, magnificent! Young people are very romantic. Moments of first falling in love, dreams, experiences make them tremble and rejoice. In interaction with the world, young people are radical. With age, a person begins to look at life differently. Reaching old age, many people see the world around them through their own prism. Often, most older people already have a stereotype that the world is hostile. Some begin to feel fear outside world. Elderly people are skeptical and conservative about everything. At each age, psychologists distinguish their own characteristics. There is also an understanding of crises of different ages.

Here I consider it appropriate to recall that there are different definitions of age. Each person has a calendar age, more often it is called a passport. It displays how many years this or that person lives from the moment of birth to the present day. The second is biological age. It gives an understanding of how young or old our body is. The biological age can be very different from the passport. If a person lives all his life in an ecologically favorable area, leads a healthy lifestyle, eats right, he has no burdened heredity, no bad habits, then his body can be young. Accordingly and biological age will be less than the passport. The third is usually called psychological age. Two indicators are used to determine this age. The first indicator is how a person feels himself (young, adult, old). The second indicator is external. This is an objective indicator of the degree of human development.

In psychology, a whole direction has long been singled out, which studies the features of mental development throughout a person's life.

Let's structure and generalize the sea of ​​information about developmental psychology together with you.

So, age-related psychology like science:

I plan to present:

1. Age-related psychology as a concept
2. signs Age psychology like science

Age psychology as a concept

Psychology is the science of the characteristics of the human psyche.

signs Age psychology like science

1. Object - subject
2. Goals - tasks
3. Methodology - methods
4. History - scientific problems

An object Age psychology - mental development in relationship with age.

The psyche is a property of highly organized matter associated with reflection and regulation.

The psyche reflects the world around and regulates its behavior.

Structural components of the psyche:

1) Cognitive mental processes (PPP) Boris Mikhailovich Kedrov proposed to represent all SPPs in the form of a genetic ladder from the most primitive to the most complex. There are seven of them: 1. Feeling 7. B 2. Perception of neither 3.Ma memory 4. No imagination 5-6. Thinking + speech e

3) Mental properties: 1. Temperament choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic (vindictive phlegmatic - slow speed nervous processes, can quickly forgive a choleric - fast speed nervous processes) 2. Character 3. Personality orientation: extrovert, introvert, ambivert 4. Laterality: right (left-handed) - and left hemispheric (right-handed), ambidexterity (both hands are equally developed) 5. Modality: visuals (art therapy, projective drawing), auditory (fairy tale therapy, music therapy), kinesthetics (finger art therapy, dance therapy) 6. Ability

2) Mental states (PST) 1. Emotional 2. Strong-willed 3. Intelligent

4) Mental formations: 1. Knowledge 2. Skills 3. Skills 4. Habits

Here I want to focus a little more on mental states. If in the teacher's lesson the children sit on their own, then the involvement in the learning process will be minimal. And if this is a lecturer who is invited to speak? Will he be invited again? Unlikely.

In a child of preschool age, early school age, emotional states are always triggered initially. If the educator, the teacher frightened the child, the emotional states are turned off, the strong-willed and intellectual ones are turned off.

You can remember your school days. Many had a teacher who, entering the classroom, led her finger in a magazine, depending on who she asks now. If the emotional states were turned off, then the intellectual ones immediately stopped working. When we got up, we were horrified and did not remember what to say (Pedagogical substress).

It has been proved by our Russian psychologists that if during a month a teacher allows himself to discredit a child, humiliating him, calling him names (degenerate, idiot, ... you will never be able to learn mathematics even for a C), after a month give the child an elementary math task, the child will normally solve it, until this teacher enters the class where he decides, and just passes by him. The child really stops thinking. His intellectual states are turned off.

Object - Mental development

Thing developmental psychology is the study of conditions, driving forces and patterns mental development in relationship with age.

KITRVPF is a cultural-historical theory of the development of higher mental functions (L.S. Vygotsky)

Conditions mental development- this is a combination of external and internal factors that are not driving forces, but determine the dynamics of mental development and the final result.

Driving forces are a set of causes that are sources of mental development and always direct development in the right direction.

The patterns of mental development are a set of general and particular laws that allow describing and managing mental development.

Target developmental psychology– creation of a unified pan-European concept, interpretation of age-related development, taking into account mental neoplasms within the boundaries of age.

Tasks of developmental psychology:

Theoretical

1. To study the patterns of mental development and their relationship with age dynamics.
2. Substantiate the driving forces of mental development, which determine the most effective process of mental formation.
3. Describe the conditions for a complete mental development.
4. Highlight the facts of mental development that best illustrate the psychological picture of age.

Practical

1. Development of a methodological base for monitoring the course of mental development.
2. Implementation of psychological assistance during age-related crises.
3. Defining build guidelines effective interaction taking into account age characteristics.
4. To develop a model for the continuity of the work of specialists in optimizing mental development, taking into account age.

Such a structured presentation of the material helped a huge number of students of psychological faculties to deal with developmental psychology and pass exams this subject. In the next article I plan to highlight the methodology developmental psychology and the laws of mental development. I will be glad to continue our communication ...

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AGE-RELATED PSYCHOLOGY

1. Developmental psychology asthe science:object, subject, methods

Successful professional activity social workers depends on many factors, and one of them, of course, is the mastery of knowledge in the field of developmental psychology. Knowledge of the conditions and mechanisms of human development on different stages ontogenesis makes it possible to ensure the effectiveness of the organization of social work with various categories citizens on the basis of taking into account their age characteristics and the impact on them of the socio-political situation of development, build individual trajectory their livelihoods in conditions of limited opportunities for any reason.

As an independent field of knowledge, which has its own object, subject and methods of research, it stands out from psychology at the end of the 19th century. at first as child psychology, the object of study of which was the laws of the mental development of the child. However, it quickly became clear that such age limits limit the possibilities of a holistic analysis of the ontogenetic process.

At present, several sections are distinguished in the structure of developmental psychology: child psychology (includes the psychology of preschool age, the psychology of a younger student, and the psychology of a teenager); psychology of youth; psychology middle age; gerontopsychology (psychology of old age). This differentiation of developmental psychology into a number of specialized scientific disciplines is due to the complexity of the object of study, which gives reason to consider modern developmental psychology as a system of sciences.

The specificity of developmental psychology in relation to psychology is expressed in the fact that, using the knowledge accumulated by psychology about mental functions (perception, thinking, speech, memory, attention, imagination), personal formations(motivation, self-esteem and level of aspirations, value orientations, worldview, etc.), it reveals the process of their development in relation to a particular age group, focusing on finding answers to questions about when they appear, how they develop and what are their characteristics at a particular age.

Currently, developmental psychology is a branch of psychological science that studies the age dynamics of the human psyche.

It explores the age-specific features of mental processes, states and properties, the features of the assimilation of knowledge, age-related factors in the development of a person's personality throughout ontogenesis - from birth to old age, the establishment of age periods and causes that underlie the transition from one age period to another.

Consideration of the age dynamics of the psyche as an object of developmental psychology on present stage The development of science is realized through four main approaches: ontological, chronological, structural-dynamic and causal.

The ontological approach aims researchers to find an answer to the question of the combination of biological and social in the individual development of a person. AT domestic psychology ideas about this ratio are based mainly on the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, who noted that heredity, although present in the development of all mental functions of a child, has a different proportion. For example, sensations and perception (elementary functions) depend on heredity to a greater extent than arbitrary memory, logical thinking, speech (higher functions).

Using the chronological approach allows us to understand the age dynamics of the psyche as a process that proceeds throughout a person's life at different speeds, paces, durations, directions (the so-called metric criteria), that is, this process is uneven and heterochronous. To understand the essence of this approach, it is appropriate to cite L.S. Vygotsky Laws of mental development:

1. Child development has a complex organization in time: the rhythm of development does not coincide with the rhythm of time. The rhythm of development changes in different age periods;

2. Unevenness (in the development of the child stable periods are replaced by critical periods);

3. Sensitivity (in the development of a child there are the most sensitive periods when the psyche is able to perceive external influences; 1-3 g - speech, a preschooler - memory, 3-4 g - correction of speech defects);

4. Compensation (manifested in the ability of the psyche to compensate for the lack of some functions at the expense of the development of others; for example, other qualities are aggravated in blind people - hearing, tactile sensations, smell).

Consideration of the object of developmental psychology from the standpoint of the structural-dynamic approach is the disclosure of the process of structure formation at different levels of mental development, it is the search for an answer to the question of how continuity and qualitative transformations are carried out in it. Vygotsky L.S. considered age development as a dialectical process: evolutionary stages of gradual changes alternate in it with epochs of revolutionary development: age crises. Age crises are characterized by him as the central mechanisms of age dynamics, within which there is a change in the social situation of development and a change in the leading types of activity. Leading activity is not just an activity that is most often found on this stage development, the activity that the child prefers, and the one that meets the 3 main features:

1. Activity in the form of which new types of activity arise (for example, a child learns by playing).

2. Activity in which particular mental processes are formed or rebuilt (for example, in a game - the process of the activity of the imagination; in teaching - the process of abstract thinking).

3. Activities on which the main mental changes in the personality of the child depend (the preschooler masters social functions in the game).

The causal approach involves consideration of external and internal factors that determine the development of the driving forces and conditions of individual human evolution. Within the framework of this approach, the following is established: systematic differences in a person's explanation of his behavior and the behavior of other people; deviations of the process of causal attribution from logical norms under the influence of subjective (motivational and informational) factors; stimulating effect on motivation and human activity by explaining the unsuccessful results of this activity by external factors, and successful ones - by internal ones.

D.B. Elkonin, for example, noted that the well-known pattern, according to which the child, in the course of his development, separates himself, emancipates himself from adults, acquires greater independence, autonomy and freedom in actions and deeds for everyone, is violated in a number of traditional cultures: in them, the role-playing game in children either absent altogether or present only in a rudimentary form.

It should be noted that the question of the object and subject of developmental psychology is still debatable. This is due to the fact that the content of developmental psychology coincides with the content educational psychology, developmental psychology, differential psychology: common object study - a person developing and changing in ontogenesis. At the same time, there is a significant difference between them, which is visible when comparing the subject framework of these scientific disciplines.

Pedagogical psychology considers a person from the point of view of how he is trained and brought up in the process of purposeful activity of teachers.

Developmental psychology is a field of knowledge in which the laws of age-related transformations in human psychology are purposefully studied throughout ontogenesis.

Differential psychology investigates individual psychological differences both between individuals and between groups of people, the causes and consequences of these differences.

Developmental psychology is a specific branch of knowledge that organically includes all of the above, but its subject is undoubtedly wider: it includes all aspects of the dynamics and patterns of age development.

Important integral part The subject of developmental psychology is the study of the concept of "age", in which a specific combination of the characteristics of psychology and the behavior of an individual in a particular environment is manifested. Whatever age period we are talking about, all researchers identify unique, characteristic only for a given age, combinations of such psychological and behavioral features that do not persist beyond a given age.

Let us single out one more aspect of the subject of study - special attention to the analysis of the driving forces, conditions and laws of development of mental states, processes and properties of a person and his behavior.

In science, development is understood as an irreversible, directed, regular change in objects, a movement from lower to higher, from less to more perfect. Development always implies a new quality state object or structure. The restructuring of connections between the sides of the object is carried out in two main types: preformed (at the very beginning, the stages that the phenomenon will pass and the final result that the phenomenon will reach) and unpreformed (the path of development is not predetermined in advance) are set. In this regard, mental development should be considered as a natural change in mental processes over time, expressed in their quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations.

Driving forces are those factors of human development that act as the main incentive sources of its development. Russian psychologist Vygotsky L.S. proved the socio-historical conditionality of the human psyche. Another well-known Russian psychologist Leontiev A.N. considered the process of human development as a process of active appropriation of socio-historical experience. As conditions for human development, developmental psychology singles out those constantly operating internal and external factors that influence the dynamics and final results of this development. Laws are those patterns of development, based on which you can effectively manage the development process, correcting it at a particular age stage.

Studying the driving forces, conditions and laws of human development, psychologists in the field of developmental psychology pay attention to the study of the comparative impact on human development of evolutionary, revolutionary and situational changes in the psyche and behavior. Let us pay attention to the fact that, unlike evolutionary and revolutionary changes, which are inherently stable and irreversible, transform the psychology of a person as a person, situational changes that arise as a result of organized or random training or education affect exclusively private forms of behavior, skills, human skills.

Undoubtedly, the study of the role of heredity (as biological factor) and environment (like social factor at micro and macro levels) in the formation of a person's individuality. AT recent times the question of what is the ratio of intellectual and personal changes in the general psychological development and whether it changes in the process of ontogenesis is actively raised.

Thus, the area of ​​tasks that developmental psychology solves traditionally includes:

Identification and justification age norms various psychophysiological and social functions;

Study of the age dynamics of mental processes and personal development and their dependence on the conditions for the development of the social environment;

Study of the process of growing up in all its variety of manifestations and taking into account the role of early (preceding) periods of life;

Predicting the content of mental development at different stages of ontogenesis and factors that can affect this development.

There are several functions that age psychology performs:

Descriptive function - representation of the process of mental processes, states and properties, especially the assimilation of knowledge, age-related factors in the development of a person's personality throughout ontogenesis as a phenomenological one;

The explanatory function is the interpretation of the causes and conditions for changing age-related factors in the development of a person's personality throughout ontogenesis, which is based on an analysis of the mechanism of cause-and-effect relationships;

Prognostic function - search for an answer to the question of what changes under the influence of cultural, historical, ethnic and socio-economic conditions, the process of education and training can occur and what are the possible consequences of these changes;

Traditionally, in developmental psychology, when describing the tools used to study the age-related dynamics of the human psyche, the use of psychological research strategies and the methods of developmental psychology are singled out.

To research strategies (most overall plan actions) include: the strategy of observation, the strategy of the natural-science ascertaining experiment and the strategy of the formative experiment.

The main task of the observation strategy is the accumulation of facts and their arrangement in time sequence. The main method is continuous or selective observation, which must have a clearly formulated goal, a detailed scheme, and meet the requirements of objectivity and non-intervention.

The use of the strategy of a natural science ascertaining experiment should lead to the establishment of the presence or absence of the studied phenomenon under certain controlled conditions and its expression in quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The method of cross section, longitudinal, conversation, questioning, testing are used.

The founder of the strategy of the formative experiment is L.S. Vygotsky. It is associated with active intervention in the construction of a process with desired properties and is presented in the form of a laboratory and natural experiment.

Developmental psychology, as noted above, in conducting research relies on a variety of methods that are complex. Depending on the goals of the study, specialists in the field of developmental psychology use methods from general psychology(when studying cognitive processes and personality development), differential psychology (when studying the hereditary and environmental conditioning of the formation of a person's individuality), social psychology (when studying interpersonal relationships and features of interaction at different stages of ontogenesis).

Usually, when classifying methods of developmental psychology, several groups of methods are distinguished. To organizational methods include: comparative, longitudinal (multiple examination of the same objects long time), complex (for example, a combination of methods of physiology and psychology).

Empirical methods are widely represented: all methods used in psychodiagnostics are taken, taking into account their possible effectiveness in different age groups (observation, questioning, testing, projective techniques etc.). In addition, experiments, analysis of processes and products of activity, analysis of documents, biographical method etc. In the process of interpreting the obtained material, genetic and structural methods are common.

In concluding the consideration of this issue, we present the most general history of the development of developmental psychology from the point of view of the evolution of views on the question of understanding the role of society in the development of the child. In this development, 3 main stages are distinguished: biogenetic, borderline and modern theories.

Biogenetic approaches considered child development in the system of relations "child - object". It was argued that the course of a child's mental development is determined by heredity, and the environment in which he grows and is brought up is only a condition for an initially predetermined development. The most famous theories of this stage are Haeckel and Hall's theory of recapitulation, Gesell and Theremin's "normal approach to the study of child development", Buller's theory of 3 stages of child development, and Stern's convergence of 2 factors of child development.

Karl Buhler, using the concept of the 3rd stage (instinct, training, intellect), concluded, for example, that the main driving force behind development is the movement of "pleasure from the end to the beginning." William Stern argued that mental development is not just a manifestation of innate properties and not a simple perception of external influences, but the convergence of internal inclinations with external conditions (although heredity is more influential).

The borderline (as the first attempt to overcome the biogenetic approach) period is represented mainly by the work of Z. Freud and his daughter A. Freud. For the first time, the mental development of a child began to be considered in the system of relations "child - adult": it is determined by the contradiction between the child's innate needs and the restrictions that the adult world imposes on him.

The vast majority of modern theories of mental development consider it in the system of relations "child - society". We single out in this group the epigenetic theory of personality development (E. Erickson), the theory of social learning (R. Sears, J. Dollard, J. Rogger, A. Bandura, J. Bronfenbrenner and others), the Geneva school of genetic psychology (J. Piaget) , humanistic psychology.

Without dwelling on periodization in the development of domestic developmental psychology, we will name only some names with which fundamental discoveries are associated. First of all, this is L.S. Vygotsky. Some elements of his teaching have already been mentioned above. In addition to them, we note his work in the field of the concept of cultural and historical development of the psyche; substantiation of the "zone of proximal development". "Zone of proximal development" is the distance between the level actual development child and level possible development, determined with the help of tasks solved under the guidance of adults. That is, these are: functions that have not yet matured, but are in the process of maturation; functions that can be called "not the fruit of development, but the buds of development, the flowers of development." He believed that the level of actual development characterizes the success of development (the results of development for yesterday), and the zone of proximal development characterizes mental development for tomorrow. The phenomenon of the "zone of proximal development" he singled out testifies to the leading role of education in the mental development of the child ("Education, he wrote, is only good when it goes ahead of development"). age psychology periodization crisis

The characteristics of the main types of leading activities and the patterns of their change were determined by D.I. Feldstein:

1. Baby - emotional communication;

2. Early childhood - subject-manipulative activity;

3. Preschooler - game activity;

4. Junior student - educational activity;

5. Teenager - an activity that is socially acceptable ("I" in society through communication);

6. Senior student - educational activity.

Research conducted by A.N. Leontiev, as part of the development of the issue of activity and its content, led him to the conclusion that any activity acts first as a conscious action, and then as an operation, and as it forms, it becomes a function.

P.Ya. Galperin developed a theory of the formation of mental actions. He revealed that the formation of mental functions occurs on the basis of an objective action and comes from the material performance of the action, and then through it. speech form goes into the mental plane.

Elkonin D.B. is the author of the concept of educational activity. He also explored questions about the allocation of age periods. He formulated the conclusion that when alternating various types activities between them there are contradictions that lead to age-related crises.

2. Concept" age" and osnew directions of its study

The central concept of developmental psychology is the concept of "age". Age is a specific, relatively time-limited stage in the psychological development of an individual and his development as a person, characterized by a set of regular physiological and psychological changes that are not related to the difference in individual characteristics.

In the age structure, there are:

Chronological age - determined by the duration of a person's life;

Biological age - characterized by a combination of biological indicators and the functioning of the body as a whole (may not coincide with chronological);

Psychological age is a characteristic of a certain level of development of the psyche as a combination of mental age, social maturity (adaptation to the environment) and emotional maturity.

Famous Russian psychologist Vygotsky L.S. believed that each age is characterized by its own specific "social situation of development", which reflects a well-defined correlation of the conditions of the social environment and internal conditions formation of the individual as a person. It can be said that the content of any age characteristic organically includes biological and social variables. Biological ones reflect the process of human evolution as a biological being, whose body resources are limited. chronological time and the conditions of life of the person himself and his environment. Social reflect the system of requirements that society imposes on a person on various stages its development (it makes sense to talk about the concrete historical nature of the requirements), its immediate social environment, its social position, determined by the system social statuses and roles.

It should be noted that researchers note one important feature in the development of a person of any age group: objectively the same elements of the social environment in a particular place and in exact time have different effects on people. This influence is determined by the way through which previously developed individual and personal mental properties they break.

At the same time, similar external and internal factors of different levels give rise to typical psychological characteristics that are common to people of the same age. This feature, on the one hand, determines the general identity of the basic age characteristics, and, on the other hand, their natural transition to the next age stage when there is a change in the content of these factors or the relationships that exist between them. Psychologists such as Erickson and Elkonin proved that any transition from one age stage to another is accompanied by a crisis, which is nothing but a turning point in the development of the individual, it reflects the specifics of the struggle between progress and regression, integration and developmental delay. This is not a disease, but a transition to solving a qualitatively different task, the meaning of which is associated with a certain age.

Age crises, therefore, are special, relatively short periods of ontogeny, characterized by sharp psychological changes. L.S. Vygotsky, for example, noted that if critical ages had not been discovered in a purely empirical way, the concept of them should have been introduced into the developmental scheme on the basis of theoretical analysis. In his opinion, at the basis of each age crisis lies the destruction of the usual social situation of development and the emergence of another, which is more consistent with the new level of psychological development of the child, which is purely outward behavior manifests itself in the form of disobedience, stubbornness, negativism. The form, duration and severity of the course of crises can vary markedly depending on the individual typological characteristics of the child, social and microsocial conditions, the characteristics of upbringing and the situation in the family, the pedagogical system of society and the type of culture as a whole. In domestic developmental psychology, a neonatal crisis (up to 1 month), a crisis of one year, a crisis of 3 years, a crisis of 7 years, and an adolescent crisis (11-12 years) are distinguished.

To a lesser extent, both theoretically and empirically, the content of maturity crises has been developed, which is determined by the general low level development of problems of ontogenesis beyond childhood and adolescence. Perhaps nai more attention researchers are attracted by the so-called "mid-life crisis" (35-40 years), which is associated with a critical rethinking of a person's life goals and getting rid of the illusions and unjustified hopes of youth. The crisis is accompanied emotional experiences and should culminate in the formation of a stable form of relationships with the outside world based on the development of a realistic life position. The most famous in this regard was the concept of crises in human development from birth to old age, proposed by E. Erickson, who believed that in the period of maturity there is a fight between creative forces, on the one hand, and inertia and stagnation, on the other. If the task of this period is not solved, then possible scenario old age, in his opinion, will not be the formation of a holistic, wise in its basis, self-image, but disappointment and, as a result, despair.

Age limits are variable, they depend on specific historical conditions and stages of development and do not coincide in different countries. There are many periods of age. L.S. Vygotsky once identified three groups of age periodization. The first group included periodizations classified on the basis of an external but related to the process of mental development criterion. These are periodizations created within the framework of biogenetic concepts: Rene Zazzo (the stages of childhood are expressed through the systems of education and training), P.P. Blonsky (on the basis of an essential feature of the constitution of a growing organism - the appearance and change of teeth), etc.

The unifying criterion for the second group was the choice of one internal feature, which is chosen by the author in accordance with his scientific concept. For example, the founder psychoanalytic theory Z. Freud used the unconscious as a starting point as main source human behavior. He identified the stages of psychosexual development, which include 4 consecutive and overlapping stages of the pregenital development of the libido: oral (up to 12 months) - in addition to the unconscious "It", the "I" begins to form, anal (from 9 months to 3 years) - "Super-I" begins to form, phallic (from 2.5 to 6 years) - the process of formation of "It", "I" and "Super-I" is completed, latent (6-13) - development of universal human experience, "I learns to control it. Psychosexual development personality ends with the stage of genital organization of the libido. In the normal development of the personality, sexual representations characteristic of the pregenital period are completely repressed into the unconscious, and the representations corresponding to them are sublimated. If the process is not fully completed, various neurotic disorders occur.

Jean Piaget took the formation of the main intellectual structures as such a starting point, on the basis of which he singled out the sensorimotor stage (0-1.5/2 years) - a system of reversible, sequentially performed material actions; receptive intelligence and structures of specific operations (2-8 and 8-12) - systems of actions performed in the mind, but based on external, visual data; representative intelligence and formal operations (12-14) - the formation of formal operations, the formation of formal logic and hypothetical-deductive reasoning.

The third group consists of those variants of age periodization, which are based on essential criteria. This group includes the periodization of V.I. Slobodchikov - revival (0-12 months), animation (11-12 months - 5-6 years), personalization (5.5-18 years), individualization (17-42 years), - and periodization L.S. Vygotsky and D.B. Elkonin. Based on their periodization, 3 interrelated criteria are used (social situation of development, leading activity and central age-related neoplasm), on the basis of which the following age periods are distinguished (below is a breakdown in the sequence: leading activity - neoplasm - social situation of development):

Infancy (0-1): emotional communication of a child with an adult - walking, the first word - mastering the norms of relations between people;

Early age (1-3): subject activity- "external I myself" - the assimilation of methods of activity with objects;

Preschool age (3-6/7): role-playing game - arbitrariness of behavior - mastering social norms, relationships between people;

Primary school age (6/7-10/11): educational activity - the arbitrariness of all mental processes, except for the intellect - the development of knowledge, the development of intellectual and cognitive activity;

Middle school age, adolescent (10/11-14/15): intimate-personal communication in educational and other activities - a sense of "adulthood", the emergence of an idea of ​​​​oneself "not like a child" - mastering the norms and relationships between people;

Senior schoolchild or early youth (14/15-16/17): educational and professional activities - professional and personal self-determination - mastering professional knowledge and skills;

Late youth or early maturity (18-25);

Maturity: 20/25-50 years - maturity, 50-75 - late maturity, 75-.. - old age.

In modern developmental psychology, there is no single point of view on age periodization. So, the modern Russian psychologist Abramova G.S. identifies 11 age periods: infancy (0-2), early childhood (2-4), middle childhood (5-7), end of childhood (8-12), teenager (13-17), adolescence (18-22), adulthood (23-30), transitional age(30-35), maturity (36-50), old age (51-65), old age (over 65).

AT psychological dictionary a slightly different periodization is given. In it, in particular, after determining the mature age (21-60), old age (60-75), senile age (75-90), centenarians (90 years and more) are distinguished, which reflects the trend of the general "growing up" of the planet's population and the need for more targeted assistance to these age groups in terms of social and medical adaptation to life. No less common is age periodization, proposed, for example, by E. Erickson. He distinguishes 8 stages of age development: infancy, early age, game age, school age, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age.

In conclusion, let us outline the main directions in the study of psychological characteristics characteristic of various periods of ontogenetic development.

Infant age. Innate forms of the psyche and behavior are studied, physical activity, perception and memory, speech and thinking, a complex of revival. Much attention is paid to the social situation of development, the emergence of mediated forms of communication, as well as the crisis of the newborn and the crisis of one year.

Early childhood. Based on the study of the general characteristics of the development of a child from one to three years old, special attention is paid to the processes of speech development, the emergence of subject and gaming activity. The object of attention is still the development of perception, attention and thinking, the social situation, and the allocation of the leading type of activity. The main neoplasms of age and the initial stage of the formation of the child's personality are singled out.

preschool age. Based on the analysis of the development of the child's psyche in preschool age and the social situation of development, attention is drawn to the emergence of the game as a leading activity (the origin of the game, the structure of game activity, the significance for mental development, the development of the sphere of motives, needs, cognitive processes, moral qualities of a preschooler). The question is raised about the formation of the psychological readiness of the child for schooling.

Junior school age. Importance, in addition to the directions already listed in the above ages, acquires analysis psychological features the initial stage of education, including in terms of cognitive and mental development children, their labor and educational activities. Of particular relevance is the attention to the development of the personality of a younger student, the peculiarities of his communication and the formation of moral qualities.

Teenage years. Special attention one should pay attention to the improvement of mental processes and the general characteristics of the situation of cognitive development, the formation of the personality of a teenager, the features of his communication with peers and adults.

adolescence. Along with the analysis of the sources, driving forces and specifics of mental development, attention is focused on the features of the development of self-awareness and the formation of the image of "I", the specifics of communication with peers, adults, in organized groups, in spontaneous groups, as well as on the formation of life plans and the problem of professional self-determination .

Mature age. Of particular importance is the consideration of the unevenness and heterochrony of the nature of the development of the mental functions of an adult, as well as the features dynamic functions during early and middle adulthood. It is important to consider adulthood as the most productive, creative, socially active period of a person's life path.

The period of aging and old age. The characterization of changes in the mental development of a person should be accompanied by the disclosure of the role of the psychological factor in the period of aging, and changes in the field of sensory, memory, and intelligence should be accompanied by data on the age-related dynamics of creative productivity. Fundamentally important role plays an analysis of personality traits in the period of aging and old age, compensatory mechanisms of this period.

Modern developmental psychology, as a relatively young and developing science, faces many tasks that need to be solved both from a theoretical and empirical point of view. Among the most important of them are: the problem of organic and environmental conditioning of the psyche and human behavior; the problem of ontogeny beyond childhood and adolescence; the problem of the influence of spontaneous and organized education and upbringing on the development of children (which influences more: family, street, school?); the problem of correlation and identification of inclinations and abilities, etc.

Literature

1. Abramova G.S. Age-related psychology. - Ecat., 1999.

2. Nemov R.S. Psychology: in 3 books. Book. 2. Psychology of education. - M., 2000.

3. Obukhova L.F. Age-related psychology. - M., 2000.

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The concept and components of age. The main problems of developmental psychology. Patterns of mental development. The interconnection of the processes of training, development and education. Crisis as a pattern of age development, its signs and main types.

Age-related psychology is a branch of psychological science that studies the regularities of the stages of mental development and personality formation throughout human ontogenesis from birth to old age.

Subject age psychology are the age dynamics of the human psyche, the ontogeny of mental processes and personality traits developing person, patterns of development of mental processes.

Developmental psychology studies age-related features of mental processes, age-related opportunities for acquiring knowledge, leading factors in personality development, age-related changes etc.

Age-related changes are divided into evolutionary, revolutionary and situational. To evolutionary Changes include quantitative and qualitative transformations that occur in the human psyche during the transition from one age group to another. Such changes occur slowly but profoundly, and cover significant periods of life, from several months (for infants) to several years (for older children). They are caused by the following factors: a) biological maturation and psychophysiological state of the child's body; b) its place in the system social relations; c) the level of intellectual and personal development.

revolutionary changes are carried out quickly, in a short time, they are deeper than evolutionary ones. These changes occur at the moment of the crisis of age development, which occurs at the turn of the ages between relatively calm periods of evolutionary changes in the psyche and behavior.

situational changes are associated with the impact on the child's psyche of a particular social situation. These changes reflect the processes taking place in the psyche and behavior of the child under the influence of education and upbringing.

Age-related evolutionary and revolutionary changes in the psyche and behavior are stable, irreversible, and do not require systematic reinforcement. They transform the psychology of a person as a person. Situational changes are unstable, reversible and require consolidation in subsequent exercises. Such changes are aimed at transforming private forms of behavior, knowledge, skills and abilities.

theoretical task developmental psychology is the study of the laws of mental development in ontogenesis, the establishment of periods of development and the reasons for the transition from one period to another, the determination of development opportunities, as well as age-related features of mental processes, age-related opportunities for acquiring knowledge, leading factors in personality development, etc.

object studies are performed by a child, a teenager, a young man, an adult, an elderly person.

1.2. Factors that determine the development of developmental psychology

Child psychology as a science of the mental development of a child originated at the end of the 19th century. The beginning of this was the book of the German Darwinist W. Preyer "The Soul of a Child" (St. Petersburg, 1891). In it, Preyer described the results of daily observations of the development of his daughter, paying attention to the development of the senses, motor skills, will, reason and language. Preyer's merit lies in the fact that he studied how the child develops in the most early years life, and introduced into child psychology method of objective observation, developed by analogy with the methods natural sciences. He was the first to make the transition from an introspective study of the child's psyche to an objective one.

To objective conditions the formation of child psychology, which has developed on late XIX century, first of all, the rapid development of industry and, accordingly, a qualitatively new level of public life. This entailed the need to reconsider approaches to the upbringing and education of children. Parents and teachers stopped counting physical punishments effective method upbringing - more democratic families and teachers appeared. The task of understanding the child has become one of the priorities. In addition, scientists came to the conclusion that only through the study of the psychology of the child is the way to understand what the psychology of an adult is.

Like any field of knowledge, child psychology began with the collection and accumulation of information. Scientists simply described the manifestations and further development of mental processes. The accumulated knowledge required systematization and analysis, namely:

Search for relationships between individual mental processes;

Understanding the internal logic of integral mental development;

Determining the sequence of stages of development;

Investigation of the causes and ways of transition from one stage to another.

Child psychology began to use knowledge related sciences: genetic psychology, studying the emergence of individual mental functions in an adult and a child in history and ontogenesis, and educational psychology. Increasing attention has been paid to the psychology of learning. An outstanding Russian teacher, the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia, K.D. Ushinsky (1824–1870). In his work “Man as an Object of Education,” he wrote, addressing teachers: “Study the laws of those mental phenomena that you want to control, and act in accordance with these laws and the circumstances to which you want to apply them.”

The evolutionary ideas of the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882), which served as the basis for understanding the reflex essence of mental factors, contributed to the development of developmental psychology. The Russian physiologist I.M. Sechenov (1829–1905). In the classic Reflexes of the Brain (1866), he gave a complete scientific rationale reflex theory.

At the beginning of the 20th century, methods of experimental research into the mental development of children began to be introduced into practice: testing, the use of measuring scales, etc. Child psychology becomes a normative discipline that describes the achievements of the child in the process of development.

Over time, scientists came to the conclusion that it is necessary to distinguish the stages of personality development in ontogeny. This problem was dealt with by K. Buhler, Z. Freud, J. Piaget, E. Erickson, P.P. Blonsky, L.S. Vygotsky and others. They tried to comprehend the patterns of changing periods of development and analyze the cause-and-effect relationships in the mental development of children. All these studies gave rise to many theories of personality development, among which are, for example, the theory of three stages of child development (K. Buhler), the psychoanalytic concept (S. Freud), and the cognitive theory (J. Piaget).

Developmental psychology has risen to a new level with the introduction formative experiment method, developed by the domestic psychologist L.S. Vygotsky (1896–1934). This method made it possible to determine the patterns of development of mental functions. Its use has also given rise to a number of theories of personality development. Let's consider some of them.

Cultural and historical concept of L.S. Vygotsky. The scientist argued that the interpsychic becomes intrapsychic. The emergence and development of higher mental functions is associated with the use of signs by two people in the process of their communication. Otherwise, the sign cannot become a means of individual mental activity.

Theory of activity A.N. Leontiev. He believed that activity first acts as a conscious action, then as an operation, and only then, as it forms, does it become a function.

The theory of the formation of mental actions P.Ya. Galperin. In his opinion, the formation of mental functions occurs on the basis of an objective action: it begins with the material performance of the action, and ends with mental activity affecting speech function.

The concept of educational activity - research by D.B. Elkonin and V.V. Davydov, in which a strategy for the formation of personality was developed not in laboratory conditions, but in real life - by creating experimental schools.

The theory of "initial humanization" by I.A. Sokolyansky and A.I. Meshcheryakova, in which the initial stages of the formation of the psyche in deaf-blind-mute children are noted.

1.3. Research methods in developmental psychology

The complex of research methods used in developmental psychology consists of several blocks of techniques borrowed from general, differential and social psychology.

From general psychology methods for studying the cognitive processes and personality of the child are taken. They are adapted to the age of the child and explore perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking and speech. Using these methods, one can obtain information about the age-related characteristics of the cognitive processes of children and the transformations of these processes as the child grows up, that is, about the specifics of the transition from one age group to another.

Methods for studying individual and age differences in children are borrowed from differential psychology. The so-called “twin method”, which studies the similarities and differences between homozygous and heterozygous twins, is very popular. Based on the data obtained, conclusions are drawn about the organic (genotypic) and environmental conditioning of the child's psyche and behavior.

Social Psychology provided developmental psychology with methods to study interpersonal relationships in various children's groups, as well as the relationship between children and adults. These methods include: observation, survey, conversation, experiment, sectioning method, testing, questioning, analysis of activity products. All these methods are also adapted to the age of the child. Let's consider them in more detail.

Observation- the main method when working with children (especially preschool children), since tests, experiments, and surveys are difficult to study child behavior. It is necessary to start observation with setting a goal, drawing up an observation program, developing an action plan. 10 stviya. The purpose of observation is to determine why it is carried out and what results can be expected from the output.

In order to obtain reliable results, monitoring must be carried out regularly. This is due to the fact that children grow up very quickly and the changes that occur in the behavior and psyche of the child are just as fleeting. For example, the behavior of an infant changes before our eyes, therefore, missing one month, the researcher is deprived of the opportunity to obtain valuable data on his development during this period.

How younger child, the shorter the interval between observations should be. In the period from birth to 2-3 months, the child should be monitored daily; at the age of 2-3 months to 1 year - weekly; from 1 to 3 years - monthly; from 3 to 6-7 years - once every six months; at primary school age - once a year, etc.

The method of observation when working with children is more effective than others, on the one hand, because they behave more directly and do not play. social roles characteristic of adults. On the other hand, children (especially preschoolers) have insufficiently stable attention and can often be distracted from their work. Therefore, whenever possible, covert surveillance should be carried out so that children do not see the observer.

Poll may be oral or written. When using this method, the following difficulties may arise. Children understand the question they are asked in their own way, that is, they put a different meaning into it than an adult. This is because the system of concepts in children differs significantly from that used by adults. This phenomenon is observed in adolescents. Therefore, before getting an answer to the question being asked, it is necessary to make sure that the child understands it correctly, explaining and discussing the inaccuracies, and only after that interpret the answers received.

Experiment is one of the most reliable methods of obtaining information about the behavior and psychology of the child. The essence of the experiment is that in the process of research the mental processes of interest to the researcher are evoked in the child and the conditions necessary and sufficient for the manifestation of these processes are created.

Child entering experimental game situation, behaves directly, emotionally responding to the proposed situations, does not play any social roles. This allows you to get his true reactions to the influencing stimuli. The results are most reliable if the experiment is carried out in the form of a game. At the same time, it is important that the direct interests and needs of the child are expressed in the game, otherwise he will not be able to fully demonstrate his intellectual abilities and the necessary psychological qualities. In addition, being included in the experiment, the child acts momentarily and spontaneously, so throughout the experiment it is necessary to maintain his interest in the event.

slices- Another method of research in developmental psychology. They are divided into transverse and longitudinal (longitudinal).

The essence of the method transverse sections consists in the fact that in a group of children (class, several classes, children different ages, but students in the same program) with the help of certain methods, some parameter is investigated (for example, the intellectual level). The advantage of this method lies in the fact that in a short time it is possible to obtain statistical data on age-related differences in mental processes, to establish how age, gender, or another factor affects the main trends in mental development. The disadvantage of the method is that when studying children of different ages it is impossible to obtain information about the process of development itself, its nature and driving forces.

When using the method longitudinal (longitudinal) sections the development of a group of the same children for a long time is traced. This method allows you to establish qualitative changes in the development of mental processes and personality of the child and identify the causes of these changes, as well as to study development trends, minor changes that cannot be covered by cross sections. The disadvantage of the method is that the results obtained are based on the study of the behavior of a small group of children, therefore, to disseminate such data to a large number of children seems to be incorrect.

Testing allows you to identify the level of intellectual abilities and personal qualities of the child. It is necessary to keep children interested in this method in ways that are attractive to them, such as encouragement or some kind of reward. When testing children, the same tests are used as for adults, but adapted for each age, for example, the children's version of the Cattell test, the Wechsler test, etc.

Conversation- this is obtaining information about the child through direct communication with him: the child is asked targeted questions and expect answers to them. This method is empirical. An important condition for the effectiveness of the conversation is a favorable atmosphere, goodwill, tact. Questions must be prepared in advance and the answers recorded, if possible without attracting the attention of the subject.

Questionnaire is a method of obtaining information about a person based on his answers to pre-prepared questions. Questioning can be oral, written, individual or group.

Product Analysis is a method of studying a person by analyzing the products of his activity: drawings, drawings, musical works, essays, study books, personal diaries, etc. Thanks to this method you can get information about the inner world of the child, his attitude to the surrounding reality and people, about the features of his perception and other aspects of the psyche. This method is based on the principle unity of consciousness and activity, according to which the child's psyche is not only formed, but also manifested in activity. Drawing or creating something, the child provides researchers with the opportunity to reveal aspects of his psyche that would be difficult to learn with the help of other methods. Based on the drawings, you can learn cognitive processes(sensation, imagination, perception, thinking), Creative skills, personal manifestations, the attitude of children to other people.

1.4. Historical analysis of the concept of "childhood"

Childhood is a term denoting the initial period of ontogeny, from birth to adolescence. Childhood covers infancy, early childhood, preschool age and primary school age, that is, it lasts from birth to 11 years.

Surely, for some, childhood is associated with carelessness, carelessness, games, pranks, study, while for others, childhood is a time of active development, change and learning. In fact, childhood is a period of paradoxes and contradictions, without which there can be no development. So, what is this period characterized by?

It has been observed that the higher a living being ranks among the animals, the longer his childhood lasts and the more helpless this being is at birth. Undoubtedly, man is the most perfect being in nature. This is confirmed by its physical structure, organization of the nervous system, types of activity and methods of its regulation. However, when born, a person is endowed with only the most elementary mechanisms for maintaining life. He is helpless and cannot stand up for himself, he needs care, which is carried out for a long time. This is one of the paradoxes of nature that predetermines the history of childhood.

Many scholars have paid attention to childhood stories. An outstanding specialist in the field of child and educational psychology D.B. Elkonin wrote: “Throughout human history, the starting point of child development has remained unchanged. The child enters into interaction with some ideal form, that is, with the level of development of the culture achieved by the society in which he was born. This perfect shape it develops all the time, and develops spasmodically, i.e. it changes qualitatively” (Elkonin D.B., 1995). His words are confirmed by the fact that people different eras are not similar to each other. Consequently, the development of the psyche in ontogenesis must also change radically.

Time does not stand still. With development scientific and technological progress the life of society becomes more complicated and, accordingly, the position of the child in it changes. Previously, children mastered primitive tools of labor, helping their parents to work the land; they learned this from adults, watching them and repeating their actions. With the development of scientific and technological progress and the emergence of new production relations, tools of labor became more complex, and observation of adults alone was not enough to master them. Therefore, it became necessary to first study the process of mastering these tools and only then proceed to their use. Consequently, a new stage of learning was due to the complexity of tools.

D.B. Elkonin connected the periods of child development with the periodization of the development of society (Table 1)

Table 1

Periods of child development according to D.B. Elkonin

The end of the table. one

Perhaps in the near future it will become mandatory for the development of society that everyone higher education. This is due primarily to the development of computer technology. But it is impossible to expand the age limits of childhood indefinitely, therefore, pedagogical and developmental psychology will most likely face the task of improving teaching methods in order to reduce the time for mastering the school curriculum.

It turns out that the duration of childhood is directly dependent on the level of material and spiritual development of society and even its individual strata. In many ways, the duration of childhood depends on material well-being families: the poorer the family, the earlier the children start working.