ABSTRACT
Developmental psychology is concerned with the explanation and prediction of stability or change in behavior during the course of ontogenesis. Developmental psychology was at one time identified with child psychology. Child psychology is concerned with explaining a child's behavior at a given time, in current connotation with an emphasis on psychopathology and therapy, whereas developmental psychology is concerned with similarilties and differences in behavior over the life cycle. The major types of theories of development include: development as a maturational process, development as learning, development as an interaction of maturation and learning, and development as qualitative change in the individual in transaction with the environment. Growth of stature is predominantly a maturational phenomenon in that it depends on the time since conception and the cumulative effect of the growth hormone produced during that time. The history of developmental psychology shows that the maturational theme in fact presupposed collection of physical growth data.
