The field of psychology that studies the ways in which people develop physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially over the course of their lives.

Developmental psychologists are concerned primarily with how the human mind/personality changes over the course of a lifetime, from its conception and intrauterine development through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. The field envelops nearly all aspects of life and seeks to understand the factors that influence personality, intelligence, and behavior. Initially, developmental psychologists focused primarily on childhood development, believing that with adulthood came a kind of personality stasis. One of the first to question this notion was Erik Erikson (1902-1979) in his landmark 1950 book Eight Ages of Man, laying out a schema whereby human personality continues to change and evolve throughout the life-cycle. It was chiefly due to Erikson's work that developmental psychology expanded its view, taking on what is referred to...