Health and Developmental Psychology examines how people grow, adapt, and maintain wellbeing across the lifespan, with special attention to the ways biology, cognition, emotion, family, culture, and social environment interact. For UKZN students, this subject is especially important because it connects psychological theory to lived realities in South Africa, including poverty, unequal access to healthcare, chronic illness, disability, gendered violence, HIV/AIDS, and culturally diverse patterns of development and care.
These notes provide a structured, exam-focused guide to the major concepts, theories, and applications most commonly assessed in PSYC307. The emphasis is on clear explanation, strong conceptual links, and examples that reflect South African and broader African contexts.
1. Foundations of Health and Developmental Psychology
Health and developmental psychology are often taught as distinct areas, but they intersect deeply. Developmental psychology asks how people change over time from infancy to old age, while health psychology examines how psychological, behavioural, and social factors influence physical health and illness. In practice, the two fields overlap because development shapes health, and health shapes development. A child’s early nutrition can affect cognitive growth; adolescent stress can influence risk behaviour; adult chronic illness can alter identity and family roles; and later-life disability can reshape autonomy and emotional wellbeing. In South Africa, where many people grow up under conditions of inequality and health risk, this interplay is not abstract. It is central to understanding real lives.
1.1 What health psychology studies
Health psychology focuses on the psychological processes involved in staying healthy, becoming ill, coping with illness, and interacting with healthcare systems. It is concerned with:
- Health behaviours such as eating, exercise, sleep, condom use, substance use, and treatment adherence.
- Stress and coping, including how people respond to trauma, life transitions, and chronic strain.
- Illness beliefs and how people interpret symptoms, diagnosis, and prognosis.
- Patient-provider communication and healthcare decision-making.
- Prevention and intervention, including campaigns, counselling, and behaviour change programmes.
A central insight is that health is not determined by biology alone. For example, two people may have the same genetic vulnerability to hypertension, but one may develop it earlier because of chronic stress, poor diet, unsafe living conditions, and limited access to clinics. Health psychology therefore uses a biopsychosocial perspective rather than a purely biomedical one.
1.2 What developmental psychology studies
Developmental psychology examines change across the lifespan in:
- Physical development: growth, motor skills, brain development, ageing.
- Cognitive development: attention, memory, language, reasoning, problem-solving.
- Socioemotional development: attachment, emotion regulation, identity, relationships, morality.
- Moral and cultural development: values, norms, and social expectations.
Development is not simply about getting older. It is about how capacities emerge, stabilise, or decline in interaction with the environment. A child raised in a language-rich home may develop vocabulary rapidly; another child with the same genetic potential but less stimulation may progress differently. A teenager in a supportive school environment may build stronger identity and self-regulation than a peer exposed to violence and instability.
1.3 The biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is one of the most important frameworks in PSYC307. It argues that health and development are shaped by the interaction of:
-
Biological factors
- Genes
- Brain development
- Hormones
- Immune functioning
- Physical maturation
- Disease processes
-
Psychological factors
- Cognitions and beliefs
- Emotions
- Personality
- Coping styles
- Motivation
- Self-efficacy
-
Social factors
- Family structure
- Peer influence
- Socioeconomic status
- Culture
- Schools
- Work conditions
- Health systems
This model matters because many exam questions test whether students can move beyond one-cause explanations. If a child is failing to thrive, the correct answer is usually not “bad parenting” or “poor genes” alone. The more sophisticated explanation considers malnutrition, caregiver stress, poverty, access to care, and developmental vulnerability together.
1.4 Lifespan development: continuity and change
Lifespan theory emphasises that development continues from conception to death. It rejects the idea that childhood is the only important period. Although early childhood is critical, adolescence, adulthood, and old age also involve major developmental tasks.
Two broad patterns are often discussed:
- Continuity: some characteristics remain relatively stable over time, such as temperament or habitual coping style.
- Discontinuity: major transitions can produce qualitative shifts, such as puberty, parenthood, retirement, or serious illness.
For example, a shy child may remain somewhat reserved into adolescence, showing continuity. But the same adolescent may become more socially assertive after joining a drama club, showing that context can modify development.
1.5 Key developmental principles
Several principles recur across developmental psychology:
- Development is multidirectional: some abilities improve while others decline.
- Development is plastic: people can change, especially with intervention or supportive environments.
- Development is contextual: family, culture, historical time, and socioeconomic conditions matter.
- Development is cumulative: early experiences can influence later outcomes.
- Development is not universal in form: cultural values affect what counts as healthy or mature behaviour.
This final point is especially important in African and cross-cultural psychology. Western assumptions about independence, early verbal expression, or individual achievement may not capture all culturally valued forms of development. In many South African communities, relational responsibility, respect, and interdependence are central developmental goals.
1.6 South African relevance
Health and developmental psychology in South Africa must be understood in context. Students should be ready to relate theory to:
- HIV and AIDS
- Tuberculosis
- Maternal and child health disparities
- Adolescent pregnancy
- Violence and trauma
- Malnutrition
- Disability and access barriers
- Stigma and discrimination
- Language diversity and educational inequality
For example, a developmental delay may be linked not only to intrinsic factors but to repeated infection, food insecurity, or limited early stimulation. Similarly, an adult’s poor adherence to chronic medication may be shaped by transport costs, clinic queues, fear of disclosure, or side effects. This contextual analysis is often what distinguishes a high-quality exam answer from a descriptive one.
2. Major Theories of Development Across the Lifespan
Theories provide the language through which developmental change is explained. In exams, it is not enough to name a theorist; you must show how the theory interprets behaviour, what assumptions it makes, and how it can be criticised or applied. PSYC307 commonly draws on psychodynamic, cognitive, psychosocial, learning, and ecological approaches. Each offers a different lens on health and development.
2.1 Freud and psychosexual development
Sigmund Freud proposed that personality develops through psychosexual stages driven by unconscious conflict and the management of instinctual energy. Although Freud’s theory is historically influential, it is often critiqued for weak empirical support, gender bias, and overemphasis on sexuality. Still, it remains useful as a foundation for understanding how early relationships and unconscious processes were brought into psychology.
Freud’s stages are:
- Oral stage (0–1 year): pleasure centred on the mouth, feeding, sucking.
- Anal stage (1–3 years): pleasure related to toilet training and control.
- Phallic stage (3–6 years): focus on genitals, Oedipus/Electra dynamics.
- Latency stage (6 years to puberty): sexual feelings relatively quiet.
- Genital stage (puberty onward): mature sexuality and relationships.
The idea of fixation suggests that unresolved conflict in a stage can affect adult personality. For example, an excessively controlling adult might be interpreted as “anal-retentive” in classical Freudian language. However, modern psychology is cautious about such literal interpretations. In exams, Freud is best used to show historical importance rather than as a fully accepted modern model.
2.2 Erikson’s psychosocial theory
Erik Erikson extended psychodynamic thinking by proposing eight psychosocial stages spanning the lifespan. Each stage involves a crisis or developmental task:
- Trust vs mistrust
- Autonomy vs shame and doubt
- Initiative vs guilt
- Industry vs inferiority
