Psychology ordinarily has been described as a "discipline with a long past but a very short history" (Schlesinger et al., 1976, p.8). This favorite aphorism is meant to carry two meanings. Firstly psychological problems date back to antiquity and secondly the subject, in the sense of being an independent scholastic discipline is a recent development. The discipline is however a range of subfields. Although each has its unique characteristics and requirements, some are intertwined, interrelated or interwoven, the sum total of which might reasonably be called psychological studies rather than psychology (Dandoff, 1987). Although many will argue that clinical or counseling psychology should be a must for pastors, it would be farfetched to state that I am sinking in the quick sand of subjectivity to present a case for development psychology "a field of psychology which examines the biological, group and intellectual development of people from before birth throughout the life-course" (Cambridge Encyclopedia, p.339). A celebrated compel of developmental psychology is that it cuts across any areas like attachment, educational psychology or Piagetian psychology.
It must be noted that there is a unique relationship in the middle of subjects in psychology. This need not mean that they contradict each other. This could be descriptive by using a different example. It is bright to think how from each perspective we might view an emotion such as anger. From a biological perspective, one must study the brain circuits that trigger the physical state of being 'red in the face' and 'hot under the cellar'. someone working from psychoanalytic perspective might view an outburst as an outlet for unconscious hostility. someone else private working from behavioural perspective might study the facial expressions and body gestures that accompany anger, or conclude which external stimuli follow in angry responses or aggressive acts. The humanistic perspective might want to understand what it means to palpate and express anger from the person's own point of view. Interestingly, the cognitive perspective might study how an angry mood affects our thinking. someone working from a socio-cultural perspective might contemplate how anger and its expression vary across cultural groups. It is positive that the biological, psychoanalytic, behavioural, humanistic, cognitive and socio-cultural perspectives characterize and expound anger very differently. They are not necessarily contradictory approaches but six useful ways of finding at the same psychological state. By using all six, one gains a fuller understanding of anger than any single perspective can contribute (Myers, 1992). By implication, it is the same with the branches of psychology.
It is imperative to briefly figure the range of psychology to put the discussion in perspective. Experimental psychologists, like many psychologists, rely on scientific methods and experiments to contemplate behavior. Their explore often is conducted in a laboratory. They explore areas such as sensation, perception, learning, memory and motivation in humans and other animals. Their emphasis is on basic research, that is, knowledge for its own sake without much consideration as to its potential application. Neuropsychological and psychobiological psychologists are interested in biological factors and their effects on behavior. Both neuropsychological and psychobiological psychologists study the brain, nervous system, genes and drugs in relation to behaviour. Neuropsychological psychologists, however, often work hand in hand with physicians to treat disorders related to the nervous system.
Developmental psychologists study the way in which behaviours produce and convert while a life span. Often their emphasis is on childhood. special areas of interest consist of the development of language, group attachments, emotions, reasoning and perception.
Cognitive psychologists study internal reasoning processes, which consist of thinking, memory, view formation, perception, and processing of information. To the cognitive psychologists, behaviour is composed of reasoning events, internal representations, desires, beliefs and thoughts.
Social psychologists use scientific techniques to contemplate the effects that people have on one another. They are interested in topics such as co-operation, aggression, affection and group pressure.
Industrial or organizational psychologists ordinarily work with businesses. They are involved with improving working conditions, raising production rates, and developing decision-making abilities. Many of these I/Q psychologists, as they are called, began their work as experimental psychologists and then became consultants for business or industry.
Educational psychologists study educational systems, methods of teaching, curricula, and other factors influencing the learning process. Their goals are to improve schooling and to make learning easier and more efficient.
Clinical psychologists focus their efforts on understanding, diagnosing and treating abnormal or deviant behaviours. Efforts are being made to convert the law to allow clinical psychologists to prescribe drugs after additional training. As the law currently stands, however, prescribing drugs for reasoning health is still the province of physicians.
Counseling psychologists were traditionally trained to help individuals solve personal, scholastic or vocational problems that did not stem from serious reasoning disorders. However, counseling and clinical psychologists often have similar training, and the dissimilarity in the middle of the two has come to be roughly nonexistent.
The above notwithstanding, the rest of the discussion presents supportive evidence to the point of developmental psychology to the pastoral field. ordinarily in Africa, from the time one is born, one's position in community is to a large degree carefully by one's age. We convert as we grow older. These changes are noticeable while the early years of infancy and childhood. As each month passes, an baby grows larger and shows dramatic gains in intellectual and group competence. Children feel great changes from one year to the next. As they arrival adolescence, their physical changes bring them closer to adulthood. Yet, for adolescents, there are new developmental changes. Upon the arrival of old age and death, individuals will face yet more changes. Developmental psychology therefore studies age-related changes in human behaviour. It is realistically observed that "psychologists know what to expect at different developmental stages and they learn the extent of human increase and development. When Paul observed that he'd be all to all men in order to win some to Christ, he was in other words saying that since he understood the developmental stages and proper evangelistic system used to yield results in the corresponding groups.
Although it is of course stated that God invites mankind to speculate with Him in the book of Isaiah, how can one realistically speculate the age group He is referring to? Jean Piaget, trained in zoology, was a keen observer of children and works related to him constitute the most whole body of data and system on reasoning development in existence. Although some of his conclusions are under serious scrutiny, he proposed that reasoning develops in a fixed sequence of stages in children. Characterized schemata appear in specific times. The accomplishments of each stage build on prior achievements. In explaining development, Piaget emphasized heredity. group and physical development, he maintained, influence only the timing of specific milestones. while the first twenty-four months, babies make sense of their experiences by seeing, touching, sniffing, tasting and manipulating. In other words, they rely on sensory and meter systems. At the stage before concrete operations (intuitive thought), the child is naturally ego-centric or self-centred. How can an ego-centric child understand what it means to speculate together? Since he is self-centred, he tends to see the world largely from his own perspective and finds it extremely difficult to put himself in a position of others or even to understand that other viewpoints exist. It is at this stage that the child delivers monologues. Typically, he neither knows nor cares either anybody is listening. Superficially, the chatter sometimes sounds like a conversation because children often alternate and talk about related topics.
A detailed study of Piaget's stage system is imperative because inspite of criticisms levied against some of his conclusions, the private stages would help one in the pastoral ministry to know what the child needs to know about religion. The stage of formal operations enables the private to produce the ability to understand abstract logic. The adolescence "are capable of explaining some phenomena straight through a series of logical hypotheses" (Newman and Newman, 1984, p.9). At this reasoning stage, questions are contemplated, trying to "make sense of life...identity, group realities, religion and the like" (Davidoff, 1987, p.388).
It is obvious from the fore-going that developmental psychology is involved with "the description, prediction and modification of age-related behaviors while the full life again" (Huffman, Vernon and Williams, 1987, p.301). Some developmental psychologists emphasize specific ages (such as infancy, adolescence or old age) while others concentrate on specific areas such as physical or cognitive development. Cognitive psychology ordinarily studies the higher reasoning processes (memory, action, and reasoning). Jesus knew that the speculate why His followers swelled astronomically high was the food He in case,granted for the five thousand men in a old meeting. Developmental psychologists have set themselves the task of describing changes and trying to understand their causes as they contemplate their effects (Bernstein, 1988).
A necessary pathology of psychological development assists the pastor to understand why it is difficult for a human being within the infancy, preschool, early childhood/kindergarten/middle childhood and even late childhood categories to fully understand the salvation message. Why did Jesus merely bless the children brought to Him but preached vehemently to the adolescent? As a development psychologist, He understood fully well that it is at the immature stage that the private can either palpate genuine conversion or may choose to ignore spiritual conviction.
A relatively recent but very vigorous increasing to development psychology is the study of sex difference, particularly under the stimulus of group movements which examine not only equal opportunities but also equality of group roles for the sexes. To demonstrate the unique position of mankind in Christ, Paul observes that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ" (Gal. 3:38).
Developmental psychology, in summary, covers infancy, emotional growth, intellectual development, socialization, family buildings and even schools (Roe, 1972). This study of "how people convert and grow over time" (Wade and Travis, 1987, p.25) is a must for every pastor naturally because he has a congregation of people with different ages, temperaments and even abilities. The distribution of talents in Matthew 25 clearly demonstrates that the abilities of people are different and they were given private responsibilities against their level of development. Since the pastor, a shepherd is foreseen, to acknowledge to the private and group need of the congregation, it is incontrovertible that he must be able to look at and acknowledge in all areas and to all ages. In other words, he should be a developmental psychologist.
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