Abstract

The Developmental psychology in Korea has limited itself in the area of child studies, so that it could not identify the developmental phenomena in Korean socio-cultural context. This issue is directly related to the identity of developmental psychology in Korean society which seeks to scrutinize the formation and change process of mind in the society. The developmental change means the integrated phenomena of the content and nature of developmental change. The content of developmental change is intrinsic to the context in which the change occurs, so that the developmental research has to deal with the developmental issues in Korean social context. The framework to study the developmental phenomena in context has set up by distinguishing the content and nature of developmental change. It is also to look for the person-centered approach rather than to pursue the variable centered approach. If the developmental psychology has to take its place in Korean society, it will be dependent upon not by the methodological rigidity, but by the social impact validity.