Developmental Psychology BPS210

Course Structure: Developmental Psychology BPS210

1. Introduction
   
   • Theoretical approaches and key concepts
   • Lifelong growth, nature/nurture theories ...psychodynamic, behavioural, social cognitive, cognitive, lifespan
2. Early childhood
   
   • Cognitive & social development in the first 6 years
   • Genetics, personality, cognition, recognition, memory, social relationships
3. Middle childhood
   
   • Cognitive, moral & social development in the school years
   • Motor skills, cognitive and language development, relationships with family and peers, moral development
4. Challenges of middle childhood
   
   • School and learning, sense of self, achievement, peer pressure, family breakup, grief and trauma
5. Adolescence
   
   • Cognitive, moral and social development
   • Cognitive development, moral development, identity, relationships with family and peers;
6. Challenges of adolescence
   
   • Sexuality, peer groups, identity vs role confusion, trauma, depression, values and meaning
7. Adulthood
   
   • Cognitive and psychosocial development in early and middle adulthood
   • Sexuality, parenthood. work and achievement, moral reasoning, gender roles, cultural perspectives, adult thinking
8. Challenges of adulthood
   
   • Marriage and divorce, grief, depression, parenting, dealing with change
9. Late adulthood
   
   • Cognitive and psychosocial changes in the elderly
   • Intelligence, learning and age, physiological influences, cognitive abilities, personality changes, relationships
10. Challenges of late adulthood
    
    • Loss, mourning, depression and elderly suicide, aging brain ... dementia etc, integrity vs despair, loss of independence. 
      

What you will do during this Course

• Learn key theories and concepts in the study of developmental psychology;
• List major ethical concerns when studying development, and one step a researcher can take to reduce each;
• Identify cognitive and social aspects of a small child’s development and some key inherent and external influences;
• Describe the phases of language acquisition in infants, and what can adversely affect it;
• Describe major cognitive, moral and social developments in middle childhood and how they influence behaviour
• Compare short term memory with long term memory in middle childhood, and discuss how this affects the child's ability to learn;
• Identify common psychological challenges faced by children from ages 6 to puberty;
• Reflect on your own success and failure experiences, and your own sense of competence in middle childhood. Consider how they affected your perceptions of yourself as you matured;
• Identify areas of change that will affect adolescent behaviour and thinking;
• Explain post formal thought, and consider how it can contribute to an adolescent's ability or willingness to make moral choices;
• Identify challenges common to adolescence, and ways to deal with them;
• Explain individuation. Discuss its importance, and how it can both challenge and complement group identity;
• Identify changes that can occur in early and middle adulthood and influence behaviour;
• Explain K. Warner Schaie's stages of adult thinking and explain why Schaie's model might be more relevant to understanding adult cognition than Piaget's cognitive model;
• Identify some key challenges faced in adulthood and ways of coping with them;
• List some changes that are typically associated with "midlife crisis". Discuss both negative and positive aspects of "midlife crisis".
• Identify effects of physiological changes and life experience on the aged person's cognitive and psychosocial experiences;
• Explain how 'cognitive plasticity' can affect an older person's ability to learn despite brain cell loss;
• Research depression and suicide among the elderly;
• Research ways that an older person can be made to feel more independent and automonous.
• Consider in your response what family members can do to respect the older person's need for autonomy.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the Academy, marked by the Academy's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.