Developmental Psychology

This Course is Taught By:
Iona Lister

Her Background: Licentiate, Speech and Language Therapy, UK, Diploma in Advanced Counselling Skills.

She has been a clinician and manager of health services for fifteen years, and a trainer for UK-based medical charities, focusing on psychosocial issues, mental health disorders, and also the promotion of communication skills for people in helping roles. As a freelance writer, she contributes articles for magazines, has written four published books, and has written course material on coaching and counselling related fields.


Lesson Structure: Developmental Psychology BPS210

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

Practicals:

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 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.


This course is accredited by ACCPH and allows you to join as a professional member after completion. Membership allows you to add the letters MACCPH after your name (post-nominals).