Developmental Psychology.

Catalog description

Human development is the study of how and why people change over time, as well as how and why they remain the same. Thus this course will provide an overview of what is empirically known about all the periods of life from conception to death of our physical vehicles. We shall examine what is known scientifically about physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in humans. We shall examine how changes in each one of these major areas impacts change in each of the other two. The relative importance of nature and nurture will be examined for each of the various life stages. The issues of native temperament and physical appearance will be given special emphasis as these areas impact psychosocial and cognitive development. A considerable amount of time will be devoted to what is known about methods of effective/ineffective, successful/unsuccessful parenting. Finally, we shall look at the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of our final years of life.