Child
Psychology - PSY 251
D. Vandergrift
Course Outline
UNIT 1 - Theories
1. What is Development?
a. Physical ‑ Biological, Cognitive, Psychosocial‑Socioemotional
2. Basic Issues
a. Nature vs. Nurture
b. Continuity vs. Discontinuity
c. Early vs. Late Experience
d. Stability vs. Change
3. Psychoanalytic Theories
a. Freud
1. Psychosexual Theory
2. Basic Premises
b. Erikson
1. Revisions to Freud's Theory
2. Psychosocial Theory
4. Cognitive Theories
a. Piaget
1. Concepts ‑ Organization, Adaptation, Assimilation, Accommodation
2. Basic Premises
b. Information Processing Theories
5. Behavioral Theories
a. Behaviorism
1. Skinner
2. Basic Premises about development
b. Social Learning
1. Difference from Behaviorism
2. Albert Bandura
6. Ethological Theory ‑ Lorenz
7. Ecological Theory ‑ Bronfenbrenner
UNIT 2 - Prenatal Period
1. Reproduction
a. Genes, Chromosomes
b. Mitosis
c. Meiosis, Crossing‑over
d. Zygote
2. Abnormalities in Genes and Chromosomes
a. Down Syndrome
b. Sickle Cell Anemia
c. Turner's Disease
d. Klinefelter's Disease
e. PKU
3. Tests to determine abnormalities
a. Amniocentesis
b. Ultrasound/ Sonogram
c. CVS
d. Alpha‑fetoprotein Test
4. Genetic Principles
a. Genotype
b. Phenotype
c. Polygenic Inheritance
d. Dominant‑Recessive Genes Principle
e. Canalization
5. Genetic Counseling
6. Heredity‑Environment Interaction ‑ Sandra Scarr's research
a. Passive genotype‑environment interaction
b. Evocative genotype‑environment interaction
c. Active (niche‑picking) genotype‑environment interaction
7. Fertilization
8. Prenatal Development
a. Periods
b. Developmental Risks
c. Mom's Experience ‑ 3 Trimesters
9. Birth
a. Stages
b. Complications
c. Strategies
d. Strategies
10. Neonatal Health
a. Evaluations
b. Problems
1. Reflexes
2. Growth Patterns
a. Average Growth
b. Patterns of Physical Development
1) CephaloCaudal
2) ProximoDistal
3. Physical Behavior / Motor Skills
a. Developmental Norms
b. Maturation vs. Learning
c. Emotional Deprivation
4. Brain
a. Growth
b. Brain has plasticity
5. Health
a. Nutrition
1) Breast vs. Bottle Feeding
6. Sensation and Perception
a. Definitions
b. Testing Senses
1) Habituation vs. Dishabituation
c. Sight
d. Hearing
e. Smell
f. Taste
g. Touch
7. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
a. Basic Ideas
1) Scheme
2) Assimilation
3) Accommodation
b. Sensorimotor Stage
c. Substages
1) Reflexes (0-1 month)
2) Primary Circular Reactions & First Habits (1-4 months)
3) Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
4) Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8-12 months)
5) Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
6) Internalization of Schemes / Insight / Beginning of Thought (18-24 months)
d. Object Permanence
e. Critics of Piaget
8. Information Processing
a. Attention
b. Memory
c. Cross-Modal Transfer
d. Imitation
9. Language Development
a. Aspects of Language
1) Phonology
2) Morphology
3) Semantics
4) Syntax
5) Pragmatics
b. First Words
c. Theories of Language Development
1) Language Acquisition Device
2) Critical Period
3) Behavioral Viewpoint
4) Interactionists
d. Developmental Course of Language
10. The Family
a. Parenthood
b. Parent-Child Interaction
c. Father’s Role
11. Attachment
a. Basic Ideas
b. Ainsworth and The Strange Situation
c. Influences on Attachment
1) Infants
2) Caregivers
12. Temperament
a. Thomas and Chess
b. Other Researchers
13. Day Care
a. Options
b. Effects of Day Care
14. Personality Development
UNIT 4 - Early Childhood
1. Motor Development
a. Gross Motor Skills
b. Fine Motor Skills
2. Health and Nutrition
a. Health Problems
1.
2. Other Countries
b. Nutritional Needs
3. Piaget’s Cognitive Development - Preoperational Stage
a. Basic Concepts
b. Flaws or Limitations of Preoperational Child
1) Egocentrism
Animism
2) Centration
3) Irreversibility
4) Lack of Conservation
5) Lack of Seriation
6) Lack of Classification
4. Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development
a. Zone of Proximal Development
b. Private Speech
5. Other Approaches
a. Memory and Attention
b. Theory of Mind
6. Families
a. Parenting Styles
1) Authoritative
2) Authoritarian
3) Permissive-Indulgent
4) Permissive-Indifferent/Neglectful
b. Siblings
1) Relationship/Birth Order
c. Changing Families
1) Divorce and Step-Parenting
2) Working Parents
3) Other Changes
7. Gender Development
a. Basic Terms
1) Gender Identity
2) Gender Role
3) Physiological Gender
b. Theories of Gender Role Development
1) Psychoanalytic
2) Learning
3) Social Learning
4) Cognitive
5) Gender-Schema
8. Development of Self Concept
a. Erikson’s Initiative vs. Guilt
b. Self-Understanding
9. Play
a. Benefits
b. Types of Play
UNIT 5 – Middle Childhood
1. Gross Motor Skills and Childhood Athletics
b. Positive Effects of Sports
c. Age Effects
d. Gender Effects
e. Are we Pushing our Children too Far?
2. Stress in Childhood
a. Causes
1. Cognitive Appraisal
2. Major Life Events and Daily Hassles
b. Type A Behavior
c. Depression
3. Cognitive Development
a. Piaget’s Concrete Operational Development
1. Conservation
2. Decentration
3. Reversibility
4. Hierarchical Classification
5. Seriation
6. Transitive Inference
7. Spatial Reasoning
8. Horizontal Decalage
b. Information Processing
1. Attention
2. Memory Strategies / Control Processes
3. MetaCognition / Cognitive Monitoring
4. Motivation
a. Achievement Motivation
b. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
c. Attributions
d. Helpless vs. Mastery Orientation
5. Peer Relationships
a. Popularity
b. Functions of Peers
1. Puberty
2. Cognitive Development
3. Moral Development
4. Identity
5. Peers
6. Relationships
7. Other Issues