Psychology 2410B 001 FW25

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Western University

London                   Canada

 

Department of Psychology

Winter 2026

 

Psychology 2410B 001 FW25

 

INTRO TO DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH

 

1      Calendar Description

 

A survey of theory and research in developmental psychology including: learning, cognition, perception, personality, and social development in infancy and childhood. https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/academics/timetables.html

 

Antirequisites: Psychology 2040A/B, Psychology 2480E, Health Sciences 2700A/B, and the former Psychology 2044. 

 

Prerequisites: A mark of at least 60% in 1.0 credits of Psychology at the 1000 level.

 

3 lecture hours, 0.5 course

 

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

 

2      Course Information

 

Instructor:                   Dr. Raha Hassan

Office:                         see Brightspace for location (drop in) or Zoom (appointment only)

Office Hours:              TBD

Email:                         psych2410@uwo.ca

 

Teaching Assistant:    TBD

Office:                        see Brightspace for location (drop in) or Zoom (appointment only)

Office Hours:              TBD

Email:                         psych2410@uwo.ca

 

For all questions related to course content, please post your question in the appropriate forum on Brightspace. To allow others to learn and reduce the TAs' workload, post content-related questions only on the Brightspace forum; we will answer them there. If you do not wish to post your question on Brightspace, you may attend either of the office hours. If you have class during those office hours and cannot attend, please reach out via email and alternative arrangements can be made as needed.

 

 

For all other inquiries unrelated to course, please contact the TA by email at psych2410@uwo.ca. Please include the course number in the subject line of your email, and a description of the content of the email (e.g., Psych 2410B: Assignment Question). All email correspondence must be from your @uwo.ca email and should go to the psych2410@uwo.ca email. Emails from other addresses will not be responded to. Any emails related to the course sent to an email other than psych2410@uwo.ca may be missed. We will do our best to return your email in 48 hours Monday to Friday between 9-5 typically, and within 24 hours Monday to Friday the week prior to tests, the final exam, and the assignment deadline. Practically, what this means is if you send an email at 5:15 PM on a Friday, you may not receive a response until 9am the following Wednesday at 9:00 AM.

 

Lectures are held on: See Timetable on Student Centre. Slides and lecture material will be available on Brightspace prior to class.

 

3      Course Materials

 

There is a required textbook for the course: How Children Develop (Canadian Edition; 7th edition) by Siegler, Saffran, Graham, & Gershoff. The eBook is 98$ at the bookstore

(https://bookstore.uwo.ca/product/cebcodeid51496).

 

A physical copy of the textbook will be available at the library on course reserve. You may use a previous edition. You may use a shared copy. You may purchase a copy somewhere other than the bookstore. Differences between the previous edition and the current edition are posted on Brightspace.

 

There are optional readings that will cover content highlighted in lecture in greater detail. Although reviewing the optional readings will likely help you obtain a deeper understanding of class concepts, the studies and concepts outlined in these readings will be touched on in class.

 

4      Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

                                                                

Learning Outcome

Learning Activity

Assessment

Students completing this course will develop knowledge of the vocabulary, main research findings, theories, methods, and concepts in developmental psychology.

 

 

Assigned readings and lecture attendance

Tests, Exam, and (if selected) Written Assignment

Students completing this course will develop an understanding of the developmental processes occurring from conception through childhood.

 

Assigned readings and lecture attendance

Tests, Exam, and (if selected) Written Assignment

Students completing this course will develop the ability to think critically about issues in developmental psychology.

Assigned readings and lecture attendance

Tests, Exam, and (if selected) Written Assignment

 

5      Evaluation

 

There are two in person tests that will occur during class on February 2 and March 16. Each test is worth 30% of your grade.

 

The final exam (DATE TBD) will cover all topics, with an emphasis on units that have not yet been evaluated on Tests 1 and 2.

 

There is an optional written assignment. Should you choose to do this assignment, it will replace your lowest test grade worth 30%. If you complete this assignment and the grade you receive is lower than the grade you received on Test 1 or 2, you retain the highest score.

 

The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4 and are necessary for meeting these learning objectives

 

Policy on Missing Coursework

 

Tests: Students who miss a test for any reason will not be given a makeup test as they have the option to submit the written assignment. In the unlikely situation that a student receives an academic consideration for both tests, one makeup test will be given. The format of the makeup test may be different from the original test.

 

Final Exam. Students who receive academic consideration for an exam will be given an opportunity to write a makeup exam. The format of makeup may be different from the original exam.

 

Written Assignment. Given that the written assignment is optional, available early in the term and due near the end of the term, there is absolutely no makeup or deadline extension for the written assignment under any circumstances.

 

The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines:  https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf

 

The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:

 

70%     1000-level to 2099-level courses

72%     2100-2999-level courses

75%     3000-level courses

80%     4000-level courses

 

In the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.

 

Policy on Grade Rounding

 

Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered.

 

6      Assessment/Evaluation Schedule

 

Assessment Method

Date

Content

Percent

Test 1

February 2

Units 1-4

30

Test 2

March 16

Units 5-8

30

Final Exam

TBD

Units 1-10, with a greater emphasis on units 9 and 10

40

Written Assignment

March 23

See assignment instructions on Brightspace.

30 or 0

 

7      Class Schedule

 

Unit

Date

Topic

Readings

1

January 5

Enduring Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

 

Mandatory: Ch 1

 

Optional: Petersen, Choe, & LeBeau, 2020. Studying a moving target in development: The challenge and opportunity of heterotypic continuity. Developmental Review, 58, 100935.

 

2

January 12

Prenatal Development,

Biology and Behaviour

 

Mandatory: Ch 2 & 3

 

Optional: Poole, K. L., Saigal, S., Van Lieshout, R. J., & Schmidt, L. A. (2020). Developmental programming of shyness: A longitudinal, prospective study across four decades. Development and Psychopathology, 32, 455–464.

 

3

January 19

Theories of Cognitive Development 

Mandatory: Ch 4

 

Optional: Baillargeon, R., Scott, R. M., & He, Z. (2010). False-belief understanding in infants. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(3), 110–118.

 

Gopnik, A. (2012). Scientific thinking in young children: Theoretical advances, empirical research, and policy implications. Science, 337, 1623–1627

 

4

January 26

Perception, Concept, and Language Development 

 

Mandatory: Ch 5, 6, & 7

 

No optional empirical readings this week.

 

 

 

February 2

Test 1 (Unit 1-4)

 

 

No lecture this week, just the in class test!

 

 

 

5

February 9

Theories of Social Development

 

Mandatory: Ch 09

 

Optional: Almas, A. N., Degnan, K. A., Walker, O. L., Radulescu, A., Nelson, C. A., Zeanah, C. H., & Fox, N. A. (2015). The effects of early institutionalization and foster care intervention on children's social behaviors at the age of eight. Social Development, 24(2), 225–239.

 

Kieras, J. E., Tobin, R. M., Graziano, W. G., & Rothbart, M. K. (2005). You can't always get what you want: Effortful control and children's responses to undesirable gifts. Psychological Science, 16(5), 391–396.

 

 

February 16

Reading Week/ Family Day

N/A

6

February 23

Emotion Development and Temperament

 

Mandatory: Ch 10

 

Optional: Cole, P. M., Bruschi, C. J., & Tamang, B. L. (2002). Cultural differences in children's emotional reactions to difficult situations. Child Development, 73, 983–996.

 

Yanaoka, K., Michaelson, L. E., Guild, R. M., Dostart, G., Yonehiro, J., Saito, S., & Munakata, Y. (2022). Cultures crossing: The power of habit in delaying gratification. Psychological Science, 33, 1172–1181.

 

Hassan, R., & Schmidt, L. A. (2024). How biology shapes the development of shyness within specific contexts: A longitudinal, cross-lagged investigation. Developmental Psychology, 60, 2178–2188. 

 

 

7

March 2

Attachment and the Family

Mandatory: Ch 11

 

Optional: Boeve, J. L., Beeghly, M., Stacks, A. M., Manning, J. H., & Thomason, M. E. (2019). Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to assess maternal and infant contributions to mother-infant affective exchanges during the Still-Face Paradigm. Infant Behavior and Development, 57, 101351.

 

Borairi, S., Plamondon, A., Rodrigues, M., Sokolovic, N., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J. (2023). Do siblings influence one another? Unpacking processes that occur during sibling conflict. Child Development, 94, 110–125.

 

8

March 9

Peer Relationships

Mandatory: Ch 12

 

Optional: Bowker, J. C., Fredstrom, B. K., Rubin, K. H., Rose-Krasnor, L., Booth-LaForce, C., & Laursen, B. (2010). Distinguishing children who form new best-friendships from those who do not. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27, 707–725

 

Ladd, G. W. (1990). Having friends, keeping friends, making friends, and being liked by peers in the classroom: Predictors of children's early school adjustment? Child Development, 61, 1081–1100.

 

 

March 16

Test 2 (Unit 5-8)

 

 

No lecture this week, just the in class test!

 

9

March 23

Moral Development

 

Written assignment due at 11:59 PM!

 

Mandatory: Ch 13 

 

Optional: Paulus, M., & Moore, C. (2014). The development of recipient-dependent sharing behavior and sharing expectations in preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 50, 914–921.

 

Malti, T., Gasser, L., & Gutzwiller‐Helfenfinger, E. (2010). Children's interpretive understanding, moral judgments, and emotion attributions: Relations to social behaviour. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 275–292.

 

10

March 30

Gender Development

 

Mandatory: Ch 14

 

Optional: Gülgöz, S., Edwards, D. L., & Olson, K. R. (2022). Between a boy and a girl: Measuring gender identity on a continuum. Social Development, 31, 916–929.

 

Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137, e20153223.

 

-

Final Exam

Units 1-10, with a greater relative emphasis on Units 9 and 10

 

 

8      Academic Integrity

 

Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.

 

Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.

 

Plagiarism Detection Software

 

All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism.  All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com.

 

Use of AI

 

The use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce written work is not permitted unless permission is granted by the instructor for specific circumstances. Any work submitted must be the work of the student in its entirety unless otherwise disclosed. When used, AI tools should be used ethically and responsibly, and students must cite or credit the tools used in line with the expectation to use AI as a tool to learn, not to produce content.

 

Multiple Choice Exams

 

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

 

9      Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education

                                                       

View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link.

 

Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western.

If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information.  Email: aew@uwo.ca  Phone: 519 661-2147

 

10    Absence & Academic Consideration

Academic Considerations: https://registrar.uwo.ca/academics/academic_considerations/index.html

 

11    Other Information

 

 

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you.

 

If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).

 

Copyright Statement

 

Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.

 

12    Land Acknowledgement

 

We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton. Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our society.