Psychology 2410A-001

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.

1.0    CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

A survey of theory and research in developmental psychology including: learning, cognition, perception, personality, and social development in infancy and childhood.

Antirequisites: Psychology 2040A/B, 2044, 2480E, Health Sciences 2700A/B and the former
3700A/B

Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.

Prerequisite: At least 60% in a 1000 level Psychology course
2 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour, 0.5 course

Unless you have either the requisites 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.

2.0    COURSE INFORMATION

Instructor: Adam Cohen
Office: WH 323 East
Office Hours: Friday 12:00-2:00PM (e-mail beforehand just in case) or by appointment
Email: acohen42 AT uwo DOT ca

Administrative Teaching Assistant: Isu Cho
Office: WH 210 East
Office Hours: Thursday 2:00-3:00PM Email: icho6 AT uwo DOT ca

Tutorial Teaching Assistant: Michal Bak
Office: WH 234A East
Office Hours: Friday 2:00-3:00PM Email: mbak7 AT uwo DOT ca

Tutorial Teaching Assistant: Nellie Kamkar
Office: WH 210 East
 
Office Hours: Thursday 1:00-2:00PM Email: nkamkar AT uwo DOT ca

Time and Location of Lecture: Wednesday, 3:30-5:30 PM, SSC-3022
Time and Location of Tutorial Section 002: Thursday, 9:30-10:30 AM, STVH-3101 (Bak) Time and Location of Tutorial Section 003: Thursday, 10:30-11:30 AM, STVH-3101 (Bak) Time and Location of Tutorial Section 004: Thursday, 9:30-10:30 AM, UCC-37 (Kamkar) Time and Location of Tutorial Section 005: Thursday, 10:30-11:30 AM, UCC-37 (Kamkar)

If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to assist you.  Please visit:  http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these resources and on mental health.

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.  You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation.

3.0  TEXTBOOK

Required readings have been compiled in an electronic custom course book. It is available through the OWL course website.

Readings included in the custom course book were selected from the following books: Dehaene, S. (2011). The number sense: How the mind creates mathematics, revised and updated edition. New York: Oxford University Press. [Dehaene]
Goldstein, E.B. (2009) Sensation & Perception, 8th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. [Goldstein]
Keil, F. (2013). Developmental Psychology: The Growth of Mind and Behavior. Norton. [Keil] Rutherford, M. D. (2011). Child Development: Perspectives In Developmental Psychology. Oxford University Press. [Rutherford]
Siegler, R. S., DeLoache, J.S., & Eisenberg, N. (2011). How Children Develop, 3rd edition. New York: Worth. [SD&E]

4.0    COURSE OBJECTIVES

1.    Learn basic theories and methods used to study psychological development.
2.    Learn to generate and compare predictions from different developmental theories.
3.    Learn to evaluate experimental results and understand their implications for various theories of development.
4.    Attention will also be given to the cultivation of research skills, including how to give presentations, write a research paper, participate in scholarly discussions. Students will conduct a retrospective developmental study and will be expected to produce a written report of their investigation.

5.0     EVALUATION

Assignment    Weight    Date
Exam I    15%    October 14th
Exam II    20%    November 18th
Exam III    25%    Scheduled during the exam period
Tutorial Assignments    10%    Details provided in tutorial
Tutorial Presentation    10%    Details provided in tutorial
Tutorial Research Paper    20%    Details provided in tutorial


Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:


70%    1000-level and 2000-level courses
72%     2190-2990 level courses
75%     3000-level courses
80%     4000-level courses
   
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/general/grades_undergrad.pdf):

A+    90-100    One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A    80-89        Superior work that is clearly above average
B    70-79        Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C    60-69        Competent work, meeting requirements
D    50-59        Fair work, minimally acceptable
F    below 50    Fail

6.0  TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

Exam I is on October 14th. Exam II is on November 18th.
Exam III is scheduled during the Exam Period (date TBD).
Tutorial Assignments - Details provided in Tutorial Tutorial Group Presentation - Details provided in Tutorial Tutorial Research Paper - Details provided in Tutorial

7.0   CLASS SCHEDULE

09/16 - Week 1: “The origins of knowledge”
Topic: Science of development and major themes
Reading: Chapter 1, p. 1-24, “An Introduction to Child Development,” in SD&E

09/23 - Week 2: “G-E interaction and non-random development: Development meets evolutionary theory”
Topic: Nature, nurture, and development
Reading: Chapter 4, “Nature, Nurture, and Development,” in Rutherford

09/30 - Week 3: “Theories tell you what hypotheses to test…”
Topic: Theories of development
Reading: Chapter 4, “Theories of Cognitive Development,” in SD&E

10/07 - Week 4: “… methods tell you how to test them”
Topic: Methods of development
Reading: Chapter 1, p. 24-39, “Methods for Studying Child Development,” in SD&E
Chapter 2, p. 51-54, “Techniques for Developmental Research,” in Rutherford

10/14 - Week 5: Exam I

10/21 - Week 6: “A Jamesian ‘blooming, buzzing confusion?’”
Topic: Perceptual and motor development
Reading: Chapter 16, “Perceptual Development,” in Goldstein
Chapter 4, p. 115 -131, “The Emergence of Action,” in Keil

10/28 - Week 7: “Out of sight, out of mind?”
Topic: The object concept and the development of physical reasoning
Reading: Chapter 5, p. 46-66, “Coming to Understand the Physical World,” in Keil

11/04 - Week 8: “The number sense”
Topic: Numerical development
Reading: Chapter 2, “Babies Who Count,” Chapter 5, “Small Heads for Big Calculations,” and Chapter 10, p. 254-260, “The Number Sense, 15 Years Later” section titled “Numbers in babies” in Dehaene

11/11 - Week 9: “Why ‘he broked it’ and not ‘it broke he’”
Topic: Language development
Reading: Chapter 8, “Language Development,” in Keil

11/18 - Week 10: Exam II

11/25 - Week 11: “Quiet: Babies playing (social) chess”
Topic: Theory of mind development
Reading: Chapter 13, p. 482-493, “Knowing Ourselves, Knowing Others,” in Keil
Baron-Cohen, S. (2009). Autism: The Empathizing–Systemizing (E-S) Theory. Annals of the
New York Academy of Sciences, 1156, 68-80

12/02 - Week 12: “The long reach of attachment: From infant survival to adult relationships”
Topic: Sociocultural aspects of development: Culture, parents, and peers Reading: Chapter 10, “Social Contexts for Development” in Rutherford Chapter 6, “Connecting with the Social World,” in Keil

12/09 - Week 13: “Born to be good or bad? The law of the excluded middle misleads”
Topic: Moral and prosocial development
Reading: Chapter 12, “Moral and Prosocial Development,” in Rutherford

7.1    TUTORIAL

For the other half of the syllabus, see the Tutorial Syllabus link on OWL.

7.2    FAQ AND ADVICE

Have a question? Before spending all that time writing a long email to the instructor or TAs, check out the FAQ and Advice link on OWL.

7.3    LAPTOP POLICY

You are strongly encouraged not to bring a laptop to class. The reasons for this will be discussed during week 1.

8.0     STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES

Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link:  http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. 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 http://www.turnitin.com

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

9.0    POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS

The University of Western Ontario’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2015/pg117.html

Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html


10.0        OTHER INFORMATION

Office of the Registrar web site:  http://registrar.uwo.ca

Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca

Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:

    http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html

- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences

- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2015 Calendar References

No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.