Psychology 215 Syllabus
Developmental Psychology

E-mail: sochroch@ccp.edu

Text: The Developing Person Through the Life Span by Kathleen Berger, Worth Publishers, 6th edition.

This is just an outline of the course topics. For more details regarding assignments and readings, registered students should view the interactive syllabus in WebStudy®. This is an online course. The content of this course is in the textbook and is supplemented by materials in the WebStudy® online course management materials.

If for some unavoidable reason you register at the last minute, you should contact your instructor via e-mail as soon as possible. (That means right now!) Register Early! If you do not register before first contact week, you must notify your instructor that you are in the course. Do NOT wait around to be contacted.

If you are enrolled in the course, be sure that you have access to WebStudy®. If you are having difficulty logging in, send an e-mail to the Director of Distance Education with your name, social security number and the number of this course (PSYC 215) and the section number and your instructor's name. NOTE: You will be unable to login before the course begins. Check dates in the Course brochure or on the Distance Education web pages.

*This is just a course outline. Actual dates/weeks for exams are subject to change. Always check WebStudy Timeline for actual dates.

**The chapters assigned should be read in their entirety. The page numbers given are for special emphasis.

		Reading
Week	Topic	Assignment
	Beginnings
1	Online Orientation	WebStudy timeline activities
2	Introduction & Theories	Chapters 1 & 2
	First Two Years
3	Heredity & Environment	Chapters 3 & 4
4	Biological & Cognitive Development	Chapters 5 (121-129**) & 6
	Exam #1
5	Psychosocial Development	Chapter 7
	Play Years
6	Biological & Cognitive Development	Chapters 8 & 9 (217-224**)
7	Psychosocial Development	Chapter 10
8	Exam #2
	School Years
9	Biological, Cognitive, Psychosocial Development	Chapters 11 (265-275**), 12 (289-295/304-305**), 13 (313-323**)
	Adolescence
10	Biological, Cognitive, Psychosocial Development	Chapters 14 (341-349**), 15 (363-372**), 16
	Early Adulthood
11	Biological & Cognitive Development	Chapters 17 (423-433**) & 18 (436-441**)
	Exam #3
12	Psychosocial Development	Chapter 19
	Middle Adulthood
13	Biological & Psychosocial Development	Chapters 20 (502-507**) & 22
	Late Adulthood
14	Biological, Cognitive, Psychosocial Development	Chapters 23 (575-582**), 24 (625-629**), 25
	Death and Dying	Epilogue
15	Final Examination: Exam #4

Course Description:  
Psyc  215 Developmental Psychology   

Emotional, personality, cognitive, physiological and other related growth and development processes over the life span.  Prerequisite: PSYC 101.

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Explain how the life span as an ongoing set of processes involving continuity and change and is influenced by inborn as well as environmental factors;
2. Analyze research findings pertaining to a series of life span developmental events from the perspectives of five major theories of development: psychoanalytic, behaviorism, cognitive, socio-cultural, and, epigenetic, and recognize those theories when used by others to analyze events;
3. Demonstrate an understanding that competing theories provide varied degrees of explanatory power with regard to specific developmental processes;
4. Analyze scientific methodology used in professional research articles to assess the extent to which the methodology can provide valid explanations of the characteristics under examination;
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of ethical standards in the study of lifespan development.