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Development Psychology and Psychopathology

Module description

Developmental psychology deals with changes that happen as we grow up – how we learn about our culture, how our thoughts and feelings become more adaptive to the world we live in, and how our identity as a person and a social animal emerges.

We welcome students from different programmes who will contribute to and benefit from the learning experience provided by the lectures and tutorial of developmental psychology and psychopathology.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Our aims are to introduce you to developmental psychology as an essential part of psychology. You will meet ideas of ‘children’ and ‘childhood’ in everyday practice, in future roles as a teacher or parent and will have experienced them within the family. You will need them as part of the common currency of living in and commenting on society, as issues concerning child protection, education, socialisation, and motivation are discussed at every level and in most institutional contexts. Knowing what children are like, what informs their understanding, and the methods that are used to establish this body of knowledge are important in psychological education and the aim of this module is to provide you with knowledge and critical understanding of these aspects of developmental psychology.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Illustrate how our understanding of developmental psychology depends on both the methods used to obtain the knowledge and the theories employed to frame that knowledge, describing major theories in developmental psychology and evaluating them on various criteria of adequacy such as how they provide accounts of inherited and cultural factors in development and how they are able to incorporate recent evidence on children’s understanding of the physical and social world.
• 2. Describe the behaviour of children faced with real-life problems of adapting to, and coping with, the social, economic, and cultural aspects of their world

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Illustrate detailed factual and conceptual knowledge of the subject and identify a variety of ideas, contexts and frameworks
• 4. Review and critically evaluate published work and identify the strengths and weaknesses of this work, and at a well-developed level structure this literature to present logical and coherent arguments
• 5. Solve complex problems systematically, think critically and creatively and appreciate the complexities of the issues at a well-developed level
• 6. Apply essential principles in designing research and critically evaluate and analyse empirical evidence and assess the reliability of empirical evidence using a range of defined techniques
• 7. Discuss the wider ethical issues relating to the subject and its application at a well-developed level

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Interact effectively within a learning group, giving and receiving information and ideas and modifying responses where appropriate
• 9. Manage learning using resources for the discipline
• 10. Evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses, challenge received opinion and develop your own criteria and judgment, and seek and make use of feedback
• 11. Manage and select information from a range of sources and develop appropriate information finding strategies.
• 12. Take responsibility for their own learning with minimum direction within defined guidelines
• 13. Communicate effectively in the manner appropriate to the discipline and in a variety of formats
• 14. Identify key areas of problems and choose appropriate methods for their resolution in a considered manner
• 15. Act with increasing autonomy, with reduced need for supervision and direction, within defined guidelines
• 16. Manage time effectively to meet deadlines

Syllabus plan

This module will explore some of the important issues in developmental psychology during that part of the life span from birth to late adulthood. The main theoretical emphasis will be on the child constructing a stable and predictable world using resources that are culturally and historically specific. Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to developmental psychology
• Moral development
• Cognitive development
• Social development
• Attachment and children’s outcomes  
• The development of Self
• Autism
• Internalising disorders (characteristics and developmental pathways)
• Externalising disorders (characteristics and developmental pathways)
• Resilience: how and why some groups of children develop well despite exposure to risk
• Revision/past papers

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Two assessments are required for this module. Where you have been referred/deferred in the examination you will have the opportunity to take a second examination in the August/September re-assessment period. Where you have been referred/deferred in the essay you will be required to resubmit the essay. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%; deferred marks are not capped.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9371 (revision notes, slides, and other materials will be available on the course ELE pages)

Key words search

Psychology, cognitive development, autistic spectrum condition, self-regulation