Welcome to Developmental Psychology!

How do we become who we are? We are all developing people, a process that occurs through a highly intricate mix of factors that are very proximal to us, such as our genetics, families, neighborhoods, and schools, in addition to factors that are more distal, including our government, media, and culture. This course explores the nature, causes, and theories explaining both change and stability over the entire lifespan from conception to old age. Throughout the semester, we will examine what psychological science can tell us about normative patterns and individual differences, stability of behavior, and forces of change. This course will provide an overview of numerous topics as they relate to individuals across the lifespan (e.g., cognition, perception, neuroscience, language, social psychology, personality, emotions, and behavior). By the end of our course, you will understand major developmental theories, influences on development, have a mastery of the course content areas, and have the ability to apply developmental research findings to the self and others. As I hope you will see by the end of this course, development is in everything, underlying all other topics that we study in psychology.

Course Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the course, I am hopeful and confident that you will be able to:

describe typical changes in cognitive, physical, social, and emotional domains across the lifespan
name the major theories of development and list major stages or patterns of change
apply developmental concepts to situations occurring in daily life
critique the strengths and weaknesses of developmental theories and life-span research
analyze the influence of social, historical, and physical contexts on development

Instructor

Dr. Meredith Palm
Meredith_Palm@baylor.edu

Office: BSB A.310
Office Phone: 254-710-2591

Coffee & Conversation

Drop-in (BSB A.310):

Tuesday/Thursday, 10:00am-12:00pm, 2:00-4:00pm

By appointment (on ZOOM):

Schedule HERE!

Textbook

Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. A. (2022). Life-Span Human Development (10^th ed.) Cengage.

*You will also need a subscription to MindTap, the digital learning platform associated with this text. A MindTap subscription will allow you to access Mastery Training and the Investigating Development Cases utilized in this class. You can purchase an eBook + MindTap as part of the Digital Platform for $95. For all purchase options, please see this link.

ISBN-13: 978-0357304273

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