Revised 08/2013
PSY 232 - Life Span Development II (3 CR.)
Course Description
Investigates human behavior through the life cycle. Describes physical, cognitive, and psycho-social aspects of human development from conception to death. Part II of II.
Lecture 3 hours per week. (Students who take either PSY 231 or PSY 232 cannot receive credit for PSY 230.)
General Course Purpose
The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of how behavior is shaped by the interaction of maturational and environmental variables throughout life.
Course Prerequisites/Corequisites
None.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Describe how different cultural values affect developmental behavior.
- List multiple factors influencing development and behavior.
- Explain the various environmental influences on development and behavior from adolescence through late adulthood
- List and define the major theories (e.g. Piaget, Erikson) of human development and articulate examples of how they might apply in everyday life
- Interpret developmental stages from various psychological perspectives (i.e. psychodynamic, cognitive, biosocial, behavioral, and psychosocial)
- Analyze the usefulness of norms in understanding human development. Explain how “normal” is a relative term and that normalcy can be different for different cultures and ethnic groups, and that what is defined as normal can change over time
- List the stages of human development from emerging to late adulthood and describe the key changes and their resulting behaviors at each stage
Major Topics to Be Included
- Emerging adulthood
- Middle adulthood
- The aging process
- Late adulthood
- Dying and death
- Health over the later part of the life span
- Divorce and single parent families
- Theories and personality development in adulthood
- Cultural influences on development