Psychology 206: Human Development

Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

Developmental Psychology: Adolescence through End of Life

Fall, 2006

McIntyre Hall 309- M, W, F 1:00-1:50

Instructor: Christopher Jones (CJ), PhD

Office: Howarth Hall, Room 010, Phone: 253-879-6101 Office Hours: Tues. 1:00-2:00, Wed. 2:00-3:00 or by appointment Email: [email protected] this is the preferred method of communication.

Course Description This course examines psychological development from the beginning of adolescence to late adulthood and through the end of life. We will examine physical/biological, cognitive, and social/interpersonal domains of development, with particular emphasis on influences and interactions among these various aspects of development and change, as well as the research methods used to study development. Several theories of adolescent and adult development will be presented and discussed and consistently referred to for the purpose of better understanding how these may organize and integrate a broad array of research findings. Particular emphasis will be given to a life-span approach to developmental psychology, which underscores the importance of examining individual time points in development within the context of the full life cycle. The course also emphasizes the ways in which individual development cannot be clearly understood without examining the social and cultural context in which we, as individuals, are embedded, as well as the key developmental milestones and transitions (e.g. marriage, parenthood, etc) that may influence development in critical ways.

Class Goals and Objectives I have four primary goals for this class. By the end of this course, you should: a. understand key themes and issues in adolescent and adult development Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

b. have developed your ability to discuss and communicate various issues in developmental psychology from both a theoretical and empirical perspective c. have developed critical thinking skills through analyzing and evaluating various (and competing) theoretical perspectives d. Understand key empirical findings in the field of developmental psychology so that this knowledge can be applied to “real-world” issues that you will be exposed to in your own development. Expectations Sharing of responsibility- I have a responsibility to you to provide instruction and knowledge of developmental psychology in an effective and efficient manner. I try hard to encourage student learning and critical thinking. However, at the same time, I expect students to take responsibility for their learning.  I expect students to complete the readings before the end of each week.  I expect students to attend and be engaged with the material in every class unless previous arrangements have been made with me to be absent.  I expect students to let me know when they are confused.  If you are having difficulty with any aspect of this course (content, my teaching, lecture format, etc), I can’t help you until I know. The sooner you ask for help, the easier it will be for both of us to address the situation.

Required Readings  Required Text: Available from the UPS Bookstore o Life-Span Development, 10th Edition, 2006. Author: John Santrock.  Additional Readings will be available throughout the quarter on reserve through the UPS library system or through the class website. I will make announcements when readings are available

Plan to do the assigned readings prior to the date the topic will be covered in class. The material discussed in class will be much easier to understand if you have done this. Chapters and pages listed in the class schedule refer to the textbook. Some additional readings are required to better elaborate on topics discussed in the text that don’t receive sufficient attention and will warrant added discussion to the class.

Relation between Classes and Textbook Classes will consist of lectures, short video clips, demonstrations, and some guest speakers. Some material covered in the textbook will be covered in class, since both the text and I will cover concepts, terms, theories, and research findings that are of central importance in psychology. The amount of overlap will vary depending on the topic; for some topics the classes and text will overlap quite a bit, for others they will overlap very little. In general, the classes are not designed simply to repeat or explain the chapters. Rather, lectures will often introduce a lot of material that is not in the text, and time will be devoted to discussion and analysis so that you can learn about psychology in ways not possible through the textbook alone. Therefore, as you may find in many of your other college classes, there is a lot of material in the assigned chapters that will not be covered in class and which you will need to learn on your own. If you are seeking a class that does not require a lot of Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound independent reading (i.e., a class where most of the material covered in the textbook also is covered and explained in class)… then do not take this course. There is a lot of independent reading and that text material WILL be included in the exams. I will have office hours if you want additional assistance learning this material.

Attendance and Class Participation All lectures and sections are mandatory. To reward students who are clearly making an effort in this class, a nominal amount of points (10) will be given for positive participation in lecture and discussion. If you miss a lecture you are responsible for getting the missed material from another student in the class. I do not give out my notes.

Assessment and Evaluation  Exams- There will be two exams and a final “partially-comprehensive” exam. The first two exams are worth 100 points and the final is worth 150 points. Each exam will primarily be assessing your fluency in the material that is covered for the respective exam period. However, there is a high probability that some material on every exam will include information that was learned for a previous exam. Exams will be a combination of essay, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and multiple choice. One third of the final exam for this class will be comprehensive and the other two thirds will cover information from the last part of the semester!

 Missed Exams- Students are NOT permitted to make up exams unless excused by the instructor (that’s me) prior to the exams. Make a point to contact me BEFORE a test if you need to arrange a make up due to a university approved event (ie. Illness). I can’t stress enough how important it is to contact me BEFORE the exam. Contacting me after the exam will result in 0 points for you on that exam- NO EXCEPTIONS! Excused students are expected to make up exams within one week of the scheduled exam. Make up exams will consist of short-answer questions and essays. These exams require much more synthesis of the material.

 Student-led Discussions and Class Participation (100 Points total)  Student led Discussions (25 points) As part of a team, each of you will help lead one class discussion on a reading (or two readings) during the semester. After reading and “digesting” the assigned article(s) each group will also be responsible for reading the questions submitted by other students and compiling from these (as well as their own questions and ideas) a set of key questions (4-6 major questions is a good guideline) to help guide the discussion. Obviously it will be impossible to cover all of the questions raised by students, but the team members should do their best to take into account as many of these questions and themes as possible. Additionally, the student leaders should be prepared to address key clarification questions about the reading which may be provided by me if insufficient analysis was given. On the day of the discussion, each group should be prepared to guide the class in approximately a 40 minute discussion Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

exploring the issues raised by the reading(s). Your team participation grade will be based on: a. the thoughtfulness and relevance of questions that your group provides, b. preparation for the discussion, and c. your group’s success in guiding the class in a thoughtful and engaging discussion of the issues raised by the assigned reading(s). A sign-up sheet will be distributed during the first week for you to sign up for the available topic/articles.

 Class Participation in Student-led Discussions (10 points each discussion)- On days that there are student-led discussions, it is the rest of the students’ responsibility to have read the relevant articles and participate in the discussion (Believe me, when it’s your turn to lead a discussion, you will be praying that other students will participate). To facilitate this process, each student will be required to submit one GOOD discussion question based on the corresponding set of readings. These questions must be submitted to the respective student- leaders and to me by e-mail no later than 8 pm (at the latest) on the day prior to each student-led discussion. Any question submitted after 8 pm will receive an automatic 0 for class participation for that set of readings. For this component of your participation grade, I will be looking for questions that demonstrate that you have read the relevant material and thought about it. In other words, I am looking for thoughtful (and thought-provoking) questions that will help facilitate productive discussion and learning. If after reading and thinking about the material, there is something that you don’t understand or want clarification about, in addition to your discussion question, you are encouraged to submit a clarification question to the student leaders and to me, to promote your (and other’s understanding of the material. o Aside about discussing personal experiences-Personal experience and the experiences of others you may observe can be a valuable source of information for studying development and these personal anecdotes can occasionally contribute very positively to the discussion of key issues. However, it is also possible for personal accounts to meander and turn into “story time” or become too personal and inappropriate for the current discussion. In order to make the most of this source of information, I want us to try and stay focused on the primary developmental issues and concepts during these discussions and maybe save the majority of personal experiences to call into question or briefly illustrate key research findings and theoretical principles.

 Focus Papers (250 points total)- There are three writing projects in this class which are designed to provide you with opportunities to explore topics in human development from a research perspective. You will be applying developmental theories and concepts from class and the textbook in a way that makes them more concrete and personal. Each paper is briefly explained below and will be explained in much greater detail prior to the assignment. o Relationship paper (100 points)- For this paper you will be interviewing two fellow university students (or peers who are college-aged) who are involved in a romantic relationship and examining various aspects of that Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

relationship from a developmental perspective. Based on the information from this interview and information you find from empirical journal articles, you will then write a 5-7 page paper.

o Alcohol/Parent-teen paper (100 points)- For this paper you will chose one of two topics: 1. Alcohol Paper: The purpose of this project is to collect information about alcohol use in early adulthood. Students will interview five friends who are in early adulthood, about their history of alcohol use. Students will use the interview questions on data sheet that I provide and are encouraged to develop questions of their own. You will then record each person’s responses, and finally write a 5-7 page report describing the findings and how they relate to the information in the text and in class about alcohol use in early adulthood.

2. Parent-teen paper: Parenting teens has always been a challenge, particularly if parents are also grappling with their own developmental issues (e.g., midlife). For this activity, students will either interview parents of teens they know, or join a parenting discussion group on the Internet. Parenting discussion groups and chat rooms are fairly easy to locate using traditional search engines. In addition to interview questions that I will provide, students are encouraged to develop interview questions that tap into information relevant to this stage of development. Interview data will then be incorporated into a written report (5 to 7 pages) integrating course material.

o Life Review/Spirituality paper (50 points)- For this paper you will chose one of two topics: 1. Life Review- People frequently engage in a process of reviewing their lives when they enter their middle years and beyond. This process, often referred to as “life reviews,” can be highly beneficial. Although dwelling on the past will rarely result in greater productivity or progress, taking a look at how things are going and how they got there can help them to work toward the future. Of course, it is not necessary for a person to be in the middle years to do something like a life review. A life review can take a variety of forms, however, you learn far more about what a life review is if you actually do one on yourself. You will conduct a personal life review and then write a brief (3-4 pages) report in which you indicate how this life review gave you a broader view of middle adulthood. Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

2. Spirituality Paper- You will visit two websites provided by me and at least one other related one that you find. Based on the information located at these sites, you will write a 3-4-page paper that covers: a. background and statistics b. trends of spirituality and religious activity in old age and c. research findings regarding religious or spiritual practices and health and well-being. Note: Plagiarism Please note that I will pursue incidents of plagiarism with the fullest vigor allowed by the University of Puget Sound regulations. An incomplete will only be given in cases conforming to University of Puget Sound policy. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with all relevant regulations and policies.

Grading- Points toward your final grade will be counted as follows:

Exam 1 & 2 (100 points each) 200 points Final Exam 150 points Paper 1 & 2 (100 points each) 200 points Paper 3 50 points Leader for 1 student-led discussion 40 points 5 Participation in student-led discussions- 10 points each 50 points General class participation 10 points

Total points possible 650 points

Your Grade will be determined according to the following continuous scale: Class Percentage Grade Class Percentage Grade 90-100 A 70-77.49 C 87.5-89.9 B+ 67.5-69.9 D+ 80-87.49 B 60-67.49 D 77.5-79.9 C+ 0-59.9 F

Course Website Although the course website has not been established for this class, it will be the primary means for me to get handouts and additional readings to you, to post grade information, as well as to communicate a variety of other information. Please visit it often. It is your responsibility to get handouts and readings there (unless provided in class) and have them printed. There are also links there to contact me via email. The course website should be up by the end of the first week of the semester.

Class Schedule LECTURE/DISCUSSION READINGS & Due Dates Week 1  Course Overview Handout: Syllabus 8/28-9/1  Key issues in Developmental Psychology Chapter 1 (pg 1-24)  Life-span development as a Science Chapter 2 (pg 38-68 Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

Week 2 September 4- Labor Day- No class Chapter 2 (cont.) 9/4-9/8  Life-span Dev. as a Science (cont) Arnett Article  Adolescence- where do we begin? Historical Shanahan Article and modern perspectives Handout: Relationship Paper Week 3  Puberty and Physical Changes in Chapter 12 (pg 360-374). 9/11-9/15 Adolescence  Adolescent Health and Cognition Chapter 12 (374-386) Week 4  Identity-Who am I? Chapter 13 (pg 394-404) 9/18-9/22  Student-led Discussion Article TBA  Sexuality and Romantic Relationships Chapter 13 (pg 407-412)  Guest Speaker- Amber Tabares, PhD Furman & Wehner article Week 5  Individuation and Parent-Adolescent Chapter 13 (pg 404-407) 9/25-9/29 Relationships Article TBA  Adolescent Delinquency and Violence Chapter 13 (pg 419-426)  Student-led Discussion Crick Article  Review for exam 1 Relationship Paper Due 9/29 Week 6  Exam 1- Monday October 2 Handout: Alcohol/Parent-Teen 10/2-10/6 Covers 8/28-9/29 Paper  Physical and Biological Development in Chapter 14 (pg 430-451) Young Adulthood (not on exam 1) Week 7  Young Adult Cognitive and Moral Dev. Chapter 14 cont. (pg 451-460) 10/9-10/13  Psychosocial Development in Young Chapter 15 (pg 464-479) Adulthood: Intimacy vs. Isolation  Student-led Discussion Article TBA Week 8 October 16, Midterm break NO Class 10/16-10/20  Love, Marriage, & Intimate Relationships Chapter 15 cont. (pg 479-495)  Guest Speaker- Janice Driver, PhD Driver, et al. Article Week 9  The Transition to Parenthood and the Clements & Markman Article 10/23-10/27 Marital Relationship  Student-led Discussion Shapiro, et al. Article  Physical Changes and the Psychological Chapter 16 (pg 498-513) Impact on Middle Adulthood Week 10  Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood Chapter 16 (pg 513-523) 10/30-11/3 Shimamura et al Article  Psychosocial Development in Middle Chapter 17 (pg 526-540) Adulthood Article TBA Week 11  Catch up and Exam Review Handout: Life Review/ Spirituality 11/6-11/10  Exam 2- Wednesday, November 8 Chapter 17 (pg 541-548) Covers 10/4-11/6  Stability and Change During Midlife Week 12  Video: “Dad” Raup & Myers Article 11/13-11/17  Student-led Discussion Alcohol/Parent-Teen Paper  Video: “Dad” cont. Due 11/13 Week 13  Societal Views of the Elderly 11/20-11/24  Student Led Discussion Article TBA Department of Psychology University of Puget Sound

November 22nd and 24th Thanksgiving- NO class Week 14  Physical and Cognitive Dev in Late Adulthood Chapter 18 & 19 11/27-12/1  Socioemotional Dev in Late Adulthood Chapter 20 Week 15  Death and Grieving Chapter 21 12/4-12/6  Exam Review Article TBA December 8th reading period- No class Life Review/Spirituality Due 12/6 Dec. 15 Final COMPREHENSIVE Exam- Friday 12-2pm