Duration: 100 hours
Course Structure
There are 12 lessons as follows:
1. Introduction to Child Psychology
Levels of development, nature or nurture, isolating hereditary characteristics, Cause versus correlation, continuity versus discontinuity, cross sectional and Longitudinal studies, Reliability of verbal reports
2. The Newborn Infant
The Interactionist Approach, Range of Reaction, Niche Picking, Temperament Stimulus seeking, Emotional Disturbances During Pregnancy
3. States & Senses of the Infant
Sensory Discrimination, Infant States (sleep, Inactivity, Waking, Crying etc), Why are Psychologists so concerned with defining and describing these infant states?, Habituation, Crying, Soothing a Distressed Baby, Sound Discrimination, Smell and Taste Discrimination, Visual Discrimination, Depth Perception, Oral Sensitivity
4. Learning
Habituation, Vicarious Learning, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement, The Importance of Learning Control, etc
5. Emotions and Socialisation
Producing and Recognising Emotional Expression, Smiling, Biological Explanation, Perceptual Recognition Explanation, The Mother-Child Attachment, Fraudian Approach Bowlby's Approach, Social Learning Approach, Harlows Approach, The Role of Cognition in Attachment Formation, Maternal Attachment, Fear, Social Learning, Perceptual Recognition, Woman's Duel Role as Mothers and Workers, Is Day Care a Developmental Hazard to Children
6. Cognitive Development
Developing the ability to reason.
7. Language Development
Is language learned, or are we genetically programmed with it, The Social Learning Approach, The Hypothesis testing Approach, Under extending
8. Intelligence
Measuring Intelligence, Cultural Bias, IQ, Testing Intelligence as a tool.
9. Socialisation – Part A
Social Cognation -self awareness, -awareness of others as individuals in their own right, -the development of empathy, -taking turns, -having a point of view/perspective,-ability to see something from another persons perspective. Friendships, Social Scripts Scripts that Pretend Play
10. Morality
Moral development, Aggression & Altruism, Freuds Approach, Piagets Approach, Kohlbergs Approach
11.Sexuality
Freuds phases (oral phase, anal phase, phallic phase, latent phase, genital phase) The Acquisition of Gender & Role Identity, Concept of psycho-social development
12. Socialisation – Part B
The Family Influence, Discipline, Siblings, Family Structures, School Influence, Peer Influence, Acceptance & Rejection, Imitation & Reinforcement
EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS YOU MAY CONFRONT IN THIS COURSE
Discuss what environmental and social aspects you think are required for the “ideal” environment for a developing child in your country.
Genetic and environmental factors operate together in influencing the child's personality development" Discuss the above statement.
Name and describe one personality characteristic which may be genetically determined. What evidence supports the possibility that it may be hereditary?
Genetic and environmental factors operate together in influencing the child's personality development"Discuss the above statement.
Name and describe one personality characteristic which may be genetically determined.
What evidence supports the possibility that it may be hereditary?
Name the kind of learning in which a stimulus which usually produces an unconditioned response is manipulated to produce a conditioned response. Give an example of this kind of learning.
Discuss exactly how you would use operant conditioning to encourage a child to socialise.
Use the perceptual recognition approach to explain smiling and fear in infants.
How are Freud’s, Harlow’s and Bowlby’s explanations of the formation of mother-child attachments different? Which do you think is more credible and why?
Explain reflection-impulsivity, and its significance in cognitive development.
Explain the strengths and weakness of social learning theory in explaining language acquisition.
"Intelligence is overall genetically determined". Do you agree or disagree? Why?
If you think you would like to look at older children, why not consider our course that focuses on Adolescents. Please click here - http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/ADOLESCENT-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS211-583.aspx
Of if you would like to consider how children are educated – consider our Educational Psychology course - http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/EDUCATIONAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS105-392.aspx
Developmental Psychology is another course that also considers how we develop during our life time. http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/DEVELOPMENTAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS210-510.aspx
If you would like to see our range of psychology books, please visit - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14
For more information on the range of careers available in psychology, have a look at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14
We have some interesting articles on psychology and counseling at - http://www.acs.edu.au/psychol/
Childhood is a time of rapid change. Anyone who has seen children grow and develop will have observed how much they change and the many changes that do occur. The Child Psychology course looks to develop an understanding of how children think, and how their psychology changes as they develop. This course will be of value to anyone who works OR lives with children (e.g. parents, play leaders, teachers, etc).
Temperament - Nature or Nurture
Most adults have witnessed the considerable differences in temperament between different new born babies. Some babies seem to cry or become irritable at the slightest provocation, causing many sleepless nights for parents. Others seem much more amiable, always smiling and hardly ever crying. Many mothers tell you that they have raised both types. Is this evidence of an inborn hereditary personality trait; or is it merely coincidence?
Maternal Behaviour and Attachment Formation
Many mothers would no doubt like to know exactly what maternal actions and attitudes will elicit a healthy degree of attachment in their children. Psychologists know that the failure to develop a healthy attachment to the caregiver can lead to all sorts of problems; amongst others it can lead to cognitive deficiencies, delinquency and anti social behaviour
The type of relationship we develop as an infant can continue to affect our relationships in the future. Many of the most successful psychotherapists base their methods of counselling on this belief. People become stuck in the same pattern of relating to others. Often this pattern was established in very early childhood, before our conscious memory.
These are just two areas that are studied within the course.
