Psychology
Unit Outine
Psychology: Developmental
Psyc3313
Semester: 2
Campus: Nedlands
Unit Coordinator: Dr Lisa Gibson
This outline is the currently available version for this unit. Detailed Information on unit
content and assessment may undergo modification before the time of delivery of the
unit. For the most up to date information students must consult material supplied to
enrolled students by the unit co-ordinator.
All material reproduced herein has been copied in accordance with and pursuant to a statutory licence administered
by Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), granted to the University of Western Australia pursuant to Part VB of the
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).
Copying of this material by students, except for fair dealing purposes under the Copyright Act, is prohibited. For the
purposes of this fair dealing exception, students should be aware that the rule allowing copying, for fair dealing
purposes, of 10% of the work, or one chapter/article, applies to the original work from which the excerpt in this course
material was taken, and not to the course material itself
© The University of Western Australia 2001
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Introduction
This unit presents an account of how human cognitive development is influenced by an interplay of experience and biology. Understanding this process requires understanding the
intervening cognitive structure that mediates development across the lifespan (what we call
the cognitive phenotype). The unit will build on the general principles and theories of general
developmental psychology that you learned about in first and second year. While introducing
you to more advanced concepts of developmental psychology and the major data and
theories on development in specific domains (e.g. executive functioning, reasoning, language,
reading and numeracy), we will use atypical development to illustrate how cognitive concepts
can illuminate the relationship between biology and experience. Thus, our major focus will be
to try to understand developmental disorders such as specific language impairment, mental
retardation, autism, and ADHD. We will see how “causal modeling” can provide a framework
for understanding developmental disorders and how it might help tackle the problem of
comorbidity – the fact that developmental disorders tend to go together.
Broad learning outcomes
Outcomes
Students will be able to recall and integrate key
knowledge and concepts about:

the many dimensions of psychological development
(genetic, biological, cognitive, social and cultural)

current theories and research findings about the
intervening cognitive structures that mediate
development across the lifespan

current understanding of a number of developmental
disorders
Students will acquire skills in:

research methods used in developmental psychology

critical thinking and conceptual skills
Assessment Activity
You will demonstrate this
knowledge in your
assignment and
examination
We will assess these skills
primarily in your lab class
and in your examination
Advisable prior study
Psychology 2202
Technical Requirements
None
Software Requirements
Use of SPSS for data analysis
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Contact details
Unit web site (may include Web CT URL): http://Webct.uwa.edu.au/
Name of Unit coordinator: Dr Lisa Gibson
e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 9489 7940
Fax: 9489 7700
Consultation hours: Friday 1-2
Unit structure summary
There will be 13x2 hour lectures in the Woolnough lecture theatre (check the university
timetable for these details). In addition you will be required to attend 4 x 2 hour lab classes as
well as complete laboratory work outside of class (this will be assigned to you in the labs and
should amount to approximately 6-8 hours extra work).
Lectures
The lecture schedule is provided below
Practical and/or laboratory sessions
The labs in developmental will be integrated with the labs from both third year social and
abnormal psychology. Martyn Churcher will act as Lab coordinator for the labs in third year
psychology (excepting 311). You should sign up for the same time-slot for all your
psychology third year units (again, excepting 311). This way the time slot for your third year
labs will be the same every week, and you will have the same tutor, but the content will cycle
through social, abnormal and developmental psychology. Clearly you only need to attend the
lab class in weeks relevant to the units that you are taking. For developmental they will be the
labs in weeks 4, 7, 10, & 13. The four weeks of developmental labs will be divided into two
labs on familial associations in personality and cognitive performance (weeks 4 & 7) and an
“observational lab” based on children’s language (weeks 10 & 13). More details on the labs
will be given during the course.
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Topics : For details of times and venues of all teaching sessions please consult the
university timetable at http://www.timetable.uwa.edu.au/
WEEK
1
LECTURE1
Introduction
to the unit
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Nativism and
the brain
Environmental
influences on
development
Autism
Gender
differences
and
development
Development
of memory
Development
of reasoning
Development
of numeracy
Early language
development
(LD)
From language
to literacy
Impact of
Language
difficulties on
social
development
LD and ADHD
Defining
developmental
disorders
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
LECTURE2
Causal
modeling of
developmental
disorders
Genetics and
development
The cognitive
phenotype
STAFF
LG
Autism
Gender
differences and
development
MM
MM
Development of
memory
Development of
reasoning
Development of
numeracy
Early LD
MM
From language
to literacy
Impact of
Language
difficulties on
social
development
LD and ADHD
Exam
preparation
SH
LG
LG
MM
MM
BF
BF
SH
LG
LG – Lisa Gibson; MM – Murray Maybery; BF – Brad Farrant; SH - Steve
Heath
References, resources and reading materials
The course text is:
Morton, J. (2004). Understanding developmental disorders: A causal modelling approach.
Oxford: Blackwell.
There are a number of other books that are useful reference material and are to be found in
the library, including:
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Firth, U. (2003). Autism: explaining the enigma. Oxford: Blackwell.
Goswami, U. (1998). Cognition in children. Hove: Psychology Press.
Specific reference material may be provided on a lecture by lecture basis and will typically be
found on the WebCT site.
Unit web site
All enrolled students have access to the unit WebCT site (http://webct.uwa.edu.au). This site
will be used for notices, posting of supplementary course materials, email and discussion. It is
strongly recommended that you log onto this site on a daily basis. The website should be
used for all remote communication to the unit co-ordinator. Students are encouraged to pose
questions about course content on the discussion forum of the site so that all class members
can view and contribute to the discussion.
Assessment Details
Assessed Work
% mark
Participation in Labs (10% of final
mark); participation marks will be
awarded by the tutors based on
attendance, completion of set tasks,
and participation in class
10
One 2000 word lab report
30
One 2-hour Examination; Essay
format
60
Timing
9am Monday 15th October
Plagiarism
The University of Western Australia takes very seriously the matter of academic misconduct
by students and has policies in place that define misconduct (including plagiarism) and the
penalties that apply. The consequences for misconduct can be severe, including exclusion
from the university.
All students are expected to make themselves aware of the definitions and policies relating to
academic misconduct, found at the websites below, and with any additional requirements or
stipulations that may be provided by individual unit co-ordinators.
http://www.secretariat.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/20839/StuMiscondInfo.rtf
http://www.teachingandlearning.uwa.edu.au/tl/academic_conduct
When you obtain authority to log in to the unit website, you will se an online module on
academic conduct which you are strongly advised to complete in your own time.
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