July 9, 2026
I'm about to start creating the syllabus for my introductory class in Cognitive Development. I was reminded that on that syllabus, I write a little about developmental psychology at Brown, and how it relates to our curriculum. I figured this would be a good space to share this (although this is somewhat repetitive with what I will write on my syllabus.
The CPSY department offers two introductory classes in Developmental Psychology (CPSY0610 and CPSY0620). CPSY0610 is called Children's Thinking: Introudction to Cognitive Development. CPSY0620 is called Introduction to Social and Moral Development. CPSY0610 focuses on Cognitive Development (how children think). CPSY0620 focuses more on Social Development (how children interact with others).
The courses contain about three weeks of overlapping material. Don't let the numbers fool you: The two classes can be taken in any order, and CPSY0610 is not easier than CPSY0620. They are at the same level of difficulty.
As a general rule, don't let any of the numbers (except the >1000, <1000 difference) fool you in the CPSY numbering system. CPSY0100 is not an easier or harder class than CPSY0700. The '1' refers to classes in behavioral neuroscience and the '7' refers to classes in social psychology. Development is '6', so all the developmental classes have a '6' in them.
Both CPSY0610 and CPSY0620 satisfy a foundational requirement for the Psychology concentration. If students concentrating in psychology are interested specifically in developmental psychology, then they should take both classes, using one as a foundational requirement and another as an elective.
CPSY0610 can also be used to satisfy a foundational requirement for Cognitive Science or Cognitive Neuroscience, but not Behavioral Decision Sciences (BDS). CPSY0620 can be used to satisfy a foundational requirement for BDS, but not Cognitive Science or Cognitive Neuroscience. Typically, CPSY0620 cannot be used to satisfy any requirement in Cognitive Science or Cognitive Neuroscience and CPSY0610 cannot be used to satisfy any requirement in BDS.
Together, CPSY0610 and CPSY0620 are designed to offer a year-long introduction to Developmental Psychology, and provide a springboard for further study in that field. Both serve as a prerequisite for any advanced class in Developmental Psychology taught in the CPSY Department (i.e., any course numbered 16XX).
The Education department offers EDUC0800, which focuses more on the relation between development in education. It covers different material and topics, and cannot be used as a foundational requirement for any concentration in the CPSY department. I recommend speaking with your concentration advisor for more information about this course and whether it is applicable. Some (but not all) advanced classes in the development taught in the CPSY department (those 16XX classes) will take EDUC0800 as a prerequisite (instead of CPSY0610 or CPSY0620), so talk with the professor of the class if you have questions.
Finally, the CPSY department used to teach a third class, just called "Developmental Psychology" (CPSY0600). Even though this course is still in the course catalog, it has not been taught for over a decade, and we do not plan to teach it in the near future. The 610-620 courses replaced this course when the Psychology department and the Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences departments merged in 2012. Please do not count on it being taught and do not plan to use it as a concentration requirement.