UConn 1070 Individual/Family Development is designed as an introduction to the field of Human Development and Family Science. Students become familiar with life span and developmental theories. The course focuses on individual development as well as theories on family systems; and how these systems help to shape the trajectory of individual development over time. The course includes an internship component. Student enrolled in the course receive AP (Advanced Placement)-weight credit. Upon successful completion of the course the student may also receive three university credits.

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• What is the psychosocial approach toward Human Development?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• understand the basic assumptions that guide the organization of the text.
• have a basic understanding of the psychosocial approach to the study of development, including the interrelationship among the biological, psychological, and societal systems.

KEY TERMS

assumptions, biological system, culture, life expectancy, life span, longevity, plasticity, poverty, psychological systems, psychosocial approach, social cognitive neuroscience, societal system

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• What is a family?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• define what makes a family.
• identify structural properties of families.
• understand how families adopt strategies and rules.
• demonstrate tasks that families execute.
• identify family first-order and second-order tasks.

KEY TERMS

adaptability, boundaries, covert rules, family, family themes, first-order tasks, interdependence, openness, organizational complexity, overt rules, rules, second-order tasks, strategies, stress, structure, wholeness

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How do the interactions between the developing fetus and the pregnant mother affect each other?
• What factors guide and impact fetal growth?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• describe the biochemical basic of genetic information and the process through which it is transmitted from one generation to the next.
• identify the contributions of genetic factors to individuality through their role in controlling the rate of development, their contributions to individual traits, and the genetic sources of abnormalities.
• trace fetal development through the three trimesters of pregnancy.
• describe the birth process and factors that contribute to complications with the mother and fetus.
• analyze the reciprocity between the pregnant women and the developing fetus.
• examine the impact of culture on pregnancy and childbirth.

KEY TERMS

abortion, amniotic sac, artificial insemination, assisted reproductive technologies, birth culture, cesarean section, dilation, doula, effacement, fertility drugs, fetal viability, gametes, genetic counseling, imprinting, in vitro fertilization, infertility, phenotype, placenta, zygote

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How does mutual adaptation of parents and infants establish meaningful interactions and a foundation of trust?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• identify important milestones in the maturation of the sensory and motor systems, and to describe the interactions among these systems during the first two years of life.
• define social attachment at the process through which infants develop strong emotional bonds with others, and to describe the dynamics of attachment formation during infancy.
• describe the development of sensorimotor intelligence, including an analysis of how infants organize experiences and conceptualize causality.
• examine how infants understand the properties of objects, including the sense that objects are permanent, that they have unique properties and functions, and that they can be categorized.
• examine the nature of emotional development, including emotional differentiation, the interpretation of emotions, and emotional regulation.
• describe the psychosocial crisis of trust verses mistrust, the central process through which the crisis is resolved, mutuality with the caregiver; the prime adaptive ego quality of hope; and the core pathology of withdrawal.
• evaluate the critical role of parents and caregivers during infancy, with special attentions to issues of physical safety, optimizing cognitive, social and emotional development.

KEY TERMS

apgar, attachment, behavior inhibition, causal schemes, causality, communication repair, disorganization attachment, faceness, foundational category, goal-corrected partnership, internal mental representations, intersubjectivity, mutuality with the caregiver, neural plasticity, prefrontal cortex, self-regulation, temperament, vagal tone, visual acuity

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How do locomotion skills affect the toddlers’ ability to investigate their environments?
• How do toddlers’ cope with stressful situations?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• describe the expansion of motor skills during toddlerhood, indicating their importance for the child’s expanding capacity to explore the environment and to experience opportunities for mastery.
• document accomplishments in language development and describe the influences of interactive experiences and the language environments for gaining communicative competence.
• describe the development of fantasy play and its importance for cognitive and social development.
• examine the development of self-control, especially impulse management and goad attainment, highlighting strategies young children use to help regulate their actions.
• analyze the psychosocial crisis of autonomy versus same and doubt, to clarify the central process of imitation, and to describe the prime adaptive ego strength of will and the core pathology of compulsion.
• conceptualize the impact of poverty on the development of toddlerhood.
• apply a psychosocial analysis to the topic of child care, emphasizing the impact of the nature and quality of care on development during toddlerhood.

KEY TERMS

autonomy, babbling, code switching, compulsions, delay of gratification, effort control, holophrases, inner speech, locomotion, love withdrawal, mirror neuron system, obsessions, overregularize, power assertion, preoperational thought, scaffolding, semiotic thinking, symbolic play, zone of proximal development

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How does starting school affect a child’s self concept?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• describe the importance of gender identification during early school age and its importance for the way a child interprets his or her experiences.
• describe the process of early moral development, drawing from theories and research to explain how knowledge, emotion and action combine to produce internalized morality.
• explore the transition to more complex group play and the process of friendship development in the early school-age years.
• explain the psychosocial crisis of initiative verses guilt, the central process of identification, the prime adaptive ego quality of purpose, and the core pathology of inhibition.
• analyze the construct of school readiness, its relation to the developmental tasks of early school age, and the obstacles that may prevent children from being able to adapt and learn in the school environment.

KEY TERMS

autonomous morality, avoidance conditioning, dyadic, ego ideal, heteronymous morality, inclusion, inhibition, internalization, object relations theory, perspective taking, self construal, self-theory, socially constructed, superego. theory of mind

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How do the social world and the formation of close friendships shape children?
• How do new levels of cognitive complexity allow children to engage in stimulating activities and experience the satisfaction of accomplishment?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• clarify the role of friendship in helping children to learn to take the point of view of others, be sensitive to the norms and pressures of the peer group, experience closeness in relationships, and clarify the negative consequences that result from social rejection and loneliness.
• describe the development of concrete operational thought, including conservation, classification skills, mathematical reasoning, and the child’s ability to understand and monitor his or her own knowledge and understanding.
• analyze the nature of skill learning, including the presentation of a model for the process of acquisition of complex skills such as reading and examination of societal factors that provide the context in which skill learning occurs.
• examine the development of self-evaluations skills, including self-efficacy, and ways that social expectations of parents, teachers, and peers contribute to a child’s self-evaluation.
• describe a new level of complexity in play as children become involved in team sports and athletic competition, and form more enduring in-group and out-group attitudes.
• explain the psychosocial crisis of industry versus inferiority; the central process through with the crisis is resolved; education; the prime adaptive ego quality of competence; and the core pathology of inertia.
• explore the impact of exposure to violence on development during middle childhood.

KEY TERMS

aggressive-rejecte, bullying, communication disorders, contextualized instruction, enactive attainment, hyperarousal, hypervigilance, inertia, in-group/out-group attitudes, learned helplessness, learning disorders, metacognition, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-efficacy, self- monitoring, superordinate group identity