PSYC30016: Social and Emotional Development

One lab report of 2000 words (worth 40%), 2 hour exam (of 100 MCQs) during the exam period (worth 60%). Lab class attendance is hurdle and you can miss only 1 lab class throughout the semester without a medical certificate/documentation

This was my last psych-elective subject and I really enjoyed it! It's not a very "science-y" psych subject and so the content is straightforward that you can think about in the context of real life child behaviour and development. Basically, if you think the development of emotional and social capabilities in children is interesting, then this subject is for you! I've mentioned the topics covered in lectures above, and it seems like a lot (which in psych subjects is normal LOL) but actually it's 2x 1-hour lectures per week so that's why the content is expanded out into 24 lectures This subject is a bit content-heavy (though the content itself is not too difficult and is actually super interesting if you're into this field of psych).

The assessment for this subject is a lab report and MCQ-based exam. The exam is 100 MCQs in 2 hours (but you should be able to finish well before that ). The lab report involved us getting acquainted with the PIOS (Peer Interaction Observation System) and using results from SPSS to form our own research Q and rationale about one of the peer observational codes (and a corresponding peer response). So each student would've most likely had a different research Q. I chose to do mine on child aggression and passive/active exclusion by peers. For the lab report, try to make your intro and discussion sections elaborate and avoid putting it unnecessary 'general' information about child development (you only have 2000 words and no 10% leeway). Also in your discussion, try justifying or explaining your results in terms of typical child development concepts for that age group (e.g. our study had mainly 3 year olds iirc and so you could make links to absence of Theory of Mind or poor emotional self regulation etc depending on what your results were and whether they were significant or not).

The exam was basically assessing our knowledge of content from lectures and textbook readings. It was all MCQs (unlike 2nd year Dev Psych where we had MCQs and short answer essay style Qs). If you had a fairly good understanding of all the lectures (and revised/crammed to some extent in swotvac like me haha) you would manage fine in the exam Although a lot of studies were covered in this subject, don't worry about memorising each and every name and matching it to the correct study, because there weren't any Qs like that in the exam I thought the exam was fair; it did have some Qs which I found a bit difficult and some 'applying knowledge' to a scenario Qs but other than that I thought the Qs were a good representation of lecture content
So if you're interested in learning about how different influences (e.g. attachment, emotional regulation, temperament, sex, family, parenting styles, media, aggression etc) shape the normal (or sometimes abnormal) emotional, social and personality development of children (starting from infancy) then you might really enjoy this subject

Yes, with screen capture

History and Themes of Child Development, Research Methods and Designs, Peer Acceptance, Theories of Child Development (Freud, Behavioural Genetics, Evolution, Erickson, Behaviourism, Social Learning), Emotions and Temperament, Self-Concept, Attachment Theory & Influences on Attachment, Self Development, Social Cognition, Achievement Motivation & Influences on Achievement, Sex Differences in Development, Androgeny and Sexuality, Theories of Aggression & its Influences, Altruism and Prosocial Behaviour, Moral Development, Family & familial variations, Schooling, Friends, and Media Integration in Child Development. All topics are focused mainly on infant and child development into adolescence

Dr. Heidi Gazelle (takes all the lectures except for those covered by Professor Nick Allen - he takes the lectures on evolution/behavioural genetics, emotions, temperament and attachment theory).
Having done Developmental Psychology (PSYC20008) in 2nd year will be beneficial (as a lot of concepts are repeated/elaborated upon) but it's not essential (definitely NOT a pre-req).

No, but we were given practice Qs

Social & Personality Development (David R Shaffer, 6th Edition) (unlike other psych subjects, we used this textbook quite a bit. The subject content is basically derived from the chapters of the textbook and I thought the book was really good at elaborating on concepts/studies and written in a way that was easy to understand LOL).

4.5 out of 5

2 x 1 hour lectures and 1 lab class/tutorial on alternate weeks (for us, it was weeks 2,3,5,8 & 11)

Semester 1, 2014

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