Developmental Psychology

By Dr. Koijam Sobita Devi | Assistant Professor, Dept. of Teacher Education, Manipur University

Learners enrolled: 487

Developmental psychology is the study of development in human beings at different stages of life from conception till death. It refers to how people grow, adapt and change over the course of their lifetime physically, socially, cognitively, emotionally, morally and through language and personality development. Development of an individual also depends on heredity and environmental factors. Human development follows certain patterns and the sequence of development may be predicted but there are differences from individual to individual in the manner and the nature of development as every individual is unique.

The main objectives of this course are to enable the learners to understand the concept of human development, its relevant theories and themes with due emphasis on research designs in the field. This course will help the learners to understand the facets of the different stages of life from prenatal to adulthood along with the associated domains of development in order to inculcate sensitivity to socio-cultural contexts starting from the family, peers, schools and media. This course will also analyse the process of development in the prevailing different socio-cultural context of India.

After successful completion of this course, learners will be able to explain the concept of human development judiciously and critically analyse the theories of Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development, Frued’s Psycho-sexual Theory, Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory, Erickson’s Psycho-social Theory, Kohlberg’s Moral Development, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory and apply them in their day today life. The learners will also be able to develop appropriate methodology and design concerning research on human development. The learners will be able to recognise individual differences as a consequence of heredity and environment and the role of family, peers, school and media particularly in the Indian context. The learners are expected to identify factors that lead to a person’s behaviour and personality.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	15 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	5
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	07 Jul 2025
End Date :	31 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	31 Aug 2025
Exam Date :
NCrF Level	5.0
Industry Details :	Teaching
Exam Date and Shift :	Shall be communicated later

Page Visits

Course layout

WEEK 1	1	Concept of Human Development: Meaning, perspectives, processes
	2	Lifespan perspective
	3	Psychoanalytic perspective: Freud’s psychosexual theory
	4	PART I -Psychodynamic Perspective- Erikson’S Psychosocial Theory, PART II - Developments In Neo-Freudian Theories & PART III - Karen Horney’S Approach To Personality Development
WEEK 2	5	Behavioural perspective: Classical conditioning
	6	Behavioural perspective: Operant conditioning
	7	Cognitive perspective: Piaget’s cognitive development theory
	8	Cognitive perspective: Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory
WEEK 3	9	Cognitive perspective: Information processing
	10	Social cognitive perspective: Bandura’s social cognitive theory
	11	Bioecological perspective: Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory
	12	Constructive learning
WEEK 4	13	Humanistic Perspective: Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy theory
	14	Humanistic Perspective: Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Development Theory
	15	Evolutionary Perspective
	16	Ethological Perspective: Konrad Lorenz's Imprinting Theory
WEEK 5	17	PART I- Ethological Perspective: John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
	18	Themes of Human Development
	19	Research Designs: Correlational, Experimental, modified experimental
	20	Prenatal period
WEEK 6	21	Childbirth and postpartum period
	22	Infancy
	23	Babyhood
WEEK 7	24	Early Childhood
	25	Middle and Late Childhood
	26	Puberty
WEEK 8	27	Adolescence
	28	Early Adulthood
	29	Middle Adulthood
WEEK 9	30	Late Adulthood
	31	End of Life
	32	Physical and perceptual development
WEEK 10	33	Cognitive development
	34	Language development
	35	Emotional development
WEEK 11	36	Moral and social development
	37	Development of intelligence
	38	Development of personality
WEEK 12	39	Gender Development and Stereotyping
	40	Development of self - I
	41	Psychology of Individual differences
WEEK 13	42	AbnormalBehaviour - I
	43	Family: family as a social system, socialization within the family
		Family Parent-Youth Conflict-1
		Family-Sibling Relationship And Intergenerational Relationship-1
	44	Family: cultural influences, lifestyles, andvulnerable families
WEEK 14	45	Peers: Importance of Peer Relations, and Development of peer sociability
	46	Media and Development
	47	Growing up in scheduled caste and tribe families
WEEK 15	48	Growing up in urban and rural environment
	49	Growing up as girls
	50	Creating an effective learning environment

Books and references

Baron, R. A. & Kalsher, M. J. (2001). Psychology (5th ed.). UK: Allyn and Bacon.
Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U. M. (2006). Life span theory in developmental psychology. In W. Damon & R. M. Learner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.), Vol. 1, pp. 569-664. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Berk, L. E. (2018). Development through the lifespan (7th ed.). Pearson.
Bjorklund, D. F., & Pellegrini, A. D. (2002). The origins of human nature: Evolutionary developmental psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The ecology of human development. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.), Vol. 1. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Dacey, J.S. and Travers, J.F. (2002). Human development: Across the lifespan (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Damon, W. & Learner, R. M. (2006). Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.), Vol. 1. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Diamond, A. (2009). The interplay of biology and the environment broadly defined. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1–8.
Hillman, C. H., Erickson, K. I., & Kramer, A. F. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 58–65.
Hurlock, E. B. (1980). Developmental psychology: A life-span approach (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Johnson, G. B., & Losos, J. (2010). The living world (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Klein, S. B. (2009). Learning. Thousand Oaks. California: Sage.
Neugarten, B. L. (1969). Continuities and discontinuities of psychological issues into adult life. Human Development, 12(2), 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1159/000270858
Neugarten, B. L. (1986). The aging society. In A. Pifer & L. Bronte (Eds.), Our aging society: Paradox and promise. New York: W. W. Norton.
Piaget, J. (1970). Piaget’s Theory (G. Gellerier & J. Langer, Trans.). In: P.H. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael’s Manual of Child Psychology (3rd ed.), Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.
Santrock, J. W. (2002). Life-span development (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill
Scheibe, S., & Carstensen, L. L. (2010). Emotional aging: Recent findings and future trends. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 65B(2), 135–144.
Smith, J. & Baltes, B. (1999). Lifespan perspectives on development. In M. Bornstein & M. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Instructor bio

Dr. Koijam Sobita Devi

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Teacher Education, Manipur University

Dr. Koijam Sobita Devi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education, Manipur University, Imphal. She has teaching experience of 25 years. Her areas of interest are Child psychology, Adolescent Psychology, Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, Assessment of Learning, Women Studies, etc. She has authored a book entitled “Child Rearing Practices in Manipur Meiteis, Muslims and Tribes”. She has published articles in National and International journals and contributed chapters for books She has presented papers in National and International conferences and seminars. She has organised various academic programmes at National and International level. She was the resource person for 2 MOOC lectures on ‘Educational Technology’ which was put up at www.swayam.gov.in under EMRC, Manipur University.

Course certificate

- Internal Assessment- Weekly assessments released in the course shall be considered for Internal Marks and will carry 30 percent for the Overall Result. Out of all weekly assignments, the best/top five scores will be considered for the final Internal Assessment marks.

- End-term Assessment - The final exam shall be conducted by NTA, and will carry 70 percent for the overall Result.

- All students who obtain 40% marks in the internal assessment and 40% marks in the end-term proctored exam separately will be eligible for the SWAYAM Credit Certificate.

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