PSY2205 – Biopsychosocial development
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The course will provide the students with a basis for understanding development in childhood and adolescence from a biopsychosocial perspective. The course focuses on interactions and associations between children’s genetic dispositions, neurocognitive and psychological factors.
Psychosocial development will be understood as a complex interplay between the individual and the environment. Of particular interests is the focus on early adversity, family risks and social relationship.
The syllabus and lectures address topics such as contextualized and dynamic developmental models, gene x environment interactions, risk and resilience factors for emerging mental health problems, social influences on brain and psychological development, and development of risk-taking.
A general theme through the course will be on developmental mechanisms and transactional processes.
Learning outcome
Knowledge:
You should be able to:
- Understand central contextualized and dynamic developmental models and how they can be applied in research.
- To understand the relations among biological, neurocognitive and psychosocial development.
- Integrate knowledge about various factors in the individual, the family and the peer group that influences child and adolescent development
- Describe and discuss knowledge of vulnerability and protective factors within a framework of developmental psychopathology
- Delineate central aspects of development of antisocial and prosocial behaviour
Skills:
You should be able to:
- Read and understand review papers in developmental psychology and developmental science
- Formulate and communicate knowledge within the field of developmental psychology, both in the form of an oral group presentation and a written individual exam
- To analyze developmental processes that contribute to positive adaptation or to developmental biopsychosocial development.
General competence:
You should be able to:
- Reflect on the usefulness of different developmental models
- Identify and reflect on strengths and weaknesses with different scientific methods
- Critically think about and evaluate research findings and conclusions
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Recommended previous knowledge
It is recommended to have completed PSY1200 – Introduction to developmental psychology and PSY1010 – Innf?ring i metode , or equivalent.
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with PSY2205P.
- 5 credits overlap with PSY2201 – The development of social adaptation: Stress and resilience (discontinued).
- 5 credits overlap with PSY2203 – Identitet, moral, kj?nnsforst?else og prososial utvikling (discontinued).
- 5 credits overlap with PSY2201P.
- 5 credits overlap with PSY2203P.
Teaching
The teaching will be given through lectures (8x2 hours) and seminars (6x2 hours).
The lectures will present the main topics to the students, whereas in the seminars, the students give group presentations related to the central topics in the course.
The teaching will be in English.
Examination
3 hours written examination.
Examination support material
Students may use dictionaries at this exam. Dictionaries must be handed in before the examination. Please read regulations for dictionaries permitted at the examination.
Language of examination
You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.
See also our information about resitting an exam.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.