UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT FALL 2010 Psychology 262: Social Development Meets: Tuesday /Thursday 4:00 5:15 p.m. in Perkins Building Room 300 Instructor: Sue Fenstermacher, Ph.D. Office: 334 John Dewey Hall Phone: 802 656 0882 Email: susan.fenstermacher@uvm.edu Office Hours: Thursdays 2:30 3:30 and by appointment Required Text: Shaffer, D. (2009). Social and Personality Development (6 th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Additional readings (see course schedule) will be posted on Blackboard. Overview of the course: This advanced seminar course is intended to provide an overview of both classical and contemporary theory and research in social and personality development. In this course, we will explore a variety of topics related to how both biological and environmental factors, including contextual factors such as media, family, peer influences, and culture, can impact social development in children. A second goal of this course is to familiarize students with the methods used in social developmental research, to train students to approach this research with a critical eye, and to stimulate discussion and creative thinking both by encouraging applications of the material to real world situations and experiences and by utilizing the literature to develop original ideas for research. Course requirements: Assignments in this course will primarily focus on application and integration of basic theoretical concepts and research related to social development. You will have opportunities to review and distill research findings on topics that interest you, to apply theoretical constructs to real world examples, and to propose your own research questions based on what you have learned. Note that there are no formal exams in the course; instead, your mastery of the material will be assessed primarily through a combination of brief applied writing assignments and activities as well as a research article presentation and hypothetical study proposal. Please note that emailed submissions of assignments will not be accepted. All written work should be submitted in hard copy format (typed, double spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font and oneinch margins) at the beginning of class on the day it is due. Weekly Reading Responses, 25% Every Friday afternoon, I will post one or more thought questions on Blackboard that ask you to reflect on and apply material from the following week s assigned readings. You will be asked to choose one or two of these questions (depending on the topic) and to write a thoughtful, succinct response of a few paragraphs (no more than 1 1.5 pages total) due at the start of class the following Tuesday. Each of these response papers will be worth 3 points total (3 = thoughtful response that effectively utilizes and may attempt to build upon, apply or integrate material from various sources; 2 = thoughtful response that adequately addresses the question and shows good evidence of having done the readings; 1 = satisfactory response that indicates a cursory examination of the readings, i.e., only those paragraphs
pertaining to the question; 0 = no evidence of having done or considered the readings). Your lowest two grades will be dropped. Group presentation and writeup, 25% Beginning in week 6, we will have small s (3 4 students) present on the week s topic. These s will be selected during the first week of class based on shared interests. I will ask all students to submit their first, second, and third choice of week/broad topic area to present, due on September 2. Based on these choices, I will put together s of students with similar interests. I will post these assignments on Blackboard. Please note that while I will try my best to assign students to their first choice, this may not always be possible. In cases where there are more than four students with the same first choice topic, I will randomly assign students to that week s and try to accommodate remaining students with their alternate choices. Your responsibilities for this assignment are as follows: First, the members will decide together on a specific area of research related to their week s topic. Next, each member of the will select one recent article from a peer reviewed scholarly journal (e.g., Child Development, Adolescence, Infant Behavior and Development, etc.) relating to the s topic, for which that student will be primarily responsible. Note that while review articles can be very helpful in finding primary sources of research and in preparing your presentation, I am asking each student to find an empirical article describing a specific piece of original research, including hypotheses, methods, results, etc. You should send me the citations for your s articles at least two weeks prior to your presentation date. Once I have approved your s articles, I will ask you to post them to Blackboard so that the rest of the class will have an opportunity to refer to these articles prior to your presentation. Each member will be responsible for writing a 1.5 2 page overview of their article, including a summary of hypotheses, methods, and results, critique (e.g., any parts of the methodology that you thought were especially good or not so good, what could have been done differently to answer the research questions), and discussion questions raised by the article that you will share with the class to stimulate discussion. The s task as a whole for the presentation is to integrate the information that they have gathered and to present it in the context of that week s broad topic area and/or assigned readings. Your should have questions and examples ready to encourage class discussion during your presentation, and should be prepared to field questions from the class. Presentations should last 20 30 minutes (depending on size), with at least 5 minutes of that time allotted for class discussion. Following the presentation, each member of the is responsible for turning in a 2.5 3.5 page writeup which includes the 1.5 2 page summary/critique of their article described above as well as a 1 1.5 page description of how the research described in your selected article relates to those of your members and to the week s topic, observations and questions raised during the presentation, and overall evaluation of the collaboration process. These write ups will be due to me in hard copy format ONE WEEK FOLLOWING your presentation date. Your grade will be based on the quality of this writeup, clarity of your individual article presentation, generation of thoughtful questions for discussion, and ability to respond to comments and questions from the class, in addition to members overall ability to synthesize and integrate their articles into a coherent, interesting and insightful presentation. Class Contributions, 15% As this course is in seminar format, your active participation is particularly important. 15% of your final grade will thus be based on your contributions to the class. In addition to attendance and regular participation in class discussions, your class contributions include thoughtful evaluations of and feedback on classmates presentations and research proposal ideas and regular posting of material to the Blackboard site such as questions for discussion, your observations or reactions related to the week s readings, links to articles, or other material of interest related to social development. A shared
discussion page will be created in Blackboard for use by all students to post these contributions. Please note that while questions simply asking for clarification of material are welcome, these are not considered questions for discussion in terms of course contributions. Occasionally I may also ask you to do a free writing exercise, quiz, or other activity related to the course material during class time. These activities will also count toward your class participation/contribution grade. Research Proposal, 35% The research proposal paper may be done on any topic related to Social Development. You may choose to do this on the same topic as your presentation, if this is an area that particularly interests you; however, if you do decide to use the same topic, you must choose at least six new articles that were not included in your s presentation or assigned to the class for your literature review. The completed research proposal assignment is due on the last day of the semester (December 9). However, throughout the semester I will have you submit portions of this proposal in order to provide check points where we can discuss your progress and any questions that arise and also to avoid last minute overload at the end of the semester. The first of these check points will be the submission of a one paragraph proposal on September 28. I will go over this proposal and get back to you with my comments and suggestions. Once your written proposal is approved, you will have the opportunity to present your ideas to the class and to receive additional feedback and suggestions from me and your classmates. The final research proposal, due December 9, will include an introduction to your topic, mini review of the literature (10 articles), research questions you plan to investigate, a methods section detailing how you plan to investigate these questions (who are your participants, what method will you use (observational, experimental, etc), what measures will you incorporate, what is your research setting) and a discussion section detailing why you have chosen your question and why you are using these methods to answer your question in other words, how will the manner that you choose to investigate the topic allow you to learn new information about the topic that has not been previously available, and how/why is this methodology superior to/different from methods that have been used in the past? What new information will your study tell us about the topic of interest that is not currently known? Your discussion section should also talk about how your study will contribute to the field of social development and how results from your study add to the existing body of literature and can be applied in real world contexts. The final research proposal paper should include a reference section and should be written in APA format (see http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa crib.html#examples for basics on how to cite references in APA style, or for more comprehensive coverage of citations refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5 th Edition, available through the UVM library). Course Schedule (please note that dates are subject to change pending addition of new readings and presentations). Note that topics eligible for presentations are marked with *. Week Date Topic Readings August 31 Introduction to the course and overview 1 September 2 Research Methods; writing a research proposal SUBMIT GROUP PRESENTATION Text, pages 1 35
PREFERENCES 2 September 7 9 Classic theoretical perspectives on social development Text, pages 37 65 Suggested articles: Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1961; Meltzoff & Moore, 1977 3 September 14 16 Recent perspectives on social and personality development Text, pages 67 100 Suggested article: Fenstermacher& Saudino, 2007 4 5 September 21 23 September 28 30 6 October 5 7 Emotional development and temperament Attachment ONE PARAGRAPH RESEARCH PROPOSALS DUE IN CLASS SEPTEMBER 28 (for final paper) Development of self and social cognition* Text, pages 101 132 Article: Caspi, 2000 Text, pages 133 166 Articles: Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Collins & Read, 1990 Text, pages 168 205 7 October 12 14 Achievement* Text, pages 207 238 Article: Dokosh, 2005 8 October 19 21 9 October 26 28 Sex differences, gender role development, sexuality* Aggression* REFERENCE LISTS FOR RESEARCH PROPOSALS DUE OCTOBER 26 Text, pages 239 282 Text, pages 284 321 Article: Crick, 1997 10 November 2 4 Altruism and moral development* Text, pages 325 367 11 November 9 11 12 November 16 18 Family influences* RESEARCH PROPOSAL OUTLINES DUE NOVEMBER 9 Media influences* Text, pages 369 410 Article: Spicer, 2010; Gibbs, 2009 Text, pages 413 430 Article: Fisch, Truglio, & Cole, 1999
13 November 23 25 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY 14 November 30 December 2 School and Peers* Text, pages 433 488 Article: Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998 15 December 7 9 Wrap up FINAL RESEARCH PROPOSAL PAPERS DUE IN CLASS DECEMBER 9 Course Expectations and Responsibilities You are responsible for knowing and following the course policies listed below. 1. Prerequisite: This is an advanced course in social development designed for students in psychology and related fields who have completed General Psychology (Psyc001). Please see me if you have not taken this prerequisite but you believe you have a sufficient background in psychology to be prepared for this course. 2. Attendance: Please come to each class ready to engage in the day s lesson. This includes having the assigned reading completed and any assignments ready to turn in at the start of class. 3. Special Accommodations: Students with special needs that affect their ability to participate fully in class, to meet all course requirements, or that require special exam administration should contact Accommodation, Consultation, Counseling & Educational Support Services (ACCESS; A170 Living/Learning Center; phone: 656 7753) and me within the first two weeks of class. I will provide reasonable accommodations for documented disabilities in accordance with college policies. 4. Grade Concerns: If you have concerns regarding your grade at any point, please make an appointment to see me to discuss ways to improve your mastery of the course material. The sooner you contact me regarding concerns, the better. I will not be able to accommodate students who contact me at the end of the semester with concerns about their grade. I also encourage students to visit the Learning Co op (Living/Learning Center, 244 Commons) for help with writing, study skills, and examtaking skills. The Learning Cooperative in Living & Learning Commons Room 244 has peer tutors available for this course. Cost is $10.00 per hour (free for some students), and appointments can be arranged at convenient sites on campus at a wide variety of days and times, even after hours and on weekends. Please call the Co op (656 4075), visit their web site http://www.uvm.edu/~subtutor/, or stop by M Th 8a 9p, F 8a 5p, Sun 6p 9p for additional information.
5. Returned Assignments: Hold on to all graded assignments after they have been returned until the end of the semester. They will help you keep track of how you are doing in the course and will serve as your record of your grade. In the case that a grade is missing for an assignment that you turned in and that was returned to you, you will need to produce a copy of the graded assignment. 6. Late Essay Papers: Late papers will be docked 10% of total points for each day late. If you are unable to attend class and need to submit your assignment early, it should be hand delivered or placed in my mailbox. Papers placed in my mailbox need to be signed by a faculty or staff member at UVM (i.e., date, time, and who signed). Papers submitted via email or slipped under the office door will NOT be accepted. If you are submitting a paper outside of class, you must also contact me by email to let me know that you have turned in the assignment. 7. Extensions. In the rare case that you feel you need an extension, please discuss this with me as soon as you anticipate a problem. Extensions will be granted only in cases of extenuating circumstances for which students must be able to provide written documentation. 8. Academic Misconduct: The University of Vermont requires academic honesty from all students, and academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Academic misconduct includes cheating on assignments or exams, plagiarizing (misrepresenting someone else s work as your own), submitting the same or similar papers for more than one course without the permission of all instructors involved, submitting work on which you have collaborated with other students except in cases when this is specifically encouraged or required, or sabotaging another student s work or access to necessary class resources. Please remember that plagiarism occurs whenever you present another person s ideas as your own. In written assignments, students must NOT duplicate passages of more than five words from another source without quotation marks AND proper attribution. If you paraphrase someone else s words, you do not use quotation marks, but you still need to give the reference. See the following resource for additional information on plagiarism: http://www.uvm.edu/~agri99/plagiarism.html. Please avoid problems by understanding what behaviors constitute academic misconduct and asking me for any clarification. You are responsible for knowing and understanding the Plagiarism policies of the University Vermont, which are available in the Code of Academic Integrity on line at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmppg/ppg/student/acadintegrity.pdf. If a student engages in academic misconduct, the case will be forwarded to the Center for Student Ethics & Standards and may involve sanctions such as receiving a zero on the assignment or failing the course. 9. Religious Holidays: Students have the right to practice the religion of their choice. Each semester, students should submit in writing to their instructors by the end of the second week of classes their documented religious holiday schedule for the semester. Faculty must permit students who miss work for the purpose of religious observance to make up this work.