PSY 3530 Week 3 Assignment 2 Adult Development Interview Project
PSY 3530 Week 3 Assignment 2 Adult Development Interview Project
This course presents an overview of adult development and aging and has five main aims:
(1) to help you to cultivate your ability to think about people from a developmental perspective (see below),
(2) to help you better understand and plan your own adult life,
(3) to cultivate a more sophisticated understanding of the scientific research on adult development and aging that appears in both academic and mass media,
(4) to sharpen your skills at identifying a main idea and explaining that idea clearly, and
(5) to prepare you for future studies and work in psychology.
A developmental perspective on life gives the long view of life over time. A developmental perspective on your own life helps you step outside the present moment in order to see how it was shaped by the past and how it might influence the future. This course challenges you to think not just about the different changes people encounter throughout adult life but also about how people change, why they change, and what all this says about us as humans. Studying adult development is complex, but only to a degree that is appropriate to the rich dynamics of everyday adult life. Just to give a sense of it all: Individual adults have particular genetic dispositions, social influences, and personal idiosyncrasies that shape their lives over time. As for the social influences, each adult lives within several social systems simultaneously—interpersonal (family, friends, coworkers, etc.), cultural, economic, political, religious, educational, commercial, and more. Individuals influence the lives and development of other individuals within each of these systems. Plus, adults have subjective interpretations of the past and intentions for the future that objectively shape the path of their actual lives as well as the lives of others. As if all this weren’t complex enough, an individual’s adulthood can span several decades, during which time several changes occur in each one of those factors, which can affect the development of the other factors. Therefore this course takes an integrative view that attempts to understand adult life over time in a vibrant context of interrelated developmental processes.
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Course Grading & Requirements
(Scale: 93% & up = A; 90-92% = A-; 87-89% = B+; etc.)
If you choose NOT to do the optional film paper:Exam 1125 pts.Exam 2100 pts.Exam 375 pts.Reflection Papers100 pts.Life Story Interview Paper100 pts.Research Review Paper100 pts.Course Total600 pts. If you choose to DO the optional film paper:Exam 1125 pts.Exam 2100 pts.Exam 375 pts.Reflection Papers100 pts.Life Story Interview Paper100 pts.Research Review Paper100 pts.Optional Film Paper100 pts.Course Total700 pts.
EXAMS
Three exams will cover the content of the class lectures and text. Therefore you are expected to attend class, take notes, and read the text as the course progresses. The exams will require you to integrate information, not just memorize it. The final exam is not cumulative. If you miss an exam, you must have a legitimate reason (by university standards) for taking a make-up exam in order to earn points for that exam. In such a case you must make every attempt to notify me in advance. Exams are worth 100 points each.
REFLECTION PAPERS
These papers are designed for you to organize your thoughts about a film or reading assignment before we discuss it in class. These papers do not require outside research, but they do require a good deal of reflection and organization on your part. You are to form one or two observations, or else one or two questions, about the film or reading. Your observations or questions should not be frivolous but rather address important issues in the film or reading. The paper should elaborate on the observations or questions in a way that explains why they’re important in the first place. The paper should also explore further thoughts and possible answers to the issues you raise, based on information or events contained within the film or reading. You are encouraged to connect your reflections to broader issues in the world, particularly as they relate to adult life and adult development. You are expected to do all this in no more than one, single-spaced, typed page. Each of the five reflection papers is worth 20 points.
