Late-life development and ageing is designed to give students an understanding of the psycho-social-biological changes that people experience as they grow older. This will include identifying examples of change, including changes in cognitive and physical capacities, examining the forces that underlie these changes and implications for both the individual and society. The course will emphasize the role of empirical research and the central importance of life-span developmental theory to understand the psychology of late-life development and ageing, and will focus on topics relating to relevant research techniques, theoretical approaches, memory, intelligence, personality, health and well-being, work and retirement, care-provision, and psychopathology. The course will enable students to apply prior knowledge gained through their earlier psychology studies.

Upon completion, students will have had an opportunity to acquire:

• a working knowledge of the key topics, from lectures, readings, assignments and interactions with the course convener, tutors and peers
• reasoning and critical thinking skills, necessary for satisfactory completion of exams and assignments
• discipline-based writing skills which adhere to APA-style conventions
• statistical inference and interpretation skills (through assimilation of results of research papers, linking results to hypotheses, drawing valid conclusions in order to interpret results and to plan research)
• information-seeking skills, through the use of electronic resources available via the library and the over the Internet
• communication skills, facilitated through small group discussions and brief presentations to the class
• flexible learning capacity through on-line activities

To be arranged in consultation with students, but will consist of an end of semester exam worth at least 40%.  It is proposed that additional assessment will include in-laboratory / on-line assessment tasks (10%), an essay (30%) and rapid poster presentations (20%).

Lectures and tutorials

Prerequisite:  PSYC2002 Developmental Psychology and PSYC2007 Biological Basis of Behaviour

This topic seeks to have students achieving an understanding of:

• normative ageing
• exceptions to 'normal' ageing, including the dementias and depression
• the concept of human development and ageing as a variable life-long process
• how developmental theories, methods and research findings are inherently linked to provide an empirical base for the discipline
• key issues in normal cognitive, social and personality development during adulthood, and their intersection with bodily ageing
• the effects of work and retirement, and health-care provision on promoting healthy ageing.

Required Reading / Textbook

Foos, P.W., & Clark, M.C. (2008). Human Aging (2^nd Ed). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Recommended Reading

Cavanaugh, J.C., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2006).  Adult development and aging (5^th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadworth/Thomson Learning.