Content

Selected developmental transitions from different phases of the lifespan along with the methods to study them will be presented by a member of the lecturer team, who specializes in that area. The lectures will be based upon and elaborate on book chapters and journal papers, which students read in preparation for classes. Topics will be approached from the perspective of the developmental task for the individual comprising micro- as well as macro- contexts. Broader themes and specific topics are:

1. cognitive control 

            – development of executive functions from childhood to old age

            – cognitive aging and its neurophysiological basis

2. skills and expertise and their development in adulthood

            – acquisition and maintenance of skills and expertise

            – changes in plasticity in later adulthood

3. psychosocial development through adolescence and young adulthood

            - identity development from a process-oriented perspective

            - interplay of identity with micro- and macro-contextual variables

            - developmental processes and mechanisms in clinical samples

4. developmental approach to typical and atypical behavior

- multiple levels of analysis perspective with attention to complex longitudinal transactions between interdependent individual-level vulnerabilities (e.g., genes, neurotransmission, stress physiology, accessible behavior) and equally interdependent contextual risk factors

(e.g., parenting, peer group influences, cultural factors)

- continuities and discontinuities in the development of internalizing and externalizing problem behavior, with attention to heterotypic stability and developmental spectrum models

Course material

Material available on Toledo:


texts selected by the lecturers, powerpoint presentations,

scientific publications

Format: more information

Students who are on an internship abroad can take this course up via distance learning.