JYOTI NIVAS COLLEGE AUTONOMOUS

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
SYLLABUS FOR 2023-24 BATCH AND THEREAFTER
II SEMESTER
CORE PAPER 2: LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT II
Program: Integrated B.Sc-M.Sc in Psychology (Specialization in Clinical Psychology)

Number of Hours: 45 Credits: 3

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
● To understand the salient features of physical, emotional, cognitive, moral and psychosocial
development with their psychological implications from adolescence through late adulthood.
● To appreciate theoretical views during adolescence and late adulthood.
● To help students find meaning and purpose in life and death and understand patterns of grieving
across the lifespan.
● To understand various religious practices after death.
● To summarize and evaluate research findings relevant to developmental psychology.
● To apply developmental concepts to situations occurring in everyday life.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
● Students will be able to understand the salient features of physical, emotional, cognitive,
moral and psychosocial development with their psychological implications from
adolescence through late adulthood.
● Students will be able to appreciate theoretical views during adolescence and late adulthood.
● Students will be able to find meaning and purpose in life and death and understand patterns
of grieving across the lifespan.
● Students will be able to comprehend various religious practices after death.
● Students will be able to summarize and evaluate research findings relevant to
developmental psychology.
● Students will be able to apply developmental concepts to situations occurring in everyday life.

UNIT I: PUBERTY & ADOLESCENCE 9 Hours

a) Puberty: Meaning, biological changes – growth spurt, primary and secondary sexual
characteristics, signs of sexual maturity, psychological implications, early versus late
development; Physical and mental health - nutrition and eating disorders, use and abuse of drugs:
risk factors of drug abuse, gateway drugs;
b) Cognitive development: Elkind’s immature characteristics of adolescent thought;
c) Moral development: Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.
d) Psychosocial development: Marcia’s four identity statuses, parents and teens,peers, and adolescent
sexual activity.

1
UNIT II: EMERGING ADULTHOOD AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD 9 Hours
a) Emerging adulthood – meaning, characteristics, cultural variations.
b) Young adulthood: Physical changes: cardiovascular and respiratory systems, motor performance,
immune system, reproductive capacity; Obesity; Alcohol abuse;
c) Psycho-social development: Factors influencing attraction; Gender identity, gender roles and
transgender; Sexual orientation – meaning, continuum, variations, development, discrimination;
Adult lifestyles – singlehood, hooking up, cohabitation, gay and lesbian relationships, friendships,
marriage, parenthood; Online dating and implications;
d) Career development and employment: Stages of career development, NEETs, gender and career.

UNIT III: MIDDLE ADULTHOOD 9 Hours

a) Physical changes: Sensory and psychomotor functioning, sexuality and reproductive functioning -
menopause and its meanings, changes in male sexuality, women’s health after menopause;
b) Cognitive development: The distinctiveness of adult cognition: the role of expertise, integrative
thought, practical problem solving, creativity - creativity and intelligence, creativity and age;
c) Psycho-social changes: Gender roles - masculinity, femininity and androgyny, midlife divorce,
midlife crisis, empty nest syndrome, relationships with maturing children, parenting grown children,
the cluttered nest, becoming grandparents; Religion and spirituality;
d) Work in midlife: Challenges – stress, burnout, work-life balance, glass ceiling.

UNIT IV: LATE ADULTHOOD 9 Hours

a) Physical changes: Body changes, skin and hair, height and weight;
b) Sensory and psychomotor functioning: vision, hearing, taste and smell, touch, pain;
c) Cognitive changes: Memory, language processing, problem-solving, wisdom, factors related to
cognitive change, lifelong learning;
d) Psychosocial changes: Personal relationships in late life - social contact, relationships and health,
multigenerational family, non-marital kinship ties - relationships with adult children or their
absence, relationship with siblings;
e) Work and retirement: Transitioning into retirement, retirement age changes, delayed retirement,
stages, post-retirement care.

UNIT V: THE END OF LIFE 9 Hours

a) Primary and secondary ageing; Theories of ageing: Evolutionary theory, cellular clock theory,
damage theories (DNA, mitochondrial, free radicals), immune and hormonal stress theories; Aspects
of death – biological and social;
b) Care of the dying: Curative, palliative, hospice;
c) The experience of dying: Kubler-Ross’s stages of dying
d) Right to die: Medical, legal, and ethical issues - suicide and euthanasia; Types of euthanasia and
assisted suicide;
e) Patterns of grieving death and bereavement across the lifespan;

2
f) Finding meaning and purpose in life and death;
g) Religious practices after death: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity.

References
1. Lally, M., & Valentine-French, S. (2017). Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective.
California: College of Lake County.
2. Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., &Feldman, R.D.(2004). Human Development. (9th Edn.) New Delhi:
Tata Mc-Graw Hill Publishing Company Ltd.
3. Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. A. (2018). Life-Span Human Development. (9thEdn.). Cengage
Learning.
4. Sigelman,C.K. (1999). Life-Span Human Development. (3rd Edn.) New York: Brooks/Cole
Publishing Company.
5. Shaffer, D.R., Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence.
(8thEdn.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
6. Shaffer, D.R. (1996). Developmental Psychology. New York: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
7. Zanden, Vander. (1997). Human Development. (6thEdn.) New York: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.

3
 JYOTI NIVAS COLLEGE AUTONOMOUS
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
SYLLABUS FOR 2023-24 BATCH AND THEREAFTER
II SEMESTER
Core Paper 3: POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Program: Integrated B.Sc-M.Sc in Psychology (Specialization in Clinical Psychology)

Number of Hours: 45 Credits: 3

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

● To enable students to understand the basic concepts of positive psychology.

● To help students to identify and explain key scientific theories on positive
emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal domains within the discipline of positive
psychology.
● To train students to identify the strengths in oneself and in others.
● To have an awareness of applications and implications of positive psychology
concepts in daily lives.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

● Students would be equipped with the ability to understand and appreciate the
basic concepts of positive psychology.
● Students would be able to identify and explain key scientific theories within the
discipline of positive psychology.
● Students would be able to apply the psychological principles in their personal life.

UNIT I: INTRODUCTION 12 Hours

Goals; Assumptions; History and conceptualization of positive psychology; Perspectives on
positive psychology: Western and Eastern; Classification and measurements of Character
Strengths and Virtues; VIA Strengths Survey.

UNIT II: POSITIVE EMOTIONAL STATES AND PROCESSES 14 Hours

Defining emotional states: affect, emotion, happiness, subjective wellbeing;
Distinguishing the positive and the negative; The Broaden-and-Build Theory, Positive
emotions and wellbeing: happiness and positive emotions, success and positive
emotions, flourishing and positive emotions; Cultivating positive emotions (Flow
experiences and Savoring); Ryff’s Psychological well-being model and Keyes and
Lopez’s complete mental health model.

UNIT III: POSITIVE COGNITIVE STATES AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

12 Hours
Resilience: developmental and clinical perspectives, sources – in children and in
adulthood, Resilience among disadvantaged youth, ABCDE model to build
resilience (Seligman); Optimism: learned optimism and dispositional optimism,
How optimism works, variety of optimism and pessimism; Wisdom: developing
 wisdom, correlates of wisdom – age, intelligence and happiness, characteristics of
wise people; Altruism: definition, the egotism motive, the empathy motive, the
empathy-altruism hypothesis, cultivating altruism; Gratitude: definition, cultivating
gratitude; Forgiveness: meaning, cultivation forgiveness.
UNIT IV: PERSONAL GOALS, CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS AND LIFE ABOVE
ZERO 12 Hours
Personal goals: definition, goal orientation, The search for universal human motives: goals
and basic human needs, goals and fundamental values, personal goals across cultures,
Materialism and its discontents: materialism and unhappiness, people and materialistic
values, affluence and materialism; Close relationships: characteristics, exchange and
communal relationships; Mindfulness and well-being: meaning of mindfulness, attributes
of mindful awareness; mindfulness meditation.
UNIT V: APPLICATIONS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 10 Hours
Positive schooling: meaning, components; Positive workplace: gainful employment - meaning
and characteristics; Having or being a good boss; The strengths-based approach to work;
Capital at work; Hope as a primary psychological capital; The dark side - workaholics,
burnouts, job lost; The Me/We balance: Building better communications - moving from ME to
WE to US; Individualism - the psychology of ME; Collectivism - the psychology of WE;
ME/WE balance - the positive psychology of US.
References:
Primary References:
1. Baumgardner, S.R. Crothers M.K. (2010). Positive psychology. Upper Saddle
River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
2. Snyder, C.R., & Lopez, S.J. (2007). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical
explorations of human strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Additional Reading
1. Carr, A. (2004). Positive Psychology: The science of happiness and human
strength.UK: Routledge.
2. Hefferon, K. & Boniwell, I. (2011). Positive psychology: Theory, research and
applications. Open University Press.
3. Kumar, S., & Yadav, S.B. (2011). Positive Psychology. New Delhi:
Global Vision Publication House.
4. Lopez, S. J., Pedrotti, J. T., & Snyder, C. R. (2015). Positive Psychology. New Delhi:
Sage Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford
University Press.
5. Seligman, M. E. P. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American
Psychologist, 55, 5-14.
6. Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S.J. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of positive psychology.
New York: Oxford University Press.
7. Snyder, C.R., & Lopez, S.J. (2011). Positive Psychology. (2nded.) New
Delhi: Sage Publications.
8. Snyder, C. R., Lopez, S. J., & Pedrotti, J.T. (2014). Positive psychology. (2nd ed.).
New York: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.