Psychology of Infancy and Early Childhood
36 hours Face to Face + Blended + Swinburne Online
One Semester or equivalent
Hawthorn, Online
Available to incoming Study Abroad and Exchange students
Overview
This unit provides students with an understanding of the psychological issues related to infancy and early childhood, including prenatal development, social development, cognitive development, and brain development. The unit will also focus on the psychology of parenting and explore cultural issues related to early human development.
Requisites
Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Teaching Period 1
Location
Online
Start and end dates
10-March-2025
08-June-2025
08-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
23-March-2025
Census date
04-April-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-May-2025
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
03-November-2025
08-February-2026
08-February-2026
Last self-enrolment date
16-November-2025
Census date
28-November-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-January-2026
Results released date
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Explain how an understanding of infancy is of key importance to our understanding of the overall human condition
- Evaluate and integrate multiple sources of information to develop practical and conceptual understanding of issues relating to social, cognitive, and brain development in infants and young children
- Describe the impact of cultural and global issues on key psychological constructs, ethics and values relating to early human development
- Discuss the implications of existing and emerging technologies for psychological research and practice relating to early human development
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Class | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Specified Activities Various | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 7.50 | 12 weeks | 90 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
All Applicable Locations
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 1.00 | 4 weeks | 4 |
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 12.17 | 12 weeks | 146 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Individual | 30% | 1,3,4 |
| Assessment | Individual | 30% | 1,3 |
| Assignment | Individual | 40% | 1,2,3 |
Content
- Evolution, sexual selection, instinctive behaviour and the interplay between genetics and environment
- Prenatal developmentÂ
- Current and classical issues related to parenting, including: cuteness perception, breastfeeding, childbirth, co-sleeping, childcare and vaccination.
- Early social development, including attachment, face perception and precursors to altruism and theory of mind.
- Early cognitive development, including the development of memory, spatial cognition, language and understanding of the physical world.
- Early brain development and its relationship to development in other domains
- Early sensory and motor development cultural and socioeconomic influences on early development
- Graduate Attribute 2 (Communication 2 - Communicating using different media)
- Graduate Attribute 5 (Digital Literacies 1 - Information literacy)
- Graduate Attribute 6 (Digital Literacies 2 - Technical literacy)
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.