Human and Social Development

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 4
• Convenor: Dr Esther Ramsay-Jones
• Assessment: a 2500-word clinical case study (100%)

What does a newborn baby need and how does he or she develop over time? How do our early years affect our adolescence or older age?

You might wonder how the human mind forms and how the world around us, beyond the family, impacts our growth. In this module you will develop a broad understanding of human development, from psychosexual, behavioural and psychosocial perspectives. You will explore how the internal world is made up of drive, unconscious fantasy and relational schemata as well as being influenced by what is happening in the wider world. You will think about what behaviour might mean and what might be going on beneath the surface. You will also have the chance to reflect upon and analyse the way in which categories such as class, gender, race have an impact on human development and understanding.

All this will lead to developing skills in case formulation, and an understanding of the emotional experience of different people who may be in need of support.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate self-awareness and a capacity to reflect on your own process of development
• demonstrate a capacity for listening out for developmental and social difficulties
• demonstrate a sound grasp of human development, from different perspectives
• explain and appraise psychosexual stages, behavioural approaches, psychosocial development
• understand issues of difference and diversity
• make formulations in relation to case material
• recognise the nature of trauma, inclusive of societal trauma
• think critically about the tensions between inner and outer experience.