Learn how to interact with children, influence their behaviour and connect with them with this free online course.

Child psychology is the study of the subconscious and conscious development of children. Getting acquainted with children and their development can be one of the most pleasing parts of being a parent. This psychology course begins by introducing you to the theory of psychosocial development which includes the various crises that children face at different stages of development. Thereafter, the course reviews the fuzzy-trace theory which explains and predicts why the adolescent stage of child development is a time of risky behaviour and the role that the prefrontal cortex plays in adolescent risk-taking. One of the ways in which a child can learn is through a process known as operant conditioning which involves learning through reinforcement or punishment. The type of reinforcement used determines how quickly a behaviour is learned. In this psychology certification, you will learn about positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement and how to apply them effectively. 

Why do children exhibit aggressiveness? Is aggressiveness attributed to genes or violent media? You will study the aggressive behaviour of children, its causes and the factors that activate this behaviour along with the dangers of giving children unearned rewards and how their behaviour can be influenced through linguistic cueing. Successful parenting involves setting up your children for success, helping them adapt to changes in their environment and helping them achieve their developmental milestones in life. The four types of parenting styles which include uninvolved, permissive, authoritative and authoritarian will be discussed in-depth including their differences and how culture impacts parenting styles in different parts of the world. This section of the course shows you how childhood experiences can make people choose abusive partners as adults and how to stay mentally healthy throughout your parenting journey. 

As your child develops, they go through gradual developmental stages, from birth into adulthood. Multiple factors such as the environment, genes and culture can all affect a child’s development and how rapidly they progress from one stage to the next. The final part of this child neuroscience course will focus on gene variants that cause depression in children, the various factors that can activate them, and the difference between heritability and inheritance. Verbal abilities in children is the next section of the course and will help you understand how the verbal ability of a child can be influenced by the number of conversational turns a child has with their parents through the concept of serve and return. The course finishes by exploring how psychoeducational assessments can be used to identify the psychological problems a child may be having. Everyone wants their child to have a flourishing and blooming development but it is difficult for children to express how they feel and this child psychology course is for those with a keen interest in the psychology of children and want to understand the normal and abnormal psychological development of a child. You should also enrol if you are a parent wanting to learn the many ways in which you can effectively communicate and connect with your child.