Developmental

All students in the Developmental Psychology program must fulfill the departmental common graduate curriculum in Psychology, including courses, research requirements and mentored teaching experiences.

The following requirements are in addition to the departmental curriculum required of all graduate students. Note: below are the requirements for students entering in 2021 and later.

We encourage all students to actively participate in seminars and attend events specific to your area of study. 

Curriculum

  1. Students must take an advanced course in the three areas of Developmental Psychology listed below. Certain seminars may also fulfill these requirements. Below are a few examples of courses that will fulfill these requirements. Students may petition the developmental area chair to count courses not included on this list.
    • Cognitive Development: PSYC 42550 Cognitive Development, PSYC 33600 Cognition in Infancy, or PSYC 40850 Seminar on Mathematical Development
    • Language Development: PSYC 43200 Seminar in Language Development or PSYC 43680 Topics in Language and Gesture.
    • Social Development: PSYC 41115 Social Cognitive Development, PSYC 42220 Understanding Inequality as a Psychologist, or PSYC 33165 Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Morality.
  2. Students are also expected to attend the weekly developmental brownbag seminar (Topics in Developmental Psychology) each quarter.
  3. Students are encouraged to take additional coursework in areas of interest and in statistics or methods as needed.
  4. In their third year, students will present their trial research findings in the developmental brown bag seminar.
  5. By the spring of the third year students must write and submit a theoretical review paper to their adviser and a reader. Ideally, this review could be a publishable article, suitable for a journal such as Psychological Bulletin or Developmental Review and will help in formulating the dissertation. Students will do a presentation of the theoretical review paper in the developmental brown bag seminar by the end of their fourth year.
  6. By the spring of the fourth year students should have proposed their dissertation. See instructions for forming this committee and proposing one’s dissertation here.