Social Development Specialization
(in the PSP Program)
.jpg)
General Approach
The Personality and Social Psychology (PSP) program offers a training specialization for students interested in the study of social-emotional development. Students choosing this program track will learn about contemporary theories, methodologies, bodies of empirical research, and statistical approaches pertaining to a range of issues in broadly defined adaptive and maladaptive processes in social and emotional development. Students may also become involved in research in other disciplines that informs the understanding of aspects of social-emotional development. Examples of such disciplines include social and affective neuroscience, psychophysiology, clinical psychology, intervention research, and developmental psychopathology.
Research
Students choosing the social development specialization have an opportunity to study a range of relevant topics with PSP area faculty. Those include issues in social-emotional development, including temperament and individual differences in childhood; children's attachment and their early social relationships with parents and peers more generally; family processes; determinants and implications of parenting; early compliance, self-regulation, and conscience; children's self system; or early emotions (Professor Kochanska). Other PSP faculty study similar processes in adults, and they offer complementary expertise on some of those topics. For example, students can study adult attachment (Professor Klohnen) and more generally, adults' relationships (Professors Harvey and Lawrence), adults' emotions, temperament, and personality, including personality disorders (Professors Clark and Watson), the role of personality processes in close interpersonal relationships (Professors Klohnen, Lawrence, and Watson), self-evaluation (Professor Suls), and decision-making processes in children (Professor Levin).
Interested
students can further benefit from the expertise of the faculty in other
training areas. Several faculty in the Clinical Area have interests in
developmental research. For example, Professor Knutson studies child maltreatment
and the development of aggression, Professor O'Hara studies the role of
maternal psychopathology in early mother-child relationship, and Professor
Fowles studies psychophysiological correlates of temperament in children
and adolescents. In addition, faculty in Developmental Science have interests
in cognitive, language, motor, and prenatal development, and their courses
can enrich the training of PSP students who focus on social development.
Course Requirements
PSP students choosing the social development specialization must meet
all of the course requirements specified by the Psychology Department
and PSP Program. The full set of official requirements can be found in
the Department's Graduate
Student Handbook. As is the case for all PSP students,
students in the social development specialization must complete the following:
---PSP Seminar (1 credit) each semester
---5 area courses
---3 breadth courses
---3 statistics courses
Course Recommendations and Options
The Handbook describes some flexibility regarding the courses that students can select to fulfill their area, breadth, and statistics requirements. Below are some options/recommendations that are especially relevant to students in the social development specialization. Occasionally, a student with specific research interests will benefit from courses offered by faculty from other training areas or other departments. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with their graduate advisor and/or the PSP Area Coordinator before deciding to enroll in specific classes.
Examples of PSP courses:
---31:211 Processes in Social Development
---31:258 Personality and Individual Differences
---31:208 Psychology of Close Relationships
---31:280 Current Theory and Research in Personality
---31:315 Seminar: Social Development
Examples of pertinent courses from other training areas:
Clinical:
---31:276 Advanced Developmental Psychopathology
---31:263, 31:264 Psychological Appraisal I, II
Developmental Science:
---31:218 Cognitive Development
---31:212 Perceptual-Cognitive Development in Infancy
---31:214 Processes of Language Acquisition
Occasionally, when a specific graduate course is not available, a student may take a corresponding undergraduate course for graduate credit, as long as he or she obtains permission from the area coordinator and his or her mentor .
Examples of courses from other departments and/or colleges:
Occasionally, social development students may wish to take courses in affective and social neuroscience or molecular genetics, if those courses are particularly relevant to their research interests.
To develop practical research expertise in quantitative data analytic methods often used in social development research, it is recommended that students take at least one of the following courses (in consultation with the advisor; the specific choice would depend on the student's area of research):
---031:
280 Multivariate Data Analysis
---034: 219 Selected Topics in Research Methods: Structural Equation Modeling
---06J: 269 Meta-Analysis in Behavioral and Social Sciences
---07P: 249 Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Models
---07P: 252 Introduction to Multivariate Statistical Methods