Developmental Psychology
The developmental psychology concentration is designed to provide students with understanding in the many ways in which peoples thinking and abilities change over time. Coursework provides for a broad foundation in psychology across the lifespan while also allowing for students to focus on a developmental period (e.g. childhood).The concentration in developmental psychology may be of interest to students who are planning to attend graduate school in developmental psychology or a related field, such as human development and family studies, school psychology, or clinical child psychology. In addition, the coursework will help prepare students to work with people directly, or to be employed in contexts (e.g., schools or agencies) that work with people.
Students may also choose to concentrate in Developmental Psychology by completing PSYC 211 (Developmental Psychology) and PSYC 313 (Child Development), plus one to two of the six courses listed below (12 credits in total). Students who successfully complete the Psychology Department Honors Program (PSYC 490, 491, and 492) with an honors thesis/project focused on developmental psychology, or those enrolled in PSYC 499 (Senior Thesis) may, with approval of their thesis committees and the associate chair for undergraduate studies, use their honors work or thesis for one course (3 hours) in the concentration.
Students must earn a Minimum GPA of 2.00 in all coursework applied to the concentration.
Students can receive the concentration in developmental psychology by completing the following:
Two required courses (6 credits)
- PSYC 211 - Lifespan Development Credits: 3
- PSYC 313 - Child Development Credits: 3
Two courses (6 credits) chosen from:
- PSYC 314 - Adolescent Development Credits: 3
- PSYC 379 - Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology Credits: 3
- PSYC 414 - Behavior Disorders of Childhood Credits: 3
- PSYC 415 - Psychological Factors in Aging Credits: 3
- PSYC 460 - Independent Study in Psychology Credits: 1-4 (when content is developmental with prior written approval)
- PSYC 461 - Special Topics Credits: 1-3 (when content is developmental with prior written approval)