Theories of Development. Barbara Schecter – Fall semester. There’s nothing so practical as a good theory”, suggested Kurt Lewin almost a hundred years ago. Since then, the competing theoretical models of Freud, Skinner, Piaget, Vygotsky and others have shaped the field of developmental psychology and been used by parents and educators to determine child-care practice and education. In this course we will study the classic theories--psychoanalytic, behaviorist and cognitive-developmental--as they were originally formulated and in light of subsequent critiques and revisions. We will also consider new directions in theorizing development which respond to recent challenges from gender, cultural and poststructuralist criticism. Questions we will consider include: Are there patterns in our emotional, thinking or social lives which can be seen as universal or are these always culture-specific? Can life experiences be conceptualized in a series of stages? How else can we understand change over time? We will use theoretical perspectives as lenses through which to view different aspects of experience—the origins of wishes and desires, early parent-child attachments, intersubjectivity in the emergence of self, symbolic and imaginative thinking, problem solving. For conference work students will be encouraged to do fieldwork at the Early Childhood Center or in another setting with children, as one goal of the course is to bridge theory and practice.

Personality Development. Jan Drucker—Fall semester. A century ago, Sigmund Freud postulated a complex theory of the development of the person. While some aspects of his theory have come into question, many of the basic principles of psychoanalytic theory have become part of our common culture and worldview. This course will explore developmental and clinical concepts about how personality comes to be through reading and discussion of the work of key contributors to psychoanalytic developmental theory since Freud. We will trace the evolution of what Pine has called the “four psychologies of psychoanalysis”—drive, ego, object, and self-psychologies—and consider the issues they raise about children’s development into individuals with unique personalities within broad, shared developmental patterns in a given culture. Readings will include the work of Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, Margaret Mahler, Daniel Stern, Steven Mitchell, Nancy Chodorow, and George Vaillant. Throughout the semester, we will return to such fundamental themes as the complex interaction of nature and nurture, the unanswered questions about the development of personal style, and the cultural dimensions of personality development. Fieldwork at the Early Childhood Center or other appropriate setting is required, although conference projects may center on aspects of that experience or not, depending on the individual student’s interest.

Social Development Research Seminar. Carl Barenboim – Fall semester. Have you done a conference project in the social sciences that raised interesting questions and wished you could take it a step further to conduct your own research on the subject? This course is designed for students who would like to do just that. The goal of the course is to have each student propose and conduct an original piece of research within the broad sphere of the social development of childhood and adolescence. The work could be done, for example, through quantitative testing, through observation, through direct interviews, or through questionnaires. The course will be divided into three parts. In the first part of the course, we will read a range of past studies that exemplify different types of research approaches to the study of children and discuss the strengths and possible weaknesses of each approach. At the same time, in conference, each of you will begin the planning process for your own study. In the second part of the course, each student will take turns serving as the facilitator of class discussion by assigning the readings for that particular week (on studies relevant to her or his own project), while sharing with the class the current progress on her or his research ideas. In turn, the rest of the class will serve as a “working group” to give feedback and helpful suggestions on each project. The final portion of the course will involve students presenting the findings of their studies.

Language Research Seminar. Kim Ferguson – Spring semester. “The baby, assailed by eye, ear, nose, skin and entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming, buzzing confusion.”- William James (1890)

The acquisition of our first language is “doubtless the greatest intellectual feat any of us is ever required to perform” (Bloomfield), yet this feat was essentially accomplished by the time we were three years old, and we likely have no memory of it. Furthermore, human language fundamentally influences human ecology, culture and evolution. Thus, many contemporary researchers in the interdisciplinary field of psycholinguistics argue that our language abilities are a large part of what makes us uniquely human. Are we in fact the only species with true language? And how would we begin to answer this question?

In this course, we will attempt to answer this and other key questions in the broad field of language development, through both our discussions of current and contemporary research and theory and the development of new research in this field. Current “hot” research topics include whether bilingual children have better control over what they pay attention to than monolingual children (attention and language); whether language influences thought; whether language acquisition is biologically programmed; and why children learn language better from an adult in-person than the same adult on television. Over the course of the semester, you will have the opportunity to design an independent research project that investigates one of these key questions, or another question of interest to you in the broad area of language development. In doing this, you will learn how to outline the rationale for a research project, develop an effective research methodology, collect data, analyze the data, interpret your results, and communicate your findings in a persuasive yet objective manner. This course thus serves as an introduction to research methods, with a specific focus on research methods in psycholinguistics, through your own research. Topics will include experimental research design, case studies, observational techniques, survey development, and hypothesis testing. To help you design and implement your own research, we will discuss your conference research projects in class throughout the semester, and you will obtain feedback from your colleagues on your questions, methods, analyses of the data and interpretation of the results. This project could include fieldwork at the Early Childhood Center or in another setting with children.

Pathways of Development: Psychopathology and Other Challenges to the Developmental Process. Jan Drucker--Spring semester. This course addresses the multiple factors that play a role in shaping a child’s development, particularly as they may result in what we think of as psychopathology. Starting with a consideration of what the terms “normality” and “pathology” may refer to in our culture, we will read about and discuss a variety of situations that illustrate different interactions of inborn, environmental, and experiential influences on developing lives. For example, we will read theory and case material addressing congenital conditions such as deafness and life events such as acute trauma and abuse, as well as the range of less clear-cut circumstances and complex interactions of variables that have an impact on growth and adaptation in childhood and adolescence. In discussing readings drawn from clinical and developmental psychology, memoir, and research studies, we will examine a number of the current conversations and controversies about assessment, diagnosis/labeling, early intervention, use of psychoactive medications, and treatment modalities. Students will be required to engage in fieldwork at the Early Childhood Center or elsewhere and may choose whether or not to focus conference projects on aspects of that experience.

Children’s Health in a Multicultural Context. Linwood Lewis – Spring semester. This course offers an overview of theoretical and research issues in the psychological study of health and illness in children within a cultural context. We will examine theoretical perspectives in the psychology of health, health cognition, illness prevention, stress, and coping with illness; the course highlights research, methods, and applied issues. This class is appropriate for those interested in a variety of health careers or in public health. Conference work may range from empirical research to bibliographic research in this area.

Bullies and Their Victims: Social and Physical Aggression in Childhood and Adolescence. Carl Barenboim – Spring semester. It can be the bane of our existence in childhood: the bully who simply will not leave us alone. Until fairly recently, the image that came to mind, in both the popular imagination and the world of psychological study, was that of a physically imposing and physically aggressive boy, someone who found the littlest, most defenseless, boy to pick on. In recent years, however, that image has begun to change. Now we realize that the ability to harm a person’s social relationships and social “standing”—usually through the manipulation of others—can be every bit as devastating to the victim. And in this new world of social aggression, girls’ expertise has come to the fore. In this course, we will study the nature of bullies and victims, in both the physical and social sense, and the possible long-term consequences of such bullying, for both the perpetrator and the picked on. We will explore recent evidence that bullying and victimization even begin in the preschool years, far earlier than previously thought, and we will examine some modern approaches used to break this vicious cycle, such as peer programs and interpersonal problem solving. Conference work may include field placement at the Early Childhood Center or other venues, as interactions with real children will be encouraged.

Play: Psychological and Anthropological Perspectives. Barbara Schecter and Robert Desjarlais -- Spring semester. “For many years the conviction has grown upon me that civilization arises and unfolds in and as play.” Huizinga, Homo Ludens

Play is central to human experience—but what does it mean to play, and to what extent is play intrinsic to the human condition? In this course, we will consider play to be a central aspect of all imaginative life. We will look closely at the amazing complexity of human playworlds, both adult and children, and at the many aspects of our experiences through play. We will consider various domains of cultural life--such as ritual, theater, improvisation and storytelling—including the developmental origins in children of these modes of expression. Other topics will include therapeutic uses of play, the role of play in learning, play in virtual worlds and the lifeworlds of competitive chess players. Throughout these inquiries we will adopt an interdisciplinary perspective, charting out the psychological, cultural and social underpinnings of this imaginative realm. Students will be asked to choose a context in which to observe and/or participate in play, with adults or children (such as at our Early Childhood Center or another setting).

Art and Visual Perception. Elizabeth Johnston – Spring semester. “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.” John Berger.

Psychologists have long been interested in measuring and explaining the phenomena of visual perception. In this course, we will study and reproduce some of the experimental investigations of seeing and the theoretical positions that they support. Our journey will begin with the myriad of visual illusions that have intrigued psychologists and physiologists since the late 19^th century. We will engage in a hands-on exploration of these visual illusions and create our own versions of eye-and-brain tricking images. We will also identify their use in works of visual art from a range of period. The next stop on our psychological travels will be the apparent motion effects that captured the attention of Gestalt psychologists. We will explore the connections between the distinctive theoretical approach of Gestalt psychology and the contemporaneous Bauhaus movement in art, design and architecture. We will then move on to a consideration of the representation of visual space. In the company of contemporary psychologist Michael Morgan, we will ask how the three-dimensional world is represented in “the space between our ears.” In this section of the course, we will explore the artistic uses of three-dimensional stereoscopic and kinetic images. The spatial exploration section will give us the opportunity to study the artistic development and use of perspective in two-dimensional images. Throughout our visual journey, we will seek connections between perceptual phenomena and what is known about the brain processing of visual information. This is a course for people who enjoy reflecting on why we see things as we do.