The program is flexible, allowing students to decide with their major professors on courses of study that lead to one of the many career options in developmental psychology. One goal of the program is to help students understand the research and theories that form the core of developmental psychology. Students gain this understanding partly through graduate courses, taken primarily during the first two years of graduate study, and partly through informal contacts with faculty and other graduate students. In each year of graduate training, students also gain expertise in a specialized area within developmental psychology. This expertise is acquired by involvement in research with faculty members, by the completion of research projects for the master's and doctoral degrees, and by independent reading of the developmental literature.
Students determine their area of specialization in collaboration with the developmental faculty.
Students generally choose to concentrate either on cognitive or social aspects of development, and then focus on a specific topic within one of these broad domains. Research topics within cognitive development might include categorization and concept formation, environmental influences on development, speed of information processing, memory development, or learning and problem solving. Students are encouraged to select activities during their graduate years that will prepare them for the settings in which they want to spend their careers. Some students are oriented primarily toward developmental research in a university. Other students are oriented primarily toward a combination of college teaching and guidance of undergraduate research.