The Committee on Human Development

The Committee on Human Development was originally named the Committee on Child Development and then in 1940 the name was changed to Human Development. Ralph Tyler (education) was named chairman of the new committee: Robert J. Havighurst (sociologist) and W. Lloyd Warner (anthropologist) added interdisciplinary dimensions to the program. At the end of WW II, Carl Rogers (psychologist), joined the faculty. In October of 1991, we celebrated our 50th anniversary of the committee as a Ph.D. training program and interdisciplinary research undertaking, making it the oldest unit of its type. The committee offers programs of research and graduate study in life course development (including child and adolescent development, adult development and aging, and philosophy of development), personality, emotions and psychopathology, cross cultural studies (including psychological anthropology and cultural psychology), biosocial psychology (including behavioral biology and social neuroscience), and clinical psychology. The research interests of the faculty represent various disciplines within the social sciences. The primary objectives of the committee are to provide education for innovative careers in research and teaching and to contribute to the interdisciplinary understanding of human behavior. Students in the committee pursue careers in anthropology, human development, psychology, and sociology.

The program stresses the integration of theoretical interpretations and empirical findings bearing upon human development: the elaboration of the biological potential of the individual during growth; maturity and aging; socialization and adjustment to temporal and environmental changes; psychological change; personality development and psychological functioning in various cultural settings; and reflective consideration of the assumptions of social science theory and research. Emphasis is upon the interrelations of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces at different points in the life cycle.

Applicants should be prepared to work on the critical edge of thought and research in the social sciences.

Programs

Students in consultation with faculty advisors develop an area of specialization (program) appropriate to their professional goals and research interests. Some of the committee’s central areas of specialization are described below.

Life Course Development

The Committee on Human Development has long had a focus on development throughout the life span. Indeed, one of the unifying principles that cuts across the committee is that there is a deep interest, not merely in charting change over time, but in understanding the mechanisms and principles that underlie that change at all levels. Faculty and students in the committee conduct developmental research in a wide variety of domains (cognitive, social, emotional, physical) and species (humans, primates, rodents). Ongoing projects include: ethnological studies of biosocial development from infancy though adulthood and aging; effects of psychosocial deprivation on psychological state and risk for disease; parent-child relationships across the life course; risk and resilience in development; social emotional development in early childhood; social class and ethnic differences in socialization; genetic and developmental factors in psycho-social development; naturalistic studies of children in school environments; language development as a creative process; studies of how children and adults understand and tell narratives; the role of nonverbal behavior in learning and cognitive development; the role of the linguistic and cultural environment in the child’s acquisition of language; language socialization; the role of sociocultural context in cognitive development.

Mental Health, Personality, and Emotion

This program is designed for students interested in combining normative social science inquiry with focused study in the area of mental health, as preparation for a career of research and teaching. This course of study involves multidisciplinary inquiry into the processes and determinants of personality, social and cognitive development throughout the life course, and the comparative study of suffering and healing systems. Program faculty are presently involved with mental health research in three interrelated fields: (1) The study of psychopathology, vulnerability and resilience across the life course; (2) the study of psychotherapy and comparable systems of personal change; (3) the study of health and optimal functioning, coping strategies and creativity. Research in the personality area encompasses both traditional perspectives on the study of persons and social life and emerging perspectives focusing on such areas as the interplay of cognition and emotion in personal life and in culture, and language and discourse as relevant in understanding personality and social life. The program includes faculty working from the disciplinary perspectives of personality, social and clinical psychology, anthropology, political science, and biology. Relevant faculty and resources of the University outside the Committee on Human Development will also be available to students.

Psychological Anthropology, Cultural Psychology

The Committee on Human Development is a leading center for training in psychological anthropology, cultural psychology, the study of culture and mental health, and the cross-cultural study of human development. The aim of the program is to document and explain ethnic and cultural sources of diversity in emotional and somatic functioning, self organization, moral evaluation, social cognition and human development. Ethnographic field work both in the United States and abroad is an important component of this program, although multiple methods (qualitative and quantitative, observational, clinical and experimental) are applied to the study of similarities and differences in psychological functioning across human populations. Members of the faculty and students have conducted field studies of child socialization practices in the nations of the Pacific; of culture-specific and universal structures in cognitive development; identity and self-concept of Native American youth; of moral development, conceptions of the life course, and explanations of suffering in India and the United States; of modes of thought and their relationship to linguistic structures in contemporary Mayan communities in Mexico, and among various ethnic groups in the city of Chicago. The program encourages comparative study of psychological functioning ("mentalities") in various high civilizations, including India, Japan, China, and the Middle East, as well as research on psychological topics in local communities around the world.

Biosocial Psychology

This program investigates behavioral processes at the social, psychological and biological levels of organization in both humans and nonhuman animals. Current research is concentrated in three main areas. In the area of behavioral and reproductive endocrinology, research conducted with rodents and humans investigates the social and behavioral control of fertility and reproduction and the role of hormone-behavior interactions in development throughout the life span. Specific topics of interest include mechanisms and function of estrous and menstrual synchrony, facultative adjustment of sex ratios, pheromonal communication, reproductive senescence, psychosomatics in obstetrics and gynecology, and the behavioral modulation of the immune function. In the area of comparative development, we use nonhuman primate models of parenting and development to investigate social, emotional, and endocrine aspects of mother-infant attachment and infant development, with particular emphasis on interindividual variability both within and outside the normal range. Other topics of interest include affiliative and aggressive behavior, mating strategies, nonverbal communication and social cognition in primates and humans. In the area of social neuroscience, one topic of interest is evaluative processes, e.g., affective, attitudinal, or emotional operations by which individuals discriminate hostile from hospitable environments. Of interest as well is in the role of social and autonomic factors in individuals’ endocrine and cellular immune response to stress and illness vulnerability. Throughout, the research approach is characterized by the integration of social and biological levels of analysis.

Professional Education in Clinical Psychology
(option that can be taken with any of the current four programs)

The professional education in clinical psychology provides an opportunity for students following one of the four substantive HD programs to realize the additional course work and training necessary for licensure as a clinical psychologist. Students electing this option notify Dr. Bertram Cohler of their intention to participate in this program. Ideally, students are able to integrate their clinical psychology education into their scholarly work in the other areas of human development and culture. Students who anticipate seeking clinical psychology licensure after graduation should plan to take four core courses which overlap with the HD requirements: biological basis of behavior, cognitive-affective basis of behavior, individual (psychological) differences, and social basis of behavior. In addition, students should take a course in each of the following areas: psychological assessment, psychological intervention, and ethics of psychological practice. Students should plan to have two part-time (20 hours a week) practicum experiences (psychological assessment and psychological intervention). Further, students will need to have a year’s full time internship in professional psychology. However, since practicum and, particularly, internship placements are difficult to obtain, we provide a year long course in psychological assessment (Wechsler scales, Rorschach, TAT) which is what internship sites expect of students. Further, we urge students to take two intervention courses (psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapy), and an additional course in structured diagnosis founded on the DSM-IV. Students often elect to have three practicum experiences prior to applying for their pre-doctoral internship. Completion of this course of study is presently recognized by most states as the necessary background for taking the licensure examination when accompanied by an additional year of post-doctoral internship participation. While the professional education in clinical psychology option is not an approved professional psychology training program by the American Psychological Association, students have not encountered difficulty being able to participate in pre or post-doctoral internships or being permitted to sit for the license exam. For further details on the Illinois licensure act, please see their website at: http://www.state.il.us/dpr/who/ar/PSYCHO.HTM.

Workshops

The Committee on Human Development sponsors a faculty-student workshop, known as the Culture, Life Course, and Mental Health Workshop, a Clinical Ethnography Workshop, and a Center on Culture and Mental Health.

Admission

The Students wishing to receive a Ph.D. in Human Development apply directly to the Committee on Human Development. Students are eligible for admission if they have received a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree or have completed an undergraduate program equivalent to such a degree. Admission depends upon strength in the general undergraduate record, scores on the Graduate Record Examination, letters of recommendation, personal statement and interests, and relevant research experiences. Students who wish to inquire further about the Committee on Human Development should write: Committee on Human Development, The University of Chicago, 5730 South Woodlawn Ave., Chicago IL 60637; telephone (773) 702 -397l; fax (773) 702-0320 or email the Departmental Secretary, Janie Lardner at jlardner@midway.uchicago.edu. To receive an application for admission and information on financial aid, contact Admissions, Office of the Dean of Students, Division of the Social Sciences, 1130 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, telephone 773-702-8415, email ssd-admissions@uchicago.edu.

Requirements

Courses

Every student is required to enroll for a letter grade in the following courses:

• Introduction to Human Development
• Four HD core area courses
• Intermediate Statistics
• Two additional methods courses (not introductory statistics)
• Two Trial Research Seminars
• Integrative Seminar
• Two additional HD courses in area of specialization

In addition, students will participate in elective courses and workshops in the committee, and the University in consultation with their advisors. The Introduction to Human Development course will introduce students to the history, theoretical bases, and concepts of the field of human development, and to the major areas of inquiry in the Committee on Human Development. This is taken during the fall quarter of the first or second year.

The HD core area courses will be taken from a designated list of courses in each of the four major areas of faculty scholarship: biological, cultural, life-course developmental, and personality/mental health approaches to the study of human development.

The Trial Research Seminars will launch students into their research projects and will guide them from the beginning to the completion of those projects. The Trial Research Seminar is taken in the spring quarter of the first year and the fall quarter of the second year. Trial research papers are due by spring quarter of the second year.

The three-course requirement on methods (qualitative and quantitative) is meant to provide the students with the basic skills necessary to conduct research and should be taken within the first two years, the same as the other courses. Some available methods courses include Urban Field Work, Ethnographic Interviewing, Behavior Observations, Narrative Analysis, and others.

The Integrative Seminar is taken during the spring quarter of the second year and addresses some selected topic (for example, emotion, gender, health) from a variety of Human Development perspectives.

Trial Research

All students are required to enroll in a Trial Research Seminar in the spring quarter of the first year and the autumn quarter of the second year. The trial research project must be completed and formally approved by the faculty during the spring quarter of the student’s second year. Students are expected to report regularly on the progress of their research to the Trial Research Seminars. The trial research is carried out under the direction of the research advisor and is read by two other faculty members.

Language

Students must either (a) receive a high pass on the University foreign language reading examination, or (b) substitute three approved courses in methods for the foreign language requirement. The courses must be passed with a grade of B or better, and at least one of the courses must be at the intermediate statistics level. Foreign students whose undergraduate instruction was not in English may present high scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or complete the alternate option courses to meet the language requirement.

Evaluations

All students are evaluated at the conclusion of each year in the program. The evaluation at the end of the second year is particularly important, as it determines whether a student will be permitted to conduct dissertation research.

Advisors

Each student is assigned a faculty member at the beginning of the first year of study to serve as a research advisor. Students may change research advisors as their needs and interests evolve, but students are expected to be affiliated with one or more research advisors throughout their graduate careers.

This text was last revised on 9/08/2003.