DEP 5608: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Fall, 2013
Dr. Mary Levitt
E-mail: levittmj@fiu.edu
web: www.fiu.edu/~levittmj
Office Hrs: TR 11-12:30 or by appt.
Office: Academic One 379A BBC
Phone: 305-919-5953
Course Description & Objectives: The focus of this course is on the major paradigms, models, and theories that have been influential in developmental psychology, both historically and contemporaneously. Meta-theoretical issues, paradigmatic influences, and specific theories are considered. Objectives are to acquire a thorough base of knowledge regarding theories of psychological development, to gain experience in the critical analysis and discussion of theoretical issues, and to compare, contrast, and synthesize the course material.
Required Text: Miller, P. H. (2011). Theories of developmental psychology. (5th Ed.). NY: Worth.
Recommended Text: Leong, F. T. L., & Austin, J. T. The psychology research handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Course Requirements: (1) Brief one page answers to weekly discussion questions, (2) In-class discussion of readings, &
(3) Final exam
Grade Distribution: Discussion question answers, 50% (grading criteria on web site); Class participation, 10%; Final exam, 40%
Topic Outline Required Readings
9/9 Historical Perspectives
9/16 Psychoanalytic theory/Life span approach
9/23 Conceptual issues (Dr. Lickliter)
9/30 Piaget & Information Processing
10/7 Ethological approaches (Dr. Nelson)
10/14 Gibson/Thelan (Dr. Bahrick)
Miller, 1-26; *Cairns
Miller, Ch. 3; *Baltes & Smith; *Elder
*Gould; *Overton; *Lickliter & Honeycutt (a)
Miller, Ch. 2 and Ch. 6; *Flavell
Miller, Ch. 7; *Nelson; *Lickliter & Honeycutt (b)
Miller, Ch. 8; *Pick; *J. P. Spencer
10/21 Vygotsky/Language (Dr. Pruden) Miller, Ch. 4; *Behrens; *Lindner & Hohenberger
10/28 Social learning theory (Dr. Reeb-Sutherland) Miller, Ch. 5; *Reeb-Sutherland et al.;*Tarabulsy et al.
11/4 No Class (SSHD Conference)
11/18 New Directions/Neuroscience (Dr. Dick) Miller, Ch. 9; *Crone & Ridderinkhof; *Johnson
Miller pp. 203-207; *Bronfenbrenner; *M. B. Spencer 11/25 Ecological systems models (Dr. Stephens)
12/2 FINAL EXAM
*See next page for required readings not in text

Required readings not in text:
Baltes, P. B. & Smith, J. (2004). Lifespan Psychology: From developmental contextualism to developmental biocultural coconstructivism. Research in Human Development, 1, 123-144.
Behrens, H. (2009). Usage-based and emergentist approaches to language acquisition. Linguistics, 47, 383-411.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental
Psychology, 22, 723-742.
Cairns, R. B. (2006). The making of developmental psychology. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.) Theoretical models of human development. (6th ed.), New York: Wiley.
Crone, E. A., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2011). The developing brain: From theory to neuroimaging and back. Developmental Cognitive
Neuroscience, 1, 101-109.
Elder, G. H. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69, 1-12.
Flavell, J. H. (1996). Piaget’s legacy. Psychological Science, 7, 200-203.
Gould, S. J. (1977) Racism and recapitulation. In Ever since Darwin: Reflections in natural history (pp. 34-38). New York: Norton.
Johnson, M. H. (2011). Interactive specialization: A domain-general framework for human functional brain development?
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 1, 7-21.
Lickliter, R., & Honeycutt, H. (a) (2009). Rethinking epigenesis and evolution in light of developmental science. In M.S. Blumberg, J.H.
Freeman, & S.R. Robinson (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Developmental Behavioral Neuroscience. Oxford: Oxford University
Press (preprint).
Lickliter, R., & Honeycutt, H. (b) (2003). Developmental dynamics: Toward a biologically plausible evolutionary psychology.
Psychological Bulletin, 129, 819-835.
Lindner, K., & Hohenberger, A. (2009), Introduction: Concepts of development, learning, and acquisition. Linguistics, 47, 211-239.
Nelson, E. L., Campbell, J. M., & Michel, G. F. (2013, July 15). Early handedness in infancy predicts language ability in toddlers.
Developmental Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0033803
Overton, W. F. (2006). Developmental psychology: Philosophy, concepts, methodology. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.) Theoretical models of
human development (pp. 18-88). (6th ed.), New York: Wiley.
Pick, H. L., Jr. (1992). Eleanor J. Gibson: Learning to perceive and perceiving to learn. Developmental Psychology, 28, 787-794.
Reeb-Sutherland, B. C., Levitt P., & Fox, N. A. (2012). The predictive nature of individual differences in early associative learning and emerging social behavior. PLoS ONE 7(1): e30511. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030511
Spencer, J. P. et al. (2006). Moving toward a grand theory of development: In memory of Esther Thelen. Child Development, 77,
1521-1538.
Spencer, M. B. (2006). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.)
Theoretical models of human development (pp. ). (6th ed.), New York: Wiley.
Tarabulsy, G. M., Tessier, R., & Kappas, A. (1996). Contingency detection and the contingent organization of behavior in interactions:
Implications for socioemotional development in infancy. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 25-41.