What Is Developmental Psychology?
Developmental Psychology is the study of changes in human thoughts, feelings, and behavior across the lifespan. Originally focused primarily on childhood, today (and here, at NDSU) developmental psychologists focus on the entire life span, including childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
Study Topics
Developmental psychologists, including those at NDSU study how age is related to:
- problem solving abilities
- the way we perceive other people
- language development
- social interaction
- coordinated behaviors (e.g., driving, eye-hand coordination)
Undergraduate Courses
- PSYC 250 - Developmental Psychology
- PSYC 463 - Experimental Developmental Psychology
- PSYC 471 - The Psychology of Aging
- PSYC 473 - Child Psychopathology and Therapy
- HDFS 230 - Life Span Development*
- HDFS 320 - Prenatal, Infant and Toddler Development*
- HDFS 330 - Child Development*
- HDFS 340 - Adolescent Development*
- HDFS 360 - Adult Development and Aging*
Participant Opportunities
Thank you for your interest in participating in our research! Researchers at NDSU study a wide range of topics related to child development, including learning, emotions, and social interactions. If you have a child who is 2 to 18 years old and would like to be contacted about participating in our research, please fill out the form below. Someone will contact you when we have a study that your child is the right age for!
Graduate Programs
Prospective graduate students interested in developmental psychology may apply to work in developmental labs (see below) in our Ph.D. in Psychology program.
Developmental Psychology Faculty and Research at NDSU
Benjamin Balas, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: High-level vision, face recognition, visual development, ERPs
Erin Conwell, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Early childhood development
Katherine Duggan, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Personality, sleep, cardiovascular disease, lifespan development, healthy aging, statistics/methods
Anna Finley, Ph.D. - Research Interests: Social and affective neuroscience, emotion regulation, self-regulation, well-being, healthy aging, loneliness
Jeremy Hamm, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Motivation, emotion, self-regulation, life transitions, healthy aging
Linda Langley, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Cognitive aging, attention, visual search, cognitive training
Affiliated Faculty
James E. Deal, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Personality development in children; Relationship between individual development and family relationships
Elizabeth Blodgett Salafia, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Family and peer influences on adolescents disordered eating attitudes and behaviors
Heather Fuller, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Social relationships across the lifespan (e.g. intergenerational relationships); Psychological well-being in old age; Culture and Aging; Migration, transnationalism and acculturation; Biculturalis
Joel Hektner, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Aggressive children; Research methods; Prevention programs for high-risk aggressive children; Peer affiliation patterns and peer influences on children's behaviors; Family and school conditions that facilitate optimal experiences (flow) and optimal development; The Experience Sampling Method
Melissa Lunsman O'Connor, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Examining age-related differences and changes in cognitive and functional abilities, such as driving, among healthy adults and clinical populations; quantitative methods and psychometrics; interventions for improving cognition, health, and everyday functioning; and attitudes toward dementia.
Brandy A. Randall, Ph.D. ~ Research Interests: Child, Adolescent Development, Relational and contextual influences on adolescents' and young adults' positive and problem behaviors
Developmental Psychology Resources
Tell me more about developmental psychology - APA Division 7, Developmental Psychology