The developmental Research Training Project at the University of California at Santa Cruz prepares predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in theory, research, and methods to investigate human development as a process involving individual, social, and cultural/community contributions. The theoretical and empirical challenge that we address is to keep the active role of individuals in focus while examining dynamic social and cultural processes. We investigate development as a process of individuals' active and changing participation with others in the practices and institutions of their cultural communities. In addition to the scientific need for investigating this topic, demographic changes have made a broader understanding of human development urgent for policy-making, for educators and other practitioners, and for the citizenry in general. The program provides trainees with the customary breadth of training in developmental psychology, plus unique training in the theme of investigating the integration of individual, interpersonal, and cultural/community processes from several interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives. The training program builds on an interdisciplinary program in developmental psychology, with allied researchers in anthropology, education, linguistics, and sociology, and collaborators in schools, various community organizations, and government. The proposal seeks support for 4 predoctoral and 2 two-year postdoctoral trainees each year.
| Hohenstein, Jill; Akhtar, Nameera (2007) Two-year-olds'productivity with verbal inflections. J Child Lang 34:861-73 |
| Burleson, Kathryn; Leach, Colin Wayne; Harrington, David M (2005) Upward social comparison and self-concept: inspiration and inferiority among art students in an advanced programme. Br J Soc Psychol 44:109-23 |
| Thorne, Avril; McLean, Kate C; Lawrence, Amy M (2004) When remembering is not enough: reflecting on self-defining memories in late adolescence. J Pers 72:513-41 |
