THEORY OF SCHOLARLY DEVELOPMENT
We share Ignacio Martin-Baro’s belief that psychologists should “make a contribution toward changing all those conditions that dehumanize the majority of the population, alienating their consciousness and blocking the development of their historical identity.” (Ignacio Martin-Baro, The Role of the Psychologist, 1996, p. 41)
To this task, our faculty bring a diversity of academic backgrounds, theoretical orientations and methodological skill. As a consequence, students are exposed to and produce a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives that reflect a multi-layered, ecological perspective on lives nested in social and political contexts.
Conducting research on health disparities, educational opportunity gaps, mass incarceration, the impact of racism on physical health, immigration, teen sexuality, HIV, moral exclusion, youth in war torn cultures, young people’s dispossession from the public sphere, the impact of discrimination on in group favoritism, among other topics, all of our projects are conceptualized in a community rich in theory, research methods, policy sensibilities and a strong sense of urgency. Students are invited, from the beginning, to enter this community as junior colleagues.
Courses, research requirements and doctoral examinations are designed carefully, therefore, to support students as they develop into emergent scholars, teachers, policy makers and/or advocates. Trained in classical and critical social psychology and personality theory, our students read a vibrant blend of historic and contemporary, traditional and critical theory, feminist thought, critical race theory and LGBTQ studies. Students are also exposed to multiple methods, spanning qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.
With a consciousness of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, our curriculum reflects a recognition of the need to conduct research on selves and identities; in the mesosystem of social relations, nested in the macrosystem of institutional and political arrangements. To capture the range of topics at these multiple levels, our curriculum has been organized around a series of non-negotiable programmatic commitments:
Theory. All students should be exposed to key social/personality theories that address self and identity; social injustice and discrimination; health and well being in the urban social context.
Methods. All students should be trained in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods;
Collaboration. Close working relationships are foundational to the program and students are encouraged to study with several faculty, working closely with one or two mentors and engage with “older” students.
Original Research. Students are highly encouraged to pursue original research of interest to them, and early on to become involved in research projects already underway with faculty and/or other students.
Immersion in a Scholarly Community of Diversity and Dialogue. Public presentations of student work are frequent, celebratory and designed to create an environment in which varied forms of works in progress are up for public conversation and commentary.
Examinations as Critical to Scholarly Development. First and second doctoral examinations are designed to facilitate students’ development as scholars, in which they begin to establish their unique intellectual signature. For more on these examinations, visit our Milestones page here.
Breadth and Depth. Students are expected to pursue their course work within and beyond social/personality psychology. Our curriculum recommends that students satisfy a depth requirement by enrolling in courses across three strands of study: Self and Identity; Justice and Discrimination; and Health and Well Being. In addition, students are encouraged to pursue interdisciplinary coursework in sociology, geography, environmental and developmental psychology, anthropology, history, the study of lives, Africana studies, film studies and women’s studies.