Developmental science is the study of systematic changes and continuities in human individuals across the lifespan – from conception to death. Developmentalists not only seek to understand the significant changes that occur during various age periods, they also seek to understand the processes that cause different developmental outcomes among individuals and identify those factors that contribute to optimal outcomes.
Health Psychology focuses on the biopsychosocial variables that impact the health and wellness of individuals and communities. Research includes predicting factors that make us sick, those that help to make us well and keep us well as well as how we cope with illness.
Dr. Berkley's research broadly focuses on sociocultural factors that influence the experiences of Black/Latinx families, adolescents and young adults. His current line of work investigates relationships between racialized experiences (e.g., microaggressions, discrimination, colorism), familial and individual protective factors, and academic and psychosocial health outcomes.
How to apply
Please email Dr. Steven Berkley at sberkley@sandiego.edu.
Dr. Adriana Molitor focuses her research on toddlers' and young children's effortful cooperation and developing self-control and understanding relevant influences on their behavior during challenging situations (i.e., what facilitates or undermines their growing ability to handle "dos" and "don'ts"). Listen to her discuss this on the At the Edge of It All podcast.
Dr. Molitor's studies rely principally on observational recordings of young children during a range of laboratory-structured situations (e.g., playing, complying, learning, coping, waiting). They look at their behaviors from archived video records.
Typically, the training to code videos takes a long time so she can only work with assistants who can make a long-term commitment (preferably 4 semesters, and preferably parts of summer and intersession). Research assistants must commit 5-6 hours per week toward the project and work with a coding partner.
The USD Toddler Lab also has periodic needs for technical assistants. These positions involve data management and collection rather than conceptual coding and the work is often done alone rather than with another person as a team. As with the other positions, Dr. Molitor only works with assistants who can make a long-term commitment. For one of these positions, she also prefers someone who is local and can volunteer parts of summer and intersession.
How to apply
Dr. Adriana Molitor's lab is currently full.