Help make the human condition better every day.

Learn about development across the lifespan and discover meaningful ways to improve or enhance the human experience.

Human Development (HD) is a multidisciplinary field that provides depth in the behavioral sciences while exploring the social, cultural, biological and psychological development of humans across the life course. As an HD major, you will study the processes and mechanisms of growth and change throughout the life cycle. Courses emphasize the role that social factors such as schools, workplaces, neighborhoods and culture play in human development, as well as the influence that developing humans have on their environment.

While this degree is offered through the College of Human Ecology, the Psychology Department spans two colleges: Human Ecology and Arts and Sciences. The main department website is under the College of Arts and Sciences.

Psychology

This program is offered through the Psychology Department.

Students work on a class exercise
MRI scans

Degree requirements

Courses cover topics such as:

  • translational research and community engagement
  • the role of social, cultural, and environmental factors (e.g., schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods)
  • decision-making in context (e.g., legal settings)
  • the influence that developing humans have on their environment

HD students gain a strong foundation in empirical research methods and statistics and approach their disciplines from a scientific perspective.

Visit the Psychology Department for more information on requirements

Curriculum sheets

Curriculum sheets give an overview of all course requirements and help you chart your path to completing the degree program. View the sheet for the year you entered the program for information on degree requirements.

See all CHE curriculum sheets

Courses you could take

two people in a darkened room look at a brain scan on a monitor. an MRI machine is visible through a window
Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory (PSYCH 3240)

Get hands-on experience with experimental research on the neural basis of behavior and cognition in animals.

Older alumni
Social Gerontology: Aging and the Life Course (HD 2510)

Analyze the social aspects of aging in contemporary American society from a life course perspective

A community discussion
Introduction to Community Psychology (HD 2400)

Explore how communities shape who we are and how we can transform the communities we're part of.

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Career paths

Many career fields require a fundamental understanding of human beings making HD a strong asset for students across the breadth of post-graduate goals.

HD students have diverse interests and career trajectories including working with people across the lifespan (education, pediatrics, child clinical psychology, gerontology, social work, etc.) or pursuing careers in business, research, or policy.

Others go on to graduate programs in psychology, human development, or a related field, as well as professional programs in health-related fields (including medicine, dentistry, nursing) or law.

Sample career paths

  • Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine
  • Attorney, Fitzmaurice & Freeman
  • Business Analyst, Deloitte Consulting
  • Communications Adviser, DKT Indonesia
  • Health Policy Analyst, Department of Health and Human Services
  • Physician, Winthrop University Hospital
  • Psychologist and Coordinator of Family Support Service Programs, Metropolitan Hospital Center
  • Researcher, National Institutes of Health
  • Senior Scientist, Braceland Center for Mental Health and Aging

Experiential learning

Participating in engaged learning opportunities brings Human Development classroom learning to life and allows students to observe lives in context unfolding in real time. Through community engagements, students develop skills to work in partnership with community organizations and agencies.

Students may study abroad, complete off-campus study, or participate in internships or field placements.

Field placements

In addition to study-away programs, Human Development majors can arrange field placements in local agencies and institutions. Recent placements have included projects with Tompkins County Office of Aging; Tompkins County Human Service Coalition; Tompkins County Youth Bureau; Kendal of Ithaca; and local schools.

Internship examples

  • Corporate Consumer & General Management Summer Analyst, JPMorgan & Chase Advancing Hispanic and Latino Fellowship Program
  • Legal Intern, The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office
  • Research Assistant, Columbia University Department of Neurology
  • Research Intern, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
  • Resource Navigator, Cayuga Medical Center/Cornell Cooperative Extension
  • Shadowing, Dermatology Physician’s Assistant
  • Summer Camp Director, Gallup Day Camp

Research

The department’s faculty research provides an ecological view of human development across the life span to answer questions of real-world relevance. Basic and translational research are integrated to enhance development and well-being in diverse contexts and populations. The research is characterized by themes of interdisciplinarity, cultural diversity, and multiple approaches, methods, and levels of analysis.

Undergraduates are active in the development, implementation, and analysis of research inquiries as participants on faculty research teams, as well as through independent research projects.

Research examples

  • Early development of spatial skills, the acquisition of spatial language, and links and causal relations across these two domains
  • Epidemiology of elder mistreatment
  • Growth mindset, free will and future thinking
  • Healthcare decision-making
  • Intersection of purpose/identity processes and psychopathology
  • Neurobiological basis of personality
  • Risk-taking during adolescence
  • Whether the gender of a perpetrator of a crime affects the levels empathy from jurors

Honors program

The Honors Program is designed to give talented Human Development undergraduates the opportunity to formulate and carry out an independent research investigation under the supervision of a member of HD departmental faculty. The program provides excellent preparation for graduate work in psychology, sociology, neuroscience, medicine and related fields. Students apply to the Honors Program during their junior year.

Faculty you'll work with

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Misha Ailsworth

Assistant Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Factors shaping Black girls’ mental health and wellness, Participatory action research, Impact of spaces that support Black girls’ development
man with black framed glasses
Adam Anderson

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Affect and cognition, Cognitive health across the lifespan, Understanding emotions as distinct tools intended to help us
John Blume

Professor

Psychology
man standing in front of a whiteboard with scientific calculations on it
Charles Brainerd

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Cognitive development in children, Cognitive processes and aging
man wearing glasses and a grey sweater sitting in a red chair
Anthony Burrow

Ferris Family Associate Professor of Life Course Studies; Senior Associate Dean for Outreach and Extension; Director, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research; Director, Purpose Science and innovation Exchange

Psychology, Cornell Human Ecology, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
Focus areas
Purpose in life, Racial identification
Daniel Casasanto

Associate Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Cognitive diversity across cultures
woman with short curly hair and a floral top
Marianella Casasola

Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs

Psychology, Cornell Human Ecology
Focus areas
Infant cognitive development + early word learning, Interaction between language and thought, Parental beliefs of young children's learning
Stephen Ceci

Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology

Psychology
Focus areas
Children and the law, Women and science, Intellectual development
man sitting in a blue chair looking at the camera
Audun Dahl

Associate Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Moral development across the lifespan
smiling woman standing in front of blooming trees
Eve De Rosa

Mibs Martin Follett Professor in Human Ecology

Psychology, Cornell Human Ecology
Focus areas
Comparative cognitive neuroscience, Neurochemistry attention + learning, role of acetylcholine, Cholinergic hypothesis of age-related changes in cognition
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Gary Evans

Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor

Human Centered Design, Psychology
Focus areas
Children's environments (e.g. schools, housing), Environment of childhood poverty, Development of environmental attitudes/behaviors in children
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Marlen Gonzalez

Assistant Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Behavioral ecology of mind-body-environment dynamics, Affordances and neural sensitivity, Community-partnered neuroscience
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Cindy Hazan

Andrew H. & James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Human mating and pair bonding, Ethological attachment theory, The processes by which social bonds develop
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Will Hobbs

Assistant Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Politics and health, Social impacts of government actions, Peoples adaptations to sudden changes
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Adam Hoffman

Assistant Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Development of social identity, Social identity interventions, Mental health and well-being
woman in a purple sweater
Corinna Loeckenhoff

Janet and Gordon Lankton Professor of Developmental Psychology, Professor of Gerontology in Medicine

Psychology
Focus areas
Age-related differences in health decision-making, Lifespan personality and social cognition, Cultural perspectives on aging
Jane Mendle

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Puberty impacts on psychological health and well-being, Transition from childhood to adolescence
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Anthony Ong

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Health + aging, emotion, relationships, race + social class, Developmental psychology, Vunerability and adaptation across the lifespan
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Karl Pillemer

Hazel E. Reed Professor, Professor of Gerontology in Medicine

Psychology
Focus areas
Aging and the life course, Sociology of the family, Intervention research
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Valerie Reyna

Professor, Department Extension Leader

Psychology
Focus areas
Judgement and decision making; risk and rationality, False memory, Fuzzy Trace Theory, Cognitive, developmental and social neuroscience
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Jonathan A. Rottenberg

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Mental health, Well-being after depression + related
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Jessica Salerno

Associate Professor

Psychology
Nick Schweitzer headshot
Nick Schweitzer

Associate Research Professor

Psychology
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Robert Sternberg

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Adaptive intelligence, Transformational giftedness, Creativity, wisdom, ethics, leadership and emotion
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Felix Thoemmes

Associate Professor, Department Chair

Psychology
Focus areas
Statistics, Causal inference, Missing data
Qi Wang

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Cognitive and social development, Culture and cognition, Memory and thinking
Woman sitting in a blue chair smiling at the camera
Jenna Wells

Assistant Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Emotion and relationship contributions to health, Caregiving and neurodegenerative diseases, dementia, Positive interpersonal processes and wellbeing, resilience
Wendy Williams

Professor

Psychology
Focus areas
Components of practical thinking and reasoning, Training practical and creative thinking skills, Cognitive and social-cognitive sex differences and career

Improving the human condition

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Promise Woods reading a book next to a stuffed bear
Eda Gunal with youth from the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem
Dora John with Professor Jenna Wells
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