Psychology professor dies at 63, remembered for her work

Esther Thelen, IU psychology professor of 19 years, died from cancer Dec. 29 at a hospital in Bloomington at the age of 63.\nThelen was a prominent figure in the field of developmental psychology at IU and worldwide. Her ideas, significance and experimental findings were profound. \nThelen has been widely respected for bringing the dynamic systems view to the field of developmental psychology. \n"She was the one who really made (the dynamic system) more than a metaphor and showed it could really do work in the study of human development," said Linda Smith, chancellor's professor of psychology.\nDynamic systems is framed within theorizing based on computation, math, chemistry and other fields that aim to explain phenomena.\n"Development by this view is seen as the emergent product of many decentralized and local interactions," said Smith. "The two key ideas in this are the idea of multicausality, which studies how many components interact, and nested time scales, which studies changes in system time scales and how different time scales interact." \nAssociate Professor of Psychology Thomas Busey was one of Thelen's colleagues who witnessed her work.\n"She had a very large lab and did many experiments," said Busey. "The experiments were as simple as random movements of infants." Smith agrees with Busey that Thelen's experiments were simple yet revealing.\nIndeed, Thelen uncovered many previously unknown facts about infants in areas like learning to walk and reading. \n"She is particularly famous for disproving the original thought of the stepping reflex in babies," said Smith. The stepping reflex occurs when babies are held so their feet touch a flat surface, prompting them to make stepping motions. Originally babies' stepping reflex was thought to occur only at birth and then disappear. But Thelen discovered it was still prevalent after birth.\nThelen changed the perspective of the field of developmental\npsychology.\n"She has been basically responsible for revolutionizing the thinking in this field," said Joseph Steinmetz, chair of the psychology department. \nThelen traveled to many countries to spread knowledge about the field of developmental psychology, and she was the president of developmental organizations worldwide, such as the Society for Research in Child Development.\n"Thelen was a very frequent lecturer all over the world," said Steinmetz. \nProfessor Thelen conducted academic work in parts of Europe with scientists known for their study from the dynamic systems perspective.\n"There are a lot of scientists in Germany and the Netherlands who study from the dynamic systems perspective," said Steinmetz.\nThelen received a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree in zoology from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Missouri.\n"She was a really warm, outgoing person," said Smith. "She had lots of students close to her who have done very well and have turned into major figures in the field."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Daria Kamalipour dkamalip@indiana.edu.