The core faculty members in the developmental program (W. Craig, S. Fitneva, T. Hollenstein, B. Kelley, V. Kuhlmeier, M. Morningstar, M. Sabbagh) have basic research interests in language, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Please see the Developmental Research page to find out more about specific research projects happening in the core labs of the developmental program.
Each of our program members also have research interests that extend beyond the traditional borders of Developmental Psychology into areas such as Animal Cognition, Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, Psychophysiology, and Applied Developmental Psychology (e.g., autism, bullying, developmental disorders, child eyewitness). To this end, each of our faculty members collaborate with researchers in programs outside of Developmental Psychology including members from Clinical, Social/Personality, Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Center for Neuroscience. Students in the Developmental Program are actively encouraged to take part in and initiate these cross-disciplinary collaborations at the Masters and Ph.D. level.
Wendy Craig, Ph.D.
aggression, bullying, victimization, dating violence, sexual harassment, romantic relationships, peer relationships.
Stanka Fitneva, Ph.D.
socio-cognitive development, esp. children's information seeking and trust; social and cognitive mechanisms in language learning and language processing; evidentiality; cross-cultural studies of cognitive development; language and thought; phonology and early language development; memory development; eyetracking methods
Tom Hollenstein, Ph.D.
adolescent emotional development, dynamic systems approaches, developmental psychopathology, observational research, parent-child interactions, flexibility/rigidity, developmental transitions, psychophysiology.
Elizabeth Kelley, Ph.D.
autism, language development, social cognitive development, atypical development, brain development, developmental cognitive neuroscience, neurodevelopmental disorders.
Valerie Kuhlmeier, Ph.D.
early social cognitive development within evolutionary and comparative frameworks;
social learning, including recognizing animacy and intention; cooperation and prosocial behaviour
Michele Morningstar, Ph.D.
development of emotional communication and social cognition from childhood to adulthood; ways in which we learn to express and perceive emotional states through nonverbal cues, such as tone of voice.
Mark Sabbagh, Ph.D.
theory of mind, semantic development, executive functioning, cross-cultural psychology, cognitive neuroscience, Autism.