The Harvard Graduate School of Education Dynamic Development Lab Ongoing Projects

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General Projects Project 1: Nonlinear Dynamic Modeling and Measurement of Dynamic Growth and Development The focus of this research is construction of dynamic systems models of development and new methods for assessing developmental pathways. A study group on this topic spent 1992-93 at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences building theory and methods for dynamic growth modeling. Besides the technique for analyzing developmental sequences called Partially Ordered Scaling of Items (which we devised earlier), we now have several functioning dynamic models of hierarchical development, which can be tested against empirical growth curves. Collaborators include Dr. Paul van Geert of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Dr. Robbie Case of the University of Toronto. Project 2: Development of Phase and Coherence in EEG in relation to Cognitive Development This collaborative work with Dr. Robert Thatcher of the University of South Florida, Dr. Nathan Fox of the University of Maryland, and the Mind, Brain, and Behavior group at Harvard examines systematic changes in cortical connectivity as measured by EEG phase and coherence relate to cognitive development in infancy through early adulthood. Dr. Fox focuses on infants, and Dr. Thatcher on children and adolescents.   Projects on Early Development Project 3: Development of Representations of Social Relationships in Abused and Nonabused Infants and Children At the Gilday Daycare Center and the Ruggles Preschool Center, Dr. Catherine Ayoub leads a longitudinal study of both abused and nonabused children to determine both how they represent social relationships and interactions and how the interventions introduced at the Centers affect the children. The Children and the Law Program at Massachusetts General Hospital is also connected with this project. Dr. Pamela Raya has been a major collaborator on this research. Project 4: Longitudinal Studies of Development of Social-Emotional Interaction in Preschoolers These collaborative longitudinal studies trace the development of children's representations of social interaction with peers and family members between 1 and 7 years. Each study has a different primary focus: (a) development of abused and neglected children who are involved in interventions directed by the Department of Social Services (led by Dr. Catherine Ayoub at Harvard; see #3) (b) the influence of temperament (Boston sample, jointly with Dr. Jerome Kagan's laboratory in Psychology), and (c) the role of genetic and environmental factors in twins (jointly with the Institute for Behavior Genetics, in Boulder, Colorado, and with Dr. Lizbeth DiLalla at Southern Illinois University). Project 5: Development of Emotions in Young Children We have devised several developmental scales for assessing the development of emotions in 1- to 8-year-olds, including emotional splitting as well as guilt, shame, and pride. Several cross-sectional studies are in progress using these scales to assess early emotional development. Collaborators include Dr. Catherine Ayoub, Dr. Rebecca Hencke, and Dr. Michael Mascolo of Merrimack College. Project 6: Development of Early Reading Skills and Problems In Cleveland, Dr. Catherine Knight of Baldwin-Wallace College leads a collaboration to investigate developmental pathways in the early development of reading, including pathways that are associated with reading problems.   Projects on School-Age Children, Adolescents, and Adults Project 7: Antecedents of Aggression in Children and Adolescents Dr. Malcolm Watson of Brandeis University leads a federally funded research project in collaboration with the New England Research Institute to study factors that mediate aggressive behavior and other problematic actions in school-age children and adolescents. The sample includes three representative subsamples in Springfield, Massachusetts: African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Anglo-Americans. Assessment began at 7 to 13 years, and children are being followed longitudinally for at least nine years, with funding from NICHD. The many individual measures of children and parents focus on connectedness-disconnectedness, temperament-style, and social and family factors. Project 8: Development of Representations of Self-Conscious Emotions and Self-in-Relationships across Cultures Self, relationships, and emotions are major topics of debate in cultural studies. We have adapted the Self-in-Relationships Interview for use in several different countries (China, Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.), and we have adapted cognitive assessment techniques to analyze the organization of self-conscious emotions in China and the U.S. With these tools we are able to assess cognitive and socioemotional pathways of development, describing both similarities and differences across cultures. For example, the evaluative dimension of emotion organizes self-in-relationships in similar ways in all the cultures that we have studied, and new levels of skill emergy at approximately the same ages. However, the specific role relationships and emotional organizations show an important difference. In self-conscious emotions, Chinese differentiates an extensive family of shame emotions, which English does not distinguish. Collaborators include Ching-Ling Cheng, Jin Li, and Lianquin Wang. Project 9: Microdevelopmental and Macrodevelopmental Analysis of Problem Solving and Collaboration in Children and Adults We have devised new techniques for analyzing how adolescents and young adults solve problems, both individually and together, in classrooms and in less formal settings. Our earlier work established general developmental analyses of, for example, arithmetic concepts, moral and epistemological concepts, and social categories in children and adolescents. Our current focus is on integrating real-time analysis of problem solving with developmental analysis, determining how adolescents and adults construct solutions to problems. Domains of research include science education, piano playing, self-understanding, and classroom learning in graduate students.. The research includes study of the contributions of collaboration to problem-solving. Collaborators include Dr. Nira Granott, Dr. Michael Mascolo, Dr. James Parziale, Alys Terrien-Queen, and Zheng Yan, who have devised new methods for analyzing microdevelopment in problem-solving in groups of two or three people. Project 10: Development of Representations of Self in Relationships in Abused Children and Adolescents and Abusive Parents At several area hospitals and Social Service facilities, we are studying how abused and non-abused children and adolescents and their parents represent themselves, especially in close relationships. A key measure is the Self-in-Relationships Interview, which assesses emotional-cognitive development of representations of self in relationships in children as young as age 7. Collaborators in this research are Dr Catherine Ayoub, Dr. Rosemary Calverley, and Dr. Gil Noam. Project 11: Conceptual Development in Adolescence and Early Adulthood In several different domains, we are investigating how adolescents and young adults develop concepts important for education, social, and moral development. The domains include concepts about personality and social interaction among people, the bases of knowledge (especially reflective judgment), values, and mathematical concepts.   [Welcome] [The Lab] [Projects] [Research] [Courses] [Publications] [Links]