Developmental Sciences

Photograph of Amy Kolak, Ph.D..

Dr. Amy Kolak

My primary line of research on children’s socioemotional development and behavioral regulation within the family context is driven by two main goals: (1) identifying individual and family factors that lead to more harmonious and less conflicted family relationships and (2) examining family processes (including dyadic, triadic, and whole-family interactions) that foster children’s social and emotional development. To study these constructs, I take a multi-method approach which includes administering surveys to parents, conducting child assessments, and using observational paradigms to assess family dynamics.

My second line of research, using self-reports surveys to date, has focused on the period of emerging adulthood especially understanding the role that family dynamics and individual behavior play in well-being during this period.  


Photograph of Gabrielle Principe..

Dr. Gabrielle Principe

I specialize in the field of forensic developmental psychology, with a focus on factors affecting young children’s memory for personally experienced events and the implications of this research for understanding their ability to provide testimony in legal settings. My expertise is on social and cognitive factors that promote versus distort children’s reports of their experiences. In my current work in this area, I center on how naturally occurring conversations with peers and parents can come to modify children’s accounts of the past and even create false memories.

In a second line of work, I am interested in the role of parent-child memory sharing conversations in the development of negative interpretation and memory biases associated with emotional disorders, like anxiety and depression. In particular, this research centers on links between the ways in which mothers frame conversations about past shared events and children’s independent interpretation of and memory for social experiences.


Photograph of Jen Wright, Ph.D.

Dr. Jen Wright

I study:

  • The emergence and development of the “normative” domain (i.e. our understanding and adherence to and/or defiance of societal and moral norms).
  • The development of virtue and character (e.g. moral exemplars), as well as specific virtues, such as humility.

In my lab, we conduct a wide variety of studies, both in and outside the lab – everything from collecting survey data to coding naturalistic observations to running experiments.

For more information, check out my website: http://jencolewright.weebly.com.

Jen Wright Lab Photo 1

Jen Wright Lab Photo 2