Recent Findings

We present our findings at national and international conferences and we publish them in scientific journals. It takes about two years from the time we finish a study until the results are published. Please note that we never present information about individual children or families, and we use photos of children only with written permission of the parents.

Popular parenting publications often report findings from our studies in useful articles for parents like you! Many popular parenting and child-rearing trends, new toys and activites, and tips come from research like ours.

Here is a recent article about our research in Parenting magazine:

Learning About Sizes: How to Help Your Child Size Things Up, by Mariko Thompson Beck

Here is a recent article about our research from Infants to Adolescents: Research Update , a newsletter for parents & professionals:

What's Mine is Yours

Here are some of our recent journal articles:

Early Developments in Joint Action. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2011, 2, 193-211. (pdf)

Toddlers’ Prosocial Behavior: From Instrumental to Empathic to Altruistic Helping. Child Development, 2010, 81, 1814–1827. (pdf)

Toddlers' Understanding of Peers' Emotions. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 2010, 171, 35-53. (pdf)

The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: When Do Toddlers Represent Their Own Body Topography? Child Development, 2010, 81, 797-810. (pdf)

The Role of Social Understanding and Empathic Disposition in Young Children's Responsiveness to Distress in Parents and Peers. Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2009, 13, 449-478. (pdf)

To Share or Not to Share: When do Toddlers Respond to Another's Needs? Infancy, 2009, 14, 117-130. (pdf)

"So Big": The Development of Body Self-awareness in Toddlers. Child Development, 2007, 78, 1426-1440. (pdf)

Becoming a Social Partner with Peers: Cooperation & Social Understanding in 1- & 2-year-olds. Child Development, 2006, 77, 803-821. (pdf)

Here is a recent book:

V. Slaughter & C. Brownell (Eds). (2012). Early Development of Body Representations. Guilford Press.

This volume brings together developmental perspectives to present a coherent view of how infants and children perceive and think about the human body.

C. Brownell & C. Kopp (Eds). (2007). Socioemotional Development in the Toddler Years: Transitions & Transformations. Guilford Press.

This volume explores the key developmental transitions that take place as 1- to 3-year-olds leave infancy behind and begin to develop the social and emotional knowledge, skills, and regulatory abilities of early childhood.

Here are some of our recent conference presentations:

How Do Parents Socialize Prosocial Behavior in Toddlers? (SRCD, 2011)

My brother’s keeper: Relations between social understanding, siblings and sharing in the second year (ICIS, 2010)

Yours & Mine: Sharing in 1- & 2-Year-Olds in Relation to Possession & Ownership Understanding (ICIS, 2010)

“What Does She Need to Make Her Happy?”: Relations Between Parental Emotion Language and Toddlers’ Prosocial Responsiveness (SRCD, 2009)

Baby, I Feel Your Pain: Development of Toddlers’ Empathic Responses to a Peer’s Distress (SRCD, 2009)

12-month-olds Understand Fear in Adults, but Not in Children (ICIS, 2008)

Helping Behavior in the Second Year: Actions vs Emotions (ICIS, 2008)

Body Image in Toddlers (Jean Piaget Society Meetings, 2007)

Development of Empathy Toward Peers in the Second Year of Life (Jean Piaget Society Meetings, 2007)

"What's Mine is Mine & What's Yours is...": Development of Sharing in Toddlers (SRCD,2007)

"She got one too!": Will Young Children Socially Reference an Older Child? (SRCD, 2007)