Welcome!

Who We Are

We are part of the Early Childhood Study Center at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Psychology.

Our lab director is Dr. Celia Brownell. We have two graduate students, Whitney Waugh and Jesse Drummond, as well as a wonderful team of undergraduate research assistants.

What We Study

We study how young children play and interact with each other. We are especially interested in the origins and early development of peer cooperation and how that relates to emerging self-awareness and understanding of others.

Between 12 and 30 months, one can see the first real glimmerings of all that we consider most human: complex emotions like pride and shame, complex social relationships, language, art, morality, etc. We investigate in detail what is changing during this period in children's abilities to interact with others, and in the corresponding understanding of themselves and others in interaction.

Since toddlers don't yet speak well and don't follow directions very well either, we use naturally occurring play settings and behavior to study their emerging social skills and social understanding.

Findings from our studies can be used to help diagnose and treat developmental problems and disorders in young children. They can also be used to design activities and environments for children in child care. Our findings can be used to design the toys and computer games you see in toy stores. Finally, many of the articles you read in parent magazines are written because of findings from our studies! Click here to read an article written about some of our recent findings in Parenting magazine.

If you would like more information on our individual studies, please click here.

Early Social Development Lab Tour!

Take a virtual tour of the Early Social Development Lab by clicking here.