Melanie Killen

Melanie Killen is a developmental psychologist and Professor of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, and Professor of Psychology (Affiliate) at the University of Maryland, and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. She is supported by funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research. In 2008, she was awarded Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by the Provost's office at the University of Maryland. She is the Director of the Social and Moral Development Lab at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Melanie Killen

Education

Killen obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a NIMH Predoctoral trainee. Her PhD advisor was Elliot Turiel. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Clark University, where she was awarded a New England Psychological Association undergraduate Honorary Fellow.

Research

Killen, along with Adam Rutland, developed the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) model which identifies three factors, morality, group identity, and psychological knowledge, that bear on how individuals make social decisions, evaluate intergroup contexts, and display social biases when judging acts to be right or wrong. Morality includes fairness, equality, and rights; group identity includes group dynamics, in-group preferences and outgroup distrust, group advantaged and disadvantaged status, and group functioning; psychological knowledge includes attributions of intentions and mental state knowledge.

Killen has received funding from the NSF and the NICHD for a randomized control trial (RCT) of a program developed by her team designed to reduce prejudice and bias and promote positive intergroup friendships in childhood. The program is called Developing Inclusive Youth (DIY) and has a teaching component called Teaching Inclusive Youth (TIY). The long term goal is to implement the program in school districts interested in addressing prejudice and bias in childhood. [1] [2]

In 2011-2012, Killen and her research team were commissioned by Anderson Cooper at CNN AC360 to conduct a study on children's racial biases which aired in April, 2012, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding News and Analysis, October 1, 2013. [3]

Killen serves on the brain trust initiative in the education unit for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), Association for Psychological Science (APS), and the Society for the Study of Psychological Issues (SPSSI).

Research Areas and Topics of Interest

Moral Development

Social Cognitive Development

Social exclusion and inclusion in social decision-making

The origins of prejudice, bias, and discrimination

Intergroup attitudes in childhood and adolescence

Moral reasoning and group dynamics

Peer relationships

Children's understanding of social inequalities and social mobility

Honors and CV

For complete list of honors and CV, see faculty website [4]

Books

Selected book chapters
  • Killen, M., & Dahl, A. (2018). Moral judgment: Reflective, interactive, spontaneous, challenging and always evolving. In K. Gray & J. Graham (Eds.), The atlas of moral psychology (pp. 20-30). NY: The Guilford Press.[12]
  • Dahl, A., & Killen, M. (2018). Moral reasoning: Theory and research in developmental science. In J. Wixted (Ed.), The Steven’s handbook of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Vol. 4: Developmental and social psychology (S. Ghetti, Vol. Ed.), 4th edition (pp.1-31). New York: Wiley. Doi:10.1002/9781119170174.epcn410[13]
  • Killen, M., & Smetana, J.G. (2015). Origins and development of morality. In R.M. Lerner & M. E. Lamb (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science, Vol. 3, 7th edition (pp. 701-749). Editor-in-Chief, R. M. Lerner. NY: Wiley-Blackwell.[14]
  • Killen, M., Hitti, A., Cooley, C., & Elenbaas, L. (2015). Morality, development, and culture. In M. Gelfand, C.Y.Chiu, & Y.Y. Hong (Eds.), Advances in culture and psychology (pp. 161-220). New York: Oxford University Press.[15]
  • Turiel, E., & Killen, M. (2010). Taking emotions seriously: The role of emotions in moral development. In W. Arsenio & E. Lemerise (Eds.), Emotions in aggression and moral development (pp. 33-52). Washington, D.C.: APA.[16]

Journal Articles 2019-2020

Please visit the Killen Lab for a full list of articles.

  • Killen, M., & Dahl, A. (2020). Moral reasoning enables developmental and societal changes. Perspectives in Psychological Science.
  • Elenbaas, L., Rizzo, M., & Killen, M. (2020). A developmental science perspective on social inequality. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
  • Killen, M., & Dahl, A. (2020). The moral obligation of conflict and resistance (commentary). Brain and Behavioral Sciences. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X19002401
  • Killen, M. (2019). Developing inclusive youth: How to reduce social exclusion and foster equality and equity in childhood. The American Educator, 8 - 40.[17]
  • Rutland, A., Killen, M., & Abrams, D. (2010). A New Social-Cognitive Developmental Perspective on Prejudice. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 5, 279–291. doi: 10.1177/1745691610369468.
  • Cooley, S., Burkholder, A. & Killen, M. (2019). Social inclusion and exclusion in same-race and interracial peer encounters. Developmental Psychology, 55, 2440-2450. doi: 10.1037/dev0000810.
  • Burkholder, A., Elenbaas, L., & Killen, M. (2019). Children’s and adolescents' evaluations of intergroup exclusion in interracial and inter-wealth peer contexts. Child Development, 91, 512-527.Doi: 10.1111/cdev.13249
  • D’Esterre, A.P., Rizzo, M.T., & Killen, M. (2019). Unintentional and intentional false statements: The role of morally-relevant theory of mind. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 177, 53-69. Doi: 10.10.1016/j.jecp.2018.07.013

References
  1. https://theconversation.com/even-very-young-children-can-become-prejudiced-but-schools-can-do-something-about-it-116936
  2. https://www.aft.org/ae/fall2019/killen
  3. https://www.cnn.com/2012/04/02/us/ac360-race-study/index.html
  4. https://education.umd.edu/directory/melanie-killen
  5. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Handbook_of_Moral_Development/PTVHAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Melanie+Killen%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcover
  6. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Children_and_Social_Exclusion/F-PeAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Melanie+Killen%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcover
  7. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Social_Development_in_Childhood_and_Adol/TX6VxdiKPoQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Melanie+Killen%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcover
  8. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Intergroup_Attitudes_and_Relations_in_Ch/N__Ew3v93g4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Melanie+Killen%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA91&printsec=frontcover
  9. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/How+Children+and+Adolescents+Evaluate+Gender+and+Racial+Exclusion-p-9781405112352
  10. https://books.google.com/books/about/Piaget_Evolution_and_Development.html?id=_0d7Ns0f8psC&source=kp_book_description
  11. https://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1161924/?site_locale=en_GB
  12. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-57514-003
  13. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119170174.epcn410
  14. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-15586-017
  15. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-16076-004
  16. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-22773-002
  17. https://www.aft.org/ae/fall2019/killen
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