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Charles Helwig

Charles Helwig is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.A. from the University of Chicago. His research examines the development of moral and social judgments from the preschool years through adulthood, with a focus on the development of moral concepts related to societal issues and social institutions, such as freedoms, civil liberties, and democracy. He has investigated children's understandings of democratic decision-making and rights not only in the context of society at large but in other social contexts such as the family, the school, and the peer group, and in cross-cultural research conducted in China and Canada. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association. Currently, he is Associate Editor of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology and a member of the editorial board of Human Development, and has served on the editorial boards of Child Development and the Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Office telephone: 416-978-7609
Homepage: www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/csc/Moral/helwig/helwig.html
Curriculum vitae: DOC (125 KB)

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Justin McNeil

My research interests deal with youth civic engagement, specifically concerning youth's perceptions of their broader social responsibilities. My undergraduate research touched on topics in children's rights education and how allowing children input into school decision-making processes affected teachers and students as a whole. In my Master's level research I focused on mandatory volunteer programs in high schools, with the focus on youth's perceptions of their personal autonomy balanced against the idea of a broader social good. For my future research I would like to continue to assess youth's prosocial reasoning while exploring other aspects of political socialization.

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Sharon To

Research interest: Social and moral development in cross-cultural settings, parenting, development of children's rights conceptions, developmental psychopathology

I'm a Ph.D. student in School and Clinical Child Psychology (OISE/UT). My M.A. thesis focuses on gaining an understanding of the fundamental processes in the development of children’s rights conceptions in diverse cultural settings. I am investigating the role of both parental and teacher autonomy support and responsiveness, as well as perceptions of the roles of democratic school and family environments, in facilitating Chinese and Canadian adolescents' endorsement of their own rights. I am also examining the correlates between these features of adolescents' experiences and adolescents' psychological well-being in my project.

E-mail: sharon.to@utoronto.ca

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Sarah Watson

My current research focuses on the development and transmission of prejudice. I am exploring children's, adolescents', and adults' beliefs about the origin of gender and sexual orientation differences; i.e., whether they believe these groups differ based on biological or social differences. I am also interested in exploring the impact that parents' beliefs about the origin of group differences have on their children's beliefs.

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Judith Gere

I have been examining on young adults' attitudes and reasoning about gender roles. My research investigates to what extent young adults view gender roles as moral issues, social conventional issues or matters of personal choice. I have also investigated whether these conceptualizations vary based on young adults' cultural backgrounds.

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Martin Zhang

I am an ROP299 student. I applied to be in this Moral Development Lab because it sounded the most interesting. Currently, I am learning concepts like morality, autonomy, and conflict, and it is very exciting for me. Ever since the beginning of high school, I have worked my summers at the Regional Multicultural Youth Council in Thunder Bay, Ontario, as a grass-roots community organizer. So, the things I am learning in this lab have a real practical element for me. I have transitioned through a couple areas of study at university already. However, my current plan is to pursue psychology because I like the blend of science and philosophy that this study contains. In the future, I would like to help people, in the most general sense, but I am still trying to figure that part out.

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Elizabeth Wong

I am currently pursuing majors in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies. I am interested in how the interactions between one's physical, psychological, and biological environments shape moral and gender development. As well, explore any associations between gender attributions and egalitarian views. In addition to learning about the applications of science, I also enjoy reading, writing poetry, and playing the piano.

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Stephanie Tang

I am currently finishing my undergraduate degree with a Psychology Specialist and a Human Biology Major. My research interests are generally in children's emotional, cognitive and social functioning – how these aspects of development can influence and be affected by various factors, such as the role of parents. I began volunteering in lab during the summer of 2009 and have since completed several individual research courses. This included assisting in the development of a reliable coding scheme and conducting literature reviews. These experiences have taught me a lot about children's development and various aspects of research design! Upon finishing my undergraduate degree, I will be pursuing further studies to become a school psychologist. In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at hospitals, watching dramas, and spending time with my family and friends.

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Suhal Ahmed

I love learning about the concepts of morality, altruism and community service. They are some of the most complex concepts to understand but that's what makes them so fascinating. Being a part of the Moral Development Lab as a 299 student has helped me learn a great deal about psychological research methods, statistical data analysis as well as many concepts in moral development. I work with programs like Lead2Peace and Meal Exchange which are all about getting youths to be engaged in their community, so it's really interesting to see what could be the motivation behind their behaviours. I am also interested in seeing how adolescents develop altruistic behaviours and autonomy. It's really exciting to be a part of research that can benefit society and I want to eventually apply them to my own work in the community.

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Caroline Liu

How do our brains achieve amazing feats like sentence production, moral reasoning, and (usually) accurate perception? These are some of the interesting puzzles that led me to specialize in Psychology and major in Linguistics for my undergraduate degree. I joined the lab in Fall 2010 as part of the 299 Research Opportunity Program, and have since learnt a lot about scientific research and moral development. As a side project, I redesigned the Helwig Lab website and will continue to serve as the webmaster in the coming year. In my spare time, I enjoy making origami, reading, and, of course, web design.

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Claire Banga

I am deeply fascinated with the impact of technology on development, particularly in the moral realm. Some consequences are apparent, as seen in the rise of internet bullying. However, I believe there are also underlying effects such as the effect technology has on reflective thought with respect to moral actions. I hope to have the opportunity to study these and other topics at a graduate level upon completion of my specialist degree in Psychology. My experiences here in the lab have ultimately helped shape my education in fostering my interest in moral development.

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Ayelet Lahat

I did my Ph.D. work in Developmental Psychology at the University of Toronto under the co-supervision of Charles Helwig and Phil Zelazo. In Fall 2010 I began my post-doctoral training with Nathan Fox (University of Maryland) and Daniel Pine (National Institutes of Health). My area of research is Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience and I am interested in the neural correlates of the development of affective decision-making and the role executive function plays in this process. Specifically, I am interested in the neural correlates of children’s and adults’ moral and social decisions, as well as in the neural substrates underlying reward processing. My research includes behavioral, EEG/ERP, and fMRI methodologies.

E-mail: alahat@umd.edu
Current lab's website: University of Maryland Child Development Lab

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Chris Lo

I completed my PhD under Charles concerning the relational context of identity formation in 2008. I then moved into the hospital system and completed a post-doctoral fellowship under Gary Rodin in Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the University Health Network (UHN) in 2010, focusing on the personal and relational factors that affect adaptation near the end of life. I am currently a research scientist at UHN and an assistant professor in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

UHN webpage: http://www.uhnresearch.ca/researchers/profile.php?lookup=16518

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