Cecilia Wainryb

Cecilia Wainryb is a Professor in the Department of Developmental Psychology at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on how children and adolescents interpret interpersonal and group conflicts, particularly those involving harm, hurt feelings, and injustice, and how these interpretations influence moral development. She directs the Social Development Lab, which conducts cross-cultural studies on populations affected by political violence, extreme poverty, and displacement.

• Education: Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of California-Berkeley (1989)

Her work integrates developmental psychology with moral philosophy, examining how social-cognitive and narrative abilities shape moral reasoning. Recent projects explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' adjustment and narrative identity. She emphasizes the role of cultural frameworks and power inequalities in shaping individual moral agency, advocating for nuanced understandings beyond traditional collectivism-individualism dichotomies.

Key research themes include:

• Moral development in contexts of political conflict (e.g., Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia)
• Emotion regulation through narrative construction
• Parent-child conversations as contexts for moral socialization
• Developmental constraints on conflict understanding
• Restorative justice practices in schools
• Intergroup harm and social identity in violent communities