Darcia Narvaez

Darcia Narvaez is Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Her research explores questions of species-typical and species-atypical development in terms of wellbeing, morality, and sustainable wisdom. Dr. Narvaez examines how early life experience (the evolved nest) influences moral functioning and wellbeing in children and adults. She integrates evolutionary, anthropological, neurobiological, clinical, developmental, and education sciences in her work. Questions that interest her include: How does early experience shape human nature? What do sustainable indigenous societies have to teach the modern world? What types of moral orientations do individuals develop in species-typical and -atypical environments? What is indigenous ecological wisdom and how do we cultivate it? How can educators and parents foster optimal development, wellbeing, and communal imagination? Her 2014 book won the 2015 William James Book Award from the APA and the 2017 Expanded Reason Award for research. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Narvaez received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Minnesota.