Faculty Directory
Gilda Morelli
Department Chair, Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology
Associate Professor
Gilda Morelli
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion 240
Telephone: 617-552-4094
Email: gilda.morelli@bc.edu
ORCID
Education
- Ph.D., University Massachusetts Amherst
- M.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst
- B.A., University of Massachusetts Boston
Courses
Applied Psychology Practicum: Pathways to Purposeful Work and Life
Cultural Processes, Social and Emotional Development
Research Interests
The sociocultural and ecological aspects of infants' and young children's development, with interest in the close relationships children develop with the people who care for them;聽 the relation between caregivers' perception of material and psychological scarcity and tradeoffs they make that impact child and family experinece and functioning;聽 public policy, livelihood, and child well-being
Expertise
- Equity and Social Justice
- Formative and Whole Person Education
- Social & Emotional Development
Department
Profile
Gilda Morelli has devoted much of her career to exploring the intricate factors that shape the development of infants and young children around the world. Her expertise includes the ecological and cultural basis of children's attachment relationships. In the classroom, she and her students navigate the social issues and policies related to development.
Her interest in pivotal childhood relationships began while researching children in Efe families鈥攈unter gatherers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is currently investigating how children navigate relationships to obtain scarce resources. And she recently participated in international collaborative work critiquing attachment theory and reliance on its research to inform parenting intervention programs worldwide.
Morelli joined Boston College in 1989 and has held several academic and administrative positions. She has also published numerous papers and manuscripts. Her projects have been awarded grants by such prestigious funders as the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.
Publications
- Morelli, G., Quinn, N., Chaudhary, N., Vicedo, M., Rosabal-Coto, M., Keller, H., Murray, M., Gottlieb, A., Scheidecker, G., Takada, A. Ethical challenges of parenting interventions in low to middle income countries. 聽Accepted for publication Journal Cross-Cultural Psychology.
- Keller, H., Bard, K., Morelli, G., Chaudhary, N., Vicedo, M., Rosabal-Coto, M., Scheidecker, G., Murray, J., Rosabal-Coto, M., Gottlieb, A. 聽The Myth of Universal Sensitive Responsiveness: 聽Comment on Mesman et al. (2017). 聽Accepted for publication Child Development.
- Morelli, G., Bard, K., Chaudhary, N., Gottlieb, A., Keller, H., Murray, J., Quinn, N., Rosabal-Coto, M., Scheidecker, G., Takada, A., Vicedo, M. 聽Bringing the Real World into Developmental Science: A Commentary on Weber, Fernald, & Diop (2017). 聽Accepted for publication Child Development.
- Rosabal-Coto, M., Quinn, N., Keller, H., Vicedo, M., Chaudhary, N., Gottlieb, A., Scheidecker, G., Murray, J., Takada, A., Morelli, G. A (2017). 聽Real-world applications of attachment theory. 聽In H. Keller, K. Bard (Eds.) Contextualizing attachment: 聽The cultural nature of attachment. 聽(139-170). 聽Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.聽; 聽
- Morelli, G. A., Chaudhary, N., Gottlieb, A., Keller, H., Murray, J., Quinn, N., Rosabal-Coto, M., Scheidecker, G., Takada, A., Vicedo, M. (2017). 聽Taking culture seriously: 聽Developing a pluralistic theory of attachments. 聽In H. Keller, K. Bard (Eds.) Contextualizing attachment: 聽The cultural nature of attachment. 聽(335-354). 聽Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.聽; 聽听听
- Morelli, G.A. (2015). The evolution of attachment theory and and cultures of human attachment in infancy and childhood. 聽In L.A. Jensen (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture: 聽An Interdisciplinary Perspective (149-164). New York: Oxford University Press. Read the chapter.聽Read the abstract.
- Morelli, G.A., Ivey Henry, P., Foerster, S. (2014). 聽Relationships and resource uncertainty: 聽Cooperative development of Efe hunter-gatherer infants and toddlers. 聽In D. Navarez, A. Fuentes, K. Valentino and P. Grey (Eds.) Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: 聽Culture, Childrearing and Social Wel Being (69-103). NY: 聽Oxford University Press.
- Foerster, S., Wilkie, D., Morelli, G.A., Demmer, J., Starkey, M., Telfer, P., Steil, M. (2011). Human livelihoods and protected areas in Gabon: 聽A cross-sectional comparison of welfare and consumption practices. Oryx, 45 (3), 347-356. 聽聽Read the abstract.
- Morelli, G.A., Henry, Paula, I., O'Hanley, T. (2009). 聽Mother-child relationships: 聽Historical and cultural perspective. 聽In R. Richard A. Shweder, Thomas R. Bidell, Anne C. Dailey, Suzanne D. Dixon, Peggy J. Miller, and John modell (Eds.) The Child: 聽An Encyclopedic Companion (638-640). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Morelli, G.A. Rothbaum, F. (2007). Situating the Child in Context: 聽Attachment Relationships and Self-Regulation in Different Cultures. 聽In S. Kitayama, D. Cohen (Eds.) Handbook of Cultural Psychology (500-527). New York, NY: 聽Guildford Press.
- Morelli, G.A., Rogoff, B., Angelillo, C. (2003). Cultural variation in children's access to work or involvement in specialized child-focused activities. 聽International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(3), pp. 264-274. Read the abstract.
- Reprinted: 2011 in Early Childhood Education, I. Sirah-Blatchford and A. Mayo (Eds.), Sage, London.
- Reprinted: 2009 in Cross-cultural Psychology, P.B. Smith and D. L. Best (Eds.), Sage, London.
- Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J., Pott, M., Miyake, K., Morelli, G. (2000). 聽Attachment and culture: 聽Security in the United States and Japan. 聽American Psychologist, 55(10), 1093-1104. Read the abstract.