Research

Overview

The Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative is creating a compelling body of research that explores the critical role of the caregiving environment in the evolution and development of language, intelligence, social skills and reflective consciousness. We are studying these processes in children developing typically, children with developmental disorders, and nonhuman primates, and we are investigating the changes that occur in children with developmental disorders as a result of interventions that are based on the theory of emotional transformations as set forth in The First Idea: How Symbols, Language and Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans. With a series of studies that simultaneously look at the growth of the brain, mind, and emotional and social processes in normative and clinical contexts, we are further exploring the emotional transformations that a child passes through during the course of development that are critical for the growth of the mind and brain. We are also further exploring how developmental and mental health disorders arise from a disruption of these same processes and how, when restored through intervention programs that mobilize these processes, individuals are returned to a healthy developmental trajectory.

For a summary of The First Idea, click here.