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Directory Profile

Sheila Walker,

Professor of Psychology; Laura Vausbinder Hockett Endowed Professorship
Psychology
Phone: 72908
[email protected]

Academic History

  • B.A. American University
  • M.A. New York University
  • Ph.D. Cornell University

Interests

My primary areas of research are culture and cognition; the development of racial and ethnic minority youth; and identity. Currently, my lab group is conducting studies examining identity among biracial young adults.

Courses Taught

  • Child Development
  • Adolescent Development
  • Cognitive Development
  • Cultural Psychology
  • Identity Development among Minority Youth
  • Psychology of the Black Woman in the U.S.
  • Psychology of Native American and First Nations Peoples (new course to be taught spring semester, 2012)

Selected Research and Publications

  • Walker, S.J. (2008). "'Woman' sounds more powerful": Identity development among urban, black adolescent females. In G. Tate (Ed.) Journeys of hope: Black women in urban spaces. NY: Palgrave Macmillan Press.
  • Boyer, P. & Walker, S. (2000). Intuitive ontology and cultural input in the acquisition of religious concepts. In K. Rosengren, P. Harris, & C. Johnson (Eds.) Imagining the impossible: The development of magical, scientific, and religious thinking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Walker, S. (1999). Culture, domain-specificity, and conceptual change: Natural kind and artifact concepts. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 17, 203-219.