Niobe Way

Dr. Niobe Way is an internationally-recognized Professor of Developmental Psychology, the founder of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (PACH) at NYU and the Director of the Science of Human Connection Lab. She is also a Principal Investigator of the Listening with Curiosity Project, which has been funded by the Spencer Foundation and is currently funded by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and the Rockefeller Foundation, and is a member of the New Pluralists Collaborative. Dr. Way was the President of the Society for Research on Adolescence, received her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard School of Education, and was an NIMH postdoctoral fellow in the Psychology Department at Yale.

Dr. Way’s work focuses on social and emotional development, how cultural ideologies shape child development and families in the U.S. and China, and on how to build a more just and humane world. The Listening with Curiosity Project, her project with Drs. Joseph Nelson and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, aims to foster the core competencies of care, cooperation, and curiosity necessary for human connection to address the global crisis of connection. Dr. Way created and teaches the courses "The Science of Human Connection," "Transformative Interviewing," and "Culture, Context, and Psychology." Dr. Way’s work, for which she is regularly featured in the mainstream media, integrates the theoretical, empirical, and applied work she has developed over four decades on the intersections of cultural ideologies, contexts, human development, and wellbeing.

Her newest book is Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture (Dutton/Penguin/Random House). Her book in progress for Harvard University Press is titled: Our Social Nature in an Anti-Social Culture: A Five Part Story. Her latest co-edited book is The Crisis of Connection: Its Roots, Consequences, and Solutions (NYU Press). Dr. Way has authored or co-authored over a hundred journal articles and 8 books, including Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection (Harvard University Press), which was the inspiration for "Close", a movie that won the Grand Prix Award at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film.