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 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 Project, her current project with Drs. Joseph Nelson, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, and Jinjoo Han, is a novel intervention that aims to foster curiosity and connection to address the global crisis of connection (e.g., loneliness, depression, anxiety, suicide, hate crimes, mass violence). Dr. Way created and teaches the courses "The Science of Human Connection," “Adolescent Development,” "Transformative Interviewing," and "Culture, Context, and Psychology." Dr. Way’s work, for which she is regularly featured in the media, integrates the theoretical, empirical, and applied work she has developed over three decades on the intersections of culture, contexts (micro and macro), human development, and wellbeing.
Her latest co-edited book is The Crisis of Connection: Its Roots, Consequences, and Solutions (NYU Press). Dr. Way has authored or co-authored nearly a hundred journal articles and 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. Her newest book for Dutton press (a division of Penguin/Random House) is Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture. Another book, in progress for Harvard University Press, is titled: The Culture/Nature Clash and Its Violent Consequences.
Selected Publications
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Way, N. (in press). Rebels with a cause: Reimagining boys, ourselves, and our culture. Dutton Press.
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Rogers, L. O., & Way, N. (2021). Child development in an ideological context: Through the lens of resistance and accommodation. Child Development Perspectives, 15(4), 242–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12433
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Way, N., Ali, A., Gilligan, C., Noguera, P., & Kirkland, D. E. (Eds.). (2018). The crisis of connection: Roots, consequences, and solutions. New York University Press, New York, NY.
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Way, N. (2011). Deep secrets: Boys' friendships and the crisis of connection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
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Way, N., Santos, C., Niwa, E. Y., & Kim-Gervey, C. (2008). To be or not to be: An exploration of ethnic identity development in context. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2008(120), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.216
