Edward F Zigler, Yale Psychology Faculty

We have spent over three decades studying motivational determinants of children’s performance and the influence of life circumstances on children’s behavior. This work includes the effects of socialization settings, treatment regimens, intervention programs, and family factors. Much of our research has focused on cognitive and social-emotional development, particularly in children who are mentally retarded or from lower-income families. We have approached the study of MR from a developmental perspective, arguing that the majority of retarded persons are normal in the sense that their intellectual functioning follows the same steps and processes as the rest of the population. We have demonstrated that in many cases the attenuated functioning associated with retardation (over that expected by a general intellectual delay) is due to motivational factors rather than to a circumscribed defect. Our empirical and theoretical journeys have led to our efforts to redefine mental retardation in terms of intelligence and etiology. We are also working to apply the developmental approach to psychopathology in retarded and non-retarded persons.

Another major branch of study is the impact of social action programs on child and family life. Yale's Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy trains students to do policy analyses by joining the areas of social science research and policy formation. Current projects which inform policy range over such areas as infant care leaves, child care, teenage mothers, mainstreaming, assessments of intervention programs, improvement of the nation’s Head Start program, the wisdom of early schooling, the causes and prevention of child abuse, family support programs, and the impact of welfare reform on children.

Sample Publications

Zigler, E., & Hall, N. W. (2000). Child development and social policy: Theory and applications. Boston, MA: McGraw- Hill.

Finn-Stevenson, M., & Zigler, E. (1999). Schools of the 21st Century: Linking child care and education. (Renewing American School series.) Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Zigler, E. & Styfco, S. J. (Eds.). (1993). Head Start and beyond: A national plan for extended childhood intervention. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Zigler, E. , Kagan, S. L., & Hall, N. W. (Eds.). (1996). Children, families, and government: Preparing for the Twenty-first Century. New York: Cambridge University Press.