Cognitive Development

Kathleen M. Galotti holds a B.A. in psychology and economics from Wellesley College, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in psychology and an M.S.E. in computer and information sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. At Carleton College she holds the title Professor and Director of Cognitive Science, an interdisciplinary program, which she helped establish in 1989. She also is a former department chair of Psychology. She teaches courses in cognitive and developmental psychology and cognitive science, and has also taught courses in statistics and introductory psychology. Dr. Galotti is the author or coauthor of dozens of peer-reviewed studies in cognitive and developmental psychology. Her research centers on the development of reasoning and decision-making skills from the preschool period through adulthood and on the styles with which adolescents and adults plan for the future, make important life commitments, and learn new information. Her research has been funded through the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. She is the author of Making Decisions That Matter: How People Face Important Life Choices (Erlbaum, 2002), as well as a textbook, Cognitive Development: Infancy Through Adolescence (SAGE, 2011).