My research interests lie in the field of prosocial behavior from childhood to adulthood, and focus on the motivational mechanisms behind prosocial decisions at various developmental phases ->

To date, my work has focused on middle childhood as an important phase in children’s development—cognitively, emotionally, and socially. I aim to examine the role of possible interactions between the individual’s personal characteristics (such as mood, subjective well-being, empathy) and the broader environmental and social context (e.g., culture, social norms, economic status) in predicting prosocial decisions.

In my PhD and post-doc years, I specialized in social psychology and its ramifications for child development. My Ph.D. research (funded by the Azrieli Foundation) examined the role of the prospective helper’s mental state in helping decisions, and how this may interact with the help recipient’s main characteristics. It also provided evidence for the developmental pattern of these associations during middle childhood.

My current work has three main foci of research. The first project examines the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and prosociality in adults and children. The second project focuses on the association between children’s social status in their peer group and their social and prosocial decisions.

The third project focuses on the motivations of children aged 6–12 to engage in consistent prosocial behavior. This line of research also explores the anticipated and experienced emotional consequences of the helping decision, and how such emotions may affect subsequent behavior.

Besides its contribution to social and developmental psychology literature and knowledge, as an academic scholar who is also a clinician specializing in educational psychology, I strongly believe that my research also has practical implications for educators and psychologists. Insights from my work may help in developing new and creative intervention programs in schools, educational systems, and the community at large.