How long have you been a member?
I have been a member of Division 7 of APA from the start of my career. I also joined APS when the split occurred between the two organizations. Why? Because I believe that we need advocates for our work given that we have so much to offer the general public who funds our research. I also do not consider the divide between experimental and clinical practice to be a healthy one. Everyone wants to do evidence-based work and it is important to support that for all our peers.
Who inspires you?
I adore kids. I adore watching kids and they need not be my own. When children crouch together on a dock with a little net pulling out small creatures they put into a bucket, they may as well be bench scientists. When they chase each other and fall into gleeful fits of laughter, they are learning about taking turns, teasing in a gentle way, and how good it feels to move one’s body. Too many of us forget the joy that comes from movement, let alone the health benefits.
What are you most proud of?
I have harnessed basic science to serve kids in the real world. We created Playful Learning Landscapesopens in new window: installations in communities to encourage talk and play between caregivers and children. Our work in language development turned into the QUILSopens in new window language screeners for monolingual English and bilingual Spanish-English children from 2 through 6. Finally, with a wonderful team of Ukrainians and the Jacobs Foundation, we created Stories with Clever Hedgehogopens in new window, a website that invites playful learning of content, singing songs, drawing, and lots more. Given that it is in Ukrainian as well as English, it can be used around the world with populations that wish to learn English. Clever Hedgehog just had his first birthday!
What is your favorite childhood memory?
I was lucky that my uncle, a clinical psychologist, got divorced. He would bring his son a few years younger than me to my house and I would benefit from the places he took his son and the games they played. I remember as a kid asking him to test me like on the IQ test and I would love drawing the things he suggested (probably made-up requirements) and answering his questions in writing. My favorite thing was to go to museums with them – especially the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. I wonder where my little Stegosaurus sculpture went.
Contact: Roberta Golinkoff