Darcia Narvaez

Darcia Narvaez (dar-sha narv-eyes) is a Professor of Psychology Emerita at the University of Notre Dame who has written extensively on issues of character and moral development.
Biography.
Narvaez was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father, Richard Narvaez, was a professor of Spanish linguistics at the University of Minnesota. Darcia Narvaez spent part of her childhood in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain. Her first job was with the local public television station (KTCA) in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a 7-and 8-year-old: she was the voice of the puppet, Maria, on the Spanish-language-teaching program "Ya Hablamos Español". 
Narvaez subsequently worked as a church musician (organist, choir director), classroom and private music teacher (Brent International School in Baguio City, Philippines; King of Kings School in Roseville, Minnesota), middle school Spanish teacher (The Blake School in Hopkins, Minnesota), and business owner. She also earned a master of divinity degree from Luther Seminary in St. Paul and is a published poet.
Narvaez earned her PhD in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1993, and joined the College of Education and Human Development there in the department of curriculum and instruction and the department of educational psychology. In 2000, she joined the department of psychology at Notre Dame.
Narvaez was married to Professor James Rest until his death in 1999. She is married to Daniel Lapsley, a professor of psychology at Notre Dame.
Career.
Narvaez was the design leader of the Minnesota Community Voices and Character Education project funded with $1 million by the US Department of Education during 1998-2002. She is co-author with James Rest, Steve Thoma and Muriel Bebeau of the book "Postconventional Moral Thinking" (1999).
Narvaez was one of five psychologists to be invited to speak at the White House's Conference on Character in Community in 2002.
Narvaez's work emphasizes moral development over the lifespan, and the interaction between implicit and explicit processes in moral functioning. She emphasizes the importance of early experience in shaping moral capacities. Her current work is on the evolved developmental niche for young children (natural birth, extensive on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, caregiver responsiveness, free play, multiple adult caregivers and extensive positive social support). She is studying the effects of early life experience on moral development in the US and in China.
A recent emphasis in Narvaez's work involves indigenous wisdom, starting with her 2013 paper "The 99%--Development and socialization within an evolutionary context: Growing up to become 'A good and useful human being.'” She organized a conference in September 2016 called "Sustainable Wisdom: Integrating Indigenous Knowhow for Global Flourishing" resulting in the volume, Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom (2019).
Narvaez's blog, "Moral Landscapes," at "Psychology Today" has over 14 million hits (as of mid 2020) with the most popular posts being "Dangers of 'Crying it Out'" with over 2.8 million hits, Five Things NOT to do to Babies, and Myths about Circumcision You Likely Believe.
Honors.
Narvaez is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Educational Research Association. She is former editor-in-chief of the "Journal of Moral Education".
Narvaez's book "Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom" won the 2015 William James Book Award from Division I of the American Psychological Association. It also won the 2017 Expanded Reason Award. 
Several of Narvaez's books have won awards from the special interest group, Moral Development and Education, at the American Educational Research Association: 