Lecture May 13 to explain cultural-development theory

Lene Arnett Jensen, an associate professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., will present "Cultural-Developmental Theory for the 21st Century: Self and Social Science in a Global World" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 13. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is part of a series sponsored by the Center For Cross-Cultural Research in the Department of Psychology. It will take place in Academic Instructional Center West Room 204.

Jensen received her Ph.D. in comparative human development from the University of Chicago. Her research, scholarship and professional collaborations are helping to move the discipline of psychology toward understanding human development both in terms of what is universal and what is cultural. Using a "cultural-developmental theoretical approach," Jensen’s research addresses moral development and cultural identity formation in the contexts of "culture war" tensions, migration and globalization.

She and her students have conducted research in different countries, including Denmark, India, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.