Ariye Krassner ’14
Compared to an American childhood, does a Danish upbringing make for a happier kid? Traditionally, temperament has been considered an innate trait, but Associate Professor of Psychology Samuel Putnam and Ariye Krassner ’14 have reason to believe that there’s more to the story. Under Putnam’s supervision, Krassner has developed a senior honors project focusing on the effects of Danish versus American culture on infant disposition.
It all started when Krassner, while studying abroad in Denmark last spring, worked with researchers at the University of Copenhagen to examine interactions between mothers and young children throughout development. While her study began as an exploration of parental and environmental influences on temperament, it turned into a cross-cultural analysis upon her return to the United States. Krassner worked with Putnam to replicate the same procedures, this time using American families as her study subjects.
Krassner has made some tentative conclusions: for instance, Danish children appear to experience less negative emotion – such as frustration, fear, and sadness – than their American counterparts. This July she and Putnam will be presenting their research at an international conference in Berlin, Germany. Read about their findings here.