Professional Bio

Dr. Liben is an Evan Pugh University Professor at Penn State. Her primary appointment is Professor in the Department of Psychology of the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State where she is affiliated with the Developmental Psychology area and directs the Cognitive and Social Development Lab. She also holds faculty appointments in the College of Health & Human Development and in the College of Education.

She received her degrees in psychology from Cornell University (undergraduate) and from the University of Michigan (graduate). Dr. Liben has been at Penn State for most of her career, but has held brief faculty appointments at the University of Rochester and the University of Pittsburgh, and has spent sabbatical leaves at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard, the National Geographic Society, the City University of New York, the University of Freiburg, New York University, and the University of Canberra.

In addition to her faculty roles at Penn State, Dr. Liben has been active in various professional organizations. She is currently President of the Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD), and is past President of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Division 7 (Developmental) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the Jean Piaget Society. She has also been active in editing, having served as Editor-in-Chief of Child Development, the Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and the inaugural 11 volumes of the Jean Piaget Society Symposium Series. Dr. Liben is a fellow of APA, APS, EPA, and AERA.

A fuller list of Dr. Liben's professional activities and publications may be found on her vita.

Recent Publications

Liben, L. S., Myers, L. J., Christensen, A. E., & Bower, C. A. (2013). Environmental-scale map use in middle childhood: Links to spatial skills, strategies, and gender. Child Development, 84, 2047-2063.

Hilliard, L. J. & Liben, L. S. (2014). Fairness in the face of gender stereotypes: Examining the nature and impact of mother-child conversations. In C. Wainryb & H. E. Recchia (Eds.). Talking about right and wrong: Parent-child conversations as contexts for moral development  (pp.168-192). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Liben, L. S. (2014). Perceiving and representing horizontals: From laboratories to natural environments and back again. Ecological Psychology, 26, 158-166.

Bigler, R. S., Hayes, A. R., & Liben, L. S. (2014). Analysis and evaluation of the rationales for single-sex schooling. In L. S. Liben & R. S. Bigler (Vol. Eds.) The role of gender in educational contexts and outcomes. Volume 47 of Advances in child development and behavior. Series Editor: J. B. Benson (pp. 225-260). San Diego: Elsevier.

Quinn, P. C. & Liben, L. S. (2014).  A sex difference in mental rotation in infants: Convergent evidence. Infancy, 19, 103-116.

Liben, L. S., & Downs, R. M. (2015). Map use skills. In M. Monmonier (Ed.), Cartography in the twentieth century (pp. 1074-1080). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Liben, L. S. (2015). The STEM gender gap: The case for spatial interventions. International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology, 7, 133-150.

Liben, L. S. & Müller, U. (Eds.) (2015). Cognitive processes. Volume 2 of the Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.). Editor-in-chief: R. M. Lerner. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Plummer, J. D., Bower, C. A., & Liben, L. S. (2016). The role of perspective taking in how children connect reference frames when explaining astronomical phenomena. International Journal of Science Education, 38(3), 345-365. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2016.114092

Liben, L. S. (2016). We've come a long way baby (But we're not there yet): Gender past, present, and future. Child Development, 87, 5–28. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12490

Coyle, E. F., & Liben, L. S. (2016). Affecting girls’ job and activity interests through play: The moderating roles of personal gender salience and game characteristics. Child Development, 87, 414-428. doi:10.1111/cdev.12463

Liben, L. S. (in press). Gender development: A constructivist-ecological perspective. In N. Budwig, E. Turiel, & P. Zelazo, (Eds.). New perspectives on human development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Liben, L. S. & Coyle, E. F. (in press). Gender development: A relational approach. In A. S. Dick & U. Müller (Eds.), Advancing developmental science: Philosophy, theory, and method. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.