Cognitive psychology

Social psychology

Pedagogy

Social change

Developmental psychology

Emotional development

Psychology

Political science

Social emotional learning

Social learning

Perspectives on Psychological Science

This brief article describes how I have applied my knowledge, skills, and dispositions as a psychological scientist to help make the world a better place for children and youth. Over the last 40 years, I have collaborated with hundreds of researchers and practitioners to advance social and emotional learning (SEL) research, practice, and policy. Our long-term goal is to help make evidence-based SEL an essential part of preschool to high school education. Many countries, states, and districts now support quality implementation of systemic SEL in schools. I highlight a few challenges of doing this work and why it has been meaningful to me. I reflect on what I might do differently if I were to do this work again. Most important, I would spend more time in schools, central offices, and state departments of education so my research would be influenced even more by the realities of everyday practice.

Promoting the Social and Emotional Learning of Millions of School Children