Welcome to my academic page!

Darcia Narvaez (Pronunciation: DAR-sha Narv-EYES)

by Matt Cashore University of Notre Dame

I am a Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame with a Puerto Rican and German-American background. My work focuses on moral development and flourishing from an interdisciplinary perspective. I am especially interested in how early life experience and societal culture interact to influence wellbeing and virtuous character in children and adults.

I have identified

The Evolved Nest as a millions-year-old heritage of ancestral wisdom critical for forming the foundations of health, wellbeing, prosociality and compassionate morality.
Triune-ethics meta-theory (TEM) as a framework for how moral mindsets can shift or become dispositional from (early life) experience.
The critical need for Indigenous wisdom for fostering human flourishing and optimal moral functioning (relational attunement and communal imagination).
Integrative ethical education (via RAVES: relationship, apprenticeship, virtue exemplars, ethical expertise, self-authorship) for fostering compassionate moral character in classrooms.

FILMS

6-minute film, Breaking the Cycle (in Spanish & Subtitled in 16 languages at YouTube)

8-minute film, The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children

(in Spanish & Subtitled in 16 languages at YouTube)

12-minute film: Reimagining Humanity (in Spanish & Subtitled in 16 languages) Watch 2-minute trailer

Curriculum Vitae12.23

BOOKS

Download Published Papers by Topic

En español: LINK

WORKSHOP Materials For Educators

RESEARCH TOOLS (for teachers and researchers)

See also EvolvedNest.org

DarciaNarvaez.com

Kindred Media

ARCHIVED BLOG AT PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

BLOG POST LIST with LINKS

YouTube Playlist

Twitter: @MoralLandscapes, @EvolvedNest

Facebook: Moral Landscapes, EvolvedNest

SoundCloud: Evolved Nest

RESEARCH TOPICS

Triune Ethics Meta-Theory (and measures)

The Evolved Nest (Evolved Developmental Niche)

Indigenous Wisdom

Conference: Sustainable Wisdom: Integrating Indigenous Knowhow for Global Flourishing

For Life to Continue on Earth, Every Day Must Be Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Moral Complexity/Mature Moral Functioning

Education for Virtue, Ethics, Morality

Moral Discourse Processing/Comprehension

Moral Self and Identity
Diversity and Culture
Moral & Political Judgment
College and Professional Education
Other Areas of Interest

OTHER LINKS

Center for the Study of Ethical Development at the University of Alabama (information about the Defining Issues Test)

Collaboration for Ethical Education

Minnesota Community Voices and Character Education Curriculum Materials

Wikipedia Page

About my spouse, Dan Lapsley

Evolved Nest

Celebrate National Poetry Month With Medicinal Poetry
ENDORSEMENTS “The Great Physician is good medicine for my spirit, my mental and emotional being and my physical body. The Great Physician: Medicinal Poetry for the Anthropocene will remain on my desk where I can revisit the beautiful, sobering, compassionate, inspiring experiences exquisitely shaped into poetic form. As someone who is keen on the gift […]
Does Boarding School Create Traumatized Leaders? A Documentary Asks
Boarding on Insanity will begin streaming on April 19, 2025. Many of our global leaders have been to boarding school. From Boris Johnson to Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch to Richard Branson. The world is going through a crisis: war, environmental collapse and poverty. Could the world’s challenges be because some of the world’s political […]
The New Bills of Rights to Work For
I have visions for a full democracy, where every person on Earth, only some of which are human, are treated as sovereign beings, with dignity and respect. To get to that place, we may need to awaken our imaginations by understanding the rights of various groups whose various needs have been overlooked. Here is a […]
Standing Up When Democracy Falls
I confess I have been in a state of paralysis since January. But slowly, as I find the courage to not look away from the videos displaying the unchecked power of bullies, my rage kindles an awakening. It’s happening. This is not a drill. We are in a constitutional crisis. Our democracy is under direct […]
Darcia Narvaez, Kindred World’s President, to Receive APA Div. 24 Presidential Citation Award
Kindred World is proud to announce that Darcia Narvaez, PhD, our president and co-founder of the Evolved Nest Initiative, is the recipient of the 2024 Presidential Citation Award from Division 24 of the American Psychological Association (APA). Established in 2019, the Presidential Citation Award honors a nationally or internationally recognized scholar who has made significant […]
Never Doubt the Power of Your Advocacy
This morning, I heard an interview with a journalist who advocated for mothers who used drugs during pregnancy but who later gave up their addictions to parent their children. Her articles saved them from incarceration in Mississippi where women like these are charged as criminals and sentenced to twenty or more years in prison. Even […]
Recuperando el auténtico rumbo de la humanidad
Resumen: La cooperación y la compasión son formas de inteligencia. Su carencia indica que un estrés continuo o tóxico socavó el desarrollo habitual de dichas capacidades. Aunque resulte difícil reconocerlo a primera vista, los seres humanos de la cultura dominante tienden a ser bastante poco inteligentes en comparación con los de las sociedades que han […]
Political Disruption and the Evolution of Crone Consciousness
The crone’s wisdom arises out of the ashes of society’s disintegration. We stand for the continuity of life. Our memories go back into ancient times, and our vision goes forward into a world that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will inhabit. As men wrestle for power in the halls of government, women find one another, and […]
Rigid Adults Take Control: What Happened?
The USA is being turned upside by ideologues who are not interested in negotiation or compromise but only obedience to their mental models. The nested pathway does not produce such outcomes. So, how did this come about? Why are there so many of us adults who are rigid and motivated to impose our beliefs and […]
Honoring the Life of Colywn Trevarthen
Please join our Kindred community in recognizing and celebrating of the life of Colwyn Trevarthen, Professor (Emeritus) of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at The University of Edinburgh, who passed on July 1, 2024 at the age of 93. “Colwyn Trevarthen’s work and life contributed to the insights of the Evolved Nest, particularly in understanding the neurobiology of […]

Contact Info

Address:

Darcia Narvaez

Professor of Psychology Emerita

Department of Psychology

University of Notre Dame

390 Corbett Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Email: dnarvaez@nd.edu