About

Andrew Meltzoff, PhD, holds the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair in Psychology and is the Co-Director of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. He is an internationally renowned expert on infant and child development, with a background that includes a BA from Harvard University and a PhD from Oxford University. Meltzoff's research has significantly advanced understanding of early cognition and social learning, particularly through his discoveries about infant imitation, which have transformed perspectives in developmental cognitive neuroscience. His work on preschoolers' social biases and children's STEM-gender stereotypes has helped bridge developmental and social psychology, while his recent research on infant altruism continues to expand interdisciplinary connections. Meltzoff's studies on young children have implications across cognitive psychology, brain science, and educational science, especially regarding memory, intentionality, multimodal coding, shared neural circuits, and the influence of role models and stereotypes on child development. His 'Like-Me' framework for social development emphasizes that young children seek out and recognize other social beings as 'like me,' informing work in autism spectrum disorder, social robotics, and philosophy of mind. Recognized with numerous awards, including the 2020 William James Fellow Award from the APS and the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psychology from the APA, Meltzoff has published over 300 papers and chapters, authored two books on early learning and the brain, and co-edited a multidisciplinary volume on imitation. He serves on various advisory boards and has appeared on multiple media outlets, contributing to public understanding of early development and social cognition.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Medicine
• Gender studies
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Framing an AI with Values Reduces AI Reliance in AI-supported Writing Tasks

  ArXiv.org · 2026-05-19

  articleOpen access

  Despite a global user base adopting large language models (LLMs) for daily writing tasks, model suggestions tend to align with Western values. Research has shown users commonly accept a high fraction of these AI suggestions, homogenizing writing styles and rendering outputs more ``Western'' than intended. While this suggests a need to reduce AI reliance, it remains unknown what kind of interventions could achieve this. Can framing the AI with specific values, and comparing it to one's own, make users less susceptible to overreliance and support more unique writing? We tested this hypothesis in a between-subjects online experiment with Indian and American participants (n=149) in which they were asked to perform AI-supported writing tasks, either 1) without an intervention, 2) after seeing an overview of the AI's framed values, or 3) after seeing an overview of the AI's framed values compared to their own. Our results show that seeing the AI's framed values reduces AI reliance, i.e., the proportion of the final essay generated by the AI, by an average of 20\%. Additionally, when participants saw an overview of the AI's framed values (without comparison to their own values), the final essays contain more unique text than without intervention. Our findings emphasize the importance of educating users about potential value biases in AI, showing that raising awareness with a simple overview of values encourages users to personalize their writing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mechanisms linking socioeconomic status and academic achievement in early childhood: Cognitive stimulation and language

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-27

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Salience network response to changes in emotional expressions of others is heightened during early adolescence: relevance for social functioning

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-26

  articleOpen access

  Adolescence is a unique developmental period when the salience of social and emotional information becomes particularly pronounced. Although this increased sensitivity to social and emotional information has frequently been considered with respect to risk behaviors and psychopathology, evidence suggests that increased adolescent sensitivity to social and emotional cues may confer advantages. For example, greater sensitivity to shifts in the emotions of others is likely to promote flexible and adaptive social behavior. In this study, a sample of 54 children and adolescents (age 8-19 years) performed a delayed match-to-sample task for emotional faces while undergoing fMRI scanning. Recruitment of the anterior cingulate and anterior insula when the emotion of the probe face did not match the emotion held in memory followed a quadratic developmental pattern that peaked during early adolescence. These findings indicate meaningful developmental variation in the neural mechanisms underlying sensitivity to changes in the emotional expressions. Across all participants, greater activation of this network for changes in emotional expression was associated with less social anxiety and fewer social problems. These results suggest that the heightened salience of social and emotional information during adolescence may confer important advantages for social behavior, providing sensitivity to others' emotions that facilitates flexible social responding.

  PublisherDOI

• Cognitive Stimulation as a Mechanism Linking Socioeconomic Status With Executive Function: A Longitudinal Investigation

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-27

  articleOpen access

  Executive functions (EF), including working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, vary as a function of socioeconomic status (SES), with children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds having poorer performance than their higher SES peers. Using observational methods, we investigated cognitive stimulation in the home as a mechanism linking SES with EF. In a sample of 101 children aged 60-75 months, cognitive stimulation fully mediated SES-related differences in EF. Critically, cognitive stimulation was positively associated with the development of inhibition and cognitive flexibility across an 18-month follow-up period. Furthermore, EF at T1 explained SES-related differences in academic achievement at T2. Early cognitive stimulation-a modifiable factor-may be a desirable target for interventions designed to ameliorate SES-related differences in cognitive development and academic achievement.

  PublisherDOI

• Socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement: A multi-modal investigation of neural mechanisms in children and adolescents

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-26

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Distinct aspects of the early environment contribute to associative memory, cued attention, and memory-guided attention: Implications for academic achievement

  UNC Libraries · 2026-03-26

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Learning powered mobility: caregiver perceptions of young children’s capabilities and device impact

  Disability and Rehabilitation Assistive Technology · 2026-02-08

  article

  PURPOSE: Self-initiated mobility experiences are critical for young children with disabilities and may be augmented through powered mobility (PM). However, access to PM for young children (<3 years old), remains limited due to multiple environmental, design, and attitudinal factors. The purpose of this study was to understand caregiver perceptions of PM intervention following a 12-session trial of a novel PM device. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten caregivers (4 M/6F) of children with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System IV-V) and other developmental disabilities (21.8 ± 5.9 months). Children participated in 12 in-lab driving sessions (exploratory or goal directed) using the Explorer Mini (Permobil AB, Sweden). Exit interviews were conducted with caregivers at the final visit, transcribed verbatim, coded inductively, and analysed until themes emerged. RESULTS: and CONCLUSION: PM trial positively shifted caregiver's perceptions of both PM in general and their child's capabilities, with a desire for greater access to PM at home to support development. These beliefs remained juxtaposed with lingering stigma for some caregivers about PM devices, and a stated desire for more modifiable PM options for children with different positioning or access needs.

  PublisherDOI

• Framing an AI with Values Reduces AI Reliance in AI-supported Writing Tasks

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2026-05-19

  preprintOpen access

  Despite a global user base adopting large language models (LLMs) for daily writing tasks, model suggestions tend to align with Western values. Research has shown users commonly accept a high fraction of these AI suggestions, homogenizing writing styles and rendering outputs more ``Western'' than intended. While this suggests a need to reduce AI reliance, it remains unknown what kind of interventions could achieve this. Can framing the AI with specific values, and comparing it to one's own, make users less susceptible to overreliance and support more unique writing? We tested this hypothesis in a between-subjects online experiment with Indian and American participants (n=149) in which they were asked to perform AI-supported writing tasks, either 1) without an intervention, 2) after seeing an overview of the AI's framed values, or 3) after seeing an overview of the AI's framed values compared to their own. Our results show that seeing the AI's framed values reduces AI reliance, i.e., the proportion of the final essay generated by the AI, by an average of 20\%. Additionally, when participants saw an overview of the AI's framed values (without comparison to their own values), the final essays contain more unique text than without intervention. Our findings emphasize the importance of educating users about potential value biases in AI, showing that raising awareness with a simple overview of values encourages users to personalize their writing.

  PublisherDOI

• 4.20 Preschool Expulsion Risk Factors: Teachers’ Ratings of Preschoolers’ Challenging Behaviors Vary by the Cooperativeness of Their Parents

  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025-10-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Socialization of Cultural Values and the Development of Latin American Prosociality

  Child Development Perspectives · 2025-02-18 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Understanding childhood socialization across multiple world cultures is important for developing comprehensive and generalizable theories of developmental psychology. Studies suggest that Latin American children show markedly high levels of prosocial behavior. In this article, we theorize that this hyper-prosociality is supported by a particular cluster of “other-oriented” values that are fundamental to Latin American culture—including the values of simpatía, respeto, acomedirse, familismo, and cariño. Based on our review of 60 papers describing studies with more than 12,000 participants, we discuss these values in adult caregivers and examine socialization processes that facilitate the intergenerational transfer of Latin American prosocial values from caregivers to children. The study of Latin American children yields new and important insights into cultural influences on prosocial behavior, while at the same time promoting inclusion and scientific generalizability. Social experiences, which vary by culture, undergird the development of human prosociality.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• SL-CN: Development of Neural Body Maps

  NSF · $749k · 2015–2019

• NIH Grant T32HD007391

  NIH · $1.7M · 2001

• Young Children's Causal Learning from Probabilistic Social and Physical Displays

  NSF · $499k · 2013–2016

• NIH Grant R01HD022514

  NIH · $2.3M · 1998

• The Role of Reciprocal Play in Fostering Early Altruism

  NSF · $138k · 2018–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Patricia K. Kuhl

  University of Washington

  44 shared

• Rechele Brooks

  University of Washington

  36 shared

• Alison Gopnik

  University of California, Berkeley

  36 shared

• Dario Cvencek

  Institute for Learning Innovation

  35 shared

• Peter J. Marshall

  33 shared

• Maggie Moore

  Slippery Rock University

  32 shared

• Maya L. Rosen

  27 shared

• Katie A. McLaughlin

  Harvard University Press

  26 shared

Labs

• Speech & Hearing Sciences - Andrew Meltzoff LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Dept. of Experimental Psychology

  University of Oxford

  1976

Awards & honors

• William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psycholo…
• Award for Distinguished Contributions to Developmental Psych…
• Kurt Koffka Medal (Germany) (2016)
• Kenneth Craik Award in Psychology, Cambridge University (200…
• Recognition for outstanding research by the Society for Deve…