Rate My Professor Theodore Waters

Theodore Waters is the Program Head of Psychology and Associate Professor of Psychology in the Division of Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. He also serves as Global Network Associate Professor of Psychology at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Waters earned an Honours BSc from the University of Toronto and an MA and PhD in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology from Emory University. Following his PhD, he completed a postdoctoral National Research Service Award fellowship at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development.

His research specializes in attachment and autobiographical memory within developmental and cognitive psychology. Waters investigates the mechanisms by which early experiences influence outcomes across the lifespan, employing integrated narrative, developmental, and cognitive methods. His lab at NYU Abu Dhabi focuses on attachment representations, self, and identity development, encompassing attachment theory, narrative coherence, meaning-making, and trauma. Key publications include "Origins of secure base script knowledge and the developmental construction of attachment representations" (Child Development, 2017, with Sarah K. Ruiz and Glenn I. Roisman); "Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems" (Developmental Psychology, 2015, with Guy Bosmans, Eva Vandevivere, Adinda Dujardin, and Harriet S. Waters); "The latent structure of secure base script knowledge" (Developmental Psychology, 2015, with R. Chris Fraley, Ashley M. Groh, Ryan D. Steele, Brian E. Vaughn, Kelly K. Bost, Manuela Veríssimo, Gabrielle Coppola, and Glenn I. Roisman); "Relations between narrative coherence, identity, and psychological well-being in emerging adulthood" (Journal of Personality, 2015, with Robyn Fivush); and "AAI coherence predicts caregiving and care seeking behavior: Secure base script knowledge helps explain why" (Attachment & Human Development, 2013, with Susan L. Brockmeyer and Judith A. Crowell). Waters has presented lectures such as "An Introduction to the AAI Secure Base Script Scale" at NYU Abu Dhabi and participates in attachment research workshops.