Expertise Cognitive Development, Numerical Cognition, Spatial Cognition, Achievement Motivation

Elizabeth Gunderson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Temple University. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Chicago in 2012 and her B.A. in Computer Science & Psychology from Yale University in 2005. Dr. Gunderson’s research focuses on the cognitive and socio-emotional factors that affect young children’s academic achievement, especially in the domain of mathematics. She is currently investigating how visuo-spatial skills relate to children’s early number knowledge; how verbal interactions facilitate preschoolers’ development of number concepts; and how parental interactions impact children's skills and motivation in math and spatial domains. Dr. Gunderson's research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation.

Selected Publications

§Spaepen, E., §Gunderson, E. A., Gibson, D., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2018). Meaning before order: Cardinal principle knowledge predicts improvement in understanding the successor principle and exact ordering. Cognition, 180, 59-81. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.012
§Both authors contributed equally.

Gunderson, E. A., Donnellan, M. B., Robins, R. W., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2018). The specificity of parenting effects: Differential relations of parent praise and criticism to children’s theories of intelligence and learning goals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 173, 116-135. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.03.015

Gunderson, E. A., Sorhagen, N. S., Gripshover, S., Dweck, C., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2018). Parent praise to toddlers predicts fourth grade academic achievement via children’s incremental mindsets. Developmental Psychology, 54(3), 397-409. doi: 10.1037/dev0000444, 10.1037/dev0000444.supp (Supplemental)

Gunderson, E. A., Park, D., Maloney, E. A., Beilock, S. L., & Levine, S. C. (2018). Reciprocal relations among motivational frameworks, math anxiety, and math achievement in early elementary school. Journal of Cognition and Development, 19(1), 21-46. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2017.1421538

Gunderson, E. A., Hamdan, N., Sorhagen, N. S., & D’Esterre, A. P. (2017). Who needs innate ability to succeed in math and literacy? Academic-domain-specific theories of intelligence about peers versus adults. Developmental Psychology, 53(6), 1188-1205. doi: 10.1037/dev0000282

Hamdan, N., & Gunderson, E. A. (2017). The number line is a critical spatial-numerical representation: Evidence from a fraction intervention. Developmental Psychology, 53(3), 587-596. doi: 10.1037/dev0000252, 10.1037/dev0000252.supp (Supplemental)

Gunderson, E. A., Spaepen, E., Gibson, D., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Levine, S.C. (2015). Gesture as a window onto children’s number knowledge. Cognition, 144, 14-28. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.07.008

Gunderson, E.A., Spaepen, E., & Levine, S.C. (2015). Approximate number word knowledge before the cardinal principle. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 130, 35-55. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.09.008

Gunderson, E. A., Gripshover, S. J., Romero, C., Dweck, C. S., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2013). Parent praise to 1- to 3-year-olds predicts children's motivational frameworks 5 years later. Child Development, 84(5), 1526-1541. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12064

Gunderson, E. A., Ramirez, G., Beilock, S. L., & Levine, S. C. (2013). Teachers’ spatial anxiety relates to 1st- and 2nd-graders’ spatial learning. Mind, Brain, and Education, 7(3), 196-199. doi: 10.1111/mbe.12027

Gunderson, E. A., Ramirez, G., Beilock, S. L., & Levine, S. C. (2012). The relation between spatial skill and early number knowledge: The role of the linear number line. Developmental Psychology, 48(5), 1229-1241. doi: 10.1037/a0027433

Gunderson, E. A., Ramirez, G., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2012). The role of parents and teachers in the development of gender-related math attitudes. Sex Roles, 66(3), 153-166. doi: 10.1007/s11199-011-9996-2

Gunderson, E. A., & Levine, S. C. (2011). Some types of parent number talk count more than others: Relations between parents’ input and children’s number knowledge. Developmental Science, 14(5), 1021-1032. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01050.x

Courses Taught

• Cognitive and Language Development
  Phases of Development: Infancy
  Capstone in Psychology: Psychology in Education
  Graduate Seminar in Developmental Psychology: Mathematical Development