John Snarey
- Post Doc, Harvard University, 1984
- EdD, Harvard University, 1982
- MA, Wheaton College, 1973
- BS, Geneva College, 1969
On research leave for the 2022-23 academic year.
Dr. John R. Snarey is the Franklin Parker Professor of Human Development and Ethics at Candler School of Theology. Named for Candler’s second dean, the Parker Chair honors outstanding research, teaching, and service, which Snarey exemplifies as a widely published psychologist and educator who has served on the Candler faculty since 1987.
Snarey is also a professor in the Graduate Division of Religion in the Laney Graduate School, an associated professor in the Department of Psychology and the Division of Educational Studies at Emory, and is affiliated with Emory’s Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture. He is also a past president of the University Senate and the Emory University Faculty Council.
A developmental-educational psychologist, he is interested in the psychology of morality and moral education, the psychology of religion and religious education, and the thought of William James. Snarey’s current research makes use of developmental, cross-cultural, neuroimaging and historical methods.
He is noted for his award-winning doctoral research and critical review in Psychological Bulletin on cross-cultural morality, his award-winning book How Fathers Care for the Next Generation: A Four-Decade Study (Harvard University Press, 1993), and his ongoing research on William James.
Snarey is a member of the executive board of the Association for Moral Education, serves on the editorial board of the journal William James Studies, and is a fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Selected publications
Books
Co-editor,Race-ing Moral Formation: African American Perspectives on Care and Justice, Columbia University Teachers College Press, 2004
How Fathers Care for the Next Generation: A Four-Decade Study, Harvard University Press, 1992
Co-editor,Remembrances of Lawrence Kohlberg, Emory University, 1988
Chapters and Articles
"A Jamesian response to reductionism in the neuropsychology of religious experience," in Archives for the Psychology of Religion,, vol. 40, issue 2-3, Brill, May 22, 2019
"Reflections on Generativity and Flourishing: A Response to Snow's Kohlberg Memorial Lecture," in Journal of Moral Education, vol. 44, issue 3, Taylor & Francis, March 16, 2015
"Moral education in the cognitive developmental tradition: Lawrence Kohlberg's revolutionary ideas," in Handbook of Moral and Character Education, Second Edition, Routledge, 2014
"Lawrence Kohlberg: His Moral Biography, Psychology, and Pedagogy," in Portraits of Pioneers in Developmental Psychology, Psychology Press, 2011
Co-author, "The Neural Processing of Moral Sensitivity to Issues of Justice and Care: An fMRI Study," in Neuropsychologia, vol. 45, issue 2, Elsevier, March 02, 2007
Co-author, "William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience and Moral Formation." in [italics]Journal of Moral Education[italics], vol. 32, no. 4, Taylor & Francis, 2003
Editor, "The Natural Environment's Impact upon Religious Ethics: A Cross-Cultural Study," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 35, no. 2, Wiley, June 01, 1996
"The cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research," in Psychological Bulletin, vol. 97, issue 2, American Psychological Association, March 01, 1985
Selected awards
Kuhmerker Career Award, Association for Moral Education
Moral Development and Education SIG Book Award (contributing author), American Educational Research Association
Fellow, American Educational Research Association
Fellow, American Psychological Association
Albert E. Levy Scientific Research Award (article co-author), Emory University
Moral Development and Education SIG Book Award for Race-ing Moral Formation: African American Perspectives on Care and Justice, American Education Research Association
Marie C. Keel Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Educational Psychology, GSU
James Moran Award for Exceptional Research in Family Relations & Child Dev., AAFCS
William J. Goode Book Award first runner-up, American Sociological Association
Outstanding Human Development Research Award, American Education Research Association
Selected courses
Psychology of Moral Development and Moral Education
Erik Erikson: The Life Cycle and Education
Psychology of Religion
William James Doctoral Seminar
Moral Development and Education Doctoral Seminar