I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, studying personality development. 

My program of research explores the psychological functioning of moral heroes (such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.). I believe that most of what makes these heroes special is developmental in nature. In other words,  heroes are not different kinds of people when compared to ordinary folks; rather, they are simply more mature in terms of some specific aspects of their personality. My research aims to pinpoint those specific aspects of personality and to explore, using the methods of science, how they develop. This would, in turn, give parents, educators, and societal leaders a toolkit for helping foster moral development in the next generation, and thereby make heroism more common.

Publications [view abstracts]

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A., & Dunlop, W. L.  (in press). Paradigm assumptions about moral behavior: An empirical battle royal.  In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Social psychology of morality: Exploring the causes of good and evil.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A. (in press). The science of moral development. In M. K. Underwood & L. H. Rosen (Eds.), Social development. New York: Guilford Publications.

Walker, L. J., Frimer, J. A., & Dunlop, W. L. (2010). Varieties of moral personality: Beyond the banality of heroism. Journal of Personality, 78, 907-942.

Frimer, J. A. & Walker, L. J. (2009). Reconciling the self and morality: An empirical model of moral centrality development. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1669-1681.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A. (2009). Moral personality exemplified. In D. Narvaez & D. K. Lapsley (Eds.), Personality, identity and character: Explorations in moral psychology (pp. 232-255). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A. (2009). “The song remains the same”: Rebuttal to Sherblom’s re-envisioning of the legacy of the care challenge. Journal of Moral Education, 38, 53-68.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A. (2008). Being good for goodness’ sake: Transcendence in the lives of moral heroes. In F. K. Oser & W. M. M. H. Veugelers (Eds.), Getting involved: Global citizenship development and sources of moral values (pp. 309-326). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Frimer, J. A., & Walker, L. J. (2008). Towards a new paradigm of moral personhood. Journal of Moral Education, 37, 333-356.

Frimer, J. A. (2008). Self-understanding (stages of). In F. C. Power, R. J. Nuzzi, D. Narvaez, D. K. Lapsley, & T. C. Hunt (Eds.), Moral education: A handbook (Vol. 2, pp. 402-404). Westport, CT: Praeger.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A.  (2007).  Moral personality of brave and caring exemplars. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 845-860.

Walker, L. J., Gustafson, P., & Frimer, J. A. (2007).  The application of Bayesian analysis to issues in developmental research.  International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 366-373.

Walker, L. J., & Frimer, J. A. (2006). [Review of the book Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 51. Moral motivation through the life span]. Journal of Moral Education, 35, 271-274.