Erin Baker

Dr. Erin Ruth Baker joined the faculty of the division of Educational Psychology and Methodology in 2016. Dr. Baker earned a PhD in Psychology from Bowling Green State University in 2016, a MS from Morehead State University in Experimental Psychology in 2011, and completed undergraduate studies at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, in psychology in 2009. Dr. Baker is also the Director of the Social Cognition in Preschool (SCIP) Lab.

Research Interests

Dr. Baker’s research focuses on children’s growing capacities as social and moral agents in their world, particularly during the preschool years (3-6 years old). This includes considering children’s cognitive abilities (e.g., executive function), social and moral understanding (e.g., Theory of Mind, moral reasoning), social behaviors (e.g., aggression), and the evolving conception of the morally agentic self. Dr. Baker’s most recent work has focused on how these relations intersect in low resource contexts, specifically urban poverty, and across cultures. Methodologically, Dr. Baker uses a combination of person-centered and variable-centered statistical techniques to test our questions in longitudinal and experimental research designs.

Lab/Research Website

sciplab.weebly.com

A Sampling of Recent Publications

(* represents current or former graduate students)

Baker, E. R., *Gahtan, J., *Salim, S., & *Huang, R. (2023). Multidimensional profiles of Head Start children's social behaviors predict their interpretations of physical aggression. Aggressive Behavior. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37400972/  
 
*Huang, R., Baker, E. R., & Schneider, J. M. (2023). Executive function accounts for bilingual advantage in word learning among low-income preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37307648/

Baker, E. R., & Woodward, A. M. (2023). The preschooler’s moral self and executive functions: An experimental approach with exclusion. Cognitive Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101310

Baker, E. R., & Jensen, C. J. (2023). Linking teacher- versus child self-report discrepancies in aggression to demographic and cognitive profiles. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01446-2

Baker, E. R., *Huang, R., *Battista, C., & *Liu, Q. (2023). Head Start children’s moral reasoning predicts aggressive forms and functions. Early Childhood Education Journal, 51, 443-455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01313-6

Baker, E. R., *Huang, R., *Liu, Q., *Battista, C., & *Gahtan, J. (2022). Preschool children’s evaluations of prototypic and accidental moral transgressions differ by economic strata. Early Education and Development. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10409289.2022.2133851

*Huang, R., Baker, E. R., *Battista, C., & *Liu, Q. (2022). Executive function and theory of mind in children living in poverty: A short-term longitudinal study. Journal of Cognition and Development, 23, 751-775. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2110873

Baker, E. R. (2022). Head Start parents’ vocational preparedness indirectly predicts preschoolers’ physical and relational aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 48(4), 418-430. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22025

Baker, E. R., *Huang, R., *Battista, C., & *Liu, Q. (2021). Theory of mind development in impoverished U.S. children and six cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 76(July). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101314

Baker, E. R., & *Liu, Q. (2021). Moral reasoning and moral behavior: Intersections of reasoning with aggressive forms and functions in early childhood. Early Education and Development, 32(4), 534-552. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1780561

Baker, E. R., D’Esterre, A., & *Weaver, J. (2021). Executive function and theory of mind as explaining young children’s moral reasoning: A test of the hierarchical competing systems model. Cognitive Development, 58(April). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101035

Baker, E. R., *Huang, R., *Liu, Q., & *Battista, C. (2021). Children’s poverty exposure and hot and cold executive functions: Moderation and mediation by parental financial strain. Journal of Cognition and Development, 22(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2020.1853125