Professor Kagan's research, on the cognitive and emotional development of a child during the first decade of life, focuses on the origins of temperament. He has tracked the development of inhibited and uninhibited children from infancy to adolescence. Kagan’s research indicates that shyness and other temperamental differences in adults and children have both environmental and genetic influences. A shy adult is more likely to have been high-reactive (fearful) in infancy and childhood than their bold and sociable counterparts, who were most likely low-reactive.

Professor Kagan is the director of the Mind/Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. He has served on the National Institute of Mental Health and on the National Research Council. His books include Galen’s Prophecy: Temperament in Human Nature and Three Seductive Ideas.

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