Nic M. Weststrate
Assistant Professor
Educational Psychology
Contact
Building & Room:
3521 ETMSW
Address:
1040 W. Harrison St.
Office Phone:
Email:
About
In broad terms, Dr. Nic Weststrate’s research program investigates positive psychosocial development across the adult lifespan. His research examines development at the intersection of personal, social, and cultural forces. He is primarily interested in Eriksonian developmental constructs, including identity, generativity, ego integrity, and, especially, wisdom. In recent research, Nic has been exploring the influence of intergenerational relationships on positive development, with a specific focus on intergenerational storytelling. He is currently examining this within the context of families and the LGBTQ+ community.
Nic's research orientation is informed by lifespan developmental, personality, narrative, and cultural psychology. He incorporates diverse quantitative and qualitative methodologies in his work, with an emphasis on narrative methods that effectively capture the diversity, complexity, and cultural embeddedness of human development.
Courses Taught
EPSY 257 - Adult Development & Aging in Contemporary Society
EPSY 340 - Self & Identity Development Across the Lifespan
Selected Publications
Weststrate, N. M. (2019). “Violence begets violence; hate begets hate”: A wisdom-based analysis of contemporary social activism. In R. J. Sternberg, H. Nusbaum, & J. Glück (Eds.), Applying wisdom to contemporary world problems. Palgrave Macmillan.
Weststrate, N. M., Bluck, S., & Glück, J. (2019). Wisdom of the crowd: Exploring people’s conceptions of wisdom. In R. J. Sternberg & J. Glück (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of wisdom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Weststrate, N. M., Ferrari, M., Fournier, M. A., & McLean, K. C. (2018). “It was the best worst day of my life”: Narrative content, structure, and process in wisdom-fostering life event memories. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 73, 1359-1373.
Weststrate, N. M., & Glück, J. (2017). Hard-earned wisdom: Exploratory processing of difficult life experience is positively associated with wisdom. Developmental Psychology, 53, 800-814.
Weststrate, N. M., Ferrari, M., & Ardelt, M. (2016). The many faces of wisdom: An investigation of cultural-historical wisdom exemplars reveals practical, philosophical, and benevolent prototypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 662-676.
Ferrari, M., & Weststrate, N. M. (Eds.). (2013). The scientific study of personal wisdom: From contemplative traditions to neuroscience. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Weststrate, N. M., & McLean, K. C. (2010). The rise and fall of gay: A cultural-historical approach to gay identity development. Memory, 18, 225-240.
Education
2017 - PhD, University of Toronto, Developmental Psychology and Education
2011 - MA, University of Toronto, Developmental Psychology and Education
2007 - HBSc, University of Toronto, Psychology and Philosophy
Professional Memberships
Association for Research in Personality
European Association of Personality Psychology
Gerontological Society of America
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Society for Study of Emerging Adulthood