Mary Klevjord Rothbart (born May 22, 1940, in Lewistown, Montana) is professor emerita of psychology at the University of Oregon.
Two other popular volumes by Rothbart are Temperament, a Handbook of Child Psychology, and Attention in Early Development: Themes and Variations.
Though born in Montana, Rothbart's father joined the civil service of the Air Force during World War II, which resulted in most of her early years living in Washington and Utah.
Rothbart worked closely with developmental psychologist Eleanor Maccoby who served as her major advisor and mentor while she attended Stanford University.
After receiving her Ph.D., Rothbart became a faculty member at the University of Oregon, where she conducted research on the development of emotions and attention in early childhood and infancy.
She drew generalizations about the development of temperament in small children by identifying emotional, motor and attentional reactions.
Rothbart developed parent- and self-report questionnaires for assessing temperament in infancy, childhood, early adolescence, and adulthood.
This work examined the development of control behaviors needed to adapt to situations and suppress impulsivity, especially when the child did not particularly want to do so.
[3] Using this questionnaire in combination with home and laboratory observations has helped infant researchers obtain more accurate data on their participants.
Rothbart conducted important research with Doug Derryberry to observe the emotional reactions and the different temperaments of children.
Another important collaboration involved psychologist Michael Posner, and resulted in a number of seminal papers on development of self-regulation, as well as publication of the book Educating the Human Brain.
This program has helped reach parents and children across the United States to offer support and education for infant development.