He then studied with Lawrence Kohlberg at Harvard University both under a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) post-doctoral fellowship in developmental psychology, and as a research associate.
Selman's courses at Harvard draw from his ongoing research into the developmental and cultural antecedents of children's capacity to form and maintain social relationships,[8] and to take positive rather than negative risks.
[20] Selman's research has focused on helping children develop social-awareness and social-engagement competencies as a way to reduce risks to their health, as well as to promote their social relationships and academic performance.
Selman's theory postulates that a child's capacity to coordinate multiple points of view towards shared social experiences may promote the development of interpersonal understanding and relational management skills.
Over time, as children learn to see other people's points of view and integrate them with their own, they are more apt to display deeper understandings about other people—such as their thoughts, feelings, and motivations—and as a result are better able to manage relationships in their lives.
[44] He examined interventions and prevention models that could be used to ameliorate the effects of childhood risk factors and promote positive contexts and experiences to optimize children's health, academic capabilities, and social welfare.
By moving these ideas into a school-based curriculum, Selman and his colleagues experimented with how the approach applied to children's understanding of their relationships with peers from different cultures or identity groups.
[50] The guides were designed to teach reading and writing but also included exercises to develop students’ ability to take perspectives on other individuals’ experiences, their understanding of others’ cultural beliefs, and to strengthen their conflict-resolution strategies.
[51][52] In these studies, and subsequent work, Selman and his colleagues questioned the ways in which social perspective-taking and understanding may be related to student's reading, writing, and oral communication skills.
[58][59] Selman's research has also explored contemporary issues related to the multiple roles of new media in adolescents’ social lives and experiences, drawing on data from MTV’s "A Thin Line" campaign.
[63] Selman has also worked with Walden Media to produce multiple cross-media curricula designed to bridge the narratives of classic children’s books and their motion picture adaptations, including The Watsons Go to Birmingham (by Christopher Paul Curtis)[64] and The Giver (by Lois Lowry).
[70][71] In The Promotion of Social Awareness: Powerful Lessons from the Partnership of Developmental Theory and Classroom Practice,[31] published in 2003, Selman shifted his theoretical frame from one-on-one interventions to considering cultural themes.
The book is based on his studies of the way young people growing up under difficult life circumstances (such as dysfunctional families, neighborhood poverty, and social prejudice) learn how to relate to others.