Melanie Killen

13.5k total citations · 1 hit paper
213 papers, 8.6k citations indexed

About

Melanie Killen is a scholar working on Sociology and Political Science, Social Psychology and Education. According to data from OpenAlex, Melanie Killen has authored 213 papers receiving a total of 8.6k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 145 papers in Sociology and Political Science, 97 papers in Social Psychology and 60 papers in Education. Recurrent topics in Melanie Killen's work include Social and Intergroup Psychology (121 papers), Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (49 papers) and Child and Animal Learning Development (47 papers). Melanie Killen is often cited by papers focused on Social and Intergroup Psychology (121 papers), Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (49 papers) and Child and Animal Learning Development (47 papers). Melanie Killen collaborates with scholars based in United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Melanie Killen's co-authors include Adam Rutland, Judith G. Smetana, Kelly Lynn Mulvey, Michael T. Rizzo, Charles Stangor, Heidi McGlothlin, Laura Elenbaas, Dominic Abrams, Aline Hitti and Elliot Turiel and has published in prestigious journals such as SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología, Child Development and Psychological Science.

In The Last Decade

Melanie Killen

204 papers receiving 8.1k citations

Hit Papers

Handbook of Moral Develop... 2022 2026 2023 2024 2022 10 20 30 40 50
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Handbook of Moral Development
    2022 55 citations Melanie Killen et al. profile →

Author Peers

Peers are selected by citation overlap in the author's most active subfields. citations · hero ref

Author Last Decade Papers Cites
Melanie Killen 5.0k 4.1k 2.3k 2.2k 2.2k 213 8.6k
Elliot Turiel 2.7k 0.5× 3.4k 0.8× 1.8k 0.8× 1.7k 0.8× 2.5k 1.1× 116 7.2k
Kristina R. Olson 2.9k 0.6× 3.0k 0.7× 673 0.3× 1.3k 0.6× 1.1k 0.5× 108 5.8k
Judith G. Smetana 3.3k 0.7× 5.6k 1.4× 3.7k 1.6× 1.8k 0.8× 1.7k 0.8× 186 11.7k
Joan E. Grusec 2.4k 0.5× 4.1k 1.0× 3.1k 1.4× 1.3k 0.6× 892 0.4× 114 10.1k
Adam Rutland 3.4k 0.7× 2.3k 0.6× 1.0k 0.5× 734 0.3× 907 0.4× 114 4.8k
Debra Pepler 2.1k 0.4× 7.0k 1.7× 3.5k 1.5× 1.8k 0.8× 929 0.4× 175 11.0k
Kate C. McLean 3.0k 0.6× 1.6k 0.4× 762 0.3× 3.6k 1.6× 650 0.3× 105 6.3k
Martin L. Hoffman 2.7k 0.5× 4.8k 1.2× 2.5k 1.1× 1.7k 0.8× 1.8k 0.8× 68 11.4k
Kay Bussey 1.9k 0.4× 2.9k 0.7× 1.6k 0.7× 646 0.3× 518 0.2× 165 6.6k
Robyn Fıvush 4.5k 0.9× 3.6k 0.9× 3.7k 1.7× 9.8k 4.4× 4.8k 2.2× 192 15.5k

Countries citing papers authored by Melanie Killen

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Melanie Killen's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Melanie Killen with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Melanie Killen more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Melanie Killen

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Melanie Killen. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Melanie Killen. The network helps show where Melanie Killen may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Melanie Killen

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Melanie Killen. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Melanie Killen based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Melanie Killen. Melanie Killen is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Killen, Melanie, et al.. (2025). Children’s evaluations of direct and indirect bias justifications for same-race inclusion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 255. 106221–106221.
2.
Killen, Melanie, et al.. (2024). Morally-relevant theory of mind is related to viewing gender inequalities as unacceptable. Cognitive Development. 70. 101450–101450. 1 indexed citations
3.
Singh, Leher, Dana Basnight-Brown, Bobby K. Cheon, et al.. (2024). Ethical and epistemic costs of a lack of geographical and cultural diversity in developmental science.. Developmental Psychology. 61(1). 1–18. 8 indexed citations
4.
Sweet, Tracy M., et al.. (2024). Peer Dislike and Future School Adjustment in Early Adolescence: Recognizing Consequences for both Boys and Girls. Child & Youth Care Forum. 54(3). 715–733.
5.
Soukup, Petr, et al.. (2024). Teacher evaluations of interethnic bullying of an Arab student: The role of perceiving refugees as a threat or benefit. Social Psychology of Education. 27(6). 3329–3352.
6.
Killen, Melanie, et al.. (2023). Perceived contact with friends from lower socioeconomic status reduces exclusion based on social class. Developmental Science. 27(5). e13440–e13440. 6 indexed citations
7.
Killen, Melanie, et al.. (2022). Testing the effectiveness of the Developing Inclusive Youth program: A multisite randomized control trial. Child Development. 93(3). 732–750. 21 indexed citations
8.
Elenbaas, Laura, et al.. (2021). Giving priority to race or wealth in peer group contexts involving social inclusion.. Developmental Psychology. 57(5). 651–661. 16 indexed citations
9.
Killen, Melanie, et al.. (2020). An experimental study of teachers’ evaluations regarding peer exclusion in the classroom. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 91(1). 463–481. 6 indexed citations
10.
Elenbaas, Laura, Michael T. Rizzo, & Melanie Killen. (2020). A Developmental-Science Perspective on Social Inequality. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 29(6). 610–616. 65 indexed citations
11.
Elenbaas, Laura, et al.. (2019). Children's and Adolescents’ Evaluations of Intergroup Exclusion in Interracial and Interwealth Peer Contexts. Child Development. 91(2). e512–e527. 32 indexed citations
12.
Elenbaas, Laura & Melanie Killen. (2018). Children's Perceptions of Economic Groups in a Context of Limited Access to Opportunities. Child Development. 90(5). 1632–1649. 21 indexed citations
13.
Guerrero, Silvia, Laura Elenbaas, Ileana Enesco, & Melanie Killen. (2017). Preschoolers' Trust in Social Consensus Varies by Context: conventional vs. Moral Domains. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 6 indexed citations
14.
Cooley, Shelby, Laura Elenbaas, & Melanie Killen. (2016). Social Exclusion Based on Group Membership is a Form of Prejudice. Advances in child development and behavior. 51. 103–129. 15 indexed citations
15.
Rizzo, Michael T., Laura Elenbaas, Shelby Cooley, & Melanie Killen. (2016). Children’s recognition of fairness and others’ welfare in a resource allocation task: Age related changes.. Developmental Psychology. 52(8). 1307–1317. 123 indexed citations
16.
Elenbaas, Laura & Melanie Killen. (2016). Children rectify inequalities for disadvantaged groups.. Developmental Psychology. 52(8). 1318–1329. 97 indexed citations
17.
Killen, Melanie, Adam Rutland, & Tiffany Yip. (2016). Equity and Justice in Developmental Science: Discrimination, Social Exclusion, and Intergroup Attitudes. Child Development. 87(5). 1317–1336. 44 indexed citations
18.
Elenbaas, Laura & Melanie Killen. (2016). Children's perceptions of social resource inequality. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 48. 49–58. 16 indexed citations
19.
Killen, Melanie, Adam Rutland, & Martin D. Ruck. (2011). Promoting Equity, Tolerance, and Justice in Childhood and commentaries. 25(4). 1–33. 53 indexed citations
20.
Keller, Heidi, Heidi Keller, Heidi Keller, et al.. (2002). Between Culture and Biology. Cambridge University Press eBooks. 47 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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