Helen Haste

Helen Elizabeth Haste (born 17 March 1943), also known as Helen Weinreich-Haste, is a British social, developmental, and cultural psychologist and a writer and broadcaster. She is a visiting professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Bath. Haste also holds honorary visiting positions at the University of Exeter, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the University of Jinan China.

Research

Haste's research focuses on young people's moral and political beliefs, and also on gender issues particularly in relation to science and culture. Her work on moral and political development and the civic engagement of young people has explored the factors that promote or inhibit participation in both conventional and unconventional forms of action. Haste is interested especially in how cultural narratives and metaphors are reflected in the development of young people's beliefs. Her work on science, society, and gender has explored the cultural images of science, how they reflect dominant models of rationality, how these are associated with conceptions of gender, and how they influence motivation to take up science interests. Alone or in collaboration with others she has worked on data from the UK, China, and South Africa. Haste is the author or editor of five books and over a hundred academic research paper and chapters. Books include The Sexual Metaphor (Harvard University Press, 2004), Making Sense: the Child's Construction of the World (with Jerome Bruner: Routledge 1987), The Development of Political Understanding (with Judith Torney-Purta, Jossey-Bass, 1992). She has also written numerous popular articles and has been a frequent broadcaster on British radio and television.

Academic honours and service

Haste is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association. She was president of the International Society of Political Psychology in 2002. Haste received the Nevitt Sanford award (2005) and the Jeanne Knutson award (2009) from that organization for her contributions to the field of political psychology. She received the Kuhmerker Award from the Association for Moral Education in 2011 for her lifelong contributions to moral education. For many years she was associated with the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now the British Science Association), serving as vice-president (2002-2008), chair of council (2002 -2004), and president of the Psychology Section in 1991.

From 2007-2013 Haste served as the chair of the editorial board of the Journal of Moral Education. From 2010-2015 she was co-editor of the journal Political Psychology.