Christopher Napolitano PhD

Christopher M. Napolitano is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, United States. He is a life-span developmental psychologist focusing on adolescence and early adulthood. He studies self-regulation and self-control. His primary research involves exploring the use and usefulness of backup plans - alternative means to an end that a person develops but may or may not ever use. He also studies the ways people produce their own positive development from unexpected, positive events. He has termed these behaviors serendipitous actions.