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Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University

My research is focused on children’s social-cognitive development: their developing understandings of other people and minds, and the ways in which they learn from other people and minds. My work on children’s understanding of minds-- their "theory of mind"--has identified developmental predictors of children's theory of mind (e.g., temperament), social-cognitive consequences of theory of mind development (e.g., children’s moral reasoning, hostile attributions of intent, and social learning), and has explored the flexibility of children's theory of mind as evidenced in their understanding of extraordinary minds (e.g., omniscient beings). My work on how children learn from others has focused on how children’s conceptual development and beliefs are influenced by others’ claims about counter-perceptual phenomena (e.g., invisible entities that can cause observable phenomena) and counterintuitive phenomena (e.g., animals with extraordinary capacities). Most recently, my work on children’s social learning has begun to address questions of how children’s attitudes about new social groups are influenced by others’ claims about those groups.

Experience

  • –present
    Assistant professor of psychology and human development, Vanderbilt University