Research

Our lab studies the development of social cognition: how people come to understand and navigate the social world. We take a wide-ranging approach to this question. Our work spans many topics—from how children build social categories, to how they reason about friendship and relationships, to the social dynamics of seeking knowledge—and follows social reasoning across development, with participants ranging from infants through about age 13. We also draw on a variety of methods, running studies in person in our lab, in the community at partner museums like MOXI and the Santa Barbara Zoo, and online. Together, this work aims to trace how social reasoning emerges early in life and continues to develop across childhood.