My research examines, from a developmental perspective, how people think about others’ minds. From a young age children understand other people as experiencing agents with goals, desires, emotions, beliefs, and thoughts, and they use this understanding to reason socially (e.g., who might be a credible source of knowledge) and morally (e.g., whether one has moral standing or can be held morally accountable). What’s particularly fascinating is that children (and adults) also extend minds (and human internal states more generally) to non-human entities, such as inanimate nature and technology—what is often referred to as anthropomorphism. The overarching aim of my research program is to elucidate the nature, causes, and consequences of anthropomorphism within the context of social cognition more broadly.
