Research Interests

Cognitive development, causal learning, social cognition, moral cognition, theory of mind, cultural psychology, free will, counterfactual thinking, imagination, self-control, rational constructivist approaches to learning and development

Office Location: 2200 West Main St., Suite 800, Durham, NC 27705
Email Address:

Education:
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2005
M.A., University of California, Berkeley, 2004
B.A., Barnard College, 1996

Teaching (Spring 2026):

• PSY 334.01, Cognitive development Synopsis

  Social Sciences 107, M 11:45 AM-02:15 PM

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

• Flanagan, T; Vesga, A; Kushnir, T; Nichols, S. "But Why?: Children's belief in the necessity of explanations.." Journal of experimental child psychology 260 (December, 2025): 106317. [doi]  [abs]
• Finiasz, Z; Shore, M; Xu, F; Kushnir, T. "Children's cost-benefit analysis about agents who act for the greater good.." Cognition 256 (March, 2025): 106051. [doi]  [abs]
• Li, PH; Kushnir, T. "Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Children Appreciate Reasoners Who Approach Moral Dilemmas With Humility.." Developmental science 28.1 (January, 2025): e13565. [doi]  [abs]
• Georgiou, NC; Flanagan, T; Scassellati, B; Kushnir, T. "Perceived Morality of Robot and Human Transgressors Varies By Perceived Ability to Feel." ACM IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction  (January, Accepted, 2025): 919-928. [doi]  [abs]
• Williams-Gant, AJ; Weisman, K; Amin, TG; Ghossainy, ME; Soueidan, G; Nissel, J; Kenderla, P; Abdel-Hak, M; Anggoro, FK; Bangayan, S; Burdett, ERR; Chau, E; Chen, EE; Chua, J; Coetzee, L; Coley, JD; Dahl, A; Dautel, JB; Davis, EL; Davis, HE; DeLeon, A; Diesendruck, G; Evans, D; Feeney, A; Fong, FTK; Foo, X; Garcia, A; Gonzalez-Rubio, I; Guerrero Galaz, E; Gurven, M; Hu, Y; Huachorunto, K; Indrawati, K; Jee, BD; Kahwa, M; Kahwa, U; Korah, R; Kramer, HJ; Kushnir, T; Kyriakopoulou, N; Lebepe, S; Lee, HJ; Lesage, KA; Leshabana, P; Li, D; Li, PH; Llacua, JT; Maluleke, V; Marin, A; Marshall, J; Masebe, N; McAuliffe, K; McLaughlin, A; McMullan, A; McShane, C; Min, C; Mutegeki, M; Namara, O; Nichols, S; Nicolopoulou, A; Nielsen, M; Otali, E; Parise, K; Paucar, XA; Payir, A; Poonawalla, S; Reyes-Jaquez, B; Riddick, S; Rockers, PC; Ruiz, JK; Sanjidah, R; Shneidman, L; Skopeliti, I; Srinivasan, M; Stegall, J; Stephens, J; Stutesman, MG; Sun, J; Tarullo, A; Taylor, LK; Theogen, I; Toong, D; Turan-Küçük, EN; Tusiime, P; Ventura, EP; Xu, J; Ye, N; Yu, Y; Yucel, M; Zhang, W; Zhao, X; Corriveau, KH; Richert, RA; Developing Belief Network. "Working across religions, cultures, settings, and development: Protocol for wave 2 data collection with children and parents by the developing belief network.." PloS one 20.9 (January, 2025): e0330727. [doi]  [abs]