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: 417 Chapel Drive, Box 90086, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:

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

Teaching (Fall 2025):

• PSY 482S.01, Psychology of imagination Synopsis

  Perkins 087, Tu 11:45 AM-02:15 PM

• PSY 782S.01, Psychology of imagination Synopsis

  Perkins 087, Tu 11:45 AM-02:15 PM

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

• 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]
• Flanagan, T; Georgiou, NC; Scassellati, B; Kushnir, T. "School-age children are more skeptical of inaccurate robots than adults.." Cognition 249 (August, 2024): 105814. [doi]  [abs]
• Flanagan, T; Zhao, XA; Xu, F; Kushnir, T. "Is it personal or is it social? The interaction of knowledge domain and statistical evidence in U.S. and Chinese preschoolers' social generalizations.." Journal of experimental psychology. General 153.7 (July, 2024): 1887-1903. [doi]  [abs]