Research Interests for Michael Tomasello

Major research interests in processes of social cognition, social learning, cooperation, and communication from developmental, comparative, and cultural perspectives. Current theoretical focus on processes of shared intentionality. Empirical research mainly with human children from 1 to 4 years of age and great apes.

Recent Publications   (search)

1. Wolf, W; Iva, V; Larsen, I; Tomasello, M, Young children enforce self-created norms promiscuously., Journal of experimental child psychology, vol. 262 (February, 2026), pp. 106396 [doi] [abs].
2. Katz, T; Tomasello, M, It's the cost that counts! Young children's reciprocity is sensitive to subjective cost., Child development, vol. 97 no. 1 (February, 2026), pp. 261-272 [doi] [abs].
3. Köymen, B; Green, Y; Bennett, S; Tomasello, M, Three-year-old children understand the false beliefs of their partner in collaborative decision making., Child development, vol. 97 no. 1 (February, 2026), pp. 1-8 [doi] [abs].
4. Dotson, K; Tomasello, M, When revealed after the fact, selfish intentions undermine prosocial actions in 5-year-olds., PloS one, vol. 21 no. 3 (January, 2026), pp. e0344731 [doi] [abs].
5. Tomasello, M, Attention in evolutionary perspective., The Behavioral and brain sciences, vol. 48 (November, 2025), pp. e157 [doi] [abs].