Alex Shaw

Alex Shaw is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Chicago, where he has been since 2015. His research focuses on evolutionary psychology, fairness, morality, reputation management, and social signaling, particularly examining how children and adults navigate social dynamics and reputational concerns. He holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Yale University and completed postdoctoral training in Decision Research at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

Key research themes include understanding how individuals balance competing reputational priorities (e.g., honesty vs. kindness, fairness vs. loyalty) and how children’s social judgments develop. His work highlights the strategic role of reputation in social interactions, including how children use sharing patterns, secret-sharing, and alliances to infer relationships and moral values.

Shaw’s recent publications explore moral reasoning in children regarding migrants, voting systems, dominance hierarchies, and fairness toward robots. His DIBS Lab investigates developmental aspects of social cognition, with projects on punishment functions, trade intuitions, and the psychological mechanisms underlying social preferences. Despite high scholarly activity, he is currently not accepting new students for the 2025 cycle.