Jacqueline D Woolley

Jacqueline D Woolley is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on children's conceptual development, particularly their ability to distinguish reality from fantasy, evaluate evidence, and understand supernatural beliefs. She leads the Imagination & Cognition Lab within the Children’s Research Center, which explores how environmental, individual, and stimulus-related factors influence children’s reality judgments.

Dr. Woolley teaches the popular course UGS 302: Why We Believe Weird Things, offered repeatedly from 2020 to 2025. Her work is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. She is currently not accepting new graduate students.

Research emphases include children’s use of anecdotal evidence, perceptions of control in supernatural thinking, and the psychological foundations of superstitious reasoning. Her findings contribute to preschool/elementary education, parenting strategies, and clinical practices involving young children.