معرفی
Jamie Amemiya serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Occidental College, appointed in 2023. His research bridges developmental and social psychology with a focus on how children and adults conceptualize societal structures.
His educational background includes a B.S. from the University of California, Irvine and M.S./Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His work examines critical aspects of social cognition development including structural reasoning about inequality, representation of social hierarchies, and causal judgment formation.
Amemiya's research program investigates how people reason about social inequality causes, with projects spanning multiple cultural contexts including Indonesia and Brazil. His work integrates counterfactual reasoning theories with social cognition to develop frameworks for understanding structural thinking development. Current projects include "Thinking Structurally about Inequality," "Representing Complex Status Hierarchies," and "Humane Genetics Education" – the latter developing anti-racist curriculum modules to combat genetic essentialism.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals strong emphasis on developmental trajectories in social cognition, cross-cultural comparisons of race concepts, and educational interventions targeting structural inequality recognition. His work consistently applies cognitive frameworks to socially relevant issues with practical implications for education and social justice.
Amemiya actively mentors undergraduate researchers including Kiara Widjanarko, Irene Chung, and Daniela Sodré. His collaborative work spans institutions including BSCS Science Learning and involves interdisciplinary teams addressing complex societal problems through psychological science.
He maintains active research laboratories focused on child development and social cognition, with ongoing projects examining polarization in causal judgments, race concepts across cultures, and inferences from disagreement. His work combines experimental methods with computational modeling approaches to investigate underlying cognitive mechanisms.
