Julia Marshall

Julia Marshall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University, where she directs the Mind & Morality (M&M) Lab. Her research program investigates the psychological foundations of human cooperation through experimental studies with children and adults across diverse cultural contexts.

Her primary research focuses on the development of moral and social cognition in childhood, examining universal patterns and cultural variations in concepts like morality, fairness, and justice. Using cross-cultural methodologies with children aged 4-12 and adult populations, she explores how social group contexts and cultural frameworks shape responses to wrongdoing and cooperative behavior. Key questions address the emergence of moral reasoning, the influence of physical/social distance on helping obligations, and the psychological mechanisms underlying restorative justice practices.

Recent publications demonstrate a strong interdisciplinary trajectory bridging developmental psychology, moral philosophy, and cross-cultural anthropology. Her work reveals how third-party intervention concepts evolve with age across societies, how distance parameters affect moral obligations differently in children versus adults, and the evolutionary significance of restorative approaches beyond punitive systems.

At the Mind & Morality Lab, Marshall leads experimental research investigating the cognitive and social roots of cooperation, utilizing controlled studies to map developmental trajectories of moral understanding across cultural contexts.