Lili Ma

Dr. Lili Ma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University. She holds a PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Virginia and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on social-cognitive development in early childhood, particularly how children process social judgments and learn from others. Key areas include selective learning from informants, credulity toward misinformation, and the impact of evidence patterns and scarcity on decision-making. Her work is supported by a NSERC Discovery Grant. She teaches courses in developmental psychology, infancy, and social cognition.

Dr. Ma’s research lab, the Early Childhood Cognition Lab (ECC Lab), investigates topics such as children’s trust in different speakers, bias toward ingroup/outgroup informants, and the role of gender in social learning. Recent studies explore how children integrate conflicting perceptual and verbal information. She has supervised students including K. McDonald and S. Jaffer. Publications span journals like Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and Developmental Psychology.

Teaching excellence includes courses on introductory psychology and advanced topics in cognitive development. Her research emphasizes practical implications for education and child development strategies.