معرفی
Tamar Kushnir is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Professor of Philosophy at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. She serves as Associate Chair of Psychology and Neuroscience and is a Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Her academic journey includes professorship at Cornell University (2020-2021) and Assistant/Associate Professor positions there from 2008-2020. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (2005 and 2004 respectively) and her B.A. from Barnard College (1996).
Professor Kushnir's research focuses on cognitive development, particularly in the areas of causal learning, social cognition, moral cognition, theory of mind, cultural psychology, free will, counterfactual thinking, imagination, and self-control. Her work employs rational constructivist approaches to understanding how children learn and develop. Recent publications explore children's moral reasoning, interactions with technology, and cultural influences on cognitive development. Her research demonstrates how children extract patterns from social choices, evaluate moral dilemmas with humility, and develop sophisticated understandings of agency and free will.
Her current research is supported by several significant grants including 'Humilities Across Cultures: Do Children in China and the U.S. Value Intellectual Humility for Moral and Epistemic Beliefs?' (2024-2026), 'The Impact of Gossip on Children's Feelings of Belongingness' (2023-2026), 'Religion, Normativity, and Self-regulation' (2020-2025), and 'Collaborative Research: The role of trust when learning from robots' (2021-2024). She teaches courses including Psychology of Imagination, Research Practicum, and Developmental Psychology, emphasizing hands-on research experiences for students through independent study opportunities.
