#ICIS2026: Terrific symposium this morning on the motivations underlying persistence in infants and toddlers with @gracewujiameisun.bsky.social @jaeminhwang.bsky.social @francescopoli.bsky.social @amyneedham.bsky.social

“As adults, we think there are good people, bad people, and people who are somewhere in between,” says @jessicas.bsky.social, professor of psychology @artsci.utoronto.ca. “It seems like infants are thinking the same way.” 👶 www.psych.utoronto.ca/news/infants...

Infants make nuanced moral character judgments as early as 12-months-old, study finds

Research by psychologists at the University of Toronto suggests that we begin to make moral character judgments as early as 12-months-old while also recognizing that individuals can exist along a mora...

psych.utoronto.ca

We are greatly looking forward CDS in Montreal next week!! Come see us at our talks and posters!

LAST CLASS of 2025/2026 academic year is in the books! I know what I'll be dancing to tonight!!

Alice Cooper - School's Out (from Alice Cooper: Trashes The World)

YouTube video by AliceCooperVEVO

youtube.com

Loved working on this paper with Kat (lead) and Hyo!

Hyowon (Hyo) Gweon@hyogweon.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Officially out TODAY in Child Development! It's good to try challenging tasks and explore on your own, but not when it might be too hard and help isn't available. Children get that. w/ Kat Shannon, Aneesa Conine-Nakano, Willem Frankenhuis, @mcxfrank.bsky.social academic.oup.com/chidev/advan...

This research investigated infants’ ability to make moral character inferences. For a wide range of moral roles, infants could use an agent’s past moral behavior to revise their expectations for future moral behavior. @normanjzeng.bsky.social @jessicas.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Infants make moral character inferences in multi-agent social interactions - Communications Psychology

Using eye-gaze methods, this research investigated infants’ ability to make moral character inferences. For a wide range of moral roles, infants could use an agent’s past moral behavior to revise thei...

nature.com

Stoked to share our new lab pub led by the amazing @normanjzeng.bsky.social ! After watching multi-party agent events, infants expect agents to preserve their moral "role" in a resource distribution task. Indiv. variability predicted by infants' social contact. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Infants make moral character inferences in multi-agent social interactions - Communications Psychology

Using eye-gaze methods, this research investigated infants’ ability to make moral character inferences. For a wide range of moral roles, infants could use an agent’s past moral behavior to revise thei...

nature.com

Are you attending @cogdevsoc.bsky.social 2026? Come join us for an afternoon pre-conference workshop on motivation in development! We'll bring together developmental, educational, and computational perspectives to ask: Can we build a unified account of motivation across the lifespan? ✨

Shine a spotlight on exceptional #infantstudies researchers by nominating for the Distinguished Early Career Contribution Award, Outstanding Dissertation Award and Translational Research Award. Close March 26, 2026. infantstudies.org/merit-awards/

New paper out in Child Development (@srcdorg.bsky.social) with Dave Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social)! ✨ We investigated how 5- to 7-year-old children decide to take on easy versus hard tasks while pursuing a goal. doi.org/10.1093/chid...

Children's decision to challenge themselves on a novel task relates to their metacognitive monitoring of their ability

Abstract. We examined potential processes by which children decide to make hard as opposed to easy choices to accomplish a goal. Five- to 7-year olds (N =

doi.org

The first generation to grow up with AI deserves healthy social relationships. I'm pleased to be a part of this international, interdisciplinary Research Fellowship childhoodandailab.org/our-fellows-... with the #ChildhoodAndAILab from #AIChildSafety.org.

Big news on #SaferInternetDay: I’ve been elected as a Research Fellow with the AIChildSafety.org Childhood & AI Lab. Grateful to John Zoltner and the Lab for creating space for this kind of work. 🔗 lnkd.in/ggm6bgtv #AIChildSafety #ChildhoodAndAI #ResponsibleAI #DevSci

Why do otherwise rational people disagree about the same evidence? Our new paper finds that group membership is a deeply rooted influence on how we form beliefs, leading even preschoolers to bias their evidential standards and form inaccurate beliefs. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

💥New paper alert! Dyadic Decisions About Effort: How Caregivers Shape Young Children’s Persistence (with @reutshachnai.bsky.social) One of my favorites! If you’re curious about what we’ve been up to in @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social, take a look! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

We propose that 2-year-olds show emerging sensitivity to disadvantageous outcomes, but only 4-year-olds' costly responses to unfairness reflect true disadvantageous inequity aversion. Read more at: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The emergence of disadvantageous inequity aversion between 2–4 years

When and how children begin responding to inequitable resource distributions, particularly those that put them at a disadvantage, remains unclear. Acr…

sciencedirect.com

New lab paper with Dave Sobel @candmlab.bsky.social and led by the remarkable @radovanovic.bsky.social and @jaeminhwang.bsky.social. Infants expect equality not only in resource distributions but also resource collections.

Mia Radovanovic@radovanovic.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social with @jaeminhwang.bsky.social, David Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social), and @jessicas.bsky.social! Most studies of infants’ fairness expectations focus on resource distribution, but in everyday life, we engage in many different kinds of resource exchanges.

Out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social with @jaeminhwang.bsky.social, David Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social), and @jessicas.bsky.social! Most studies of infants’ fairness expectations focus on resource distribution, but in everyday life, we engage in many different kinds of resource exchanges.

This paper about inferences that kids draw on the basis of parental incarceration is now published! Pretty version here: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-.... Link to full text & summary in thread below. 🧪 #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc @socphilpsych.bsky.social

Larisa Heiphetz Solomon@drlarisa.bsky.social · last yr.

1. New work w/ Emily Gerdin, Devyani Goel, & James Dunlea now in press at Developmental Psychology: columbiasamclab.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/.... We looked at inferences that kids draw about others on the basis of parental incarceration. 🧪 #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc @socphilpsych.bsky.social

Is it wrong that I'm trying to use AI to try to come up with AI proof assignments for my students? (pls say no, or better yet, give me some suggestions!).

Congrats, Dr. @tiffany6390.bsky.social! 👏 news.miami.edu/stories/2025...

Big ideas in 180 seconds

The 10th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition showcased graduate students across the University of Miami presenting research in fields ranging from medicine and computer engineering to literature an...

news.miami.edu

Are you a US-based PhD student WITHOUT summer funding who is interested in adolescent development, trans youth, and/or gender? Reach out to me about applying to join my lab in Summer 2026 for the VIPS program! psych.princeton.edu/diversity/vi...

Who's afraid of AI? toronto2025.ai

Hi #canadian researchers - please sign this petition to help ensure funding isn’t cut to tri council agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR). We’re looking at potential 15% cuts to ALL federal spending including grants win.newmode.net/canadianasso...

📣📣📣 Hi Everyone! I'm accepting PhD students for the Fall 2026 cycle! Our lab topics include the developmental origins and elaboration of moral cognition/prosocial behavior, persistence, and optimism. More info below!!

Lazarus et al. (2025): A simple act with a lasting impact: Holding babies skin-to-skin in the NICU helped support their development and reduced differences linked to family income. Early touch can be a powerful way to promote equity from the very start #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...

New paper! Here (in Nature Communications) we (Ale Geraci, Luca Surian, Lucia Gabriella Tina, & I; work led/run by Ale) show that 5-day-old newborns selectively attend to two distinct forms of prosocial over antisocial action: approaching versus avoiding and helping versus hindering. rdcu.be/evorW

Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions

Nature Communications - Abilities to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial actions are crucial for sustaining cooperative systems. Here, the authors show that human newborns with just 5 days...

rdcu.be

I'm hiring a full-time #labmanager for my new Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UCSB! The start date is flexible, but could be as early as August 1, 2025. Application review begins July 17th and will continue until the position is filled 👶🪴 recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02992 #academicjobs

Junior Specialist-Lab for Infant Learning And Cognition (LILAC), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!! The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children. Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads. Start: Fall 2025 or later. Details: jessica.sommerville@utoronto.ca RTs appreciated 💫

Wow this is cool!!

Science X / Phys.org@sciencex.bsky.social · last yr.

Eight-month-old infants demonstrate the ability to flexibly adapt their learning strategies in response to changing environments, suggesting early cognitive flexibility. doi.org/g9rc8x