Our Team
Katherine D. Kinzler, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR and VICE PROVOST FOR ACADEMIC CAREER ADVANCEMENT
Professor Kinzler’s research sits at the intersection of developmental and social psychology. Her work focuses on the origins of prejudice and ingroup/outgroup thinking, with an emphasis on understanding how language and accent mark social groups. She is also interested in cultural learning, food cognition and moral psychology.
Professor Kinzler joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Department of Psychology in 2008, as a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor. She spent 2015-2019 at Cornell University, where she was most recently the Chair of the Department of Psychology. She completed her B.A. at Yale in Cognitive Science, her Ph.D. at Harvard in Psychology, and she was a Fulbright Scholar at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the John Templeton Foundation. Her work has appeared regularly in the New York Times and other media outlets, and she was named a “Young Scientist,” one of 50 scientists under age 40 recognized by the World Economic Forum.
Isabella Ramkissoon
LAB MANAGER
Isabella oversees the lab’s research projects and facilitates the work of our graduate and undergraduate researchers. She received her B.A. in Psychology with honors from the University of Chicago in 2024. Within the CECR, she unites the Development of Social Cognition (DSC) Lab and the Developmental Investigations of Behavior and Strategy (DIBS) Lab led by Professor Alex Shaw. She is interested in studying how children develop early sociopolitical worldviews and how children reason about wealth inequality.
email: iramkissoon@uchicago.edu
Molly C. Gibian, M.A.
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Molly advises for the lab’s research agenda, integrates systemic project management, writes regulatory documents and provides organizational guidance. She has over 10 years of research experience in developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and education from her roles at M.I.T., Harvard Medical School, Cornell University, the University of Chicago and Stanford University. Her interests focus on societal/cultural influences on learning cognition, education environments, leadership and social language. email: mgibian@uchicago.edu
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Radhika Santhanagopalan
Radhika is a joint Ph.D. student in Psychology and Business. She is interested in children’s social cognition (e.g., children’s beliefs about nationality, gender, and language attitudes), as well as children’s judgment and decision-making abilities (e.g., negotiations, information avoidance, and heuristic judgments).
email: radhikas@uchicago.edu
website: radhikasanthanagopalan.com
Rachel King
Rachel is a Ph.D. student in Psychology at the University of Chicago. Rachel is broadly interested in the development of social group concepts and biases. Her current work investigates children’s thinking about wealth, poverty, social mobility, and wealth inequality.
Kaila Scott-Charles
Kaila is a Ph.D. student in Psychology at University of Chicago and is broadly interested in the emergence of social group attitudes and beliefs. She is particularly interested in the development of children’s understanding of race/ethnicity, wealth, and status and how this impacts social cognition. Kaila’s current projects mainly focus on parents’ beliefs about talking to their children about race and wealth inequality and children’s use of others’ nonverbal behavior to make social judgments (e.g., perceived social hierarchy).
email: kscottcharles@uchicago.edu
Jessica Waltmon
Jessica is a Ph.D. student in the University of Chicago’s Developmental Psychology Program and a Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Fellow. She is co-advised by Dr. Katherine Kinzler and Dr. Susan Levine. Jessica graduated in 2021 with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis with Highest Honors. Broadly, Jessica’s interests include 1) understanding what shapes our conception of our cognitive abilities and how this influences our behaviors; 2) investigating how this knowledge can bolster interventions in education, industry, policy, and medical fields.
email: jessicawaltmon@uchicago.edu
Tania Dhaliwal
Tania is a Ph.D. student being co-advised by Dr. Susan Levine and Dr. Katherine Kinzler. Prior to joining UChicago, she completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University and worked at Carnegie Mellon University and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has previously investigated healthy-eating growth mindsets, cross-cultural development of causal relational reasoning, associative and taxonomic priming effects on the development of word learning, perception and use of generic language, and children’s causal understanding of viral transmission. Her current work at UChicago explores children’s development of temporal and spatial reasoning and its effects on their social judgments.
Email: taniad@uchicago.edu
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
at the University of Chicago
We often have opportunities for new undergraduate research assistants. Please email Isabella Ramkissoon (iramkissoon@uchicago.edu) for an application and more information.
Candelas Distefano ’25
Candelas is potentially majoring in Psychology or Comparative Human Development. She is interested in mental health, the development of anxious thoughts, and social decision-making. She works primarily with PhD Student Radhika Santhanagopalan.
Ryan Nguyen ’25
Ryan is majoring in Psychology and Political Science. He is interested in how children develop stereotypes and perceptions of various social groups. In addition, he believes that understanding children’s social beliefs provides an opportunity to understand the roots of many adult social behaviors. He primarily works with PhD student Rachel King.
Raquel Buriani ’25
Raquel is majoring in Cognitive Science and Cinema and Media Studies with a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is interested in the acquisition and development of creativity, interpersonal relationships, and bilingualism in children. She primarily works with PhD student Rachel King.
Arzoo Usgaonkar ‘26
Arzoo intends to double major in Psychology and Economics, and is particularly interested in Behavioral Economics. She hopes to learn how socio-cognitive factors affect financial and social decision-making in an effort to help improve consumer choice theory and/or educational policy in the long run. Arzoo primarily works with PhD student Rachel King.
Dana Herrera ’25
Dana intends to major in Psychology and minor in Cinema/Media Studies. She is interested in studying the behavioral effects of social media use in adolescent populations in order to promote better mental and emotional health habits. She also hopes to work with media networks and advise them on what content is not only suitable, but also beneficial for younger audiences. Dana primarily works with PhD student Kaila Scott-Charles.
Zlatina Stefanov ’25
Zlatina is a double major in Psychology and Economics. She is interested in social psychology, particularly in group behavior and how interactions among people are influenced by their social groups. She primarily works with PhD student Rachel King.
Anika Khanna ’26
Anika is double majoring in Psychology and Economics and is particularly interested in the development of children’s decision-making abilities (heuristics, information avoidance) and discriminatory attitudes (based on accent, ethnicity, gender etc.). Anika primarily works with PhD student Radhika Santhanagopalan.
Cesia Benitez ’26
Cesia is a rising third year biology major and cognitive science minor. She is interested in how children learn and use multiple languages simultaneously, specifically wanting to explore the cognitive and social processes involved in bilingual and multilingual language acquisition, including language differentiation, switching, and the influence of social interactions. She primarily works with PhD student Radhika Santhanagopalan.
Ashley Cruz ’26
Ashley is a third year studying Psychology on the pre-med track. She is interested in the development of creativity and the acquisition of decision-making abilities. She primarily works with PhD student Radhika Santhanagopalan.
Kseniia Utkina 26′
Kseniia is a third-year Psychology major with a minor in Education. Her work with preschoolers and experience babysitting has sparked her interest in child psychology, particularly in understanding how gender stereotypes form during early childhood. She is especially interested in exploring how schooling and educational environments contribute to the development and reinforcement of these stereotypes. She is currently preparing for graduate studies in social work before entering the field. She works primarily with PhD student Kaila Scott-Charles.