Publications

Brenner, J., Steele, K., & Woolley, J. D. (2025). Children learn cause-and-effect relations from fantastical and realistic storybooks. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 253, 106198.

Nissel, J., Xu, J., Wu, L., Bricken, Z., Clegg, J.M., Li, H., & Woolley, J. D. (2024). Why wearing a yellow hat is impossible: Chinese and U.S. children’s possibility judgments. Cognition, 251, 105856.

Nissel, J., & Woolley, J. D. (2024). Anecdata: children’s and adults’ evaluation of anecdotal and statistical evidence. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2, 1324704.

Woolley, J. D., Baca, P. & Kelley, K. (2023). Development of a naïve theory of superstition. Journal of Cognition and Development, 25, 27-45.

Dore, R.A., Woolley, J.D., Nissel, J. & Hixon, J.G. (2023). Never trust a stranger: Effects of explicit belief statements from strangers on children’s reality status beliefs and beliefs about consensus. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 41, 117- 127.

Nissel, J., Li, H., Cramer, A., & Woolley, J.D. (2023). Three men make a tiger: The effect of consensus testimony on Chinese and U.S. children’s possibility judgments. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 23(1-2), 98-126. 

Wang, F., Li, H., Zhang, T., Woolley, J. D., & Jing An, J. (2023). Exploring factors influencing young children’s learning from storybooks: Interactive and multimedia features. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 233, 105680.

Nissel, J. & Woolley, J. D. (2022). Brave new world: Imaginative fictions offer simulated safety and actual benefits. Invited commentary, Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 45, Article E289.

Li, H., Yu, H., Woolley, J. D., & Wu, L. (2022). The impact of informant type on children’s animal knowledge learning. Cognitive Development, 62, 101162.

Ghossainy, M.E., Al-Shawaf, L., & Woolley, J.D. (2021). Epistemic vigilance in early ontogeny: Children’s use of nonverbal behavior to detect deception. Evolutionary  Psychology, 19, 1-11.

Bunce, L. & Woolley, J. D. (2021). Fantasy orientation and creativity in childhood: A closer look. Cognitive Development, 57. 

Woolley, J. D., Nissel, J. & Gilpin, A. T. (2021). Children’s use of testimony to determine reality status. Child Development, 92, e317-e328.  

Woolley, J. D. & Kelly, K. (2020). “When something like a ladybug lands on you”: The origin and development of children’s concept of luck. Developmental Psychology,  56, 1866-1878.

Woolley, J.D. & Gilpin, A.T. (2020). Development of imagination and fantasy. In: Benson, J.B. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development,  2nd edition. vol. 1, Elsevier, pp. 430–437.

Woolley, J. D. & Nissel, J. (2020). Development of the fantasy-reality distinction. In A. Abraham (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination. Cambridge  University Press.

Woolley, J. W., Bunce, L. & Boerger, E. (2020). Relations between imagination and creativity. In D. Preiss and J. C. Kaufman (Eds), Creativity and the Wandering  Mind, 1st Edition. Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier.

Li, H., Liu, T. Woolley, J., & Zhang, P. (2019). Reality status judgments of real and fantastical events in children’s prefrontal cortex: An fNIRS study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13:444.

Dore, R.A., Woolley, J. D. & Hixon, J.G. (2019). “I believe in cusk”: The effect of explicit belief statements on children’s reality status judgments and beliefs about consensus. Journal of Cognition and Development, 20, 35-55.

Woolley, J. D. & Rhoads, A. M. (2019). Children’s developing conceptions of age, aging, and birthdays. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 38, 268-289. 

Woolley, J. D. & Cornelius, C. A. (2017). Wondering how: Children’s and adults’ explanations for mundane, improbable, and extraordinary events. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 24(5), 1586-1596. 

Woolley, J. D. & Dunham, J. (2017). Children’s beliefs about miracles. Journal of  Cognition and Culture, 17, 73-93. 

Lopez-Mobilia, G. & Woolley, J. D. (2016). Interactions between knowledge and testimony in children’s reality status judgments. Journal of Cognition and  Development, 17, 486-504.  

Goldstein, T. R. & Woolley, J. D. (2016). Ho! Ho! Who? Parent promotion of belief and live encounters with Santa Claus. Cognitive Development, 39, 113-129. 

Woolley, J. D. (2015). Commentary: What do mind readers know and what do we know about mind readers? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 32, 388-390. 

Woolley, J. D. & Brown, M. (2015). Young children’s understanding of invisibility and  its relation to the appearance-reality distinction. Cognitive Development, 34, 63- 75. 

Lillard, A. S. & Woolley, J. D. (2105). Grounded in reality: How children make sense of the unreal. Cognitive Development, 34, 111-114. 

Cornelius, C. & Woolley, J. D. (2013). Development of the use of agents as explanations for events. In S. Robson & S. Flannery Quinn (Eds.), Routledge International  Handbook of Young Children’s Thinking and Understanding. Routledge.

Woolley, J. D. & Cornelius, C. (2013). Beliefs in magical beings and cultural myths. In M. Taylor (Ed.), Oxford Handbook on The Development of Imagination. Oxford  University Press.

Woolley, J. D. & Ghossainy, M. (2013). Revisiting the fantasy-reality distinction: Children as naïve skeptics. Child Development, 84, 1491-1495. 

Ma, L. & Woolley, J. D. (2013). Children’s sensitivity to speaker gender when learning from others. Journal of Cognition and Development, 14(1), 100-119.

Walker, D. F., Doverspike, W., Ahmed, S., Milevsky, A. & Woolley, J. D. (2012). Prayer. In Walker, D. F., & Hathaway, W. L. (Eds.), Spiritual interventions in child and adolescent psychotherapy. American Psychological Association.

Woolley, J.D., Ma. L. & Lopez-Mobilia, G. (2011). Development of the use of conversational cues to assess reality status. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12, 537-555. 

Vaden, V. C. & Woolley, J. D. (2011). Does God make it real? Children’s belief in religious stories from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Child Development, 82, 1120- 1135. 

Woolley, J. D., Cornelius, C., & Lacy, W. (2011). Developmental changes in the use of supernatural explanations for unusual events. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 11, 311-337. 

Boerger, E. A., Tullos, S. A. & Woolley, J. D. (2009). Return of the Candy Witch: Individual differences in acceptance and stability of beliefs in a novel fantastical being. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27 (4), 953-970. 

Tullos, A. & Woolley, J. D. (2009). The development of children’s ability to use evidence to infer reality status. Child Development, 80, 101-114. 

Woolley, J. D. & Tullos, S. A. (2008). Imagination and fantasy. In M. M. Haith & J. B. Benson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, 2nd edition. Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier, 117-127. 

Woolley, J.D. & Cox, V. (2007). Development of beliefs about storybook reality. Developmental Science, 10(5), 681-693. 

Woolley, J. D. (2006). Verbal-behavioral dissociations in development. Child Development, 77, 1539-1553.

Woolley, J. D. & Van Reet, J. (2006). Effects of context on judgments of the reality status of novel entities. Child Development, 77, 1778-1793. 

Woolley, J. D., Browne, C. A. & Boerger, E. A. (2006). Constraints on children’s judgments of magical causality. Journal of Cognition and Development. 7(2), 253-277.

Woolley, J. D., Boerger, E. A., & Markman, A. (2004). A visit from the Candy Witch: Children’s belief in a novel fantastical entity. Developmental Science, 7, 456-468.

Browne, C. A. & Woolley, J. D. (2004). Preschoolers’ magical explanations for violations of physical, social, and mental laws. Journal of Cognition and  Development 5(2), 239-260.

Sharon, T. & Woolley, J. D. (2004). Do monsters dream? Children’s understanding of the fantasy-reality distinction. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22,  293-310. 

Woolley, J. D. (2003). The fantasy/reality distinction revisited: The case of imaginary companions. Review of Taylor, M. (1999). Imaginary companions and the children who create them. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Social Development, 12, 622-625.

Woolley, J. D. (2002). Young children’s understanding of pretense and other fictional mental states. In Robert W. Mitchell (Ed.), Pretending in animals and children. Cambridge University Press. 

Davis, D. L., Woolley, J. D., & Bruell, M. J. (2002). Young children’s understanding of pretense as a mental representation. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 25-45. 

Woolley, J. D. & Boerger, E. A. (2002). Development of beliefs about the origins and controllability of dreams. Developmental Psychology, 38, 24-31. 

Woolley, J. D. & Phelps, K. E. (2001). The development of children’s beliefs about prayer. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 1(2), 139-167. 

Browne, C. A. & Woolley, J. D. (2001). Theory of mind in children’s naming of drawings. Journal of Cognition and Development, 4(2), 389-412. 

Woolley, J. D. (2000). The development of beliefs about mental-physical causality in imagination, magic, and religion. In K. Rosengren, C. Johnson, & P. L. Harris  (Eds.), Imagining the impossible: Magical, scientific, and religious thinking in children, Cambridge University Press.  

Woolley, J. D., Phelps, K. E., Davis, D. L. & Mandell, D. J. (1999). Where theories of mind meet magic: The development of children’s beliefs about wishing. Child Development, 70, 571-587.

Bruell, M. J. & Woolley, J. D. (1998). Young children’s understanding of diversity in pretense. Cognitive Development, 13, 257-277. 

Woolley, J. D. (1997). Thinking about fantasy: Are children fundamentally different thinkers and believers from adults? Child Development, 68, 991-1011.   

Woolley, J. D. (1997). Initiating a dialogue. Child Development, 68, 1027-1030.

Woolley, J. D. & Bruell, M. (1996). Children’s awareness of the origins of their mental representations. Developmental Psychology, 32, 335-346.

Woolley, J. D. (1995). Young children’s understanding of fictional versus epistemic mental representations: Imagination and belief. Child Development, 66, 1011- 1021. 

Woolley, J. D. (1995). The fictional mind: Young children’s understanding of pretense imagination and dreams. Developmental Review, 15, 172-211.   

Perry, M., Woolley, J. D., & Ifcher, J. (1995). Adults’ abilities to detect children’s readiness to learn. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 18(2), 365- 381. 

Phelps, K. E. & Woolley, J. D. (1994). The form and function of children’s magical beliefs. Developmental Psychology, 30, 385-394.

Woolley, J. D. & Phelps, K. E. (1994). Young children’s practical reasoning about imagination. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12, 53-67. 

Woolley, J. D. ( 1993). The developing mind. Review of E.V. Subbotsky, Foundations of the mind: Children’s understanding of reality. Science, 262, 926-927. 

Woolley, J. D. & Wellman, H. M. (1993). Origin and truth: Young children’s understanding of imaginary mental representations. Child Development, 64, 1-17. 

Woolley, J. D. & Wellman, H. M. (1992). Children’s conceptions of dreams. Cognitive Development, 7, 365-380.

Woolley, J. D. & Wellman, H. M. (1990). To adopt the intentional stance? (A peer commentary), Psychological Inquiry, 1(3), 275-277.

Woolley, J. D. & Wellman, H. M. (1990). Young children’s understanding of realities, non-realities, and appearances. Child Development, 61, 946-961.

Wellman, H. M. & Woolley, J. D. (1990). From simple desires to ordinary beliefs: The early development of everyday psychology. Cognition, 35, 245-275.

Estes, D., Wellman, H. M. & Woolley, J. D. (1989). Children’s understanding of mental phenomena. In H. G. Reese (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 22. 

Just, M. A., Carpenter, P. A., & Woolley, J. D. (1982). Paradigms and processes in reading comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 111(2),  228-238.

Miczek, K. A., Woolley, J., Schlisserman, S., & Yoshimura, H. (1980). Analysis of amphetamine effects on agonistic and affiliative behavior in squirrel monkeys. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 14, Suppl. 1, 103-107.