Graduate Assistants
Hannah Lunkenheimer
I am a cross-cultural researcher studying children’s understanding and explanatory reasoning regarding significant misfortune (e.g., death, illness, natural disasters). My research focuses on using cognitive, social, and evolutionary theories to explain how beliefs and rituals are cross-culturally recurrent and how those beliefs and rituals impact grief, coping, and psychological well-being over the lifespan.
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James Daly
I am interested in learning and motivation in children and adults. My current research focuses on intrinsic motivation to pursue future learning activities based on past experience. My previous work includes research on temporal cognition, memory integration, bilingualism, conceptual development and generic language.
Susan Kruglinski
I am a mid-career student with experience in science journalism and mental healthcare studying the influence of social media on child development, with a focus on social contagion, magical thinking, unusual niche cultures, and young people’s susceptibility to maladaptive conformity. I am interested in how these issues are novel in the digital age, as well as how they relate to what is already known about the psychological development of children, adolescents, and young adults.
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Young Susan
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Older Susan
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Taryn Crone
I am a first-year graduate student and my research has focused on the different domains of creativity, how they develop in young children, and what benefits they have. My research interests also include determining how children differentiate between fantasy and reality, specifically through their beliefs in luck and superstitions, and how those beliefs can affect their day-to-day lives.
Lab Manager
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Maya Vemulapalli
I am a first-year graduate student and my research has focused on the different domains of creativity, how they develop in young children, and what benefits they have. My research interests also include determining how children differentiate between fantasy and reality, specifically through their beliefs in luck and superstitions, and how those beliefs can affect their day-to-day lives.
Research Assistants
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Aarushi Gupta, Angie Kim, Anna Havner, Aubrey Clayton, Christine Madarang, David Foral, Harsha Ketavarapu, Jude Stewart, Julia McMahon, Julia Weist, Natalie DeMario, Rasikapriya Krishna, Ruba Siddiqi
Join the Lab
Prospective Ph.D. Students
Dr. Woolley will not be accepting a new graduate student for academic year 2025-2026.
Undergraduate Students
We are not currently recruiting new RAs for the Spring 2025 semester. Please check back in the month of April for potential openings this summer.
Former Graduate Students
Ansley Tullos
Beth Boerger
Brooke Miller
Chelsea Cornelius
Debra Davis
Gabriel Lopez-Mobilia
Jenny Nissel
Katie Steele
Katrina Phelps
Kelsey Kelley
Maliki (Kiki) Ghossainy
Marc Bruell
Former Postdoctoral Fellows
Hui Li
Lili Ma