Research Assistant Positions: Social Cognitive Development; Naïve Sociology; Social Relationships; Group Structures

Research Assistant Positions: Social Cognitive Development; Naïve Sociology; Social Relationships; Group Structures
Min Feldman, Bobby Sparks, and Prof. Ashley Thomas, Developmental Psychology Lab, Psychology/FAS
Fall 2026

The Thomas lab explores the cognitive foundations of infants and children’s understanding of the social world. Specifically, we study how infants and children reason about close relationships, including caregiving relationships, intergroup relationships, social hierarchies, and group structures. Most of our work involves experiments conducted online with infants, children, and their parents. Some of the projects we are currently conducting explore the following questions: How do infants understand caregiving relationships, for example, between a parent and child? How is children’s learning different when they observe their caregivers as opposed to strangers? How do children think about obligation? Responsibilities and Expectations: Students will gain hands-on developmental research experience by working with graduate students, or postdoctoral fellows, closely supervised by Professor Ashley Thomas. Students will have the opportunity to learn about and contribute to the different aspects of the research process, including the following: recruiting and scheduling participant families; reading and discussing relevant theoretical and empirical papers; assisting with experimental design; creating experimental stimuli; running studies with infants and children; coding infant looking time responses and children behavioral responses; attending lab meetings, etc. Students are expected to work between 10 and 15 hours in the lab. Additional Information: Position will be for course-credit and in-person at William James Hall 11th Floor. Our lab website is linked here. To Apply: Complete form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9zHROOxzmq_KPm2vRthisX0qzDUwu9QpGlBO427n6WE5Ghg/viewform?usp=header. (posted 9/2026)