Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Kara Weisman is the postdoctoral research director of the Developing Belief Network. She studies intuitive theories, conceptual change, and folk philosophy of mind, with particular attention to the ways these conceptual representations do and do not vary across development, across cultural settings, and across individuals. Before joining the team at UCR, she completed a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford University and was a postdoctoral researcher in the Stanford anthropology department working on the Mind & Spirit Project, a large-scale collaboration between anthropologists and psychologists studying how cultural models of the mind shape spiritual experiences across a range of cultural and religious settings.
Ph. D., Stanford, 2019
e-mail: karaw@ucr.edu
Personal Website
Current Graduate Students
Jiayue (Carrie) Sun is the lab coordinator for the Childhood Cognition Lab. Before joining the lab, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant in a developmental psychology lab at University of California, Santa Cruz. She also finished a senior thesis project on children's engagement during a museum visit and how their patterns of engagement might relate to their age and their order of participation in priming activity. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Office: Psychology Building 2129
Email: jiayues@ucr.edu
Brianna Cabrera is a third-year graduate student in the Developmental area of the Psychology Department at UCR. She is rejoining the lab after earning her B.A. in Psychology from UCR in Spring 2018. Her research interests include the emergence of religious stereotypes in early childhood as well as the effects those stereotypes may play on children’s moral reasoning within peer interactions.
Office: Psychology Building 2129
Email: brianna.cabrera@email.ucr.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Hea Jung Lee is a third-year graduate student in the Developmental area of the Psychology Department at UCR. Her research interests include how imagination and fantasy belief may influence children’s understanding of social relationships. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Wellesley College.
Office: Psychology Building 2129
Email: heajung.lee@email.ucr.edu
Current Research Assistants
Ashley Marin is a second-year graduate student in the Developmental area of the Psychology Department at UCR. She rejoined the lab after being a research assistant during her undergraduate studies and earning her B.S in Psychology and minor in Education from UCR in Spring 2021. Her research aims to explore the bi-directional relationship between early ritual engagement and cognition, including understanding the role of contextual and individual differences in overimitation..
Office: Psychology Building 2129
Email: amari015@ucr.edu
Administrative Staff
Research Administrator
Carole Meyer-Rieth is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (BA, Psychology) with over twenty years of professional experience in academic administrative support, event planning, graphic design, and project management. As a trustee of a private foundation since 2011, Carole is experienced in grants administration and has an ongoing role in local, national, and global philanthropy as a member of Southern California Grantmakers and the Council on Foundations.
Email: carolem@ucr.edu
Current Research Assistants
Marlen Gonzalez Duran
Class of 2022
Department of Psychology
Project: Explanatory Systems
Class of 2021
Department of Neuroscience
Project: Development of Religious Cognition
Jennifer Hoang
Ashley Marin
Class of 2021
Department of Psychology
Project: Explanatory Systems
Class of 2020
Department of Psychology
Project: Development of Religious Cognition
Taylor Martin del Campo
Roger Morales
Class of 2021
Department of Psychology
Project: Explanatory Systems
Sarah Panameño
Class of 2021
Department of Psychology
Project: Explanatory Systems
Laura Posada
Class of 2017 (University of California, Riverside); B.A in Psychology
Paid Field Researcher for Explanatory Systems in Medellin, Colombia (August 2018 – Present);
Paid Research Assistant for Development of Religious Cognition (May 2018 – August 2018)
Undergraduate Research Assistant for Development of Religious Cognition (2015 – 2017)
Class of 2021
Department of Psychology
Project: Development of Religious Cognition
Rasneek Singh
Preeti Sivakumar
Class of 2022
Department of Psychology
Project: Perceived Similarity and Theory of Mind
Class of 2021
Department of Psychology
Project: Development of Religious Cognition
