Students

Theanna Bischoff, Ph.D. Candidate,  Developmental Psychology & Education

I am researching the links between creative writing and social cognition. Are fiction writers more skilled in predicting the mental states of others? My doctoral study compares social cognition in published fiction writers, writing students, and a control group.

Jayme Herman, Ph.D. Candidate  Developmental Psychology & Education

My research focuses on academic and social-cognitive difficulties exhibited by children with ADHD. For my Masters thesis I examined the efficacy of a computer based intervention to foster early writing skills in young children with ADHD.

Carly Prusky, Ph.D. Candidate  Developmental Psychology & Education

For my Ph.D thesis I am investigating the types of strategies 4- and 5-year-olds report using when in a conflict with a peer or a sibling. Examples of such strategies may include telling an authority figure, crying, suggesting sharing the target object, taking the target object, etc. I will also examine whether theory of mind and language ability relate to the types of strategies children report and the length of the script that the children provide.

Valerie San Juan, Ph.D.

I am interested in examining the developmental interaction between language and theory of mind – i.e., the ability to represent the thoughts and perspectives of others. This interest has translated into two general lines of research: (a) examining how exposure to mental verbs may assist preschool children with the representation of epistemic states and, (b) designing interventions that will improve school-aged children’s awareness for their reader’s perspective during writing (e.g., by providing visual representations of their reader’s knowledge state).

Katie Schmidt, M.A, Child Study and Education

My Qualifying Research Paper (QRP) addresses the relationship between theory-of-mind development and the emergence of reader awareness in the early school years. Measures of executive function, language, false-belief and a letter writing task are used in an attempt to understand how social cognitive development relates to audience representation in early writing.

Cynthia Waugh, Ph.D. Candidate  Developmental Psychology & Education

My study will focus on the development of a parent-assisted intervention for improving social interaction skills and Theory of Mind in children with high functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Visual supports such as thought bubbles will be used to examine the efficacy of an intervention that targets conversational skills, peer entry and exiting skills, good sportsmanship, and handling teasing, bullying and arguments.