Talks
Upcoming
Invited speaker at the Material Evidence & Cognitive Evolution II Workshop, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Invited keynote speaker at the Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies, Bialystok, Poland
March 2022
Invited speaker at the Cognitive Science of Religion Workshop, Rutgers University, Department of Philosophy, New Brunswick, NJ
January 2022
Children’s participation in religious practice: psychological and theological perspectives
Invited speaker at the University of St. Andrews, Department of Psychology, St. Andrews, Scotland
November 2021
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Invited speaker at the Symposium on “Just how special are humans really? Insights from science, philosophy, and theology on the mystery of human uniqueness,” Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Boston, MA
August 2021
Invited speaker at “Ritual for a Reason: New Habits in the Time of COVID-19,” an online event presented by The Science & Entertainment Exchange
March 2021
Teaching and cumulative culture
Invited speaker at the virtual roundtable organized by the Human Evolution and Behavior Society
February 2021
Perinatal risk and the cultural ecology of health in Bihar, India
Invited lecture in Behavioral Science & Development Course, Centre for Social and Behavioural Change, Ashoka University, Delhi, India
The development and diversity of cumulative cultural learning
Invited lecture in Classics and Cognitive Theory Course, Department of Classics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
September 2020
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Invited keynote speaker at the Polish Society for Human and Evolution Studies, Bialystok, Poland
July 2020
Invited lecturer at the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI), University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland
June 2021
Invited speaker at “Connecting The Dots: Behavioural Science and Social Norms,” a webinar presented by the South Asia Social Norms Learning Collaborative
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February 2020
The development and diversity of cumulative cultural learning
Invited speaker at the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
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The development and diversity of cumulative cultural learning
Invited speaker at the Harvard Lab for Developmental Studies, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Boston, MA
November 2019
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Invited speaker at the Workshop on Evolutionary Theories of Culture, University of São Paulo, Institute of Advanced Studies, São Paulo, Brazil
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Watch a video of the talk →
September 2019
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Invited speaker at Nanjing Normal University, Department of Psychology, Nanjing, China
August 2019
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology transform human cognitive capacities
Departmental talk at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology, Austin, TX
July 2019
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Invited keynote speaker at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Evolution, ethics, and human origins: A deep-time perspective on human morality
Invited speaker at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
Invited keynote speaker at the Conference of the International Research Network for the Social Study of Science and Religion, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, U.K.
June 2019
Invited speaker at the Workshop on Curiosity, Explanation, and Exploration, Princeton University, Department of Psychology, Princeton, NJ
May 2019
Invited speaker at the Penn Symposium on Cultural Evolution and Global Social Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
April 2019
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology shape human cognitive capacities
Invited to give 2019 Charles N. Dowd Lecture, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Shaping intelligence: How development, culture, and technology shape human cognitive capacities
Keynote speaker, Diversity Day Address at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Invited speaker at the Mind-Brain Institute, George Washington University, Washington D.C.
Invited speaker at the Current Works in Cognitive Development Talk Series, Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, CT
March 2019
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development
Invited speaker at the Christian Association of Psychological Studies Conference, Dallas, TX
February 2019
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Invited speaker at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Integrative Biology, Brain, Behavior, and Evolution Seminar, Austin, TX
November 2018
The development of scientific reasoning: Evidence from children’s explanations and exploration
Invited speaker at The University of Texas at Austin, College of Education, STEM Center, Austin, TX
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October 2018
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Invited speaker at the University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology, Storrs, CT
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Invited speaker at the Austin Film Festival Screenwriters Workshop, National Academy of Sciences: The Science and Entertainment Exchange, Austin, TX
Witchcraft woes
Invited speaker at Thinkery 21: Face Your Fears, Austin, TX
September 2018
Invited speaker at Columbia University, Department of Psychology, New York City, NY
August 2018
The evolution, function, and ontogeny of ritual
Invited speaker at BBC Media Action, Delhi, India
July 2018
Shaping human intelligences: How development, culture, and technology shape human capacities
Invited to teach courses at the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI), University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland
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June 2018
Invited speaker at the Developmental Origins of Economic Preferences Workshop, The Institute for Advanced Study at Toulouse (IAST), France
Workshop participant in Working Group on “Limits of Human Performance: The Role of Collective Effects in Individual and Team Performance,” Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
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May 2018
Invited keynote speaker at the Fifth International Meeting on Experimental and Behavioral Social Sciences (IMEBESS), Florence, Italy
Invited speaker at Future Directions on the Evolution of Rituals, Beliefs and Religious Minds, Erice, Sicily
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February 2018
The evolution and ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, Ann Arbor, MI
The evolution and ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, Tempe, AZ
The evolution and ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at The University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Psychology, El Paso, TX
Invited speaker at Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society: Intellectual Diversity, Arizona State University, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Tempe, AZ
October 2017
Speaker at the Cognitive Development Society Conference, Portland, OR
September 2017
Speaker at the inaugural Cultural Evolution Society Conference, Jena, Germany
Keynote address at the Joint Meeting of the Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology Sections of the German Psychological Society, Münster, Germany
Invited speaker at the National Academy of Sciences Sackler Colloquium on Pressing Questions in the Study of Psychological and Behavioral Diversity, Irvine, CA
Watch a video of the talk →
June 2017
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of California, San Diego, Department of Cognitive Science, La Jolla, CA
May 2017
The evolution and ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited speaker at the UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Los Angeles, CA
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Plenary speaker at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES), Boise, ID
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited speaker at Association for Psychological Science (APS), Boston, MA
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Anthropology, Santa Barbara, CA
April 2017
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at Boston College, Department of Psychology, Boston, MA
Invited speaker at the Society for Research in Child Development Evolutionary Preconference, Austin, TX
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Invited speaker at the Society for Research in Child Development Religious and Spiritual Development Preconference, Austin, TX
March 2017
Enhancing robustness and generalizability in the social and behavioral sciences
Workshop organizer and speaker at the National Science Foundation, Washington D.C.
February 2017
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of Chicago, Department of Comparative Human Development, Chicago, IL
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a keynote address at the University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
November 2016
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychology
The ontogenetic foundations of cumulative cultural transmission
Invited speaker at the National Academy of Sciences, Sackler Colloquium on the Extension of Biology Through Culture, Irvine, CA
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of California, Merced, Department of Cognitive Science
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at Stanford University, Department of Psychology
October 2016
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at University of California, Santa Cruz, Department of Psychology, Santa Cruz, CA
August 2016
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give 2016 Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) Boyd McCandless Award Lecture, American Psychological Association Conference (APA), Denver, CO
Keynote address at the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR) biennial meeting, Vancouver, Canada
June 2016
How do we become intellectually humble?
Invited to give a lecture in the Intellectual Humility Massive Open Online Course (IH MOOC), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind, and Normativity,
Edinburgh, Scotland
May 2016
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give Outstanding Alumni Award Lecture, University of Virginia, LIFE (The Life Course: Evolutionary and Ontogenetic Dynamics) Program Spring Academy, Charlottesville, VA
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a Presidential Address at the International Consortium of Developmental Science Societies (ICIS) Conference, New Orleans, LA
Between religion and science: Bewitchment, biology, or both?
Invited to give a keynote address at Science and Religion in the Public Sphere Conference, San Diego, CA
April 2016
The evolution and ontogeny of ritual
Invited to give a departmental talk at Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, MA
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The making of meaning: An exploration of the psychology of purpose
Invited to participate in a symposium at the John Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative,
Barcelona, Spain.
March 2016
Combatting sample WEIRDness in the social and behavioral sciences working group
Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
February 2016
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Department of Psychology, Las Vegas, NV
November 2015
The contributions of explanation and exploration to scientific reasoning
Invited to participate in Leading Edge Workshop: The Process of Explanation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
October 2015
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to give a departmental talk at the University of Maryland, College Park, MA
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited speaker in the CDS Plenary Symposium, Cognitive Development Society (CDS) Conference, Columbus, OH
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development
Invited to be a consultant for a project on the use of simulation and modeling for understanding religion, The Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion (IBCSR) and the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), Norfolk, VA
Learn more about the Modeling Religion Project consultants ➞
April 2015
The ontogeny of cultural learning
University of St. Andrews, School of Psychology & Neuroscience, St. Andrews, Scotland.
View the flyer (PDF) →
Watch a video of the talk →
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Between religion and science: Bewitchment, biology, or both?
Presented at the Culture, Mind, and Medicine Workshop, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
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Between religion and science: Bewitchment, biology, or both?
Religious Studies Department, California State University, Northridge, CA
View the flyer (PDF) →
Psychological compatibility of scientific and religious beliefs
Presented at the Breaking New Ground in the Science-Religion Dialogue Workshop (organized by Cristine Legare), The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
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March 2015
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Invited to speak at a pre-conference workshop on cross-cultural cognitive development, Society for Research in Child Development Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
View the workshop program (PDF) →
The ontogeny of cultural learning
Boston University, Department of Psychology, Boston, MA.
February 2015
The contributions of explanation and exploration to children’s scientific reasoning
Invited speaker at Active Learning Workshop, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
October 2014
Rituals increase children’s affiliation with group members.
Presented in a symposium on "Developing a Social Mind" at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Columbus, OH.
View the schedule (PDF)
September 2014
The ontogeny of cultural learning.
Institut Jean-Nicod, Département d'études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Keynote address at the Metacognitive Diversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach Conference.
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
Speaker presentations »
August 2014
The cognitive developmental foundations of cultural learning.
Keynote address at the Cognitive Science of Science workshop.
Center for Philosophical Research and Nicolaus Copernicus University, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland.
View the flyer (PDF)
May 2014
Cognitive science and religion workshop.
Emory University, The Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, Atlanta, GA.
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April 2014
The cognitive developmental foundations of cultural learning.
The University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology, Philadelphia, PA.
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February 2014
The cognitive developmental foundations of cultural learning.
Invited to give the annual Rosenblith Lecture in Developmental Psychology.
Occidental College, Pasadena, CA.
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Evidence from the supernatural: Reasoning about ritual efficacy.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Austin, TX.
November 2013
Evaluating ritual efficacy: Evidence from the supernatural.
Keynote address at the New Perspectives on the Study of Religion Conference.
Masaryk University, Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Brno, Czech Republic.
View the flyer (PDF)
October 2013
The cognitive foundations of cultural learning.
Northwestern University, Department of Psychology, Evanston, IL.
July 2013
The imitative foundations of cultural learning.
The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Leipzig, Germany.
Stick to the script: The effects of witnessing multiple actors on children’s imitation.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Miami, FL.
Imitative foundations of cultural learning.
Paper presented at the 35th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, Germany.
Affiliative motivations and the development of imitation.
Paper presented at the 35th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, Germany.
June 2013
The cognitive foundations of cultural learning.
University of Queensland, Department of Psychology, Brisbane, Australia.
May 2013
Explaining guides children’s exploration and learning about causal regularities.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, D.C.
April 2013
The imitative foundations of cultural learning.
University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, British Columbia, Canada.
New directions in the study of cognition, culture, and development.
ZIF, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
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The social side of imitation.
Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
February 2013
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
UT Austin, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology Area Meeting, Austin, TX.
December 2012
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Ethical Society of Austin, Austin, TX.
November 2012
The imitative foundations of cultural learning.
UCSD, Department of Psychology, San Diego, CA.
View the flyer (PDF)
October 2012
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Brown University, Department of Psychology, Providence, RI.
September 2012
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Center for Inquiry, Austin, TX.
Teaching evolution: Cognitive science perspectives.
UT Austin, Department of Physics, Physics Education Forum, Austin, TX.
June 2012
The cognitive developmental underpinnings of ritual.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Albuquerque, NM.
April 2012
Teaching evolution: Cognitive science perspectives.
UT Austin, Department of Paleontology, Area Meeting, Austin, TX.
December 2011
Evidence from the supernatural: Reasoning about ritual efficacy.
ZIF, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany.
October 2011
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Keynote address at the Center for Research on Religion.
McGill University, Center for Research on Religion, Montreal, Canada.
May 2011
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Evidence from the supernatural: Reasoning about ritual efficacy.
Aarhus University, Department of Education, Copenhagen, Denmark.
View the flyer (PDF)
July 2010
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
University of Munich, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany.
May 2010
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
University of Oxford, Centre for Anthropology and Mind, Oxford, United Kingdom.
August 2009
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.
Queen’s University, Institute for Cognition and Culture, Belfast, Ireland.
May 2009
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
UC Berkeley, Cognition, Brain, and Behavior Colloquium, Berkeley, CA.
February 2009
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
UT Austin, Department of Human Development, Area Meeting, Austin, TX.
November 2008
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
UT Austin, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Systems Area Meeting, Austin, TX.
The development of causal explanatory reasoning.
UT Austin, Center for Women and Gender Studies, New Faculty Colloquium, Austin, TX.
