Dr. Tamar Kushnir / Early Childhood Cognition Lab at Duke University 

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience 

The Early Childhood Cognition Lab at Duke University (http://www.ecclabduke.com/) examines learning and conceptual change in young children with a focus on causal and social learning and social cognition. Research topics include mechanisms of causal learning, the developmental origins of our beliefs in free will and agency, cultural influences on early social and moral beliefs, normative reasoning, the role of trust in children’s learning from humans and machines, and the role of imagination in social cognition, motivation and decision making. 

The Postdoctoral Associate will take the lead on research examining social-cognitive development and social learning across cultures. The responsibilities include generating theoretically driven hypotheses for a research program in socio-moral learning, and executing research from start to finish including preregistration, study design, supervising and leading data collection, coding, and analysis, and writing of manuscripts for publication. Additionally, the Postdoctoral Associate will support general lab administration (running meetings, helping with recruitment, doing community outreach, etc.). 

The position is for 2 years, with a possibility of extension pending the securing of additional funding. The Postdoctoral Associate will be encouraged to develop and write grants around their own active program of research. 

This position will provide the opportunity to interact with scientists across Duke, including a rich community of memory researchers and a large cognitive neuroscience community. 

Individuals with a Ph.D. in Psychology with expertise in social-cognitive development in young children. International scholars with cross-cultural research experience are encouraged to apply. Strengths in open science practices, statistical modeling and analysis with R, social media and science communication, and writing accountability/support required, as the candidate will lead efforts in those areas.