Alexis Smith-Flores

Developing Intuitions That Close Friends Know the Content of Each Other’s Minds Abstract. To maintain and develop close relationships, people need to accurately represent the minds of their social partners. Although studies have characterized many aspects of children’s intuitive ...

New paper in Open Mind, with @emmayu23.bsky.social, Megan Richardson, and @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social! We find that by 6 years of age, children think that close friends know the content of each other’s minds.

direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

@openmindjournal.bsky.social

We’re recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to join our team! 🎉

I’m happy to share that I’ve opened back up the search for this position (it was temporarily closed due to funding uncertainty).

See lab page and doc below for details!

infant data from experiment 1

conceptual schema for different habituation models

title page

results from experiment 2 with adults

Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand:

A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social

Excited to share that my lab will be accepting applications for our very first PhD student to start in Fall 2026!

Interested applicants can learn more about the lab here: wordpress.lehigh.edu/littlelearne...

And Lehigh’s graduate program here: psychology.cas.lehigh.edu/graduate

Temple University's Demystifying Grad School Applications event - scheduled on October 7, 2025 from 5:00-9:00 PM EST. The zoom link can be obtained using the QR code, or copy and paste this address: https://temple.zoom.us/j/92039827029 Faculty will discuss how they read applications and address questions from attendees. There will also be brief workshops about building CVs, crafting statements, and thinking about longer term career planning.

Year 2 of Temple's Demystifying Graduate Applications Event!

Assistant Professor of Psychology - Human Cognition or Cognitive Neuroscience University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

UCDavis Psych is hiring an Assistant Professor in Human Cognition or Cognitive Neuroscience 🧠✨

Come join a vibrant, collaborative dept and live in a fun college town near Sacramento, San Francisco, Napa, and Lake Tahoe. Applications due Oct.21.

Please share widely!

recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07300

Paths to PhD | Department of Psychology

Thinking about a PhD in Psychology? 🎓✨

Stanford Psych is hosting Paths to a Psychology PhD—a free virtual info session + workshop.

📅 Oct 18, 2025 | Apply by Sept 25!

psychology.stanford.edu/diversity/pa...

Postdoctoral Research Scholar, The Cognition, Affect, and Temperament Lab, College of the Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology-2 APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

My lab has an open post-doc position!

We will begin reviewing applications as they come in.

The post-doc will work with a vibrant research team at Penn State in the Department of Psychology and the Child Study Center.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...

1/3

Join me in sending a rubber ducky to your House member!

Mental representation of the locations and identities of multiple hidden agents or objects by a bonobo | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Humans are adept at navigating the social world in part because we flexibly map the locations and identities of agents around us. While field studies suggest primates can track individual conspecifics...

When an animals' groupmates go out of sight, do they also go out of mind?

In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners

royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...

📢 Come join us on Sunday, November 9th for the Rutgers Symposium of Learning with an amazing list of speakers and great company! More details: sites.rutgers.edu/symposium-le...

CogSci 2025 The 47th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society presents the latest research across cognitive science and highlights the theme of Cognition in Context.

At 18:30 UK time, I will be presenting my work on learning and exploration across development at the @cogscisociety.bsky.social Glushko Dissertation Prize Session! #CogSci participants can join at this link: underline.io/events/489/s...

Research Associate Screen reader users may encounter difficulty with this site. For assistance with applying, please contact hr-accessibleapplication@osu.edu. If you have questions while submitting an application, pleas...

I'm recruiting a lab manager for my soon-to-be-launched lab at Ohio State! If you know of any recent grads who may be interested both in helping to build the lab and in developing skills in the cognitive neuroscience of memory, please share!

osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/OSUCar...

New preprint! Led by Bill Pepe, with @brandonwoo.bsky.social and @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social. We asked if infants think helping and hindering stem from actors' dispositions (i.e. good/nice v bad/mean) or their social relationships, by testing expectations for future behavior: osf.io/preprints/ps...

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!!
The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children.
Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads.
Start: Fall 2025 or later.
Details: jessica.sommerville@utoronto.ca
RTs appreciated 💫

Yay Dr. Wennberg!!!!

UC San Diego Psychology hosted the first Southern California Meeting for Investigations in Developmental Science (SoCal MInDS) this Saturday. We were joined by wonderful folks from the southernmost UC campuses, SDSU, CSULA, Occidental College, and USC.

Thanks Shari!! ❤️

Dr. Alexis Smith-Flores with her dissertation committee members: Dave Barner, Desmond Ong, Lindsey Powell, Adena Schachner, and Chris Oveis

A glorious cake, made by Bill Pepe, featuring Blender-style social characters and the message "Congrats Doctor Smith-Flores"

White board messages to Alexis from labmates & friends

After party festivities included a "PhDone" cake and a sign reading: "Even infants expect you to be happy for me. Have a marg and a taco!"

Yesterday @asmithflores.bsky.social successfully defended her PhD and became Dr. Smith-Flores! Then she celebrated with her fantastic committee and lab members :) Congratulations, Alexis!!

Congrats Liz!!!

Gave my talk “The role of harm salience on children’s and adults’ perceptions of unfairness” at #SRCD25 yesterday (forgot to post here because it was the last session).

Grateful to present among such thoughtful and inspiring researchers:

#SRCD2025

The symposium title (Navigating social groups and relationships: Children’s developing sense of belonging and social connection) and the titles and author lists of each of the talks 1. Minimal group and racial/ethnic attitudes among US minority and majority race/ethnic children Sarah Ramsey, Brenda Straka, Ashley Jordan, Alisha Osornio, Mayling Halim, Kristin Pauker, Kristina Olson, Yarrow Dunham, and Sarah Gaither 2. How social relationships guide girls’ interests in brilliance-associated activities Rongzhi Liu, Vanessa Lazaro, and Lin Bian 3. The origins of social evaluations of sleep arrangements Rodney Tompkins and Adena Schachner 4. Developing intuitions that close others know the content of each other’s minds Brandon Woo, Emma Yu, Megan Richardson, and Ashley Thomas

Come check out our symposium at #SRCD2025: "Navigating social groups and relationships"! There'll be talks by Sarah Ramsey, Rongzhi Liu, @rtompkins.bsky.social, and me. Thursday at 10 am.

The last chapter of my dissertation is out now in Child Development! 🎉 OA: srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/KEAHK8...

Justice for Rumeysa Ozturk Dear Friends, Allies, and Supporters,

Please consider donating to Rumeysa Ozturk's legal defense, living costs and medical care fund #Academicsky chuffed.org/project/just...

The Social & Cognitive Origins Group at Johns Hopkins University studies how humans and other animals think.

The Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University in full spring bloom.

🚨RT!

The Social & Cognitive Origins group at @jhuartssciences.bsky.social (social-cognitive-origins.com), directed by Dr. Christopher Krupenye, is recruiting a full-time research assistant or lab manager to begin Summer 2025. The position has a one-year minimum, w/ the possibility of extension. 1/

People-pleasing linked to gender differences in problem-solving: Study A new study found that, on average, girls excel at replicating the teacher’s instructions in the classroom — even when those instructions are wrong.

Research led by Psychology PhD candidate @radovanovic.bsky.social & Prof. @jessicas.bsky.social is investigating how people-pleasing socialization influences how children solve problems.

💡 www.psych.utoronto.ca/news/people-...

‘My career is over’: Columbia University scientists hit hard by Trump team’s cuts The US government has begun slashing US$400 million in research grants at Columbia University over pro-Palestinian campus protests.

🚨This week, many Columbia scientists lost grants that funded over half their annual income. Others will no longer be able to do research that helps treat thousands of sick patients across the US.

"It hurts," they told me.

My story for @nature.com 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

“Dan Fogelman can’t keep getting away with this,” I say, knowing I will continue to watch everything he creates #paradise

My husband: that was two seconds!

Me (an infant researcher who uses infant-controlled looking time methods): no it wasn’t. It’s literally my job to know what two seconds is

My husband (a video editor): it is also my job to know what two seconds is

Me:…well that’s a weird thing we have in common

Lehigh Named Top-Tier Research School by Carnegie Classification R1 status recognizes universities with the highest level of research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Lehigh University attained R1 status!

news.lehigh.edu/lehigh-named...