Dr. Kiley Hamlin

Dr. Hamlin is a Canada Research Chair in Developmental Psychology and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia.  She is also the Director of the UBC Center for Infant Cognition. 

Her research focuses on the role of evaluative processes in our everyday cognitions about the world.  In particular, she examines our tendency to judge individuals’ actions as good or bad, as deserving of reward or punishment, and as morally praiseworthy or blameworthy.  In addition, she asks whether and how these social and moral evaluations influence our understanding of others’ future acts, their mental states, and their underlying personalities.  She examines these questions using preverbal infants and young toddlers, in order to study the foundational origins of these processes before complex cognitive abilities (such as language and inhibitory control) fully develop, and prior to the influences of cultural norms and values.

Dr. Hamlin is also part of the Early Development Research Group, a consortium of five research centers interested in the development of language, learning, and social understanding in infants and children. 

More on Dr. Hamlin's work and publications is available here.