Leonard Learning Lab

www.nature.com/articles/s44... New research by @mariannazhang.bsky.social @mika-asaba.bsky.social @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social in the journal (in Press)

@aarthipopat.bsky.social created a Yale Psych Connect Four March Madness. Things are heating up. Stay tuned for updates

In honor of Alyssa Liu, our lab went ice-skating

5th year PhD student Brandon Carrillo got second place in the Yale 3 minute thesis competition! Congrats Brandon!!!

💥New paper alert! Dyadic Decisions About Effort: How Caregivers Shape Young Children’s Persistence (with @reutshachnai.bsky.social) One of my favorites! If you’re curious about what we’ve been up to in @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social, take a look! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

We are looking to hire a research assistant to help with data collection at our partner museum in Philadelphia! Share with your undergraduates or post-baccs who are looking for more experience in cog dev research! Please see the attached ad for more information: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Like a parent, AI can guide or smother. It's time to think about how we build this relationship. Check out my new essay with Brett Smith www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deve...

The Learning Lab is heading to CogSci 2025 (@cogscisociety.bsky.social) to share our latest research! Come say hello!

Wirecutter crowned Ben & Jerry’s the best vanilla ice cream. I scoffed. Our lab managers Surya and Nat ran a blind taste test. Guess what won? Ben & Jerry’s. Science is brutal.

Honored to win the 2025 APS Janet Taylor Spence Award! You can read more about my research and journey here www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...

New preprint! Despite ongoing efforts to combat gender bias in education, our work reveals a striking and under-explored challenge: By the time children enter elementary school, children already expect adults to hold gender stereotypes and approve when adults act on them. osf.io/preprints/ps...

New work from the lab shows that, with scaffolding, little optimistic 4-to-6-year-olds can understand that mastery takes practice. Out now in Child Development. @srcdorg.bsky.social srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Congrats to my first PhD student Dr Flora Zhang!!!!! Make sure to check out her amazing work on intuitive theories of acquisition (and why they matter) @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social

Come check out the lab's research at @srcdorg.bsky.social this week! @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social

✨New work from the lab!✨

For decades, developmental psychologists have noticed that optimism declines with age. Why does this presumably good thing decrease across development? In this Nature Reviews Psych article, @jessicas.bsky.social and I draw from prior hypotheses to offer an integrated account.