Kristin Shutts

Credentials: (she/her)

Position title: Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies

Phone: (608) 265-8949

Address:
418 Psychology

Research Area(s)
Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
Developmental
Social and Personality

Research Interest
I study social cognitive development. I am particularly interested in the development of social categories and intergroup biases in childhood. Which social distinctions matter most to children, why, and how does this change over development and a result of immersion in a particular culture? What mechanisms support the development of social categories and preferences? What strategies are effective for reducing social biases?

Representative Publications
Scott, K.E., Ash, T., Immel, B., Liebeck, M., Devine, P.G., & Shutts, K. (in press). Engaging White parents to address their White children’s biases in the Black-White context. Child Development.

Heck, I.A., Shutts, K., & Kinzler, K.D. (2022). Children’s thinking about group-based hierarchies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26, 593-606.

Shutts, K., & Kalish, C.W. (2021). Intuitive sociology. In J. Lockman (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 61, 335-374.

Weisman, K., Johnson, M.V., & Shutts, K. (2015). Young children’s automatic encoding of social categories. Developmental Science, 18, 1036-1043.

Shutts, K. (2015). Young children’s preferences: Gender, race, and social status. Child Development Perspectives, 9, 262-266.