About

Dr. Kathleen Corriveau is an associate dean for faculty affairs and a professor at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She directs the Social Learning Laboratory at BU Wheelock. Her research focuses on the social-cognitive development of trust in early childhood, bridging ideas from developmental and social psychology and applying them to educational settings. She is dedicated to enhancing school readiness for all children and has received recognition as a former National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Currently, she is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award exploring the role of adult explanations in STEM learning and a $10 million grant from the Templeton Foundation to form the Developing Belief Network, an international network of researchers interested in the cross-cultural development of religious cognition. Dr. Corriveau has published extensively in refereed journals and serves on editorial boards for prominent journals in her field. Her work has received national media attention, and she has been honored with numerous awards, including being named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association, as well as receiving an Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Epistemology
• Social psychology
• Linguistics
• Communication
• Philosophy
• Pedagogy
• Cognitive science
• Medicine
• Mathematics education

Selected publications

• No evidence for the age-based imitation bias in a culturally diverse sample

  PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · 2026-05-17

  preprintOpen access

  Humans possess learning biases that guide them to imitate individuals likely to hold adaptive information. One proposed bias—the age-based imitation bias—suggests that children preferentially imitate adults over peers because adults are presumed to have greater instrumental and conventional competence. Although supported by studies with young children from the post-industrialized west, this bias has not been examined across broader developmental ranges or diverse cultural contexts. Therefore, here we investigated adult versus peer imitation in 369 children aged 3–17 years from four communities: Congolese BaYaka, Congolese Bandongo, Scots, and Chinese Americans. Across instrumental and conventional tasks, we found no evidence that children preferentially imitated adults over peers. These null findings may reflect an existing publication bias in the social learning literature. They also raise the possibility that reported age-based effects may have been activated by the presence of other state- and model-based biases embedded within previous experiments.

  Publisher

• Conflicting perspectives mediate the relation between parents’ and preschoolers’ self‐referent mental state talk during collaboration

  UNC Libraries · 2026-04-08

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We examined the relations between the referent of parents and preschoolers' mental state talk during a collaborative puzzle-solving task (N = 146 dyads; n = 81 3-year-olds, n = 65 4-year-olds). The results showed that parents' references to their own knowledge and beliefs (self-referent cognitive talk), and references to their child's knowledge and beliefs (child-referent cognitive talk) were both related to children's (primarily self-referent) cognitive talk. We then tested whether any of the observed relations could be explained by the presence of conflicting perspectives within the collaborative interaction. Mediational analyses revealed that conflicting perspectives mediated the positive relation between parents' production of self-referent cognitive talk and child cognitive talk. By contrast, the positive relation between parents' production of child-referent cognitive talk and child cognitive talk did not depend on the presence of this type of conflict. These findings highlight an important mechanism through which parents' references to their own mind might promote children's developing mental state talk in collaborative contexts.

  PublisherDOI

• No evidence for the age-based imitation bias in a culturally diverse sample

  2026-05-18

  articleOpen access

  Humans possess learning biases that guide them to imitate individuals likely to hold adaptive information. One proposed bias—the age-based imitation bias—suggests that children preferentially imitate adults over peers because adults are presumed to have greater instrumental and conventional competence. Although supported by studies with young children from the post-industrialized west, this bias has not been examined across broader developmental ranges or diverse cultural contexts. Therefore, here we investigated adult versus peer imitation in 369 children aged 3–17 years from four communities: Congolese BaYaka, Congolese Bandongo, Scots, and Chinese Americans. Across instrumental and conventional tasks, we found no evidence that children preferentially imitated adults over peers. These null findings may reflect an existing publication bias in the social learning literature. They also raise the possibility that reported age-based effects may have been activated by the presence of other state- and model-based biases embedded within previous experiments.

  PublisherDOI

• Learning from non-explanations: Children trust Socratic over authoritarian responses

  Child Development · 2026-03-25

  articleSenior author

  This research investigated 4- to 8-year-old children's learning preferences based on teachers' responses to peers' pragmatic (Study 1, 2021-2024, N = 100, Mage = 6.56 years, SDage = 1.41, 50 females, 61% White) and naturalistic (Study 2, 2024, N = 101, Mage = 6.24 years, SDage = 1.50, 57 females, 55% White) questions. Children evaluated teachers providing (i) explanations with semantic content vs. nonexplanations and (ii) nonexplanation Socratic vs. authoritarian responses. Across both studies, children preferred learning from teachers who offered explanations. In Study 2, with age, children distinguished between nonexplanations, favoring teachers who provided Socratic over authoritarian responses. Overall, children increasingly distinguish between different nonexplanations based on question domain to make inferences about a teacher's future credibility.

  PublisherDOI

• Peaceful coexistence or inevitable clash? Confronting the claims of science and religion about death

  Child Development · 2026-03-23

  article

  Between September 26, 2022 and August 30, 2023, 5- to 12-year-old children and their parents (N = 258, 178 females, 1 nonbinary) from the U.S.A., judged conflicting scientific and religious claims with respect to death. Most secular participants endorsed the scientific claims and rejected the religious claims regardless of age, whereas most religious participants endorsed the religious claims and rejected the scientific claims, with this pattern becoming stronger with age. Nevertheless, dualistic explanations integrating both types of claims also increased with age regardless of religious background. Overall, when confronted with conflicting scientific and religious claims about death, most people endorse one claim over the other, depending on their background. The effort to reconcile both claims increases with age but never predominates.

  PublisherDOI

• Are Dominant Figures More Trustworthy? Examining the Relation Between Parental Authoritarianism and Children's Trust Preferences in the U.S. and China

  Infant and Child Development · 2025-05-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Selecting whose words to trust profoundly impacts children's learning behaviours. This study investigated Western and East Asian children's trust preferences for informants based on social dominance and its potential association with cultural factors. Sixty‐six European American children in the United States ( M = 5.44 years, SD = 0.80 years) and 69 Han Chinese children in China ( M = 5.42 years, SD = 0.73 years) were introduced to a dominant puppet with decision‐making power over a subordinate puppet. The puppets provided conflicting explanations about novel tools, and children indicated whose explanations they trusted. Both American and Chinese children preferred to trust the dominant puppet over the subordinate puppet. Although Chinese parents exhibited higher levels of authoritarianism compared to European American parents, this cultural difference was not significantly associated with children's trust preferences for the dominant informant. This research enriches our understanding of how informants' social power influences children's learning process across diverse cultures.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring Facilitators and Disruptors of Polarization During Adolescence Within Contested Settings: A Case Study of Catholic and Protestant Youth in Northern Ireland

  Journal of Adolescent Research · 2025-06-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Today’s adolescents must find ways to engage in a shared reality, especially in settings marked by intergroup conflict, as a prerequisite for reducing conflict and building collective solutions to societal problems. Polarization processes (epistemic) have been notably overlooked within this critical developmental period. This qualitative case study addresses this gap by identifying key socializing actors and settings within established theoretical frameworks (Ecological Systems Theory, Social Identity, and Intergroup Contact) using in-depth interview data from 45 Catholic and Protestant adolescents living in post-conflict Northern Ireland. Inductive analysis was conducted with the interview data. Findings reveal the importance of family, friends, school, and media as intersecting socializing actors for adolescents. Intergroup contact among peers from different ethno-religious backgrounds disrupted adolescents’ engagement in polarizing and divisive rhetoric. Lastly, adolescents perceived educational actors and settings as less influential than their personal connections to peers and family. Directions for future research leveraging intergroup contact to enhance adolescents’ information networks and educational interventions are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Cultivating cross-cultural collaborations: perspectives from the Developing Belief Network

  Frontiers in Developmental Psychology · 2025-12-18

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Developmental science has long highlighted the limitations in generalizability arising from the fact that the sizable majority of the populations we study come from a minority of locations globally. Furthermore, team science has lauded the opportunities presented by collaborative approaches to science, while open science approaches highlight the need to ensure that methods and data adhere to principles that are FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable). Challenges to employing both a global sampling strategy and a team/open science approach, while centering cultural influences and diversity in early development, include challenges designing protocols that provide both standardization and cultural sensitivity, working with and interpreting data from unique samples, structural challenges focused on meeting the requirements needed for tenure and promotion, and ethical challenges with making data from minors fully accessible. Here, we present lessons we have learned from cultivating the Developing Belief Network, outlining our solutions toward mitigating these challenges. We highlight our approach to constructing and sustaining the DBN, as well as recommendations we have learned from the 5 years since its inception.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Future Teachers' Confidence and Preparedness to Support Student Mental Health: The Effectiveness of a Virtual Role‐Play Simulation Training

  Psychology in the Schools · 2025-11-20

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Educators are a major source of referral for student mental health services, yet most have little or no pre‐service preparation in this role. This study examined whether a virtual role‐play simulation training increased the self‐reported ability and willingness of pre‐service teachers to identify and refer students with mental health needs for mental health services. Using a randomized controlled design, undergraduate students ( N = 319) enrolled in 23 teacher education programs were randomized to complete a mental health training, or comparison training. Participants assigned to the mental health training reported greater increases than the comparison group in their preparedness and confidence to support student mental health, as well as placing a higher priority on mental health in their professional role. The training's impact was maintained at 1‐month follow‐up.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Working across religions, cultures, settings, and development: Protocol for wave 2 data collection with children and parents by the developing belief network

  PLoS ONE · 2025-09-05 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  The Developing Belief Network is a global research collaborative studying religious development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the intersection of cognitive mechanisms and cultural beliefs and practices in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's second wave of data collection, which aims to further explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior using a multi-time point approach. This protocol is designed to investigate three key research questions-how children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents, how children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity, and how religious and supernatural beliefs are transmitted within and between generations-via a set of eight tasks for children between the ages of 5 and 13 years and a survey completed by their parents/caregivers. This study is being conducted in 41 distinct cultural-religious settings, spanning 16 countries and 12 written languages. In this manuscript, we provide detailed descriptions of all elements of this study protocol, and give a brief overview of the ways in which this protocol has been adapted for use in diverse religious communities. As one example of how this protocol has been implemented outside of the United States, we present Arabic- and English-language study materials for children being raised in one of the following religious traditions in Lebanon: the Druze faith, Maronite Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Shia Islam, or Sunni Islam. We end with reflections on the challenges of developing and implementing large-scale, multi-site, multi-time point studies of child development; our approach to navigating these challenges; and our suggestions for how future researchers might learn from our experiences and build on the work presented here.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Developing Critical STEM Thinkers: Optimizing Explanations in Inquiry-based Learning

  NSF · $1.1M · 2017–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Paul L. Harris

  Harvard University

  62 shared

• Eva E. Chen

  39 shared

• David B. Hackney

  Hadassah Medical Center

  38 shared

• Yixin Kelly Cui

  Boston University

  38 shared

• Bernard S. Chang

  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

  37 shared

• Mirit Barzillai

  University of Haifa

  37 shared

• Tami Katzir

  University of Haifa

  37 shared

• Kira Apse

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  36 shared

Labs

• Social Learning LaboratoryPI

Awards & honors

• National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow
• National Science Foundation CAREER award
• Templeton Foundation large grant (Role: PI)
• Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Association…
• Fellow from the Association for Psychological Science