Welcome to the Social Cognitive Development Lab (SCD Lab)! Our research team is led by Dr. Youjung Choi, Assistant Professor of Psychology for SIU’s School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences. We investigate how infants and young children learn the skills that they need to become part of their social world. Our studies explore many topics, including how children make sense of other people’s minds, actions, and emotions. Our research also explores how children begin to reason about others’ social preferences and social groups along with how children develop their own moral reasoning. Ultimately, our goal is to discover what children know, what they understand, how they behave, why they behave that way, and what social skills are acquired at different ages throughout development. We hope to contribute to our understanding of the origins and development of the cognitive systems that enable us to become competent social beings.
