Tamsin German

Biography

Tamsin German studied Experimental Psychology at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, earning her B.A. in Experimental Psychology (1991), before moving to London to study at the Medical Research Council Cognitive Development Unit and the Department of Psychological & Brain sciences, University College London. She earned her Ph. D. in Psychology (1995). After a short appointment as a visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Cognitive Science at Rutgers University during 1995 and a first faculty position at the Department of Psychology, University of Essex, UK, from 1996-2001, Tamsin accepted her current position at UCSB.

Research

Tamsin German studies questions in Psychological Science from a cognitive and developmental perspective. Current work focuses on i) how early and reliably developing core knowledge systems that underpin our understanding of the natural world are implicated in forming representations of supernatural concepts (i.e. concepts of the extraordinary divine entities that are the focus of religious belief? ii) what cognitive mechanisms might exist to guard humans against the threat posed by unreliable information communicated by others and iii) how might cognitive systems for interpreting other peoples’ behavior be influenced by their group memberships. The CDL also works in collaboration with other labs in Psychological and Brain Sciences to better understand romantic and sexual partner choice among LGBTQ people.