Ashley Thomas

I’m interested in humans as a social species. I have two lines of research. In the first I investigate what infants, toddlers, and children think about social relationships. So far, I’ve mostly studied how they think and feel about social hierarchy (i.e. situations where there is a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser’ or when someone is ‘in charge’). I’m currently starting projects about how infants think and feel about affiliative relationships (i.e. relationships where people feel connected, help each other, and care for each other). In my second line of research I’m interested in adult’s moral judgements. I’ve specifically looked at people’s moral judgements of parents and parenting, but in general I’m in interested in questions such as, where do moral norms come from and how do they change?