
I'm a developmental scientist studying how culture shapes the mind.
I'm currently a postdoctoral researcher in the UC Berkeley Department of Psychology.
Research Interests
Humans are a remarkable species, numbering in the billions and inhabiting every single ecology on the planet. How do we pull this off?
One secret to our success is culture. We have incredibly diverse bodies of knowledge that orient us to our social and ecological worlds.
But another big part of our success concerns development. Humans have a unique developmental trajectory, with an extended period of dependence we call childhood. Childhood is an incredibly flexible and sensitive life stage primarily devoted to learning — both individually and socially — about the very specific world we inhabit, in contrast to the many million possible worlds we could inhabit.
My research examines this dynamic and uniquely human process, focusing on how our behavior, preferences, and decision-making are shaped across diverse cultural environments.


Cross-Cultural Research
As most of what we know about human behavior still comes from people living in WEIRD populations — those that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic — my research employs a cross-cultural perspective to explore the diversity of human behavior around the world.
I frequently work with the Shuar, an Indigenous forager-horticulturalist group living in Amazonian Ecuador, as part of the larger Shuar Health and Life History Project.
Collaborative Research Networks
Culture & Ontogeny Research
Initiative
Science Outreach
👆My 2022 Garden talk, "How Does Where Grow Up Impact Who You Become?".
In this talk, I focus on the importance of childhood as a uniquely human developmental stage, and the role that early experiences play in shaping our language, preferences, and personality traits.
👆My 2019 TEDxCambridge talk, "How Industrialization Changed Childhood".
The basic gist: Forces like industrialization have eroded some of the hallmarks of human childhood — such as independence, unstructured play, & mixed-age playgroups — which may still serve important functions for kids today. Perhaps we ought to work harder to preserve them.
Radio New Zealand
We have Slashed & Burned the Core Features of Childhood
The Washington Post
CBC Radio
Press Coverage
Can You Tell a Real Laugh from a Fake One?
Science Magazine↗
Get in touch
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Psychology
2121 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94720
dorsa.amir@berkeley.edu
<a rel="me" href="https://nerdculture.de/@DorsaAmir">Mastodon</a>