Jenny Nissel
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Jenny Nissel is a postdoctoral research associate in applied human development at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research explores the imagination across cultures and development. In her primary line of work, she investigates developing possibility conceptions, with a particular focus on how theories about the way the world works—both natural and sociocultural—constrain developing beliefs about what’s possible (and what’s not). Additionally, she studies developing ontologies of unobservable scientific, supernatural, fantastical, and religious agents, with a focus on how these ontologies are acquired, transmitted, and revised within diverse cultural contexts. In her work she also explores engagement with narrative, art, and fictional worlds.
In addition, Dr. Nissel is currently on the core leadership team of the Developing Belief Network, an international research collaborative studying the development and diversity of cognition across cultures.
pronouns: she/her
In the Media
Education
PhD, Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
MA, Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
BA, Psychology, Yale University
BA, Theatre Studies, Yale University
Selected Publications
Nissel, J., Xu, J., Wu, L., Bricken, Z., Clegg, J., Li, H., & Woolley, J.D. (2024). Why wearing a yellow hat is impossible: Chinese and U.S. children’s possibility judgments. Cognition, 251, 10585. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105856 (https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1jU032Hx2xL2E)
Nissel, J., & Woolley, J.D. (2024). Anecdata: Children’s and adults’ evaluation of anecdotal and statistical evidence. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2, doi:10.3389/fdpys.2024.1324704 (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/developmental-psychology/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2024.1324704/full)
Nissel, J., Li, H., +Cramer, A., & Woolley, J. (2023). Three men make a tiger: The effect of consensus testimony on Chinese and U.S. children’s possibility judgments. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 23(1-2), 98-126. doi:10.1163/15685373-12340154
Nissel, J., & Woolley, J.D. (2022). Brave new world: Imaginative fictions offer simulated safety and actual benefits. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, E289. doi:10.1017/S0140525X21002284
Selected Presentations
Nissel, J., Weisman, K., Li, P.H., Kushnir, T., Srinivasan, M., Yu, Y., Zhao, X., Chen, E., Jee, B., Anggoro, F., Nicolopolou, A., Kenderla, P., Burdett, E., Davis, H., Richert, R., Corriveau, K. (June, 2024). Developing conceptions of physical, biological, psychological, and sociological constraints on human action across cultures. Talk presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, West Lafayette, IN.
Nissel, J., Clegg, J., Li, H., Wu, L., & Woolley, J.D. (March, 2024). Epistemic and deontic constraints on U.S. and Chinese children’s possibility conceptions. Oral paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Pasadena, CA.
Nissel, J., Weisman, K., Li, P.H., Kushnir, T., Srinivasan, M., Yu, Y., Zhao, X., Jee, B., Anggoro, F., Nicolopolou, A., Kenderla, P., Burdett, E., Davis, H., Richert, R., Corriveau, K. (March, 2024). Developing conceptions of what humans can and cannot do: Findings from China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, and the U.S. In Williams, A., Nissel, J., Payir, A., Weisman, K., Ghossainy, K., Richert, R., and Corriveau, K. (Organizers), “Building a Global Research Collaborative: Experiences and Findings from the Developing Belief Network.” Pre-conference symposium talk presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Pasadena, CA.
Nissel, J., Li, H., & Woolley, J.D. (March, 2023). Chinese and U.S. children’s developing possibility conceptions. In Friedman, O. and Shtulman, A. (Chairs), “How Children Judge the Possibility of Improbable and Impossible Events.” Symposium talk presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, UT.