Emma Mizukami Reddy
About
Hi! I'm Emma, a senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a B.S. in Human Development and completing an honors thesis on children's endorsement of speculative conjectures, which are beliefs or claims that lack direct evidence and require inferential reasoning. My work examines how group bias and social context influence whether children accept or reject these conjectures, revealing how social influences shape belief formation.
I am currently a research assistant in the Butler Cognition and Development Lab, where I gain experience in data collection, coding, analysis, and research design.
My research interests lie in language and cognitive development. Specifically, how children interpret language and its meaning—how the words they hear from caregivers, teachers, and peers shape their reasoning, social dispositions, resilience, and self-confidence. I'm fascinated by the role of semantics and context in development, and how children's interpretation of words is influenced by culture, experience, and social environment. My curiosity also extends beyond childhood: I am interested in how language and meaning can shape persuasion, judgment, and decision-making in broader contexts, such as court verdicts, debates, and political discourse.
In my free time I love to travel, take scenic pictures, read and write fiction, and explore new food spots!
Research Interests
- Children's cognitive development and evidence-based reasoning.
- How children interpret language and the meaning of words.
- The role of semantics, context, and culture in shaping reasoning.
- Development of social dispositions, resilience, and self-confidence.
- How children evaluate claims and navigate social input.
- Applications of language and meaning in broader contexts (e.g., persuasion, debates, court verdicts).
Research Experience
Cognition and Development Lab
University of Maryland, College Park
Research Projects
Conducted an honors thesis examining children's endorsement of speculative conjectures—beliefs or claims that lack direct evidence and require inferential reasoning. Based on prior study by Chu and Schulz (2021).
I led all aspects of the project, including protocol development on PowerPoint slides with animations, piloting, hiring and managing research assistants for data collection, preparing IRB approval documents, creating demographic forms in Qualtrics, and scheduling study sessions using Calendly. The study investigated how group bias and social affiliation influence whether children accept or reject these conjectures, revealing how social context shapes belief formation.
Collected data for a study examining children's evaluations of whether to share information that could cause varying levels of potential harm. The project explored how children judge whether it is acceptable or unacceptable for someone to share—or withhold—different types of information.