Meet the Team



Dr. Dorsa Amir
Assistant Professor
& Director of MACLab
Dr. Dorsa Amir is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. She earned a B.S. in Anthropology from UCLA in 2012, a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 2018, and completed postdoctoral training in the Boston College and UC Berkeley Departments of Psychology. Dr. Amir's research investigates the routes through which culture shapes the developing mind, with a focus on the early determinants of preferences, judgments, and decision-making. You can learn more about Dr. Amir and her research at her personal website.


Julia Bainbridge
Outgoing Lab Manager
Julia is the lab manager of the MAC Lab. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2023 with a B.S. in Psychological & Brain Sciences and a minor in Sociocultural Linguistics. Julia previously researched intergroup empathy bias in children and the role of cultural phenomena in influencing children’s social decision-making. She is interested in how language enables children across cultures to learn about their social world.
Postdoctoral Researchers


Dr. Julia Smith
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Julia Smith is a postdoctoral researcher in the MAC lab. She earned a B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in Intercultural Studies from Wofford College in 2015, a Master’s in Psychology from the New School for Social Research in 2018, and a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2024. Her research focus is how people make normative “should” judgments about how they should think about and treat others, and how the world should work. See her personal website for more information!
Graduate Students


Serena Spada
PhD Student
Serena is a first year Psychology and Neuroscience PhD student in the MAC Lab and graduated from UC San Diego in 2024 with a B.S. in Business Psychology. Serena has previously researched social cognitive development, particularly children’s understanding of group essentialism and motivations to pursue STEM. Her primary research interest is moral development, specifically how children reason about and behave in instances of moral dilemmas, as well as the factors (e.g., culture or senses of fairness) that influence them.
Affiliated Researchers


Alissa Rivero
Lab Coordinator,
Tomasello Lab
Research Assistants


Hannah Brown
Duke '28
Major: Psychology
Child and Family Policy Certificate
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Runzi Ma
Duke '27
Intended Majors: Psychology, Economics & Statistical Science


Angelie Quimbo
Duke '26
Major: Political Science
Minor: Psychology


Layelle Abou-Ezzi
Duke '28
Intended Majors: Psychology & Public Policy


Raouda Njimogna
UNC '26
Major: Neuroscience
Minors: Chemistry, Philosophy


Beatriz Lopes
Duke '28
Intended Majors: Neuroscience, Chemistry, Global Health
Lab Alumni
Mya Harris — Duke '25
Jeanie Jia — Duke '26
Jiae Kim — Duke '26