Research/Areas of Interest
causal cognition, philosophy of science, metascience, methods
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Carnegie-Mellon Univ, USA, 2023
- Bachelor of Science, Tufts University, USA, 2017
- Bachelor of Arts, Tufts Univ/Liberal Arts, USA, 2017
Biography
I'm Phuong (Phoebe) Dinh (they/them/theirs and she/her/hers--I leave the choice of pronoun to the person I'm in communication with). I am a full-time Lecturer in Psychology at Tufts University with a special focus in meta-science, methods, and causation. I completed my PhD training in Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and, prior to that, a BS in Cognitive and Brain Sciences and a BA in Philosophy at Tufts University.
In my research, I blend cognitive science and philosophy of science to examine the cognitive representations and processes that underlie people's ability to learn new causal relations in the world, with a focus on participants in the U.S. In one line of research, I study the influence of perceptual and statistical cues on causal learning. In a separate line of research, I explore the role of prior expectations (e.g., expectations of determinism) in shaping the process and outcomes of causal learning in US adults. In a future line of research, I want to investigate how researchers' own definitions of and experience in the (causal) world influence their choice of methodology and perspective on scientific progress in psychological research.
Given my interests, I spend a lot of time thinking about methods and, as a result, am excited to have PSY 32 (Experimental Psychology) on my frequent teaching roster. My expertise and experiences are most relevant to the CBS and General Psychology tracks under the Psychology major.
In my research, I blend cognitive science and philosophy of science to examine the cognitive representations and processes that underlie people's ability to learn new causal relations in the world, with a focus on participants in the U.S. In one line of research, I study the influence of perceptual and statistical cues on causal learning. In a separate line of research, I explore the role of prior expectations (e.g., expectations of determinism) in shaping the process and outcomes of causal learning in US adults. In a future line of research, I want to investigate how researchers' own definitions of and experience in the (causal) world influence their choice of methodology and perspective on scientific progress in psychological research.
Given my interests, I spend a lot of time thinking about methods and, as a result, am excited to have PSY 32 (Experimental Psychology) on my frequent teaching roster. My expertise and experiences are most relevant to the CBS and General Psychology tracks under the Psychology major.