I am a fourth-year PhD student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow working with Tania Lombrozo at Princeton University.
I study explanations of social change, inequality, and injustice. How do people explain why inequality exists, and how do they think about their role in ending or preventing future injustice?
My research highlights distinctions between moral reasoning ("who is morally to blame for inequality?") and causal reasoning ("what actions or beliefs cause inequality?"), as well as retrospective reasoning ("why does inequality exist?") and prospective reasoning ("how might it end?") in this domain. I study these topics in both adults and children from perspectives of psychology and philosophy.
I am also passionate about inclusive, justice-oriented teaching.
Publications
How do people explain social change?
Lewry, C., Asifriyaz, S., & Lombrozo, T. (2024). Lay theories of moral progress. Cognitive Science, 48, 11, e70018. (PDF)
Lewry, C., Tsai, G., & Lombrozo, T. (2024). Are ethical explanations explanatory? Meta-ethical beliefs shape judgments about explanations for social change. Cognition, 250, 105860. (PDF)
Lewry, C. & Lombrozo, T. (under review). Responsibility for inequality: A framework and review.
Lewry, C. & Lombrozo, T. (in prep.). Do our theories of moral progress predict whether we vote? Evidence from the 2024 US election.
How might ChatGPT policies affect students?
Lewry, C., Daniels, J., & Shelton, N. (in prep). Professors’ perceptions of ambiguous ChatGPT use in classrooms may harm Black students.
How do our explanations shape our moral judgments?
Lewry, C., Kelemen, D., & Lombrozo, T. (2023). The moral consequences of teleological beliefs about the human species. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(12), 3359–3379. (PDF)
What makes kids and adults curious?
Lewry, C., Gorucu, S., Liquin, E.G., & Lombrozo, T. (2023). Minimally-counterintuitive stimuli trigger greater curiosity than merely improbable stimuli. Cognition, 230, 105286. (PDF)
Lewry, C., Curtis, K., Vasilyeva, N., Xu, F., & Griffiths, T. L. (2021). Intuitions about magic track the development of intuitive physics. Cognition, 214,104762. (PDF)