Dr. Daniel Yonas
Studying how people learn to interpret harm, intent, and justice across development and across lines of social difference.
I hold a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University and serve as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Cornell's Purpose Science & Innovation Exchange. At the intersection of moral psychology, intergroup relations, and education, my work asks how children and adults navigate morally relevant situations, and how those judgments map onto broader social and institutional contexts.
About
Psychology has long studied racism and morality separately, yet insights from one rarely inform the other. My research bridges that gap, examining how developmental and social-cognitive mechanisms, especially those involving racial and ethnic group membership, shape how people reason about harm, intent, and justice.
My path began at the University of Virginia in Cognitive Science, continued through an MEd in Educational Psychology and a Carnegie Mellon research program, and culminated in doctoral work at Columbia with Larisa Heiphetz Solomon. Across these settings I've advanced inclusive methodologies that foreground the perspectives of historically marginalized groups, as participants, as researchers, and as members of our shared social world.
My long-term goal is to lead a research program advancing a developmental science of moral justice: tracing how individuals learn to interpret the moral meaning of harm in contexts of bias, inequality, and institutional failure, and how that understanding can inform education and policy that foster moral curiosity and empathy.
Research interests
Four connected lines of inquiry on the development of moral cognition and its entanglement with social identity and inequality.
Intent & moral judgment across development
How children and adults weigh intent versus outcome when evaluating harm, and why curiosity about intent emerges earlier for transgressions than for prosocial acts.
Intergroup dynamics, race & moral judgment
How group membership and lived experience with prejudice shape the way people assign blame, prioritize intent, and conceptualize justice and accountability.
Moral essentialism & redemption
How beliefs that moral character is fixed or changeable inform judgments of punishment, repair, and the possibility of redemption after wrongdoing.
Purpose development across the lifespan
Current work at Cornell's Purpose Science & Innovation Exchange on how young people develop a sense of purpose in relation to moral concern and social responsibility.
Selected publications
Building a developmental science of redemption
Yonas, D., & Solomon, L. H. (2025). Developmental Review, 75, 101183.
doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2024.101183Age-related changes in information-seeking behavior about morally relevant events
Yonas, D., & Solomon, L. H. (2024). Child Development, 00, 1–16.
doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14200An alternative to "No Excuses": Considering Montessori as culturally responsive pedagogy
Lillard, A. S., Taggart, J., Yonas, D., & Batson-Seale, M. N. (2023). Journal of Negro Education, 92(3), 301–324.
muse.jhu.edu/article/934318The role of intent in evaluating intergroup and intragroup harms
Under ReviewYonas, D., & Solomon, L. H. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology.
When AI becomes 'Other': Racial representation and the uncanny valley in human–AI relationships
Under ReviewMosley, A. J., & Yonas, D. Journal of Experimental Psychology.
A full list of publications and 15+ conference presentations appears in my curriculum vitae.
Teaching & mentoring
I treat the classroom as a space where students of every background feel valued and encouraged to contribute, especially around morally charged topics central to how they understand themselves. As a Teaching Fellow at Columbia, I synthesized student evaluations across my teaching to refine practices that build belonging and critical thinking.
Through Developmental Discovery Days and the Arts & Sciences Graduate Council DEI Committee, I've mentored underrepresented students and built initiatives that widen access to research and graduate study.
Honors & awards
- Black Social and Personality Psychologists' Retreat (2025)
- Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award (2023)
- Towards 2044 Horowitz Early Career Scholar (2023)
- SPSP Graduate Diversity Award (2021)
- Provost Diversity Fellow / Dean's Fellow (2020)
- Distinguished Major in Psychology, High Distinction (2018)
Contact
For research collaborations, talks, or graduate mentorship.
dy375@cornell.eduBronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
Cornell University · Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Ithaca, NY 14850
Open to collaborations on
- Purpose science
- Moral & developmental psychology
- Intergroup relations and race
- Educational equity and inclusion
- Digital moral cognition