Dr Julia Ulber

I am a developmental psychologist with a strong research interest in children's early social behaviour.

I received my PhD in 2015 from the Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. My thesis, supervised by Professor Michael Tomasello, investigated the concept of fairness and distributive justice in early childhood. Following this, I took up a Postdoctoral researcher position within the same department, studying the specific circumstances that lead to children’s early sharing behaviour. 

Before I joined Christ Church in 2018 I worked as Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. After being the course director for BSc (Hons) Psychology I took on the joint Psychology Lead role in 2023.

I am a Fellow of the HEA. My current teaching is in the areas of developmental and educational psychology. I teach and lead modules across levels 0 to 7 (e.g. Social and Developing Self; Developmental Psychology; Learning and Development; Psychology of the Family; Psychology in Education) and supervise a variety of final year projects/dissertations at BSc and MSc level.

I am an active researcher with a general interest in childhood development, parenting and family processes. My main research interests remain in the development of prosocial behaviour in early childhood. I strive to understand humans' unique “ultra” socialness and the behavioural consequences by investigating their ontogenetic onsets, their developmental trajectories, underlying mechanisms as well as their implications for our modern-day society. I conduct my research working mainly with children between two and nine years of age, but also have experience working with infants, adults and chimpanzees. In addition to my broad expertise in developing, conducting and analysing behavioural studies with children, I also possess skills in data collection via EEG and eye-tracking technology, as well as interview surveys.

My most current research project assesses the influence of partner characteristics (e.g. competence, age, friendliness, animacy) in early social interactions. I am also very interested in the (negative) impacts of rewards and token systems at home and school.

I collaborate with colleagues within the university as well as with external European partners.