Rebekah A. Richert earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology (BA) from Calvin College (1999) and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Virginia (2003). Funded by a National Science Foundation International Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, she was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Harvey Whitehouse at Queens University-Belfast (2003-2004) and with Dr. Paul Harris at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education (2004-2005).
Dr. Richert has developed various lines of research into how children’s developing social cognition influences their understanding of religion, fantasy, and media. In particular, she studies cultural and developmental mechanisms in the development of concepts of God, the soul, prayer and rituals, as well as children’s commitments to the reality status of religious entities and the efficacy of religious practices. Bridging the study of developing fantasy-reality distinctions, Dr. Richert also examines how the fantastical content and characters in children’s media can both support and hinder children’s learning from books, videos, and interactive games. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, The John Templeton Foundation, and the Templeton World Charity Trust.