Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is a developmental psychologist with interests in the development of cognition, emotion, and imagination. After studying psychology at Sussex and Oxford, he taught at the University of Lancaster, the Free University of Amsterdam, and the London School of Economics. In 1980, he moved to Oxford where he was Professor of Developmental Psychology and Fellow of St. John’s College. In 2001, he migrated to Harvard where he holds the Victor S. Thomas Professorship of Education. He is a fellow of the British Academy and of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.  His latest book, The Work of the Imagination, appeared in 2000 (Blackwell). He is currently study how young children learn about history, science, and religion on the basis of what trusted informants tell them, rather than from firsthand observation.