Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Danovitch, J., & Severson, R. L. (2021). Children's understanding of emerging technologies: Introduction to the special issue. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies. DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.285

Birch, S. A. J., Severson, R. L., & Baimel, A. (2020). Children's understanding of when a person's confidence and hesitancy is a cue to their credibility. PLOS ONE, 15 (1), e02227026. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227026

Severson, R. L., & Woodard, S. R. (2018). Imagining others' minds: The positive relation between children's role play and anthropomorphism. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2140. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02140

Severson, R. L., & Lemm, K. M. (2016). Kids see human too: Adapting an individual differences measure of anthropomorphism for a child sample. Journal of Cognition and Development, 17, 122-141. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2014.989445

Baimel, A., Severson, R. L., Baron, A. S., & Birch, S. A. J. (2015). Enhancing 'theory of mind' through synchrony. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 870. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00870

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Freier, N. G., Severson, R. L., Gill, B. T., Ruckert, J. H., & Shen, S. (2012). “Robovie, you’ll have to go into the closet now”: Children’s social and moral relationships with a humanoid robot. Developmental Psychology, 48, 303-314.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Gill, B. T., Ruckert, J. H., Shen, S., Gary, H., Reichert, A. L., Freier, N. G., & Severson, R. L. (2012). Do people hold a humanoid robot morally accountable for the harm it causes? Proceedings of the 7^th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2012, Boston, MA, March 5-8, 2012) (pp. 22-30) (Best Paper Award). Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi: 10.1145/2157689.2157696

Severson, R. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2010). Behaving as or behaving as if? Children's conceptions of personified robots and the emergence of a new ontological category. Neural Networks, Special Issue on Social Cognition: From Babies to Robots, 23, 1099-1103.

Severson, R. L., & Kahn, P. H., Jr. (2010). In the orchard: Farm worker children’s moral and environmental reasoning. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 249-256.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Ruckert, J. H., Severson, R. L., Reichert, A. L., & Fowler, E. (2010). A nature language: An agenda to catalog, save, and recover patterns of human-nature interaction. Ecopsychology, 2, 59-66.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Severson, R. L., & Ruckert, J. H. (2009). The human relationship with nature and technological nature. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 37-42.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., Gill, B. T., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., Freier, N. G., Feldman, E. N., Carrère, S., & Stolyar, A. (2008). A plasma display window? – The shifting baseline problem in a technologically-mediated natural world. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28, 192-199.

Kahn, P. H. Jr., Saunders, C. D., Severson, R. L., Myers, O. E., Jr., & Gill, B. T. (2008). Moral and fearful affiliations with the animal world: Children’s conceptions of bats. Anthrozoös, 21, 375-386.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Freier, N. G., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Ruckert, J. H., Severson, R. L., & Kane, S. K. (2008). Design patterns for sociality in human-robot interaction. Proceedings of the 3^rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2008, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 12-15, 2008) (pp. 97-104). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. doi: 10.1145/1349822.1349836

Stanton, C. M., Kahn, P. H., Jr., Severson, R. L., Ruckert, J. H., & Gill, B. T. (2008). Robotic animals might aid in the social development of children with autism. Proceedings of the 3^rdACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2008, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 12-15, 2008) (pp. 271-278). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. doi: 10.1145/1349822.1349858

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Ishiguro, H., Friedman, B., Kanda, T., Freier, N. G., Severson, R. L., & Miller, J. (2007). What is a human? – Toward psychological benchmarks in the field of human-robot interaction. Interaction Studies: Social Behavior and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems, 8, 363-390.

Friedman, B., Kahn, P. H., Jr., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., & Gill, B. (2006). The watcher and the watched: Social judgments about privacy in a public place. Human-Computer Interaction, 21, 235-272.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Freier, N. G., Friedman, B., Severson, R. L., & Feldman, E. (2004). Social and moral relationships with robotic others? Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN 2004, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan, September 20-22, 2004) (pp. 545-550). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ROMAN.2004.1374819

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Severson, R. L., Bean, P., & Caughie, C. (in press). Farm worker children’s judgments about pesticides and concern for the natural environment. In Corona, Y., V. Derr, V. Medina, A. Montoya, & L. Ortiz (Eds.). Buscando el Terruño: Los Niños, Los Jóvenes y El Cuidado de la Tierra. La Prensa de UAM, México.

Severson, R. L., Bean, P., & Caughie, C. (2020). The emergence of concern for the natural environment: Farm worker children, pesticides, and direct experience with nature. In V. Derr & Y. Corona (Eds.), Latin American Transnational Children and Youth: Experiences of Nature and Place, Culture, and Cares Across the Americas (pp. 186-198). Routledge.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Severson, R. L., & Ruckert, J. H. (2009). Experiencing technological nature – and the problem when good enough becomes good. In M. Drenthen, J. Keulartz, & J. Proctor (Eds.), New Visions of Nature (pp. 145-176). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Friedman, B., Kahn, P. H., Jr., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., & Gill, B. (2009). The watcher and the watched: Social judgments about privacy in a public place. Reprinted in R. Harper (Series Ed.), S. Harrison (Vol. Ed.), Media Space 20 + Years of Mediated Life. London: Springer.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., & Severson, R. L. (2008). Environmental education. In F. C. Power, R. J. Nuzzi, D. Narvaez, D. K. Lapsley, & T. C. Hunt (Eds.), Moral education: A handbook (Vol. 1, pp. 166-167). Westport, CT: Praeger.

Invited Reviews and Commentaries

Severson, R. L. (2015). Good science? We should all be asking [Review of the book Who’s asking? Native science, Western science, and science education, by D. L. Medin & M. Bang]. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 38, 70-71. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2014.11.003

Severson, R. L. (2015). Film review: “School’s Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten.” Journal of Educational Controversy 9. Open access: http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/CEP/eJournal/v009n001/

Severson, R. L. (2014). The value of (research on) animals in children’s lives: Commentary on Mueller. Human Development, 57, 26-29. doi:10.1159/000357792

Presentations

Conference Presentations (since 2015)

Cordingley, K. J., & Severson, R. L. (2023, November). Identity, Well-Being, and Political Ideology Affect Emerging Adults’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Poster presented at National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, Chicago, IL.

Severson, R. L., Sweezy, S. E., Macko, T. M., & Woodard, S. R. (2023). Do children trust a smart speaker when learning factual information and making moral decisions? Poster presented at the biennial meeting of Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, UT.

Sweezy, S. E., Macko, T. M., & Severson, R. L. (2023). Does behavioral synchrony affect children's sharing, mentalizing, and social attributions to social robots? Poster presented at the biennial meeting of Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, UT.

Smith, K., & Severson, R. L. (2022, April). Learning to see human: universal aspects and cultural variations in the development of anthropomorphism. Paper presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR), Missoula, MT.

Cordingley, K. J., & Severson, R. L. (2022, February). Emerging adults and identity development in the time of COVID-19. Paper presented at University of Montana Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon), Missoula, MT.

Woodard, S. R., Sweezy, S. E., & Severson, R. L. (2021, April). Are robots morally culpable? The role of intentionality and anthropomorphism. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of Society for Research in Child Development (online).

Taylor, K., & Severson, R. L. (2020, April). Inaccuracy mentalizing humans predicts greater mentalizing of nature and technology. Paper presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR), Missoula, MT.

Denny, M. E., & Severson, R. L. (2020, April). The right job for me: The motivation, support network, and emotional fortitude of crisis workers. Paper presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR), Missoula, MT.

Bean, P., Caughie, C., & Severson, R. L. (2020, Feb). Making a case for nature. Paper presented at University of Montana Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon), Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L., Woodard, S. R., & Birch, S. A. J. (2019, October). Mentalizing beyond humans: Theory of mind accuracy is unrelated to anthropomorphism. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Louisville, KY.

Woodard, S. R., Severson, R. L., & Birch, S. A. J. (2019, October). Do children always trust confident individuals? Not when it comes to moral deliberations. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Louisville, KY.

Beall, A., Ryan, C., Barker, R., & Severson, R. L. (2019, April). Do young children treat a robot as having intentions and being culpable for its actions? Poster presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research, Missoula, MT.

Taylor, K. B., Ryan, C., Beall, A., Woodard, S. R., & Severson, R. L. (2019, April). Context Matters in Children’s Reasoning about Confident and Hesitant Individuals. Paper presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research, Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L., Li, H., Birch, S. A. J., & Lillard, A. (2019, March). The Role of Culture in Anthropomorphic Beliefs Among White-Canadian, Asian-Canadian, and Chinese Children and Adults. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.

Lau, P., Severson, R. L., Woodard, S. R., & Birch, S. A. J. (2018, June). Children’s context-dependent interpretations of confidence cues. Paper presented at the Development 2018 Conference, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.

Barker, R., Lindner, B., & Severson, R. L. (2018, April). Children’s Understanding of Robots: A New Ontological Category or Just Pretend? Poster presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research, Missoula, MT.

Cooke, S., & Severson, R. L. (2018, April). Are robots animate or inanimate? Children’s pronoun use provides insight into categorization challenge. Poster presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research, Missoula, MT.

Taylor, K. B., Schuster, D., Rosston, S., Gillespie, C., Woodard, S. R., & Severson, R. L. (2018, April). Sometimes hesitancy is key: Effects of moral deliberations on children's interpretation of credibility cues. Poster presented at the University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research, Missoula, MT.

Woodard, S. R., & Severson, R. L. (2018, April). Do children always trust confident individuals? Not when it comes to moral deliberations. Poster presented at the University of Montana GradCon – A Graduate Student Research Conference, Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L., Lau, P., Li, V., & Birch, S. A. J. (2017). Sometimes hesitancy is key: Effects of moral deliberations on children's interpretation of credibility cues. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Portland, OR.

Severson, R. L., Baimel, A., & Birch, S. A. J. (2017). When is confidence a justified credibility cue? Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Portland, OR.

Baimel, A., Severson, R. L., & Birch, S. A. J. (2017). Children and adult’s theory of mind supports anthropomorphic tendencies. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Austin, TX.

Birch, S. A. J, Baimel, A., & Severson, R. L. (2017). Children and adult’s understanding of unjustified confidence. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Austin, TX.

Severson, R. L. (2016, October). Young children attribute less to a robot when asked to take a peer’s perspective. Paper presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Special Topics Meeting on Technology and Media in Children’s Development, Irvine, CA.

Severson, R. L., & Birch, S. A. J. (2016, June). Discerning minds: Are children skeptical of an unjustifiably confident informant? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Chicago, IL.

Severson, R. L., Birch, S. A. J., Tahiroglu, D., Moses, L. J., Ghrear, S., & Haddock, T. (2016, June). The Children’s Social Understanding Scale Predicts Social-Emotional Functioning. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Chicago, IL.

Haddock, T., Ghrear, S., Brousseau-Liard, P., Severson, R., Birch, S., & Li, V. (2016, June). The curse of knowledge across development: A fluency misattribution account. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Chicago, IL.

Baimel, A., Severson, R., Birch, S., & Norenzayan A. (2015, May). Synchronous ritual and mental state reasoning. Presented at the Cultural Evolution of Religion Consortium’s 2015 Plenary Meeting (Religion in the text and on the ground), Montreal, Canada.

Severson, R. L., Li, H., & Lillard, A. (2015, March). Cultural contributions to anthropomorphic beliefs. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.

Severson, R. L., & Birch, S. A. J. (2015, March). Discerning minds: Older children become skeptical of an unjustifiably confident informant. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.

Baimel, A., Severson, R. L., & Birch, S. A. J. (2015, March). The ‘eyes’ have it: Predicting individual differences in anthropomorphism. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.

Ghrear, S., Haddock, T., Severson, R. L., Penner, E., & Birch, S. A. J. (2015, March). Developmental changes in children's curse of knowledge bias. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.

Baimel, A., Severson, R., Birch, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2015, February). Synchronous ritual and mental state reasoning. Poster presented at the 16th annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Long Beach, CA.

Invited Talks

Lee, S., Zuroff, H., Herbert-Meny, J., Carlton, P., & Severson, R. L. (2022, Aug). Create, collaborate, and grow under one roof. NLA Library Tri-Conference, Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L. (2022, May). Children’s understanding of robots and voice-based assistants. Panel on Here, there, and everywhere: Emerging technologies and the future of children. Children and Screens “Ask the Experts” webinar series.

Severson, R. L. (2022, May). Women scientists. Annual speaker for the As You Like It Club, Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L., Bray, H., & Truitt, H. (2021, August). How to celebrate our wins: Under one roof. Public Service Academy, University of Montana Max S. Baucus Institute’s Department of Public Administration & Policy.

Cochran, B., Fiore, C., & Severson, R. L. (2020, May). Panel on What does psychology have to offer to help us during a pandemic? Alumni Virtual Engagement, University of Montana Alumni Association.

Severson, R. L. (2019, October). Panel on Emotionally Intelligent Robots: More Human than Human? (with Jonathan Gratch and Sidney D’Mello). USC Visions and Voices, Los Angeles, CA.

Severson, R. L. (2019, April). “Alexa, are you spying on me?” Identity, privacy, and technology Panel. University of Montana College of Humanities & Sciences Dialogue, Missoula, MT.

Severson, R. L. (2019, February). Screen Time and Green Time: Effects of Increased Technology on Children’s Development.Bringing the U to You Lecture Series, UM and MSU Alumni Associations, Great Falls, MT. [access annotated slides]

Severson, R. L. (2018, October). Panel on Emerging Technologies: Children's Engagement with Intelligent and Interactive Media. Digital Media and Developing Minds: Second National Congress. Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory (Cold Springs Harbor, NY).

Severson, R. L. (2016, May). Discerning minds: Children’s developing skepticism of an unjustifiably confident model.Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway).

Severson, R. L. (2016, April).Discerning minds: Children’s developing skepticism of an unjustifiably confident model.Department of Psychology Colloquium, University of Montana (Missoula, MT).

Severson, R. L. (2014, February).Seeing human: Children’s anthropomorphic conceptions of robots.Department of Psychology, Developmental Area Colloquium, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC, Canada).

Severson, R. L. (2013, May). Growing up green: What does time in nature do for your child?Department of Psychology Family Academy Lecture Series. Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA).

Severson, R. L. (2012, August). Children’s conceptions of robots as life-like: Are they just pretending?Conference on Perceiving and Conceiving Natural and Non-natural Agents: From People to Computers to Gods. Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN).

Severson, R. L. (2011, March). Thinking “as” or thinking “as if”: The role of pretense in children’s and young adults’ attributions to a robot dinosaur.Paper presented at the HRI Pioneers Workshop at the 6^thACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2011), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Severson, R. L. (2011, April).The intrinsic value of animals and robots: On the development of moral conceptions of non-human others.Social Choice Research Group, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (Bergen, Norway).

Severson, R. L. (2010, December). Comment on A. Wax and M. Farah, The Neuroscience of Deprivation: Implications for Law and Policy (with an initial focus on sentencing). Center for the Study of Mind in Nature Conference on Law and the Science of Moral Judgment, University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway).

Severson, R. L. (2010, November). Thinking as or thinking as if: The role of pretense in children’s attributions to robots.Center for the Study of Mind in Nature Language and Rationality Seminar, University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway).

Severson, R. L. (2010, September). The intrinsic value of animals and robots: On the development of moral conceptions of non-human others.Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature Colloquium, University of Oslo (Oslo, Norway).

Severson, R. L. (2008, September). Robotic Others: The Emergence of a New Technological Genre? Seattle Robotics Society (Seattle, WA).

Kahn, P. H., Jr., & Severson, R. L. (2008, March). Designing for the human relation with nature and technological nature. The Portico Group: Architects, Landscape Architects, Interpretive Planners, & Exhibit Designers(Seattle, WA).