Department of Psychology
University of Illinois
603 East Daniel Street
Champaign, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 333-5557
Fax: (217) 244- 5876
email: rbaillar@illinois.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Renée Baillargeon’s research examines how infants and toddlers make sense of the world around them, and what innate knowledge and learning mechanisms support their ability to do so. Her lab focuses primarily on causal reasoning in three domains:
- Studies on physical reasoning explore the development of expectations about the displacements and interactions of objects.
- Studies on psychological reasoning explore the development of expectations about the intentional actions of agents.
- Studies on moral reasoning focus on the development of expectations about the interactions of individuals within and between social groups.
In addition to this primary focus on causal reasoning, the lab is interested in a broad range of related issues including biological reasoning, object perception, categorization, and number.
BIOGRAPHY
Renée Baillargeon was born in 1954 in Québec, Canada, to French-Canadian parents. She received a B.A. in Psychology from McGill University in 1975. The following year, she moved to the United States to pursue graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, under the supervision of Rochel Gelman and Elizabeth Spelke. After completing her Ph.D. in 1981, she spent a year as a postdoctoral student at the MIT Cognitive Science Center, under the supervision of Susan Carey. In 1982, she joined the faculty of the Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. The following year, she moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she has remained throughout her career and is now Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology and Center for Advanced Study Professor Emerita.
EDUCATION
- 1975, B.A. in Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
- 1981, Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- 1981-1982, Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Center for Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- 1982-1983, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, University of Texas at Austin
- 1983-1989, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, University of Illinois
- 1989-1994, Associate Professor, Psychology Department, University of Illinois
- 1994-2000, Professor, Psychology Department, University of Illinois
- 2000-2020, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois
- 2009-2020, Center for Advanced Study Professor, University of Illinois
- 2020-, Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Illinois
- 2020-, Center for Advanced Study Professor Emerita, University of Illinois
HONORS
As a student:
- 1973-1974, University Fellowship, McGill University
- 1975, Graduated with First Class Honors, McGill University
- 1976-1978, Postgraduate Fellowship, National Research Council of Canada
- 1978-1979, Dean’s Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania
- 1978-1980, Postgraduate Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- 1980-1981, Postgraduate Fellowship, Québec Department of Education
- 1981-1982, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
As a researcher:
- 1986-1987, Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois
- 1989, University Scholar, University of Illinois
- 1989, Boyd R. McCandless Young Scientist Award, American Psychological Association, Division 7
- 1991-1992, Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1991-1992, Beckman Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois
- 1993, Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
- 2000-, Alumni Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois
- 2002, Baillargeon (1987, Developmental Psychology) listed as Number 15 on the list of “20 Most Revolutionary Studies in Child Psychology (published since 1950)”, based on a survey of members of the Society for Research in Child Development published in 2002 by Wallace Dixon, Jr.
- 2007, Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2008, Distinguished Scientist Lecturer, American Psychological Association
- 2009, Fellow, Cognitive Science Society
- 2009, Center for Advanced Study Professor, University of Illinois
- 2013, Fyssen Foundation International Prize for research in human cognitive development
- 2015, Distinguished Fellow, Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2015, Member, National Academy of Sciences
- 2017, Society for Research in Child Development Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development
- 2017, Pléh Prize for Best Poster, Annual Dubrovnik Conference on Cognitive Science, Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 2017 (Stavans, M, & Baillargeon, R. 17-month-old infants expect leaders to rectify transgressions among subordinates.)
- 2019, Poster Competition Winner, Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, May 2019 (Buyukozer Dawkins, M., & Baillargeon, R. Infants’ conflicting expectations and attitudes about the wealthy.)
As a teacher:
- 1986-1987, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois
- 1989-1990, Psychology Graduate Students Organization Instructional Award, University of Illinois
- 1996-1997, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois
- 2005-2006, Psi Chi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois
- University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, since 1999 (**denotes an outstanding rating): Spring 1999, **Spring 2000, **Spring 2001, **Fall 2002, Spring 2003, Fall 2003, **Fall 2004, Spring 2007, **Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, **Fall 2009, Spring 2010, **Fall 2010, **Fall 2011, Spring 2014, **Fall 2014, Fall 2015, **Fall 2018