Isobel Heck
Assistant Professor of Psychology · School of Arts & Sciences · University of Rochester
Quick answer: Isobel Heck is Assistant Professor of Psychology at University of Rochester. Isobel Heck shows an active PhD hiring signal as of 2026-09-11.
⭐ Professor Heck will be reviewing applications for the master of science (MS) in psychological science for the March 2026 application cycle.
Professor Heck will be accepting applications for graduate students for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Research interests
My research focuses on how young children come to represent and think about societal hierarchies, political systems, and social group-based inequities. This research embraces the perspective that how children see societal structures offers a lens into how society first becomes represented in the human mind, and into ways of thinking about and responding to inequities that may remain intuitive across the lifespan and over time. My research follows three main themes: (1) Mechanisms of learning about group-based hierarchies; (2) Developing leadership cognition and sociopolitical thought; and (3) Becoming involved in societal and political systems. Across these streams, I pay particular attention to how variation in lived experience shapes differences in social thinking across individuals and contexts.
Selected publications (since 2023)
Anderson, R., Heck, I.A., *Young, K., & Kinzler, K.D. (2023). Early-life beliefs about censorship. Cognition, 238, 105500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105500
Heck, I.A., Kushnir, T., & Kinzler, K.D. (2023). Building representations of the social world: Children extract patterns from social choices to reason about multi-group hierarchies. Developmental Science, 26(4), e13366. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13366
Frequently asked questions
Is Isobel Heck hiring PhD students at University of Rochester?
Yes. As of 2026-09-11, Isobel Heck's faculty page shows a PhD hiring signal: Professor Heck will be reviewing applications for the master of science (MS) in psychological science for the March 2026 application cycle.
Professor Heck will be accepting applications for graduate s.
What does Isobel Heck research?
My research focuses on how young children come to represent and think about societal hierarchies, political systems, and social group-based inequities. This research embraces the perspective that how children see societal structures offers a lens into how society first becomes represented in the hum
Data last updated: 2026-09-11 · Source: phd-match.com faculty database.
Is Isobel Heck a match for your research?
Upload your CV and get matched to professors who fit — with hiring signals.
Start matching