Corrie Vendetti

Corrie Vendetti is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department. She completed her undergraduate degree at Laurentian in Psychology, and her Master's and PhD at Carleton University in Ottawa. She served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn State in Intervention Science, where she also taught in the Psychology Department.

Corrie's research explores young children's social cognition, looking at developmental relations between moral reasoning, Executive Function and Theory of Mind. She is inspired mostly by her two young kids!

Corrie also has some background in the public sector in applied settings, including School Mental Health in Public Health and in Psychometrics and Assessment with the Federal Public Service. 

Ph.D. | Developmental Psychology | Carleton University
Dissertation: Lies, Damned Lies and Preschoolers: The Roles of Theory of Mind and Executive Function in Preschoolers’ Conceptual Understanding and Telling of Self-Serving and Prosocial Lies.

M.A. | Developmental Psychology | Carleton University 

B.A. (Honours, Cum Laude) | Experimental Psychology | Laurentian University

Assistant Professor | Laurentian University | November 2024 - present 
Department of Psychology

Postdoctoral Scholar | The Pennsylvania State University | November 2016 – October 2017
Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Centre

Lecturer | The Pennsylvania State University | Winter 2017
Department of Psychology

Lecturer | Carleton University | 2015 - 2016
Department of Psychology

Corrie studies young children's social cognition, looking at developmental relations between moral reasoning, Theory of Mind and Executive Function. She is the Principal Investigator at the Minds & Morality Lab at Laurentian University!

In her PhD, Corrie studied young children's understanding and telling of different kinds of lies, in relation to their developing Theory of Mind. Asking kids to tell her lies was not only hilarious fun, but it helped prepare her for parenthood. Corrie's small children still believe that she can tell when they are lying to her, and this is perhaps the greatest success of her career!

Radio Interview | CBC Ottawa Morning (live interview) | April 2nd, 2015

Spoke with CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan about children’s lie-telling
http://carleton.ca/cuhome/audio/lies_and_preschoolers.mp3

• Laurentian University SSHRC New Research Initiative Grant (2025)
• Canadian Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis (2015)
• Canadian Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Master’s Thesis (2008)
• Canadian Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis (2006)

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Vendetti, C., Kamawar, D. & Andrews, K.E.  (2019).  Theory of mind and preschoolers’ understanding of misdeed and politeness lies. Developmental Psychology, 55(4), 823-834. 

Kamawar, D. Connolly, K., Astle-Rahim, A. Smygwaty, S. & Vendetti, C.  (2018).  Preschoolers' Saving Behavior: The Role of Planning and Self-Control. Child Development, 90(4), 407-420.

Vendetti, C., Kamawar, D., Podjarny, G., & Astle, A.  (2015).  Measuring preschoolers’ Inhibitory Control using the Black/White Stroop.  Infant and Child Development, 24(6), 587-605.

Bélanger, M. J., Atance, C. M., Varghese, A. L., Nguyen, V. & Vendetti, C.  (2014).  What will I like best when I’m all grown up?  Preschoolers’ understanding of future preferences.  Child Development, 85(6), 2419-2431. 

Astle, A., Kamawar, D., Vendetti, C., & Podjarny, G. (2013).  When this means that: The role of working memory and inhibitory control in children's understanding of representations. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116(2), 169 – 185.

LeFevre, J. A., Berrigan, L., Vendetti, C., Kamawar, D., Bisanz, J., Skwarchuk, S.-L., Smith-Chant, B.  (2013).  The role of executive attention in the acquisition of mathematical skills for children in grades two through four.  Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(2), 243 - 261.