2026 Cristine H. Legare: Psychology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Psychology	47	6146	5712	3341	3029	111	9703

Overview

Cristine H. Legare is affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Psychology and Social Sciences, with significant contributions to subfields including Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology, Education, Sociology and Political Science, and General Health Professions.

The core topics explored in their work include:

Child and Animal Learning Development
Cultural Differences and Values
Early Childhood Education and Development
Global Maternal and Child Health
Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
Child Nutrition and Water Access

Legare has published extensively in several academic venues. The most frequent publication venues are:

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Developmental Science
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Child Development
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

The scientist's work often arises in collaboration with other researchers, including frequent co-authors such as Oskar Bürger, Sudipta Mondal, Bruce Rawlings, Faiz A. Hashmi, and Vivian Dzokoto.

Representative recent publications are:

"Exploration, Explanation, and Parent-Child Interaction in Museums" (2020), Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
"Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths" (2021), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
"Similarities and differences in concepts of mental life among adults and children in five cultures" (2021), Nature Human Behaviour
"Ritual explained: interdisciplinary answers to Tinbergen's four questions" (2020), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
"Relations between parent-child interaction and children's engagement and learning at a museum exhibit about electric circuits" (2020), Developmental Science

Legare's research investigates themes such as the interaction between cultural context and psychological development, particularly focusing on childhood learning and parent-child dynamics. Their contributions intersect with understanding the role of ritual, cultural cognition, and educational environments in shaping developmental outcomes.

Best Publications

The persistent sampling bias in developmental psychology: A call to action

Mark Nielsen;Mark Nielsen;Daniel Haun;Joscha Kärtner;Cristine H. Legare

993
Citations
Investigating the links between the subcomponents of executive function and academic achievement: a cross-cultural analysis of Chinese and American preschoolers.

Xuezhao Lan;Cristine H. Legare;Claire Cameron Ponitz;Su Li

581
Citations
Imitation and Innovation: The Dual Engines of Cultural Learning

Cristine H. Legare;Mark Nielsen;Mark Nielsen

530
Citations
The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations across cultures and development.

Cristine H. Legare;E. Margaret Evans;Karl S. Rosengren;Paul L. Harris

440
Citations
Bewitchment, Biology, or Both: The Co‐Existence of Natural and Supernatural Explanatory Frameworks Across Development

Cristine H. Legare;Susan A. Gelman

332
Citations
Stick to the script: The effect of witnessing multiple actors on children’s imitation

Patricia A. Herrmann;Cristine H. Legare;Paul L. Harris;Harvey Whitehouse

296
Citations
The Social Functions of Group Rituals

Rachel E. Watson-Jones;Cristine H. Legare

283
Citations
Inconsistency With Prior Knowledge Triggers Children’s Causal Explanatory Reasoning

Cristine H. Legare;Susan A. Gelman;Henry M. Wellman

264
Citations
Concepts and Folk Theories

Susan A. Gelman;Cristine H. Legare

258
Citations
Exploring Explanation: Explaining Inconsistent Evidence Informs Exploratory, Hypothesis-Testing Behavior in Young Children

Cristine H. Legare

253
Citations
Imitative flexibility and the development of cultural learning.

Cristine H. Legare;Nicole J. Wen;Patricia A. Herrmann;Harvey Whitehouse

248
Citations
Evaluating ritual efficacy: evidence from the supernatural.

Cristine H. Legare;André L. Souza

232
Citations
Task-specific effects of ostracism on imitative fidelity in early childhood☆

Rachel E. Watson-Jones;Cristine H. Legare;Harvey Whitehouse;Jennifer M. Clegg

203
Citations
In-Group Ostracism Increases High-Fidelity Imitation in Early Childhood

Rachel E. Watson-Jones;Harvey Whitehouse;Cristine H. Legare

192
Citations
Developmental changes in the coherence of essentialist beliefs about psychological characteristics.

Susan A. Gelman;Gail D. Heyman;Cristine H. Legare

191
Citations
Selective effects of explanation on learning during early childhood.

Cristine H. Legare;Tania Lombrozo

179
Citations
Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity.

Cristine H Legare

170
Citations
Evidence for an explanation advantage in naïve biological reasoning

Cristine H. Legare;Henry M. Wellman;Susan A. Gelman

167
Citations
Explain This, Explore That: A Study of Parent–Child Interaction in a Children's Museum

Aiyana K. Willard;Justin T.A. Busch;Katherine A. Cullum;Susan M. Letourneau

158
Citations
The Ontogeny of Cultural Learning.

Cristine H. Legare;Paul L. Harris

153
Citations
Explaining prompts children to privilege inductively rich properties.

Caren M. Walker;Tania Lombrozo;Cristine H. Legare;Alison Gopnik

148
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Mark Nielsen University of Queensland

Susan A. Gelman University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Harvey Whitehouse University of Oxford

David M. Sobel Brown University

Tania Lombrozo Princeton University

Gail D. Heyman University of California, San Diego

Paul L. Harris Harvard University

Leslie J. Carver University of California, San Diego

Henry M. Wellman University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Karl S. Rosengren University of Wisconsin–Madison

External Links

Personal website of Cristine H. Legare

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