(she/her/hers)
Please feel free to e-mail me at aysep@bu.edu for a copy of my publications.
​
Peer-reviewed articles
​
"*" Indicates equal contribution from all authors
​
Ma, M., Payir, A., Mcloughlin, N., & Harris, P.L. (2024). Scientific and religious beliefs are primarily shaped by testimony. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.014
Payir, A., Soley, G., Serbest, O., Corriveau, K., & Harris, P. L. (2024). Religious polarization and the justification of belief in invisible scientific versus religious entities. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14118
Weisman, K., Ghossainy, M. E., Williams, A. J., Payir, A., …, Kathleen H. Corriveau, & Rebekah A. Richert, on behalf of the Developing Belief Network. (2024). The development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior: Protocol for Wave 1 data collection with children and parents by the Developing Belief Network. PloS One. 19(3): e0292755. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292755​​​
​
Payir, A., Corriveau, K., & Harris, P. L. (2023). Children’s beliefs in invisible causal agents – both religious and scientific. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2023.05.003
Lee, Y., Payir, A. , & Heiphetz, L. (2023). Benevolent God concepts and past kind behaviors induce generosity toward outgroups. , (4), 321-339. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2023.41.4.321
Mcloughlin, N., Cui, K., Davoodi, T., Payir, A., Clegg, J., Harris, P L.., & Corriveau, K. (2023). Expressions of uncertainty in invisible scientific and religious phenomena during naturalistic conversation. Cognition, 237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105474
​
Payir, A., Heiphetz, L. (2022). Children’s and adults’ attribution of moral judgments to human and supernatural agents. Journal of Cognition and Development, 23(4), 524-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2022.2061975
​
*Freitas, L. B. L., Palhares, F., Cao, H., Liang, Y., Zhou, N., Mokrova, I. L, Lee, S., Payir, A., Kiang, L., Mendonça, S. E., Merçon-Vargas, E. A., O’Brien, L., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2022). How WEIRD is the expression of children’s gratitude in the United States? Cross-cultural comparisons. Developmental Psychology, 58(9), 1767–1782. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001383
​
Davoodi, T., Jamshidi-Sianaki, M., Payir, A., Cui, Y.K., Clegg, J.M., McLoughlin, N., Harris, P. L., Corriveau, K. (2022). Development of beliefs about the real, the magical, and the miraculous: Evidence from Iran.​ Memory & Cognition, 51,
695 -707. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-021-01270-2
​​
Payir, A., Heiphetz, L., Harris, P., & Corriveau, K. (2022). What could have been done? Counterfactual alternatives to negative outcomes by religious and secular children. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001294
​
Payir, A., Mcloughlin, N., Cui, K.Y., Davoodi, T., Clegg, J., Harris, P., & Corriveau, K. (2021). Children’s ideas about what can really happen: The impact of age and religious background. Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13054
​
Tudge, J. R. H., Navarro, J., Payir, A., Merçon-Vargas, E., Cao, H., Zhou, N., Liang, Y. & Mendonça, S. (2021). Using cultural-ecological theory to construct a mid-range theory for the development of gratitude as a virtue. Journal of Family Theory and Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12432
Tudge, J. R. H., Navarro, J., Merçon-Vargas, E. , & Payir, A. (2021). The promise and practice of early childhood educare in the writings of Urie Bronfenbrenner. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8), 1079-1088.10.1080/03004430.2020.1844193
​
Payir, A., Davoodi, T., Cui, Y.K., Clegg, J., Harris, P., & Corriveau, K. (2020). Are high levels of religiosity inconsistent with a high valuation of science? Evidence from the United States, China and Iran. International Journal of Psychology. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12701
Davoodi, T., Cui, K. Y., Clegg, J. M., Yan, F. E., Payir, A., Harris, P. L., & Corriveau, K. H. (2020). Epistemic justifications for belief in the unobservable: The impact of minority status. Cognition. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104273
Payir, A., & Guttentag, R. (2019). Counterfactual thinking and age differences in judgments of regret and blame. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 183, 261-275. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.02.007
Liang, Y., Tudge, J. R., Mokrova, I. L., Freitas, L. B., Merçon-Vargas, E. A., Mendonça, S. E., O’Brian, L., Kiang, L., Payir, A., Cao, H. & Zhou, N. (2019). Measuring parents’ developmental goals for their children: Updating KaÄŸitçibaÅŸi’s approach to autonomy-relatedness in the United States and China. Current Psychology, 1-10. doi: 10.1007/s12144-019-00421-8
Payir, A., Davoodi, T., Jamshidi, S. M., Harris, P., & Corriveau, K. (2018). Coexisting religious and scientific beliefs among Iranian parents. Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 24(2), 240-244. doi: 10.1037/pac0000335
Davoodi, T., Sianaki, M. J., Abedi, F., Payir, A., Cui, K. Y., Harris, P. L., & Corriveau, K. H. (2018). Beliefs about religious and scientific entities among parents and children in Iran. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(7), 847-855. doi: 10.1177/1948550618806057
Payir, A., & Zeytinoglu, S. (2017). Children’s and adolescents’ expression of gratitude across societies: Findings from Turkey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Research, 52(1), 117-134. doi: 10.1177/1069397117736733
Mendonca, S., Merçon-Vargas, E., Payir, A., O'Brien, L., & Tudge, J. (2018). The development of gratitude in seven societies: Cross-cultural highlights. Journal of Cross-Cultural Research, 52(1). doi: 10.1177/1069397117737245
Kiang, L., Mendonca, S., Liang, Y., Payir, A. , O'Brien, L., Tudge, J., & Freitas, L. (2016). If children won lotteries: Materialism, gratitude, and imaginary windfall spending.Young Consumers, 17(4), 404-418. doi: 10.1108/YC-07-2016-00614
Payir, A., & Guttentag, R. (2016). “It could have been worse”: The development of a counterfactual consoling strategy. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 148, 119-130. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.04.001
Tudge, J. R. H, Payir, A., Merçon-Vargas, E., Cao, H., Liang, Y., & Li, J. (2016). Still misused after all these years? A re-evaluation of the uses of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 8(4), 427-445.
doi: 10.1111/jftr.12165
Book chapters
"*" Indicates equal contribution
​
Payir, A. & Harris, P. L. (in press). Children’s ideas about stories and about reality. In A. James, F. Lavocat, & A. Kubo (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Fiction and Belief. New York: Routledge.
​
Tudge, J. R. H., *Merçon-Vargas, E. A., & *Payir, A. (2022). Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory: Its development, core concepts, and critical issues. In K. Adamsons, Few-Demo, A., Proulx, C., & Roy, K. (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methodologies. New York: John Wiley.
​
Payir, A., Mendonça, S., Palhares, F., Liang, Y., Merçon-Vargas, E., Freitas, L., & Tudge, J. (2017). Cross-cultural variations in the development of gratitude. In J. Tudge & L. Freitas (Eds.), Developing gratitude in children and adolescents (pp. 111-134). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Kiang, L., Merçon-Vargas, E., Payir, A., & O’Brien, L. (2017). The development of gratitude and its relation to spending preferences and materialism.In J. Tudge & L. Freitas (Eds.), Developing gratitude in children and adolescents. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Tudge, J. R. H., Merçon-Vargas, E., Liang, Y., & Payir, A. (2017). The importance of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory for early childhood education. In L. Cohen & S. Waite-Stupiansky (Eds.), Theories of early childhood education: Developmental, behaviorist, and critical (pp. 45-57). London, UK: Routledge.
Tudge, J. R. H., Rosa, E. M., & Payir, A. (2016). Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.) The Sage Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development (pp. 251-252). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
​
​
​