The department of psychology is excited to introduce Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan.
Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan is a social and developmental psychologist. He received his BA
from the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD from Stanford University. He completed
his postdoctoral training at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of
Washington. His research has focused on generosity, helpfulness, and sharing behavior in early
childhood and across the lifespan. He is especially interested in how these behaviors are
transmitted across generations. For this work, he has been funded by the National Science
Foundation and the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
At SDSU, Dr. Cortes Barragan will lead the Learning, Culture, Self, and Development
Laboratory. The lab will address research questions at the intersection of social and
developmental psychology. Dr. Cortes Barragan is especially interested in examining how
cultural learning experiences in family and community settings influence social, academic, and
health outcomes. Another area of special interest involves examining how bicultural, bilingual,
and transnational experiences affect the development of the self. The work of the lab will use
multiple methods and include a range of populations and student researchers to help address
core issues in social and developmental psychology.