The Team
Dr. Sarah Zanette
LAB DIRECTOR (PI)
Dr. Sarah Zanette received her PhD in Developmental Psychology and Education from the University of Toronto and is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Regina, Luther College.
Dr. Zanette is a developmental psychologist with research interests that lie at the intersections of social, moral, and forensic psychology. Broadly speaking, her research focuses on improving our understanding of childhood deception (i.e., lying and cheating) and applying this knowledge to legal, forensic, clinical, and parenting contexts. Specifically, she investigates two core research questions: (1) how do children learn to deceive and develop patterns of typical and atypical lie-telling; and (2) how can children's lies be reliably detected?
Her research has been funded by agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS), and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).
Dr. Zanette currently teaches the following courses at the University of Regina/Luther College:
Introductory Psychology: Social, Developmental, and Clinical Focus (PSYC 101)
Lifespan Developmental Psychology (PSYC 210)
Social and Emotional Development and Applications (PSYC 415AE)
COMING SOON: The Psychology of Deception
Current Students and Volunteers
Siham Hagi Hussein
Masters Student
Siham is a first-year Master’s student in the Experimental and Applied Psychology program at the University of Regina working under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Zanette, whom she also worked with to complete her B.Sc. Honours degree in Psychology. Siham’s honours thesis examined racial bias in adults’ deception judgments of children’s reports. Siham’s research interests include childhood deception, adults’ abilities to accurately detect lies, and biases that arise when adults are asked to judge the veracity of racialized children’s statements. Siham has gained extensive research experience throughout her undergraduate degree volunteering in the Child Evidence Lab with Dr. Kaila Bruer and currently works as a Research Assistant for Dr. Andrew Stevens and Dr. Saqib Khan.
Saman Arif
Research Volunteer & Former Honours Student
Saman is a recent graduate from the University of Regina with a B.Sc. Honours in Psychology. She completed her Honours thesis under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Zanette, in which she examined the similarities and differences in moral reasoning between children with and without conduct problems. She will continue to work alongside Dr. Zanette in order to conduct further analyses of remaining data from her Honours project. Saman's main areas of interest lie within the domain of developmental and abnormal psychology. Within the following years, she aspires to attain a Masters in Counselling Psychology, through which she can move forward to accomplish her goal of becoming a psychologist.
Manahil Fatima
Honours Student
Manahil is a fourth-year student at the University of Regina, pursuing a B.Sc. Honours degree in Psychology. Her primary passion lies in the field of clinical psychology. Her research interests specifically cater to psychological disorders, child psychopathology, chronic illnesses, lying, and deception. Working with a youth-led NPO (CAWI) has assisted her in empowering immigrant women in Canada through advocacy efforts. In her spare time she also volunteers at a clinic, shadowing a family physician. She looks forward to working with the team in the CaSPR Lab to delve deeper into her areas of interest under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Zanette.
Jared Graham
Honours Student
Jared is a 4th year student at the University of Regina working on a BA with honours in Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Zanette. His primary research interests include prosocial lying, parenting by lying, and lying in children with conduct disorders. Jared also has experience working with children at the Autism Resource Centre, which has fueled a strong interest in both child development and psychological disorders. Jared is looking forward to working with lots of awesome people at the CaSPR lab and help expand the pool of knowledge in the field of psychology.
Raelynne Mills
Research Volunteer
Raelynne is a second-year student at the University of Regina pursuing a BA degree in Psychology. She plans to apply to the Honours program next year. Raelynne worked as an artist and entrepreneur for several years before deciding to pursue a career in psychology. She hopes to study experimental psychology at the graduate level after completing her undergraduate degree. Her current research interests include moral development, childhood deception, and parenting by lying. Raelynne is passionate about research in psychology and is thrilled to be a part of the CaSPR lab.
Maija Kiviharju
Research Volunteer
Bio coming soon.
Brenna Klatt
Research Volunteer
Bio coming soon.