Sabine Doebel

Assistant Professor

Executive function, cognitive control, self-control, cognitive development, conceptual development

**Note: I will be recruiting a PhD student during the 2025/2026 admissions cycle. Capable students with interest in how experience shapes executive function and self-regulation, or conceptual development (e.g., children's ideas about mind, body, logical and physical possibility vs. necessity) are particularly encouraged to apply.**

Dr. Sabine Doebel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at George Mason University. Much of her research has focused on the development of executive function, the cognitive capacity to regulate our thoughts and actions in the service of goals, especially in the face of habits and desires. In recent work her lab has examined the extent to which executive function predicts concurrent and longitudinal outcomes beyond academics (e.g., social, behavioral, and health). In other research she has been examining different ideas about how experience may shape executive function skills, and the degree to which such skills may be shaped by cultural norms and expectations. She also has a long standing interest in conceptual development in childhood, including developmental change in children's logical concepts as well as concepts related to mind and body.

Dr. Doebel has also contributed to efforts to promote open science practices in developmental psychology, with the goal of making it easier to help researchers build on one another's work. You can find her lab website here and her recent TEDx talk here.

Selected Publications

Stucke, N.J., & Doebel, S. (In press). Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. link to preprint

Doebel, S. & Frank, M.C. (2024). Broadening convenience samples to advance theoretical progress and reduce bias in developmental science. Journal of Cognition and Development, 25(2), 261-272. link to preprint

Doebel, S. & Mueller, U. (2023). The future of research on executive function and its development: An introduction to the special issue. The Journal of Cognition and Development. link to free online publication

Doebel, S. & Lillard, A.S. (2023). How does play foster development? A new executive function perspective. Developmental Review. link to preprint

Stucke, N. J., Stoet, G., & Doebel, S. (2022). What are the kids doing? Exploring young children's activities at home and relations with externally cued executive function and child temperament. Developmental Science, e13226. link to free online publication and video abstract

Doebel, S., Stucke, N. J., & Pang, S. (2022). Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-8. link to free online publication

Doebel, S. (2020). Rethinking executive function development. Perspectives on Psychological Science. link to preprint

Doebel, S., Michaelson, L. E., & Munakata, Y. (2020). Good things come to those who wait: Delaying gratification likely does matter for later achievement. Commentary on Watts, Duncan, & Quan: ‘Revisiting the Marshmallow Test: A Conceptual Replication Investigating Links Between Early Delay of Gratification and Later Outcomes’. Psychological Science.

Munakata, Y., Yanaoka, K., Doebel, S., Guild, R., Michaelson, L., & Saito, S. (2020). Group Influences on Children’s Delay of Gratification: Testing the Roles of Culture and Personal Connections. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1), 1.

Doebel, S. & Munakata, Y. (2018). Group influences on self-control: Children delay gratification and value it more when their in-group delays and their out-group doesn’t. Psychological Science, 29, 738-748.

Doebel, S. & Zelazo, P. D. (2015). A meta-analysis of the Dimensional Change Card Sort: Implications for developmental theories and the measurement of executive function in children. Developmental Review, 38, 241-268.

Education

PhD in Child Development, University of Minnesota, 2014.

In the Media

https://medium.com/@sabine.doebel/did-the-marshmallow-test-really-get-debunked-5d58ee1ad486

Dissertations Supervised

Nicole J. Stucke, Will it Sink or Float? Examining Gender Differences in Science-task Persistence in Childhood and the Role of Gender-Related Stereotypes and Beliefs (2024)