Curriculum Vitae

Jessica Sommerville, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Washington Department of Psychology

Educational Background

Ph.D., University of Chicago, Department of Psychology, Committee on Developmental Psychology (2002)


Dissertation: Means-end reasoning: Infants' developing ability to interpret and perform intentional actions.


M.A., The University of Chicago, Department of Psychology, Committee on Developmental Psychology (2000).


Thesis: The relation between self-produced actions and cognitive development: Does self-reaching play a role in the development of the ability to reason about human action?


Honors B.Sc. with High Distinction, The University of Toronto Specialist in Psychology, Minor in Sociology (1997).


Thesis: Developmental synchrony in understanding delayed media representations of self and other

Research Interests

• Intentionality
• Theory of mind
• Development of self-concept
• Consciousness

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor, 2003-present.
University of Washington (Seattle), Department of Psychology.

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2002-2003.
University of Washington (Seattle), Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

Teaching Experience

Lecturer, University of Chicago, Winter 2002. Intentional understanding: philosophical, developmental, comparative, and clinical perspectives.

Preceptor, University of Chicago, 2001-2002. Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences.

Instructor, University of Chicago, Autumn 2000. Mind.