Biography
Dr. Chin-Parker began teaching at Denison in the fall of 2004. He teaches Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Cognitive Psychology, Research in Cognitive Psychology, and a seminar titled “Creativity and Cognition”. When he is not in the classroom (or his lab), Dr. Chin-Parker enjoys spending time with his family, running on the trails of the Denison Biological Reserve, and attempting to play the guitar.
Degree(s)
B.A., University of Vermont; M.A., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Learning & Teaching
Courses
Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Psychology of Thinking, Research in the Psychology of Thinking, Cognitive Psychology, Research in Cognitive Psychology, Seminar on Creativity and Cognition, Seminar on (un)Consciousness, History and Systems of Psychology, W101: Myths of Innovation.
Research
I am a cognitive psychologist interested in how people make sense of the world around them.
Details
My research program focuses on the interplay between conceptual knowledge and experience: Our conceptual knowledge shapes the interactions we have with the world, and it is shaped by those interactions. Reflecting this interplay between knowledge and experience, I have recently pursued two lines of research. The first explores the constraints in play during explanatory processing, and the second examines how a person's immediate goal constrains the acquisition of relevant conceptual knowledge.
Works
Publications
Publications:
- Chin-Parker, S., Kennedy, G., Morton, H., Phillips, S., Shen, L., Miller, D., & Hagemeister, T. (2025). Constraints on Imagination: Due to morality or weirdness? Advances in Cognitive Psychology, forthcoming.
- Chin-Parker, S., Brown, E., & Gerlach, E. (2025). The role of goal constructs in conceptual acquisition. Cognition. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2024.106039
- Chin-Parker, S. & Bradner, A. (2017). A contrastive account of explanation generation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 1387–1397. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1349-x
- Chin-Parker, S. & Birdwhistell, J. (2017). Category learning by doing: How goal directed tasks constrain conceptual acquisition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29, 450-468. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2017.1280499
- Chin‐Parker, S., & Cantelon, J. (2016). Contrastive constraints guide explanation‐based category learning. Cognitive Science, 41, 1645-1655. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12405
- Chin-Parker, S. & Bradner, A. (2010). Background shifts affect explanatory style: how a pragmatic theory of explanation accounts for background effects in the generation of explanations. Cognitive Processing, 11, 227-249.
- Patalano, A. L., Chin-Parker, S. & Ross, B. H. (2006). The importance of being coherent: The role of category coherence in reasoning about cross-classified entities. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 407-424.
- Ross, B. H., Chin-Parker, S., & Diaz, M. (2005). Beyond classification learning: A broader view of category learning and category use. In W. Ahn, R. L. Goldstone, B. C. Love, A. B. Markman, & P. Wolff (Eds.), Categorization inside and outside the lab: Festschrift in honor of Douglas L. Medin. Washington, DC: APA.
- Erickson, J., Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2005). Inference and classification learning of abstract coherent categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, 86-99.
- Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2004). Diagnosticity and prototypicality in category learning: A comparison of inference learning and classification learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 30, 216-226.
- Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2002). The effect of category learning on sensitivity to within-category correlations. Memory & Cognition, 30, 353-362.
- Anderson, A. L., Ross, B. H., & Chin-Parker, S. (2002). A further investigation of category learning by inference. Memory & Cognition, 30, 119-128.
Refereed Proceedings:
- Chin-Parker, S. (2025). Using Goal-Incidental Attributes to Assess the Relationship Between Selective Attention and Attribute Centrality. In D. Barner, C. Walker, A. Ruggerri, & N. Bramley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 47th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. San Francisco, CA: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S., & Brown, E. (2019). Task goals structure conceptual acquisition. In A. Goel, C. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S., Cowling, S., & Mei, M. (2019). The explanatory value of mathematical information in everyday explanations. In A. Goel, C. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S. (2011). What varying the learning task and category structure reveals about inference learning. In L. Carlson, C. Hölscher, & T. Shipley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S. (2010). (Category) Learning by doing: How goal directed tasks constrain conceptual acquisition. In S. Ohlsson & R. Catrambone (Eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S. & Bradner, A. (2008). The pragmatics of explanation. In V. Sloutsky, B. Love, & K. McRae (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S., Hernandez, O., & Matens, M. (2006). Explanation in category learning. In R. Sun & N. Miyake (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2003). When As and Bs are Cs and Ds: The effect of the cross-classification of items on learned concepts. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Patalano, A. L., Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2003). The role of coherence in category-based explanation. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
- Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2002). Diagnosticity in category learning by classification and inference. In W. D. Gray & C. D. Schunn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Presentations
Recent Presentations:
- Chin-Parker, S. (July 2025). Using Goal-Incidental Attributes to Assess the Relationship Between Selective Attention and Attribute Centrality. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. San Francisco, CA.
- Chin-Parker, S. (Nov 2023). The Alignment of Category Ratings and Eye Gaze Patterns for Stimuli Used in a Goal-Directed Task. Poster presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society, San Francisco, CA.
- Kennedy, G., Miller, D., Morton, H., Phillips, S., & Shen, L., & Chin-Parker, S. (Apr 2022). Empirical Assessment of Imaginative Resistance. Poster presented at the Psi Chi Research Session at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Morton, H., & Chin-Parker, S. (Apr 2022). Remembering Imaginative Experiences: Imagining Events and Their Relationship to Memory. Poster presented at the Psi Chi Research Session at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Cowling, S., & Chin-Parker, S. (January 2022). Commentary on “The Four-Case Argument and the Existential/Universal Effect”. Meeting of the Eastern American Philosophical Association. Baltimore, MD (virtual).
- Cowling, S., Chin-Parker, S., & Nichols, S. (June 2021). Me, You, and You as Me: Understanding Conceivability Arguments for Haecceitism. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology. Princeton, NJ (virtual).
- Cowling, S., & Chin-Parker, S. (June 2021). Haecceitism by the Numbers. Talk presented as part of the Workshop on Identity and Individuation of Particulars and Universals hosted by University of St Andrews’ Arché Philosophical Research Centre for Logic, Language, Metaphysics, and Epistemology (virtual).
- Chin-Parker, S., & Gerlach, E. (Apr 2021). Goal-Directed Tasks Shape Gaze Allocation. Paper presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association (virtual).
- Chin-Parker, S., & Gerlach, E. (Nov 2020). Tracking Gaze Patterns to Novel Stimuli Used in a Goal-Directed Task. Poster presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society (virtual).
Service
Professional Memberships
- The Psychonomic Society
- The Cognitive Science Society
- The Association of Psychological Science
- Midwest Psychological Association