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Dr. Shanna Williams

Title: 
Assistant Professor
Dr. Shanna Williams
Contact Information
Email address: 
shanna.williams [at] mcgill.ca
Phone: 
514-398-3451
Address: 

Education Building
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 1Y2

Division: 
School/Applied Child Psychology Supervisors
Department: 
Educational and Counselling Psychology (ECP)
Areas of expertise: 
  • Lie-Telling
  • Commercial SexualÌę Exploitation of Children
  • Moral Development
  • Cognitive Development
  • Eye Witness Testimony
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Child Maltreatment
Biography: 

Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. Prior to joining the Department, she was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law. As a registered psychologist in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Dr. Williams has clinical experience in hospital, school and community agencies. She has worked with maltreated populations while conducting forensic interviews for various law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles. Her research has been supported through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Link(s): 
Degree(s): 
  • Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow, University of Southern California
  • Ph.D., McGill University: School/Applied Child Psychology
  • M.A., McGill University: Educational Psychology
  • B.A., McGill University: Major Psychology
Awards, honours, and fellowships: 
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016-2017)
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Fellowship (2010-2013)
  • Fonds de RecherchĂ© SociĂ©tĂ© et Culture (FRQSC) Doctoral Research Scholarship - Declined (2010)
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Master’s Scholarship (2008)
Selected publications: 
  • Williams, S., McWilliams, K., & Lyon, T. D. (2020). Children’s recall disclosure of a minor transgression: The role of age, maltreatment, and executive functioning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. Advanced online publication.
  • McWilliams, K., Soltzenberg, S. N., Williams, S., & Lyon, T. D. (2019). Increasing maltreated and nonmaltreated children’s recall disclosures of a minor transgression: The effects of back-channel utterances, a promise to tell the truth, and an incremental putative confession. Child Abuse & Neglect (Special Issue). Advance online publication.
  • Stolzenberg, S. N., Williams, S., McWilliams., Liang, C., & Lyon, T. D. (2019). “What did you think?” “How did you feel?” Encouraging Evaluative Content in Children’s Disclosures of Abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect (Special Issue). Advance online publication.
  • Nagar, P., Williams, S., & Talwar, V. (2019). The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior. Social Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.1111/sode.12367
  • Williams, S., Ahern, E., & Lyon, T. D. (2019). The Relation Between Young Children’s False Statements and Response Latency, Executive Functioning, and Truth Lie Understanding. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly., 65, 81-100. doi: 10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.65.1.0081
  • Leduc, K., Williams, S., Gomez-Garibello, C., & Talwar, V. (2017). The contributions of mental state understanding and executive functioning to preschool-aged children's lie-telling. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 35, 288-302. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12163
  • Williams, S., Leduc, K., Crossman, A., & Talwar, V. (2017). Young Deceivers: Executive Functioning and Antisocial Lie‐telling in Preschool Aged Children. Infant and Child Development, 26, e1956. doi: 10.1002/icd.1956
  • Talwar, V., Williams, S., Renaud, S. J., Arruda, C., & Saykaly, C. (2016). Children’s Evaluations of Tattles, Confessions, Prosocial and Antisocial Lies. International Review of Pragmatics, 8, 334-352. doi:10.1163/18773109-00802007
  • Williams, S., Moore, K., Crossman, A. M., & Talwar, V. (2016). The role of executive functions and theory of mind in children’s prosocial lie-telling. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 256-266. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2015.08.001
  • Williams, S., Talwar, V., Lindsay, R. C. L., Bala, N., & Lee, K. (2014). Is the truth in your words? Distinguishing children’s deceptive and truthful statements. Journal of Criminology, 2014.
  • Williams, S., Kirmayer, M., Simon, T., & Talwar, V. (2013). Children’s antisocial and prosocial lies to familiar and unfamiliar adults. Infant and Child Development, 22, 430-438. doi:10.1002/icd.1802
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Graduate supervision: 

Accepting students for 2023-24

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