University Scholarship
Publications and Grants

Rodolfo Cortes Barragan

rcortesbarragan@sdsu.eduorcid.org/0000-0002-7419-3971

Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, 2025-Present
    Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, US

  • PhD
    Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, US
  • BA
    Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, US

Profile updated October 9, 2026.

Scholarship

Academic Publications

Caregiver simpatía predicts Latino children’s prosocial behavior.
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2026, journal article,
Caregivers Child development Hispanic Americans Social learning
Culturally-attuned AI: Implicit learning of altruistic cultural values through inverse reinforcement learning
Nigini Oliveira; Jasmine Li; Koosha Khalvati; Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; et al.
PLOS One, 2025, journal article,
, Cited by 4
Altruism Artificial intelligence Machine learning Reinforcement learning
La socialización de los valores culturales y el desarrollo de la prosocialidad latinoamericana
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N Meltzoff
Child Development Perspectives, 2025, journal article,
, Cited by 1
Latin America Latin Americans Social learning Socialization
The Socialization of Cultural Values and the Development of Latin American Prosociality
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N Meltzoff
Child Development Perspectives, 2025, journal article,
, Cited by 8
Culture Latin America Socialization Sociology
Prosociality in young Latinx children: Exploring the role of grandparents.
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Rechele Brooks; Elizabeth A. Sanders; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Journal of Latinx Psychology, 2024, journal article,
, Cited by 9
Child development Hispanic Americans Intergenerational relations Social learning

Opportunity to view the starry night sky is linked to human emotion and behavioral interest in astronomy
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Scientific Reports, 2024, journal article,
, Cited by 2
Astronomy Emotions Natural environment Space sciences
Prosociality and health: Identification with all humanity is a replicable predictor of prosocial motivation for health behaviors
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Frontiers in Psychology, 2023, journal article,
, Cited by 10
Humanity Motivation (Psychology) Public health Social psychology
Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Scientific Reports, 2021, journal article,
, Cited by 9
Human behavior Infants Possessiveness Sharing
Identifying with all humanity predicts cooperative health behaviors and helpful responding during COVID-19
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; et al.
PLOS One, 2021, journal article,
, Cited by 42
Altruism COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-) Health behavior Pandemics
Altruistic food sharing behavior by human infants after a hunger manipulation
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Rechele Brooks; Andrew N. Meltzoff
Scientific Reports, 2020, journal article,
, Cited by 38
Altruism in children Child psychology Generosity Hunger
Reply to Warneken: Social experience can illuminate early-emerging behaviors
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Carol S. Dweck
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015, journal article,
Child psychology Developmental psychology
Threats to Social Identity Can Trigger Social Deviance
Peter Belmi; Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Margaret A. Neale; Geoffrey L. Cohen
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2015, journal article,
, Cited by 47
Deviant behavior Human behavior Identity (Psychology)
Rethinking natural altruism: Simple reciprocal interactions trigger children’s benevolence
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan; Carol S. Dweck
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014, journal article, , Cited by 122
Altruism Altruism in children Child psychology Moral development