Dr. Matar Ferera

Matar Ferera is a Fellow Researcher at the VIDA Lab, where she investigates how prosocial behavior influences self-transcendence values. She earned her Master of Arts (MA) in Social Psychology from Tel Aviv University, under the supervision of Prof. Nira Liberman, and her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Developmental Psychology from Bar-Ilan University, under the supervision of Prof. Gil Diesendruck. Her doctoral research focused on social categorization in infancy, particularly the motivational and biological roots of this cognitive capacity. Specifically, she examined how prosocial and antisocial motivations influence infants' racial categorization.

After completing her PhD, Matar continued her work at Prof. Diesendruck's lab as a post-doctoral fellow, expanding her research projects. Most of her work focuses on group cognition, while other projects explore infants' and children's biased choices. In particular, she has studied the influence of cultural values (such as individualism and collectivism) on children's attributions of economic value. This cross-cultural study compared children's choices in Israel and Taiwan. Her research employs methods like eye-tracking, choice behavior analysis, and biological measures.

In her personal life, Matar enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, swimming, practicing yoga, and drinking very cold white wine.