Bio

Dr. Rachel King was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois and received her undergraduate education from Rock Valley Community College (2010–2012) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2012–2015; B.A., Psychology with Honors). Dr. King completed an undergraduate honors thesis at UW-Madison advised by Dr. Kristin Shutts examining children’s attention to nonverbal social power cues. Rachel also worked as an undergraduate research assistant with Dr. Michael Koenigs and the Mind Research Network, where she conducted clinical research with incarcerated men. In 2015 Rachel began working as a lab manager for Dr. Kristin Shutts, collaborating also with Drs. Jenny Saffran (studying infants’ social word learning), Chuck Kalish (studying the relation between children’s social skills and academic achievement), and Trish Devine (studying social bias interventions). Rachel began studying at Cornell University as a social psychology PhD student in 2018, working with Dr. Katie Kinzler and Dr. Melissa Ferguson to study the psychology of wealth-related stereotypes and biases; Rachel earned her master’s degree from Cornell in August 2020. The Kinzler lab moved from Cornell University to the University of Chicago in 2020, at which time Rachel began the PhD program in psychology at the University of Chicago. Rachel earned her master’s degree in psychology from the University of Chicago in 2022 and her doctorate in 2026. Rachel taught as adjunct faculty member at Elmhurst College during the 2025-2026 academic year, where she taught courses such as Child Development and Research Methods. Dr. King joined the psychology department faculty at Colby College as an Assistant Professor in 2026.

Aside from her academic pursuits, Dr. King pursues various artistic endeavors including drawing, painting, poetry, 35mm photography, and knitting. She also enjoys playing board games, such as Twilight Imperium, and relaxing in nature.