Who Broke It?

For 3- to 6- year-olds

Your child will begin with a quick, fun warmup game helping our friendly puppet, Maggie, evaluate some sentences. For example, they will see a dog picture and be asked about whether or not they think this is a dog. Next, they will watch two short interactive digital storybooks. In one story, Andy is riding his bike at the park when he runs into a fence and breaks it—either on purpose or by accident. In the other story, Sophia is in a room when she runs or trips into a mirror and cracks it—again, either intentionally or accidentally. For each story, your child will answer a few simple yes/no questions about Andy's or Sophia's actions, fault, and punishment.

When an object gets broken, how do we decide who is responsible, and how does the language we use shape that decision? This study investigates how children and adults judge responsibility when a single agent directly causes an outcome. Specifically, we are interested in whether saying someone 'broke' an object carries a different meaning than saying they 'caused it to break.' By studying how description formats and intentions (intentional vs. accidental) interact, we can better understand how children's causal reasoning, moral judgments, and language comprehension develop.

10 minutes

You will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card for participating in this study. To be eligible for the gift card, your child must be in the age range for this study and your child needs to be visible in the study video. Please also note that you must submit a valid consent statement. Each child is eligible to participate in the study and receive a gift card only once. Gift cards will be sent within one week.