How will you spend your tokens?

For 5- to 7-year-olds in the United States

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Participate Now!” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. Children will play a game on a team in which they will be asked to pick which picture doesn’t belong. After doing so, they will receive virtual tokens that they can choose to spend on watching animal videos or "donate" to another activity (such as watering plants). Children will hear about what other members of their team do with their tokens before they get to spend their tokens. Finally, children will be shown pictures of items and be asked how much they care about them.

In this study, we are interested in whether describing children's team members' actions may impact how they choose to spend their tokens. Children will hear about what others on their team "should" do or what others on their team actually do to see whether prescribing generosity (for example, "we should donate") or describing generosity (for example, "we always donate") impacts how many tokens they decide to donate. Furthermore, we are investigating whether children prefer to spend tokens on nature or non-nature activities. Finally, we will show children pictures of things (for example, a beetle) and ask about how much they "care" or do "not care" as a measure of moral concern. We will see if their moral concern for different types of things might relate to their donations in the first part of the task.

20 minutes

$10 Amazon.com gift card. You will be sent an Amazon.com gift card by email within 48 hours of participating in the study. To receive compensation, you must meet all of the following eligibility criteria: (1) You are located in the United States, (2) Your child falls within the age range indicated for this study, (3) Your child has not participated in this study before, (4) You provide valid written consent.