Will they be friends?

For babies 9 to 14 months old that are learning English.

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. During this study, your baby will be shown short videos of two people who speak with a similar or different accent. These two people will then act friendly and unfriendly. We will measure how long your child looks at these videos. We will ask you to fill out a demographic survey and answer a few questions about your neighborhood. An optional survey will ask about the people your baby sees regularly and their demographic information to better understand the role of social networks in forming affiliation expectations.

In a prior study, researchers found that infants may have different expectations about how people who speak the same language will interact compared to people who speak different languages. In this CHS study, we want to see if infants have similar social expectations based on accent. This study will help us understand how babies start to pay attention to language to make sense of social interactions.

15 minutes

You will receive a $10 Amazon.com gift card within one week of participating in the study. You can earn an additional $5 Amazon gift card by filling out an optional, external survey linked at the end of the session. To be eligible for the gift card, the study must be completed on a computer (not a phone or tablet). In addition, your child must be within the age range, must be exposed to English and not have participated in this study before. You will need to provide a valid consent statement, be located in the United States, and we must be able to confirm that a child is present during the session. We will only provide compensation for the first time you participate.