My friends found something!

For English speaking 4- to 8-year-olds!

Your child will watch a couple of quick videos about some parents finding some novel objects. They will watch as a child's parent picks up something (a "koba", "sibu", "zav", or "kaz"). After, your child will answer a couple of questions about whether they believe the object they saw was good or bad!

Generally, when we think about things taken away from us, we think of those things as valuable or desirable. However, parents often take away objects from their young children when they view those objects as unsafe and harmful. In this study, we explore whether children make unique judgements about novel objects in the world (e.g., whether something is good or bad) based on their observations of how specific agents (e.g., peers, parents) interact with them. This version of the study will gauge children's baseline inferences about the things parents taken knowingly or unknowingly. This study and its findings will increase our understanding of how children not only learn about the world based on what they observe but also the specific agents they are observing -- especially agents closest and most important to them: their caregivers.

5 minutes

After you finish the study, we will email you a $5 Giftogram gift card within a week of participation. To be eligible for the gift card and certificate: (1) your child must be in the age range for this study, (2) English is (one of) your child's first language(s), (3) you need to submit a valid consent statement, and (4) we need to see that there is a child with you during the experiment. Each child is eligible to participate to receive a gift card only once.