Let's Meet the Zarpies!

For 5- to 9-year-olds living in the United States

In this study, you and your child will join a Zoom meeting with an experimenter. Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will take you to a Calendly page, where you can select a time that works for you. During the study, your child will hear a story from the experimenter about a group of fictional characters, the Zarpies, who live in a faraway village called Zarpie Village. The Zarpies have to raise money to fix the tarp that protects Zarpie Village from incoming rainstorms. Some of the Zarpies have more coins to contribute, and some of the Zarpies have fewer coins to contribute. Children will hear one of two explanations as to why some Zarpies have more coins- either the wealthier Zarpies worked really hard, or they were born with more coins. An experimenter will share their screen to show images to accompany the story. After hearing the story, the experimenter will ask your child about what they think about the Zarpies.

With this study, we are interested in how children think about relative costs when giving to the collective good. In the real world, we often expect people who have more resources to contribute more to collective wellbeing. We are interested to see whether children hold this expectation as well, and if the reason as to why two individuals have different amounts of resources impacts their judgments. Understanding how children reason about these topics will provide insight as to how to discuss inequality with children, and the types of framing that encourage people to support the collective good.

15 minutes

Participants will receive a $5 Amazon e-gift card to their email within two business days of participating in this study. To be eligible for compensation we ask that you (1) complete a valid consent form, (2) make sure your child is in the age range specified above, and (3) ensure that your child is visible during the Zoom session. Only one gift card is allowed per child. Your child does not need to finish the entire study in order to be eligible for compensation.