Thinking about leaders!

For 5- to 10- years old who can understand and speak English.

In this study, your child will watch a video about an election for class president. One student becomes class president, but they may become leader in either a fair or unfair way. Children also learn different things about the student, like how smart they are. After watching the video, your child will be asked questions about the student who became class president, the election process, whether the leader seems legitimate, and how well they think the student would be able to help the class.

We are broadly studying how children think about leaders. People often have to choose leaders and decide who should have the power and authority to make rules or make decisions for others. We are interested in how children think about what it means to be a good leader, including whether leaders are fair, legitimate, competent, or trustworthy. We are also interested in how these judgments shape what children think leaders should be allowed to do, including which actions seem specific to someone in charge and which actions seem like things anyone in the group could do. By studying these ideas, we hope to learn more about how children reason about the social world around them.

15 minutes

Participants will be emailed a $5 (US dollars) Amazon.com gift card within 7 days. To receive the gift card, your child must be between the ages of 5- to 10-years-old, and must be visible during the entire session. Children may only participate and receive compensation once.