How children think about care and social relationships

For 4- and 5-year-olds

This study takes place on a Zoom video call with a researcher! Clicking on the “schedule a time to participate” button will take you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works best for you and your child. Your child will listen to stories about characters who help each other. Based on patterns of helping, we will ask your child to make guesses about the characters’ relationship. For instance, one character (who is hungry themselves) may help another by giving them a snack, and we will ask your child whether they think the character is the parent.

This study investigates how young children understand caregiving relationships. Do children see these relationships as different from other kinds of relationships? What do children expect helping to look like in caregiving relationships? Even very young children expect family and friends to help more than strangers, but prior work has not examined the kinds of relationships that children think involve altruistic helping (that is, if children understand that caregivers often incur costs when helping the cared-for). This study will help us better understand how children think about caregiving relationships.

10 minutes

Within a week of participating, families will receive a $5 Amazon.com (US) gift card via email. Only one gift card will be given per participant. To receive the gift card, the child participant must belong to the suitable age range of the study and must be visible during the study.