Who's the Helper?

This study is for children ages 3 years and 6 months to 6 years and 6 months old who are based in the U.S.

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will hear stories in which some characters engage in friendly social actions (hugging, hand-holding), and answer questions about who is the helper (who gives food, comforts, or makes someone laugh) based on the relationships between characters in the story. 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.

In this study, we want to understand if young children can recognize caregiving relationships. Your child will first hear stories in which some characters of similar or different sizes engage in friendly social contact (hugging, hand-holding). We will ask your child questions about who is the helper (who gives food, comforts, or makes someone laugh) based on the relationships between characters in the story! Previous studies suggest that children use cues of closeness to represent relationships. In the present study, we want to know if children use information about the character's relationships and size to guess whether a character will comfort another character in distress.

15-20 minutes

You will receive a $5 online gift card and a certificate of participation, within a week of participating over Zoom. To receive the gift card and certificate, the child must be within the age range for our study. Each child will only receive one gift card. We can compensate participants with an Amazon US gift card, or with an alternative online gift card (e.g., Target, gift cards in other currencies if desired, etc.). We'll ask you about what gift cards work for your family, and we'll work with our lab manager to get you a suitable gift card.