Is There Enough for Everyone?

For children between the ages of 6 and 12 who speak English

Your child will see pictures and hear stories about people and things that people often think of as valuable. Each child will be randomly assigned to three of the following five: money, healthy food (food that is nutritious and good for the body), love, good jobs (jobs that a lot of people would like to have), and spots at an imaginary summer camp. For each of these things, except the summer camp, your child will be shown a picture of a ladder, where the top represents people with the most or best of that thing (e.g., lots of money, jobs that a lot of people would like to have) and the bottom represents people with the least or worst (e.g., very little money, jobs that people don’t want to do, or no job). Then they will be asked where they think they or their family are on this ladder. Next, they will answer a few questions about whether it would be possible for people at the bottom of the ladder to move up, and if they did, whether this would have any consequences for the people already at the top. Most of these questions are multiple choice, but your child will also be invited to explain some of their answers in their own words.

Previous research shows that adults sometimes think of resources like money or jobs as “zero-sum,” meaning that if one person gains, someone else must lose. We know much less about whether children think this way, and whether they do so for some kinds of resources (like money) more than others (like love). In this study, we compare how children think about several resources, including spots at an imaginary summer camp, which we present as clearly limited, so we can compare the other resources to them. We also ask where your child sees themselves in terms of how much of these resources they have (e.g., how much love they believe they have in their lives, how much money they think their family has, etc.), so we can see whether children’s views about these resources relate to their own experiences or perceptions. In a related study, we are asking adults the same questions, so we can see whether people become more likely to see certain resources as limited or “zero-sum” over time. Overall, we hope this study will help us understand how children reason about whether resources are limited, whether everyone can have enough, and whether one person’s gain affects what others have.

20 minutes

After the session, we will send a $5 gift card within 2 weeks. To receive this compensation, the following criteria must be met: (1) Your child is between 6- to 12-years-old, (2) your child has not participated in this study before, (3) your child is fluent in English, (4) you provide valid video consent, and (5) there is a recording for your study session so that we can verify your child participated in this study. Please note that these gift cards are often only redeemable at the US version of these online retailers and if you live outside of the USA you may not be able to redeem them. You are also welcome to participate without compensation.