Social Cognitive Development PennGSE (PennGSE)
Who Can Participate |
For7- to 10-year-olds who speak English |
What Happens |
In this session, your child will listen to a story about three alien friends who live on a faraway planet and are learning a new skill called Wimzy at school. Each friend has a different reason for wanting to learn. After hearing their stories, your child will answer a few simple questions about how those reasons might affect how well the characters learn. |
What We're Studying |
Children often have different reasons for wanting to learn something. Some may enjoy the learning itself, others may want to achieve important goals like going to college in the future, and some may try to learn to please their parents or teachers. Research shows that these different reasons—or motivations—can lead to different outcomes, such as how well someone performs and how long they persist when learning gets hard. In this study, we’re exploring whether children understand that people can have different reasons for learning, and how they think those reasons might affect how well someone learns. This helps us better understand how children think about motivation and what they believe supports successful learning. |
Duration |
15 minutes |
Compensation |
Each participating child will receive $5, provided through a Greenphire ClinCard (a reloadable virtual debit card that can be used for purchases or funds can be transferred to another account). Please see the first page of the study for more details about payment procedures. The payment will be processed within two weeks after your participation. Children must be visible in the consent video to be eligible for compensation. Each child may only participate in this study once. |
This study is conducted by Douglas Frye (contact: dfrye@upenn.edu).