How do kids engage with moral stories?

For 8- 10-year olds

In this study, your child will be asked to either read, watch, write, or act out a story. Then we are going to ask your child to think creatively about different items, think about different types of stories that are possible or okay to do, and then questions about if they agree with liking different stories with good guys and bad guys, for example, "Do you agree with the sentence, I like it when books show bad or mean things as the right thing to do."

At the end of the study, you will be asked if you want to take part in an optional follow-up interview about your experiences with this study!
(Note: this study does involve mention of pretend harm such as hitting and a mention of torture, but they are themes that organically occur in children's stories and media)

Children are exposed to stories all the time. Stories are a great way to learn about what is considered good and bad behavior. We know children sometimes resist engaging with pretend games that have bad guys in them. However, how do children treat different types of stories where the main character does something bad? The purpose of this study is to see how children engage with or resist stories where characters do bad or mean things. We will do this by having your child either act, read, write, or watch a story with bad guys and answer questions about their experiences trying to engage with those stories. This will help tell us about how imagination and moral judgements develop through stories.

25 minutes for children, 5 minutes for caregivers

There is a $5 amazon e-gift card compensation for participating families given within 2-weeks after the completion of the study. Children must be in the consent video and be in the age-range to be considered eligible. Only one gift card per eligible participant.