Who is secretly friends?

For 4- to 5-year-olds who speak English

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you.

During a video call, children will hear two short stories. In one story, a character watches what one of their friends does in class, but does not ever look towards the other one. In a second story, a character always trusts one friend over the other about what choices to make. After both stories, your child will be asked to tell us how close they think each character is to one another, and who they think that character likes the best.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether young children think that paying more attention to one person over another, or believing one person over another, signals that two people are closer to one another. This study will help us understand how children think about social relationships and make sense of their social environment.

20 minutes

Participants will be sent a 5$ Amazon gift code (redeemable at Amazon.com) within 24 hours of study participation, with a maximum of one payment per child. To be eligible, your child must: 1) be visible during the video chat 2) be between 4-years-old and 5.99-years-old.