Thinking About People's Feelings

For 4- to 10-year-olds

This study will take place on a Zoom video call 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 best for you.

A researcher will read your child a few short stories. The stories will be about situations in which one character experiences a positive outcome and another experiences a negative outcome. The characters will be friends in some stories and not in others. Your child will be asked how happy and sad they think one of the characters feels.

Past research shows that children expect others to be more empathetic toward their friends, but not their rivals. However, there are cases where two friends want the same thing, but only one can have it (e.g., winning a competition, getting the last resource). Using short storybooks, the present study asks whether children consider relationships when reasoning about situations involving conflicting outcomes. This study will help us better understand how children reason about mixed emotions and situations that involve competing goals and desires.

15 minutes

Participants will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card. The gift card will be sent within 24 hours after the session. Only one gift card per participant and the participant must be in the age range for the study to receive the gift card.