Are these berries safe?

For 5-to-8 year-olds

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. In this study, your child will join a Zoom call with a researcher who will read them short, age-appropriate stories about two characters. One of the characters will make a claim (such as “These berries are safe to eat”), which results in a negative outcome (such as the listener getting sick from eating the berries ). These claims vary in confidence level and who they are directed to. After sharing each story, we will ask your child to share their thoughts about what the characters believe, whether a character is responsible for what happened, and how the characters might feel.

In this study, we are interested in how children think about whether people are responsible for the things they say and what happens because of them. Sometimes people make guesses, and other times they speak with a lot of confidence. People may also share information directly with someone or say something that others happen to overhear. We know that children pay attention to what people know and how they learned it, but we know less about how children think about responsibility when someone passes along information that turns out to be wrong. In our stories, some characters speak more confidently than others, and some share information in different ways. By asking children what they think about these situations, we can better understand how children think about responsibility in everyday social situations.

20 minutes

Families will receive a small thank-you gift in the form of a $5 gift card to Amazon.com within 2 weeks of participation. Compensation is provided once your child, who must be within the study’s age range, attends the scheduled Zoom session and is present and visible during the study.