January UCSB Child Studies Lab

Partnering with researchers and scientists from the University of California Santa Barbara, Science in Action invites guests to play, participate, or watch live research highlighting the science of child development.

Topics

Who did that? In this research game, your child (5-13) will hear about two characters: one who believes in God and one who does not. We will ask your child to guess which character acted in a certain way (e.g., shared toys with a friend). In a previous study, we found that children expect believers to follow rules. We are interested in whether these expectations vary with children’s own experiences with religion, so in this version of the study, parents will fill out a survey (anonymous) about their child’s religious exposure. This project is part of cross cultural work with collaborators in Turkey, where children have very different religious experiences.

Who knows where? In this research game, your child (3-13) will hear about a student and a teacher who disagree about what is in a set of boxes. One of the two characters (either the student or the teacher) will actually know what is inside a set of boxes, but the other will not. We are interested in whether children like students who change their mind to agree with the teacher, and whether it matters who actually knows what is in the box. This study is part of a series of projects asking whether children value intellectual humility, or the ability to admit when you don’t know the answer and the willingness to seek out new information.