Category: SDLL
Cultural differences determine when children learn to play fair!
New research by SDLL primary investigator Dr. Peter Blake and his colleagues has just come out, exploring cultural differences in the emergence of fairness! All children eventually were rejecting offers that put them at a disadvantage as compared to a peer, but some children will even reject an offer that puts them at an advantage over a peer. This research was conducted in 7 different countries across the world!
Read more about the study at nature.com
SDLL Book Giveaway at the O’Neill Branch library in Cambridge
May 18th, 2015- A great day for a book giveaway! The Social Development and Learning Lab and the O'Neill Branch Library in Cambridge, MA, gave 30 children's books to kids in the neighborhood. Books were donated by other children who participated in an online study with the SDLL.
A huge thank you to the O'Neill library and all of the families who participated in our study who made this book donation possible!
A successful book giveaway! (From left to right) Kari's baby Bjorn, Laura Nelson, Kari Schroeder, and PI Peter Blake with two books left (gone within 5 minutes)!
What’s been happening at the Child Development Labs?
Check out the Child Development Labs' Winter/Spring 2014 newsletter! This newsletter introduces each of our labs, our new Parent Outreach Project initiative, and some of our recent findings! Click here to take a look at our newsletter and find out what your families have helped us discover!
BU Researchers Look At What Motivates Kids To Be Generous
It’s a research lab and it’s full of toys. Six-year-old Sophie LeBlanc of Malden is the subject of today’s experiment. And she’s about to get a gift from another girl she has never met. The catch? The note on the gift says the other girl really didn’t want to give Sophie the present, but her mom forced her to give the gift.
It’s all part of on-going research at Boston University’s Social Development and Learning Lab. Professor Peter Blake and his team are looking at what motivates kids to be generous.
“I Should but I Won’t”
Parents know what a potential minefield a playdate can be. Two children could be playing happily together, each with a toy, until they covet the same object. Suddenly, that rocking horse means war.
Most parents stress the importance of sharing early on, whether at home with siblings or at the park with strangers. But that doesn’t mean their preschoolers are early adopters.
Living Lab Combines Research With Outreach
Kids get to participate in research, while parents learn more about how science works
It's hands-on time at the Museum of Science (MOS) Discovery Center in Boston. Kids can touch and play their way through scientific exhibits, and even take part in actual science experiments in Living Laboratory, a model for informal cognitive science education. Scientists ask visiting parents if their kids can take part in a quick exercise for one of the ongoing studies. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Becki Kipling and her team provide training that helps scientists speak one-on-one with parents and guardians. The goal is to help parents better understand the scientific process, while at the same time giving researchers the opportunity to hone their communication skills.
Children Endorse Fairness, but Don’t Like to Share
A new study coauthored by Boston University Assistant Professor of Psychology Peter Blake finds that young children endorse fairness norms related to sharing, but often act in contradiction to those norms when given a chance to share. The article, titled “I Should but I Won’t: Why Young Children Endorse Norms of Fair Sharing but Do Not Follow Them,” was published this week in the journal Plos ONE.
This phenomenon has rarely been explored in the context of a single study. Using a novel approach, the researchers presented clear evidence of this discrepancy and went on to examine possible explanations for its diminution with age. In one part of the study, 3- to 8-year-old children readily stated that they themselves should share equally, asserted that others should as well, and predicted that others had shared equally with them. Nevertheless, children failed to engage in equal sharing until ages 7–8.
Read the full story on the College of Arts & Sciences website.
Study reveals young children are hypocrites, and they know it
It’s both a scientific mystery and a parenting conundrum: how do children learn to share?
Children as young as three understand the concept of fairness. Fair means one child should get the same number of stickers as another. But put a young child in charge, and fairness seems to go out the window; young children tend to hoard when they are the ones who are deciding how much of their own candy or toys to hand over.
New research is beginning to untangle the disconnect between knowledge and behavior, with a surprising finding: Young children asked to predict how they will divvy up stickers already anticipate they will tip the scale in their favor. When it comes to sharing, the three- to six-year-old set is—scientifically speaking—a bunch of self-aware hypocrites.
Is that fair? Podcast on inequity and fairness
BU's Dr. Peter Blake is studying fairness and equality in children. Using game theory with candy and stickers, he observes children's behavior in a variety of "fair" and "unfair" situations.
There’s science behind the seven deadly sins
Most of us don't go around obsessing about the Seven Deadly Sins—most of us probably couldn’t even name them—but the transgressions defined during early Christian times still cross our consciousness on a regular basis. Who hasn't worried about eating too much or been distressed by someone else's anger?
Turns out, these “sins” are often the subjects of scientific study, albeit indirectly. Researchers gathered at the MIT Museum last month to describe work they've conducted relevant to the deadly seven, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. The point of their assembly: to share some ways in which research can provide insight into these darker sides of life—and even, in some cases, hold out possibilities for redemption.
