Pupillometric Response to Implicit Social Exclusion

Previous research suggests that people are highly sensitive to rejection, and may even display physiological reactions, such as increased pupil dilation, when they are explicitly rejected by others compared to when they are accepted (Silk et al., 2012). To our knowledge, no research to date has investigated pupil dilation in response to implicit social exclusion. To address this gap, we obtained pupillometric values using a Cyberball paradigm, in which 11 participants were either included or indirectly excluded while playing an online ball game. Participants were told before each game that they would be playing with either human players (i.e., other participants in the study) or pre-programmed computer players; in reality, all players were computerized. We found that difference in maximum pupil dilation was significantly larger for exclusion compared to inclusion games after playing with human players, t(10)=2.947, p=.015. However, difference in maximum pupil dilation did not differ between exclusion and inclusion games after playing with computerized players, t(9)=-.087, p=.933. Consistent with extant literature, participants reported lower self-ratings of mood, control, belonging, and self-esteem after exclusion games compared to inclusion games on both human and computerized trials. These findings suggest that pupillometry is a sensitive and useful measure for investigating responses to social exclusion

The Child as Econometrician:A Rational Model of Preference Understanding in Children

Recent work has shown that young children can learn about preferences by observing the choices and emotional reactions of other people, but there is no unified account of how this learning occurs. We show that a rational model, built on ideas from economics and computer science, explains the behavior of children in several experiments, and offers new predictions as well. First, we demonstrate that when children use statistical information to learn about preferences, their inferences match the predictions of a simple econometric model. Next, we show that this same model can explain children's ability to learn that other people have preferences similar to or different from their own and use that knowledge to reason about the desirability of hidden objects. Finally, we use the model to explain a developmental shift in preference understanding

Mechanisms of word learning in children: Insights from fast mapping

Children can learn aspects of the meaning of a new word on the basis of only a few incidental exposures and can retain this knowledge for a long time. The process of rapidly learning and remembering new words has come to be known as fast mapping. It is often maintained that fast mapping is the result of a dedicated language mechanism, but it is possible that this same capacity might apply in domains other than language learning. The present studies explore the nature of fast mapping, with the goal of revealing more about the mechanism underlying word learning in children. One possibility is that the capacity for word learning is mediated by a specialized language mechanism. A second view posits that all of language acquisition depends on more general cognitive processes. Alternatively, the acquisition of words and grammar may involve different mechanisms. To test these alternative proposals, children and adults were taught a new object name and an arbitrary fact about a novel object, and were tested for their retention immediately or after a delay. The findings revealed that fast mapping is not limited to word learning, suggesting that the capacity to learn and retain new words is the result of learning and memory abilities that are not specific to language. Three further studies then explored the specificity and development of the capacity for fast mapping. The implications of these findings for theories of word learning are discussed

Four-year-old Children Align their Preferences with those of their Peers DataSet

Children express preferences for a wide range of options, such as objects, and frequently observe the preferences that others express towards these things. However, little is know about how these initial preferences develop. The present research investigated whether one particular type of social information – other children’s preferences – influences children’s own preferences. Four-year-old children observed, via video, two boys and two girls display the same preference for one of two stickers. Each child (peer) expressed liking for one sticker and dislike for the other. Then children completed two rounds of the Dictator Game, a classic resource distribution task. In each round, children distributed either 10 liked stickers or 10 disliked stickers (counterbalanced) between themselves and another child who was not present. If the preferences expressed by their peers influenced children’s own preferences, children should keep more of the liked than disliked stickers for themselves. In line with this prediction, more children kept more liked than disliked stickers, indicating their distribution patterns were influenced by their peers’ preferences. This finding suggests that children extracted informational content about the value of the stickers from their peers and used that information to guide their own preferences. Children might also have aligned their preferences with those of their peers to facilitate social bonding and group membership. This research demonstrates the strong influence of peers on children’s developing preferences, and reveals the effect of peer influence via video – a medium that young children are frequently exposed to but often struggle to learn from in other contexts

Four-year-old Children Align their Preferences with those of their Peers

Children express preferences for a wide range of options, such as objects, and frequently observe the preferences that others express towards these things. However, little is know about how these initial preferences develop. The present research investigated whether one particular type of social information – other children’s preferences – influences children’s own preferences. Four-year-old children observed, via video, two boys and two girls display the same preference for one of two stickers. Each child (peer) expressed liking for one sticker and dislike for the other. Then children completed two rounds of the Dictator Game, a classic resource distribution task. In each round, children distributed either 10 'liked' stickers or 10 'disliked' stickers (counterbalanced) between themselves and another child who was not present. If the preferences expressed by their peers influenced children’s own preferences, children should keep more of the 'liked' than 'disliked' stickers for themselves. In line with this prediction, more children kept more liked than disliked stickers, indicating their distribution patterns were influenced by their peers’ preferences. This finding suggests that children extracted informational content about the value of the stickers from their peers and used that information to guide their own preferences. Children might also have aligned their preferences with those of their peers to facilitate social bonding and group membership. This research demonstrates the strong influence of peers on children’s developing preferences, and reveals the effect of peer influence via video – a medium that young children are frequently exposed to but often struggle to learn from in other contexts

Black and White childrens race-based information endorsement and teacher preference: Effects of school and neighborhood racial demographics.

The current study examined whether racially minoritized children and racial majority children demonstrate different race-based learning preferences and whether the racial demographics of their schools and neighborhoods predict these preferences. Race-based information endorsement and teacher preferences of Black and White 3- to 7-year-old children (n = 238) recruited from a metropolitan area in the midwestern United States were examined. Across racially homogeneous and diverse schools, both Black and White children showed a White preference in information endorsement and teacher preference. Black and White children did not differ in their information endorsement, but they did differ in their teacher preferences: Black children chose Black teachers more than White children. Further, children overall chose the accurate adult as their teacher regardless of the adults race, but the racial demographics of childrens schools and neighborhoods related to these responses: Three-year-old children were more likely to select the accurate Black adult over the inaccurate White adult if there were more Black teachers in their schools and larger Black populations in their neighborhoods. Exploratory analyses indicated that 5- to 7-year-old White children who had non-White classroom teachers chose Black adults more than those who had White classroom teachers, but classroom teachers race did not relate to Black childrens teacher preference. The findings suggest that both microlevel factors (e.g., childrens classroom teachers) and macrolevel factors (e.g., proportion of Black teachers in childrens schools and Black population in their neighborhoods) could influence who children choose to learn from and prefer as teachers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Color Prediction Study

A study investigating how American children and adults understand and make predictions about skin color inheritance and how their predictions change with age