Current Research – Thinklab

This study explores how children ages 6-10 think about knowledge. During the interview, children will answer questions designed to measure how they think about their own knowledge and what other people know. Parents/guardians are asked to complete questionnaires and record their answers to some questions verbally on their computer. For more information, you can visit our Knowledge Evaluation Study Webpage or fill out our interest form! We can then email send a calendar link for you to select an appointment at your convenience.

This study examines how children ages 7-10 evaluate different types of evidence as it relates to animals. Children hear questions and explanations about animals and decide how well the explanations answer the questions. They also complete other tasks designed to help measure different aspects of children’s thinking. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and is in collaboration with Dr. Judith Danovitch at the University of Louisville. For more information, you can visit our Evidence About Biology Study Webpage or fill out our interest form! We can then email send a calendar link for you to select an appointment at your convenience.

This project examines how children ages 5-10 evaluate claims about events from different types of people. Children play games, view pictures, hear stories, and answer questions. For instance, in one part of the session, children will watch short videos of people telling stories, and then they will decide if the story could happen in real life or not. Children will also play games designed to measure other skills. For more information, visit our Story Evaluation Study Webpage or participate here at your convenience.

We have several studies in collaboration with Dr. Thalia Goldstein at George Mason University that examine how children think about Santa.
We have a new study supported by the Templeton Foundation regarding the kinds of experiences and statements parents give their children about Santa. This project is open to all parents of children ages 2 to 18. For more information, stay tuned!
Some of these studies are closed, with data being analyzed for publication. One of the studies examined how children ages 6 to 17 think about Santa Claus (see our Santa Study webpage). The other study is for parents and examines how children talk with their parents about Santa (visit our Project Santa for Parents website).

Funded by the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with Dr. Mark Sheskin at Minerva University, Dr. Elizabeth Bonawitz at Harvard University, Dr. Hyowen Gweon at Stanford University, Dr. Julian Jara-Ettinger at Yale University, Dr. Marjorie Rhodes at New York University, and Dr. Laura Schulz at MIT, this project will develop and launch a new online website for families to participate in research in developmental psychology. You can read more about this project in this article.