Social Learning Lab

Stanford University


These studies are conducted by Stanford Developmental Labs:
Social Learning Lab, Language & Cognition Lab,
The Markman Lab, & The Social Concepts Lab .

To participate, click HERE to sign up for an appointment.


Below are the online studies available through the Stanford Developmental Labs System.
Test

Why did you say that?

Social Learning Lab


Ages: 4 - 5



When teachers or parents say things like “that tracing is great!”, what do children actually think that means? In this study, we are asking how children respond to feedback depending on who it is coming from. For instance, do they understand that some people may always give praise no matter the quality of the work and that others may be a bit stingier?

In this short activity, children will watch videos of teachers providing praise to a student. Then, they will give advice to other students about which teacher to show their work to!

We are excited to see what decisions children make in this activity! We hope this work sheds light on how children understand the praise that they receive from others and whose feedback they seek out.


Test

Storybook

The Markman Lab


Ages: 5 - 6



How can we inspire and motivate girls to achieve and pursue fields in which they have been historically underrepresented (e.g. science)? Recently, there has been an explosion of well-intentioned efforts to address this question. In particular there is a growing market of storybooks about historical female role models intended to inspire and motivate young female readers.

In this study, we’re interested in evaluating how effective different elements of these storybooks are in motivating girls to actually pursue these fields. In a typical study from this project, we read select excerpts of actual best-selling storybooks to 5 and 6 year old children, and ask them questions about their own motivation and a third-party’s motivation to pursue a certain field or career.


Test

A planet far, far away!

The Markman Lab


Ages: 7 - 10



In this study, we’ll read a story introducing children to a new planet and some aliens they’ve never seen before. These aliens go to school and learn how to read, just like us! Then, we ask children for their opinions on the different kids who go to school on the planet. There are no right or wrong answers, we really want to know what children think!