What is the research about?

We study how children think about fairness, friendship, and their developing reasoning about the social world. More details about specific studies can be found on our research page.

What are the current projects?

We have one project we are currently recruiting for:

Leadership Roles in Science Context

What are the current projects?

We have three current projects that are actively recruiting participants between ages 4 years and 15 years old. These projects are about how children make decisions about whom to invite to join a peer group and the factors that they weigh and consider.  The projects also involve children's views about how to respond to peers who act in a way that might be perceived as unfair.  We ask children and adolescents to provide their reasoning and thinking about everyday social encounters with their peers.

What does participation involve?

Participation typically involves a 30 minute session with a UMD research assistant. For some studies, a research assistant will show your child a story using animated illustrations on a slideshow and ask your child questions about the characters, while other studies involve your child filling out a survey with a research assistant available to answer questions.

How can I participate?

If you're interested in your child participating in one of our research studies, please send an email with the subject line "Interested in research" to moraldevelopment@gmail.com including your name, the age of your child, and weekly availability to talk more or participate.

We have multiple studies for children between the ages of 5-14 years but we are constantly developing new studies and if a study is not available at this time we will add you to our list of families and contact you as soon as we have one that opens up!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact the lab's research coordinator Nathaniel Pearl at npearl@umd.edu