Fall 2007
Volume 1, Issue 1
The University of Texas at Dallas
In this issue: P.O. Box 830688, GR41 Richardson, TX 75083-0688, 972-883-6075
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/thinklab
• Updates from
the Thinking
Project and Welcome, thanks, and more!
other lab
research We are excited to present the first issue of family or a school that might be interested in
the Think Lab Newsletter! We plan to participating—we are always looking for
• Ongoing studies publish an issue once a year to update the more people to participate in our projects!
teachers, parents, and others who have been
• Find out more Thank you for your support, and please
about how to
involved with our research. enjoy our newsletter. Also feel free to look
participate Inside, you’ll find summaries of some of us up online at:
our most recent findings, as well as http://www.utdallas.edu/research/thinklab
descriptions of some of the projects we are
just beginning. We also have some
information about our lab in case you know a
The Thinking Project: How do children
Individual evaluate the judgments of others?
Highlights:
Page 1 – As adults, we recognize that there are times In one part of the project, we found that by
How do children evaluate when other people may not be able to offer a fourth grade, children predict that a judge
the judgments of others?
fair and objective judgment about something, with a personal connection to a contestant
Page 2 – like the outcome of a court case or the results (e.g., someone’s best friend or teacher) is less
Do elementary school-aged of a competition. How do children start to likely to make accurate (unbiased) decisions
children disbelieve biased
understand this? than a judge with no personal connection
claims?
(e.g., a peer or a teacher who doesn’t know
For this project, we present children with
Do preschoolers recognize anyone in the contest). Younger children,
silly explanations? stories about different kinds of contests, with
however, think differently: they think being
different potential judges, and we ask
How do children ask friends with someone is good and helpful,
questions to try to understand how children
questions to solve and not knowing anyone makes someone a
problems? decide what qualities are important for
poor judge. However, children of all ages
making someone a good judge. For example,
Page 3 –
predict that someone with a negative
children might hear stories involving contests
Special thanks, about us, personal connection (like an enemy) will be a
and how to participate
with objective criteria (e.g., running race, pie
poor judge.
eating contest) and contests with more
subjective criteria (e.g., beauty contest, talent Some of our ongoing research is looking at
contest). For each story, children would then how children explain a judge’s choice, as
hear about a potential judge, and they would well as how much they consider context (like
be asked how good the judge would be at whether a situation is objective or subjective)
choosing the person who did the best in the when evaluating information.
contest.
Page 2 of 3 Think Lab Newsletter
Do elementary school-aged children
disbelieve seemingly biased claims?
This project found that second and fourth that someone’s self-interested statement was
graders are able to take into account the wrong, kindergartners could explain why.
motivations of characters when deciding how They could recognize, for example, that a boy
much to believe them. When told stories in wanted to believe that he won a race so badly
which the outcome of a contest is ambiguous that he got confused about what happened.
(e.g., “the race was close at the end”), second
This project was highlighted in a December
and fourth graders were less likely to believe
2005 issue of The New York Times as well as
characters who claimed to have won the race
in an interview on National Public Radio. It
than those who claimed defeat.
was also featured as one of Science
Kindergartners, on the other hand, were magazine’s “Editor’s Choice” articles on May Callier Center at Richardson,
where our research takes
quite trusting of self-interested statements in 13, 2005. Hear the interview and read the
place
general. However, if they had clear evidence press on our website.
Do preschoolers recognize silly explanations?
Children nowadays are faced with more makes sense, and sometimes she says
information from a larger number of sources something silly, like a unicorn jumped out of
than ever before, so they must decide which a book and added a coin.
information is accurate and which should be
We’re still working on this study, but so
discarded. One goal of our study called “The
far, most of our 3-year-olds believe the silly
Detective Game” is to gain insight into the
explanations, but most of the 4-year-olds do
types of explanations children between the
not. As you might expect, the older the
ages of 3 and 6 believe.
children are, the more skeptical they are
In one part of this study, the child and a about silly or implausible explanations. Other
researcher play a simple game that ends with researchers working with preschoolers often
the child and researcher counting a few suggest that 4 and 5 year olds are as gullible
coins. The child and researcher leave the as 3-year-olds. We think, instead, that
room for a moment, and return to find that experience with the world shapes children’s
the number of coins sitting on the table has understanding of what is silly or implausible,
changed. A different person tells the child and that children understand different things
something about what happened to the coins. at different rates. We hope to understand
Sometimes this person says something that more about this in the future.
A new project! How do children ask questions Why do zebras
to solve problems? have stripes?
Children like to ask questions from a very and Giraffe, to figure out which key would
young age for many reasons: to get attention, work in each of three slots to open a box.
to obtain facts (e.g., “What’s that animal
Kids are motivated to figure out the
called?”), and to understand things (e.g.,
answers because there is a prize for them
“Why do people have birthday parties?”). We
inside the box! Our puppets are supposedly
know that in elementary school children have
experts in different things, so in order to
to ask questions to solve problems, but we
figure out which key works in each slot,
don’t know much about how this ability
children have to ask questions to both
develops.
puppets. We will be working on this project
We have just started a new study with over the next year to find out more about
children ages 3 to 7 to look at this very issue. how this develops! Stay tuned for more
In our new study, children have to ask information.
questions to our two puppet experts, Zebra
Special thanks to…
We are extremely grateful to all of the - Callier Child Development Program
parents, teachers, directors, staff, and
- Canyon Creek Elementary School
children who have helped make this research
possible. - Dallas North Montessori School
The University of
Texas at Dallas, Special thanks to everyone associated with - Frisco YMCA Summer Camps
School of the following schools, preschools, and
- Spring Creek Elementary School
Behavioral and programs for your help with some of the
projects mentioned in this newsletter: - Teddy Bear Junction
Brain Science
P.O. Box 830688, - All Our Children - The Octopus Garden
GR41
Richardson, TX
- Big Springs Elementary School We couldn’t do it without you!
75080
PHONE: Participate!
972-883-6075 Your help with this research is invaluable. after school programs, and elementary
We are always inviting families and schools schools. Most studies also involve a small
with children between the ages of 3 and 12 to toy or gift for your child as a thank you for
E-MAIL: join our research family. participating, and parents receive helpful
utdthinklab@ information about child development. Our
In our research, we generally tell children
yahoo.com short stories and ask them questions about
families tell us that the experience is
enjoyable and interesting for children,
the stories, or we play simple games with
parents, and teachers.
toys and ask questions about what others
might think in those situations. Most studies If you are interested in finding out more
involve a one-time session that lasts about our research or scheduling an
between 15 and 60 minutes, depending on appointment, please contact us. You may
the study, and we do our best to schedule contact us by phone at (972) 883-6075 or by
We’re on the Web! appointments at your convenience email at utdthinklab@yahoo.com. Also, you
See us at: (afternoons, evenings, and some Saturdays). can visit our Think Lab web page for more
www.utdallas.edu/ information at:
These sessions take place at our lab at the
research/thinklab Callier Center at UTD, where convenient free www.utdallas.edu/research/thinklab
parking is provided, or at local daycares,
About Us…
The UTD Think Lab is located at the Our location:
University of Texas at Dallas, and is under
the direction of Dr. Candice M. Mills.
At the Think Lab at the University of
Texas at Dallas, we seek to discover
knowledge that will contribute to the healthy
cognitive and emotional development of our
children, and we are looking for schools,
parents, and children to take part in important
and fun research studies on child
development. We believe that this research
can help educators, families, and scientists
understand important aspects of how children
think, learn, and develop.