RESEARCH

Early Sociomoral Reasoning

How do infants and young children expect individuals to act toward one another?

From early in life, infants and toddlers hold expectations about how individuals should act toward each other. Across a series of studies, we have examined whether they expect others to avoid harming those around them, to support and care for members of their own group, and to reciprocate positive and negative actions. These findings suggest that a small set of sociomoral principles, including harm avoidance, ingroup support, and reciprocity, are present quite early in development. We also study how young children move from expectations about individuals to inferences about moral character, for example how they use others' actions, such as helping when it is not required, to judge what kind of person someone is.

Reasoning about others' minds

Understanding the social world also requires reasoning about what others think, want, and know. In a related line of work, we study how infants and young children reason about others' goals and beliefs, including how they use language and other cues to update their understanding of what a person believes. We are especially interested in how this psychological reasoning connects to children's sociomoral expectations, for instance when they consider how people communicate and correct misunderstandings within their own group.

A new direction: the developing brain

We are beginning a new line of research that uses EEG to look more directly at how infants process caregiving, helping, and other social interactions. Infants wear a soft, comfortable cap that gently records brain activity while they watch everyday social scenes. This work asks not only what infants expect of others, but how those expectations take shape in the developing brain.

Stereotypes, Ability Beliefs, and Motivation

Why do some children come to believe that certain activities are "not for them"?

From early on, children think about the world in terms of social groups, and the messages around them can lead them to absorb group-based stereotypes about ability. We study how stereotypes linking brilliance with gender emerge in early childhood, how they relate to children's interests and motivation, and how they may steer children away from activities framed as requiring exceptional talent. A central goal of this work is to design and test interventions, such as growth-mindset programs, that can help keep children's aspirations open.