New Participants
Contribute to science by playing fun, interactive games with a university researcher from the comfort of your own home.
Study Topics
Our studies currently focus on leadership, fairness, and resource distribution.
They are short and fun for kids – sort of like an interactive interview. They involve seeing pictures of people, hearing stories, and answering questions about what they think. We show our study materials through screen-sharing, and the researcher on the video call is usually a PhD student or undergraduate assistant.
For example, your child might see and hear about two different people who want to lead their classrooms, but these two people have different ideas about fairness. They then see the leaders splitting up and giving out snacks to different students. They will then be asked to vote for which person they think would be a better leader and asked why they chose that one. There are no right or wrong answers, we are just interested in how children think about these concepts!
Please fill out the survey below and we will send you a link to sign up for our most current studies, depending on your child’s age.
FAQs / What To Expect
A computer or tablet with an internet connection and camera/microphone. Unfortunately we can’t do the studies on smartphones at this time.
We currently have studies for children ages 3-10.
If you have younger kids, see the Center for Early Childhood Research for more labs that study infants and toddlers.
Does it matter where I live?
Any child in the United States within our current age range that understands and speaks English can participate.
I have more than one child. Do I need multiple appointments?
You only need one appointment time! Your children can participate one after the other.
How long does it take?
The study will take about 15 minutes per child (e.g., 15 minutes for one child, 30 minutes for two children, 45 minutes for three children).
A researcher will meet your family on the video call at your scheduled time. We primarily use Zoom, which is a free online platform for video calling.
At the start of the call, we’d like the parent and children to be on the video call together to meet the researcher, hear about the study, and have the chance to ask questions.
Then, your child will start the study. If you have multiple children participating, each child will participate one at a time. As siblings often play the same games, we ask that, if at all possible, children don’t watch each other participate (so they are not influenced by one another!)
Can the parent stay with their child and watch the study?
Kids tend to be more honest and open if their parents aren’t watching them participate. However, if parents prefer to stick around and listen to the study they are welcome to. We just ask that they not suggest answers or instruct the child participating.
Is there compensation?
As a thank-you, your family will receive a $5 Amazon gift card per child that participates, which we will send to the email address you provide on the consent form.
Do parents participate?
Depending on the study your child does, we may ask you to complete similar measures or fill out additional questionnaires that relate to the topics being studied with your child. By having adult comparisons for our study questions, we are better able to understand children’s responses and how their social development relates to the adults in their life.
How do I sign up?
Fill out our contact form with your family’s information. We will send you a sign-up link for our current studies depending on your child’s age.
The Social Kids Lab Online is a collaboration between two research labs in the Center for Early Childhood Research at the University of Chicago:
The Development of Social Cognition (DSC) Lab led by Professor Katherine D. Kinzler and the Developmental Investigations of Behavior and Strategy (DIBS) Labs led by Professor Alex Shaw.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to our Research Manager, Molly Gibian, at mgibian@uchicago.edu.