Children’s Third-Party Intervention across Urban and Rural Contexts in the Global South

FY24 SI-RITEA Type A 

Abstract

Positive peer relationships are a predictor of health and wellbeing in children and adolescents. Consequently, interventions to promote positive peer relationships and to deter antisocial behavior among peers are a clear priority for developmental work. A major limitation of existing work in this area is that it has largely neglected child populations in the Global South. As a consequence, current models of peer social relationship maintenance and the interventions that stem from them are not necessarily relevant for the diverse cultural contexts of the Global South. Here we propose a study that will help address this important gap by examining (1) peer responses to antisocial behavior (third-party intervention), (2) children's understanding of how choice influences others’ decisions to behave pro- or anti-socially and (3) children’s spontaneous honesty in urban and rural settings in India. We will work with 6 to 15-year-olds in schools in two areas in Odisha, India to conduct this multifaceted research project.

Presentations

  • Cognitive Development Society Bi-Annual Conference, Pasadena, LA, USA: Symposiumtalk & Poster
  • Lab meetings talk to Social Psychology Labs at Harvard (Cushman/Greene/Cikara labmeeting)
  • Lab meeting talk to the Saxe Lab at MIT
  • Presentation at New Faculty BBQ at Brown University.

Publications 

  • Gautam, S., Zhang, J.*, McAuliffe, K. (in prep). Children’s counterfactual thinking aboutevaluative and behavioral judgements across 3 cultures.
  •  Gautam, S., Zhang, J.*, McAuliffe, K. (in prep). Young children consider what othersknew as well as what they couldn’t do when judging their actions.
  • Marshall, J., McLaughlin, A., Lu, C., Gautam, S., Shubhardarshini, S., Tusiime, P., Otali,E., & McAuliffe, K. (in prep). Community size does not modulate children’s willingness topunish transgressors.

Students Trained 

  • 5 Undergraduate Students
    • Taline Deukmedjian
    • Ishani Wakhlu
    • Grace Cuddihy
    • Jack Dwyer
    • Olivia Wen

Additional Accomplishments 

  • Both projects provided training opportunities to early-career scholars. Within India, there wereten research assistants who conducted the study at schools, working directly with participants.Additionally, we benefited from a partnership with the Mystery of Mothers NGO and workedclosely with three staff members in developing these studies.

Principal Investigator

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