Do Infants Respond Similarly to an Online Version of a Live Puppet Show?

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Moral Development

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the developmental research community; however,the resulting restrictions have also provided important opportunities for exploring new avenues of research as studies transition to online formats. Conducting online research with children has numerous potential benefits (Scott et al., 2017; Sheskin & Keil, 2018; Tran et al., 2017), but whether data collected online is comparable to its in-person equivalent remains an open question. Here, we explore whether infants’ sociomoral evaluations replicate across presentation formats.

Past studies have found evidence that within the first few months of life, human infants prefer those they have viewed helping others achieve their goals over those who have hindered others’ goals (Hamlin et al., 2007; 2010; Hamlin & Wynn, 2011). This preference has been replicated numerous times (see Holvoet et al., 2018 for review; but see Salvadori et al., 2015, Scarf et al., 2012, Schlingloff et al., 2020) and in a number of different contexts (Hamlin et al., 2013; 2011). Moreover, infants’ evaluations seem to apply to other distinct forms of prosocial/antisocial behaviour, including giving and taking (Scola et al., 2015) and distributing goods fairly versus unfairly (Burns & Sommerville, 2014; Geraci & Surian, 2011).

Prior to the pandemic, we assessed 5- to 7-month-olds’ sociomoral evaluations using a live, in-lab puppet show in which a puppet plays with and drops a ball (as in Hamlin & Wynn, 2011). On alternating events, a ‘helper’ puppet returns the ball and a ‘hinderer’ puppet takes the ball away. Following a habituation phase, infants were presented with the helper and hinderer and asked to choose between them, with choice defined as the first visually-guided touch. In light of the COVID-19 restrictions, we now administer a pre-recorded version of this same show using Lookit (lookit.mit.edu), an online platform for developmental research which allows families to participate from home (Scott et al., 2017). Despite the methodological differences between the in-lab testing session and the online version of the show, including presentation format (i.e., live vs. recorded) and how infants' preferences are evaluated (e.g., reaching vs. looking preferences), the study presented here will explore whether findings from the original study (Hamlin & Wynn, 2011) still replicate.

Per our pre-registration, we will compare infants’ (5.0 to 7.5 months) preferences for helpers versus hinderers using a binomial test (in-lab version) and a one sample t-test (online version). In further exploratory analyses, we will examine effect sizes as well as infants’ attention to different versions of the show. Data collection is ongoing and we have already exceeded our minimum final sample size(N = 32)for the online condition. We expect to reach this minimum for in-lab participants within a few weeks.

This study will shed light on the quality and comparability of infant data collected online; these insights will become increasingly important as more developmental studies transition online.

Authors

• Raechel Drew, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Presenting Author

• Francis Yuen, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fibha Khan, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anni Persson, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author

• J. Kiley Hamlin, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author