Social evaluations and curiosity in infancy and early childhood

Abstract:

Children actively construct their learning by deciding who they want to affiliate with and what they want to learn about. In this talk, I will present research exploring the factors that shape how children make these critical decisions. I will discuss findings from the “ManyBabies4” project, a Big Team Science initiative that tests long-standing questions about infants’ ability to form social evaluations.  I will also present new research from my lab exploring the social factors that shape the development of children’s curiosity, a new tool for measuring early curiosity (the “Curiosity Battery”), and the ways in which curiosity supports early social cognition and behavior.

Short bio:

Kelsey Lucca is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University and Director of the Emerging Minds Lab. She received her PhD in Psychology from Duke University, and conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington. Her research explores how curiosity, social cognition and persistence shape early learning and development.