Commitments in young children: An international collaboration with the University of Plymouth (UK)

• Grant number: 24/21176-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 02, 2025
• End date: June 01, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Débora de Hollanda Souza
• Grantee: Laura Cunha Melnicky
• Supervisor: Patricia Kanngiesser
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University Of Plymouth, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/05847-3 - Broken promises and selective trust in 5- to 8-year-old children, BP.MS

Abstract

It is common for parents, teachers or even peers to make promises to a child. In fact, from avery young age, people experience the act of promising and they learn that a promise entails acommitment by the speaker to perform the promised act. Several studies have exploredchildren's understanding of promises, but little is known about how broken promises (i.e.verbal commitments) affect children's trust in speakers. The Master's project associated withthis proposal (FAPESP #2023/05847-3) aims to investigate the effects of breakingcommitments on children's selective trust, as well as whether the reasons that led to thebroken promises matter. The present application seeks support for an international visit to Dr.Kanngiesser's lab in the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth (UK) for aperiod of 4 months. Dr. Kanngiesser has published extensively on children's understandingand use of promises, including children's selective trust in promises. Ongoing work in her labinvestigates children's understanding of commitments in joint actions using behavioural aswell as novel ego-centric eye-tracking measures. Therefore, a visit to Dr. Kanngiesser's labwill be an invaluable opportunity to learn more about her lab's ongoing research oncommitments and about the methods and data analyses being used in her lab. Morespecifically, the goals of this visit are (i) to receive training on behavioural research methodsand ego-centric eye-tracking, data coding and data analyses, (ii) to learn more about socialcognition research projects being currently conducted by Dr. Kanngiesser's lab oncommitments, and (iii) discuss possible future collaborations. Additionally, the candidate willbenefit from taking part in the wider developmental and research community in the School ofPsychology by attending research seminars and reading groups.