Madeline Caudle '10 (Denver, Colo.), Savannah Knell '10 (Mount Kisco, N.Y.), and Jackie Marra '10 (Simsbury, Conn.) are working with Jean Burr, assistant professor of psychology, on the Social-Psychological and Academic Readiness for Kindergarten (SPARK) Project. The project aims to predict readiness for kindergarten by looking at friendship quality, or a measure of the positive and negative aspects of the relationship in preschool children.
The three student researchers are particularly interested in looking at relational aggression in friendship dyads (pairs of friends). Relational aggression can be defined as manipulation that hurts others and damages interpersonal relationships. An example of relational aggression would be one child saying to another, "If you don't do this for me, then you can't come to my party."
To study friendship quality and relational aggression in preschool children, the researchers bring the children into the lab and allow them to interact with each other in constrained and unconstrained play. In constrained play, the researchers create conflict by giving each pair of children a single doctor costume. They tell the children that one person plays as the doctor while the other plays as the patient. The researchers then observe the children to see how they solve the problem of who gets to play each part. In unconstrained play, however, the researchers simply watch the children play through a one-way mirror without giving them any instructions.
Caudle, Knell, and Burr also engage the children in self-regulation tasks. In one of these tasks, the researchers measure the children's resistance to temptation by presenting them with a prize, telling them that they can't touch the prize, and then seeing how long they can wait before touching it. Another task involves delayed gratification: the researchers put an M&M on the children's tongues, tell them not to eat it, and then see how long it takes them to eat it.
A final component to the SPARK Project involves interviews and questionnaires. The researchers individually interview each child and talk with them about their relationships with their friends. In these interviews, Caudle, Knell, and Marra look for insights into friendship quality and relational aggression, such as whether or not children gang up and use aggression against others. The researchers also send questionnaires to Clinton Elementary School teachers asking about friendship quality and relational aggression as well as having them rate children on three measures of readiness for kindergarten: academic, cognitive, and social (no one has looked at the social aspects of kindergarten readiness before, so Caudle, Knell, and Marra will be the first). Furthermore, the SPARK Project is also unique in that it is the first study to utilize a parent questionnaire. The researchers are curious as to whether a parent measure of kindergarten readiness is reliable given that parents may not recognize characteristics such as relational aggression in their kids.
The student researchers spent this summer designing and setting up their project so that it will be ready for pilot tests next summer. They are currently using college student volunteers who pretend to be preschoolers as mock participants to test out their procedures. All three students have had a lot of fun developing the study. They say it is exciting to actually be able to set up and design a study because usually they are only able to run a study after it has already been developed.
Caudle is a psychology major and math minor. This is her second summer of research. She is a representative in the Student Assembly, an orientation coordinator, a tour guide, and vice president of the Chemical Society. During the academic year, she has also been involved in other psychology research.
Knell is a psychology major and dance minor. This is her first summer of research. She is a member of the dance troupe HEAT and the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG). In addition, she works in the Alumni Office.
Marra is a member of the HERO Program (which is similar to the Big Brother/ Big Sister Program) and the Campus Activities Board (CAB). She also works as a psychology statistics teaching assistant. Marra is a psychology major and art history minor. This is her first summer of research at Hamilton.
-- by Nick Berry '09
The three student researchers are particularly interested in looking at relational aggression in friendship dyads (pairs of friends). Relational aggression can be defined as manipulation that hurts others and damages interpersonal relationships. An example of relational aggression would be one child saying to another, "If you don't do this for me, then you can't come to my party."
To study friendship quality and relational aggression in preschool children, the researchers bring the children into the lab and allow them to interact with each other in constrained and unconstrained play. In constrained play, the researchers create conflict by giving each pair of children a single doctor costume. They tell the children that one person plays as the doctor while the other plays as the patient. The researchers then observe the children to see how they solve the problem of who gets to play each part. In unconstrained play, however, the researchers simply watch the children play through a one-way mirror without giving them any instructions.
Caudle, Knell, and Burr also engage the children in self-regulation tasks. In one of these tasks, the researchers measure the children's resistance to temptation by presenting them with a prize, telling them that they can't touch the prize, and then seeing how long they can wait before touching it. Another task involves delayed gratification: the researchers put an M&M on the children's tongues, tell them not to eat it, and then see how long it takes them to eat it.
A final component to the SPARK Project involves interviews and questionnaires. The researchers individually interview each child and talk with them about their relationships with their friends. In these interviews, Caudle, Knell, and Marra look for insights into friendship quality and relational aggression, such as whether or not children gang up and use aggression against others. The researchers also send questionnaires to Clinton Elementary School teachers asking about friendship quality and relational aggression as well as having them rate children on three measures of readiness for kindergarten: academic, cognitive, and social (no one has looked at the social aspects of kindergarten readiness before, so Caudle, Knell, and Marra will be the first). Furthermore, the SPARK Project is also unique in that it is the first study to utilize a parent questionnaire. The researchers are curious as to whether a parent measure of kindergarten readiness is reliable given that parents may not recognize characteristics such as relational aggression in their kids.
The student researchers spent this summer designing and setting up their project so that it will be ready for pilot tests next summer. They are currently using college student volunteers who pretend to be preschoolers as mock participants to test out their procedures. All three students have had a lot of fun developing the study. They say it is exciting to actually be able to set up and design a study because usually they are only able to run a study after it has already been developed.
Caudle is a psychology major and math minor. This is her second summer of research. She is a representative in the Student Assembly, an orientation coordinator, a tour guide, and vice president of the Chemical Society. During the academic year, she has also been involved in other psychology research.
Knell is a psychology major and dance minor. This is her first summer of research. She is a member of the dance troupe HEAT and the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG). In addition, she works in the Alumni Office.
Marra is a member of the HERO Program (which is similar to the Big Brother/ Big Sister Program) and the Campus Activities Board (CAB). She also works as a psychology statistics teaching assistant. Marra is a psychology major and art history minor. This is her first summer of research at Hamilton.
-- by Nick Berry '09
