Development Research and Stats

Episode 131: Even Children Do Statistics!

Here’s a fun piece of psychological research: finding out whether children use statistical information to figure out other people. We know kids are very perceptive and learn quickly. This study shows just how smart they really are.


If you’re struggling with statistics – as I did both as an undergrad and a grad student – I recommend this book. It’s on my bookshelf and it has been for years. It’s a very readable explanation of various statistical procedures. A great book to have on hand if your main textbook just isn’t explaining things well enough.

Resources for this Episode

  • Kushnir, T., Xu, F. & Wellman, H. M. (2010). Young children use statistical sampling to infer the preferences of others. Psychological Science, 21,1134-1140.


Michael

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2 Comments

  1. Michael

    September 16, 2010

    Hello Tina. Thanks so much for your kind words! I’m glad you found this episode helpful. I actually did finish the app I was recently working on. It’s called Psych Mnemonics and you can get it for iPhone/iPad here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/psych-mnemonics-memory-tools/id1158607712?mt=8&ls=1 Or for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thepsychfiles.psychmnemonics

    Again thanks for the comment! – Michael

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    TIna (Devyn Kasey) Bale

    September 16, 2010

    Thanks Dr. Britt, I just watched this video as a requirement for my research course at UNR. This was highly interesting to me because I firmly believe children and animals have no bias, thus I highly respect any conclusions they come to! 🙂 Thanks for providing clarification about confusing topics I’m learning about I look forward to seeing your new app. Your videos we were required to watch last week really helped me understand things, and explain them to one of my classmates. What is the app your are working on- have you finished yet? Best Tina

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