THE CHILD DEVELOPMENT LAB
>Krista Casler, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Lab Director
In the Child Development Lab, we want to better understand how children think and learn...
Our current projects look at how children solve problems and puzzles with simple tools. Why? One reason is because we adults seem to have purpose on the brain. We like to know what things are for and how to use them, and we can hardly stop ourselves from asking “What’s that?” when encountering a new object in a friend's home or a colleague's office. Curiously, once we know what something is for, we tend to use it pretty narrowly for its proper purpose alone. Would you grab a fork to untangle your child’s hair after bath time—even if a comb was nowhere to be found? Probably not.
In the Child Development Lab, we’re interested in the development, benefits, and pitfalls of this bias of mind (called teleo-functional reasoning if you want to get fancy). Our straightforward way of exploring it has been by observing how children—and sometimes adults!—learn about and use new objects and simple tools. To learn more, see the descriptions below of several recent and ongoing research projects.
> Autism Spectrum Disorder and Innovation
The Child Development Lab has just started working on a new project! This study is part of a bigger line of research designed to help us better understand how children learn about, create, and problem-solve with simple tools and objects. In this study, we are exploring the social information kids use when learning how to use new objects. By observing typically developing children and those on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum, we will better understand (a) the role of intentional reasoning in the development of human tool use, and (b) whether the social differences often observed with autism predict particular patterns of object learning. If you are interested in participating we are currently running this study and would love to hear from you! Follow this link to sign up!
> Scale errors
Children sometimes make scale errors — they'll make futile attempts to use or play with objects that are much too big or little for their bodies or for the task. We have conducted a number of projects exploring the origin and impact of this phenomenon, documenting scale errors not just in children but also, surprisingly, in adults! Our research supports claims that teleofunctional (purpose-based) reasoning is a powerful and early developing influence on our actions with objects.
> Functional fixedness
Our line of research on "functional fixedness" investigates how social cues play into children's understanding of tools. From as young as 24 months, children demonstrate a clear understanding of tool functionality and recognize that there are "right" vs. "wrong" ways to use tools (for example, using a fork to comb your hair isn't right, even though it works!). Children, like adults, exhibit a tendency to use tools exclusively for their intended functions, i.e., they easily become functionally fixed. Our research has explored many areas of this phenomenon, examining its benefits, origins, and pitfalls.
Casler, K., Hoffman, K.,* & Eshleman, A.* (2014). Do adults make scale errors too? How function sometimes trumps size. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 1690-1700.
Casler, K. (2014). Toddlers’ use of mutual exclusivity when mapping information to objects. Infancy, 19, 162-178.
Casler, K., Bickel, L.,* & Hackett, E.* (2013). Separate but equal? A comparison of participants and data gathered via Amazon’s MTurk, social media, and face-to-face behavioral testing. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 2156-2160.
Casler, K., Eshleman, A.*, Greene, K.*, & Terziyan, T.* (2011). Children’s scale errors with tools. Developmental Psychology, 47, 857-866.
Casler, K., Terziyan, T.*, & Greene, K.* (2009). Toddlers view artifact function normatively. Cognitive Development, 24, 240-247.
Casler, K. & Kelemen, D. (2008). Developmental continuity in teleo-functional explanation: Reasoning about nature among Romanian Romani adults. Journal of Cognition and Development, 9, 340-362.
Casler, K. & Kelemen, D. (2007). Reasoning about artifacts at 24 months: The developing teleo-functional stance. Cognition, 103, 120-130.
Casler, K. & Kelemen, D. (2005). Young children’s rapid learning about artifacts. Developmental Science, 8, 472-480.
Kelemen, D., Callanan, M., Casler, K., & Pérez-Granados, D. R. (2005). Why things happen: Teleological explanation in parent-child conversations. Developmental Psychology, 41, 251-264.
* denotes undergraduate student author