Selena Delgado ‘22 is a Psychology major and Education Studies minor. On campus, she is head of Wesleyan Club Volleyball and is a TESOL tutor for the SAWA Refugee Organization. Outside of Wes, Selena enjoys listening to music and playing sports. She loves working with children and is also a writing tutor for her former high school. In the future, Selena aspires to become a School Psychologist. After taking Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Psychology, Selena became interested in further learning about children’s behaviors and their overall cognitive development.
Sarah Hammond ’22 is a Psychology and Hispanic Literatures and Cultures double major with a minor in education studies. She is interested in the intersection between cognitive development and educational psychology, with the hopes of using research to benefit educational policy. Sarah loves working with kids and has spent time tutoring, coaching, and babysitting, as well as being a summer camp counselor. Outside of the lab, she is a member of the Women’s Soccer team, a volunteer for Wesleyan food rescue, and a tutor for WesReads/WesMath.
Jinjia (Grace) Hu ‘23 is a Psychology and English double major. On campus, she is a member of Rho EP and has participated in activities like One Day Play and Reading Series. Outside of school, she loves writing, traveling, dancing, and spending time with children. Grace has lots of experience working with children, including teaching Chinese kids English poetry, coaching a youth orienteering team, and getting along with her younger brother. She is also a volunteer and volunteer coordinator for a local school in Middletown. And she loves puppies!
Rachel Hsu ’23 is a Psychology and Biology double major. Outside of school, she enjoys drawing, cooking, and playing the liuqin. Rachel enjoys being around and helping children in academic and non-academic matters. Rachel is also a Chinese language partner and tutors those learning Chinese as a foreign language. In the future, she hopes to study how genetics and/or culture influence development.
Courtney Litts ‘22 is a Neuroscience and Behavior and Psychology double major on the pre-med track. She is a member of the Women’s Soccer Team at Wesleyan, and is the lead choreographer of the tap dancing group on campus, WeShuffle. Additionally, Courtney is a member of Wesleyan’s Hope Happens Here chapter which promotes mental health awareness and mental wellbeing on college campuses, particularly with student-athletes. Outside of school, Courtney enjoys listening to music, painting, knitting, and playing the piano. She is fascinated by the cognitive development of infants and adolescents and hopes to work in the health-care field in the future as an obstetrician or pediatrician.
Jessica Pordy ’24 is a prospective Psychology major most interested in developmental psychology. She is from New York and has had a lot of experience exploring her passion for working with young children from being a full-time sleep away camp counselor, to a part-time day camp counselor as well as a teaching assistant, babysitter, and day care counselor. Outside of class she enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her three dogs.
Shanthi Soans ’23 is a Psychology major with a strong interest in human development and human ecology. She is deeply curious about how children learn about science and the natural world. She is from Brooklyn, NY, where she worked with children (and plants!) for four years at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In her free time, Shanthi enjoys working at Long Lane Farm, singing, and spending time with friends.
Leah Vaidya is the full-time Yellow Lab Coordinator, working part-time in the Reasoning & Decision Making Lab with Dr. Andrea Patalano. She graduated from Tulane University in 2020 with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in English and Math. She is interested in how children think about and develop math skills. As an undergraduate, she studied the effects of selective attention on the relationship between socioeconomic status and science knowledge in preschool-age children.
Abby Wolk ’22 is a prospective Science in Society and Psychology double major with a Data Analysis minor. On campus, she is is the founder of Wesleyan’s Students Demand Action, advocating for common sense gun safety, and is a member of the Women’s Varsity Lacrosse team. Outside of school, Abby enjoys playing with puppies and coloring. Additionally, she loves being around children and has spent time as both a math tutor and volunteer assistant coach for elementary and middle schoolers. After taking Developmental Psychology with Professor Barth, Abby became fascinated with better understanding the way children think and behave, inspiring her to join the Yellow Lab.
Abstract: Children learn about social groups from subtle elements of the language they hear. For example, when children hear generic statements about groups, such as “girls are good at jumping”, they assume that an individual girl will also be good at jumping. These statements can also convey information about unmentioned groups, such that when children hear that “girls are good at jumping”, they make assumptions about how good/not good boys are at jumping. This effect has been illustrated by Moty and Rhodes (2021), where children heard about novel groups (Zarpies and Gorps) and inferred that generic statements about one of the groups also applied to individual members of that group, and that the opposite was true about the unmentioned group. For example, if they heard that Zarpies are good at jumping, they would infer that an individual Zarpie is good at jumping, while an individual Gorp is not good at jumping. Children also learn new stereotypes about groups’ abilities based on statements. For example, hearing that “girls are as good as boys at trewting” leads children to infer that boys are more naturally skilled at the novel activity of trewting (Chestnut & Markman, 2021). In the present ongoing study, we are broadly interested in whether unintended messages could be sent by the way we talk with children and young adults about STEM-relevant skills and abilities. We specifically ask whether hearing about the existence of designated days for novel groups (Zarpies vs. Gorps) to participate in specific activities (e.g., Zarpie Sledding Day) will lead children to make assumptions about the abilities of the mentioned and/or unmentioned groups.
