How do children make sense of the world?  What kinds of theories do they have about why things happen, and how are  their ideas different than adults’. In the most general terms, those are the  questions we address in the Study of Children’s Thinking project. More  specifically, we are working on two sets of projects. One set focuses on  social cognition. We want to know how children predict and explain people’s  behavior. A second set focuses more generally on processes of inductive  inference. What are the factors that lead people to generalize from past  experience?

A research assistant working on these  studies could be involved in all aspects of research, from designing studies,  to collecting data, to conducting analyses. We’re especially looking for  people who might enjoy interviewing children in their preschools/after-school  programs or in our lab at the Waisman Center. There are opportunities to  learn and practice all sorts of technical skills, from using computers to drawing and creating research materials.

For all positions some experience working  with children would be extremely helpful. Students interested in the  positions may work for research credit. We also have some student hourly  positions available (especially for people with work-study funds).

If you are interested in a research experience in our lab, please contact Julia (lab manager) at 616-0686 or jmmatthews@wisc.edu.